Europcar International
Reviews and Complaints

Rental Agreement No.: [protected]
I pre-booked a small van for a day hire via the internet from Europcar UK Ltd at a quoted 40.25 euros to be collected 19.09.09 from their Etoile Foch depot in Paris France, this quote subsequently morphed into a total of 109.71 euros with CDW insurance and other sundry extra charges and insurances, but not to worry you live and learn.
I was sent to pick up and check the vehicle from reception unaccompanied, the sheet detailed no panel damage and only one small scratch, the reality however was somewhat different with dents, scratches and other defects which took me twenty minutes to list, after which back to reception to get the damage verified and counter-signed.
The van was returned after six hours and the hire desk assistant after having the vehicle checked informed me that everything was O.K. and bade me "au revoir", I insisted that before I was prepared to go anywhere I required a printed final invoice and also return of the credit card authorisation slip for the security deposit of 700.00 euros, which he had told me at the time of the hire would not be processed and would be destroyed after the vehicle had been brought back in the same condition as it originally had left the agency, he point blank refused my request for return of the slip but did eventually and after a great deal of fuss on my part print out a final invoice, and again insisted that the security deposit would not be processed.
Over three weeks later I now find that a total of 809.71 euros has been taken from my credit card account for a six hour hire of a small van, and Europcar, their central office and the Paris depot are ignoring all communication.
I have informed my credit card issuer of the unauthorized charge in respect of the security deposit, which according to Europcar`s own terms and conditions is refunded at the termination of the hire, I am currently taking advice on possible civil and / or criminal proceedings against this company along with reporting them to the Office of Fair Trading and European Trading Standards.

On arrival in Fontainebleau, France in June we proceeded to the Europcar office to collect our vehicle. This had been arranged via an internet booking direct with Europcar. The booking confirmation clearly stated that the car would be available at 3pm on the Saturday and also listed the opening hours of the office, which included 12h01-14h59.
Unable to collect the vehicle we began making phone calls to Europcar. Their suggestion was that we return to Paris to collect one at the airport there (no way!). They said they could not take responsibility for errors that the Europcar website made when confirming bookings!
We couldn't collect our vehicle until Monday morning.
We incurred costs of eur0364 by having to remain in Fontainbleau and not being able to proceed to our pre-paid cottage 2 hours drive away.
We first tried lodging a complaint via the website; ignored twice until we threatened legal action at which time we received the following email:-
"In a way to treat faster your complaint, we invite you to transmit it by our web site http://services.europcar.fr/europcar-fr/entreprises/form_serviceclientele.jsp
You have the possibility to send us your claim by fax to [protected] .This mail has been sent automatically. Thanks to not respond."
So we went to the suggested website, but it was not functioning. We then faxed the claim to the fax number. That was over a month ago and it has been ignored. I have sent another today.
Is their policy for handling complaints simply to ignore them until the customer finally gives up in frustration?

At Europcar Faro we were robbed of 500 euros with the 'tyre ok' scam. They ask you to check tyres and, obviously, you check that they are fully inflated and have sufficient tread. On return of car they point out minute marks, or scuffs, on the tyre walls and say that because you agreed that the tyres were ok you must pay for the 'damage' to the tyres.
We were 'done' for 3 tyres and they asked for 500 euros for a Mitsubishu Colt (approx 35 euros retail). Please report this scam to UK European Consumer Centre as they require as much info as possible to try to put a stop to the practices of this company.
Beware Europcar - they are the pirates of the world !
Steve Northampton

We recently returned from our holiday in France, where we hired a car from Europcar Bergerac airport. We returned the car in the same condition as hired, with a full tank of petrol. We were therefore very surprised to discover a few days after our return that Europcar had drawn 396 Euros from our account without any communication with ourselves regarding this.
It took me just over 3 weeks of constant e-mailing and phoning to discover that I had unknowingly signed up for their "Serenity Pack". I am furious. When I came to collect my car the document I saw was in French which I have a very limited knowledge of. I was asked to sign and initial the contract where a staff member had marked the document with a cross and to return the car with a full tank of petrol otherwise I would be charged for re-fueling. I was never offered any insurance cover, I never asked for any insurance cover and I was certainly never told that I was signing for insurance or that there would be any additional charges on my car hire. I have never heard of a Serenity Pack before and no-one explained to me what a Serenity Pack was. In addition to this the contract document forwarded to me by Europcar appears to have been amended with the words " I agree to be charged for the Serenity Pack" added to the document I originally signed. Indeed I had taken out my own excess insurance policy in the Uk and would certainly not have knowingly signed up for any other insurance policy.
I cannot help feeling that I put my trust in what I thought to be a reputable Company with an International standing and was taken advantage of.
Since registering on this site I have read a number of identical complaints relating to the Europcar office at Bergerac, some dating back to as early as 2007. Europcar UK told me they are aware of the issue as are my brokers Autoeurope but if this practice has been going on for the past 2 years why has nobody put a stop to it? Needless to say I have not received a refund or an apology from Europcar and am thoroughly frustrated by the amount of wasted time and energy I am having to spend in contesting this issue.

I am being completely ignored by their customer service after they failed to pay an agreed refund after I returned a car early.

I've been trying to get a response since 17th August.

See emails below...I have removed some of my personal information from these but I did provide all the details to Europcar on my complaint.

________________________________

IS THERE ANYBODY THERE?!?!

From:
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 11:34 AM
To: '[protected]@europcar.com'
Subject: FW: Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

HELLO?!?!

From:
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 11:34 AM
To: '[protected]@europcar.com'
Subject: FW: Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

Is this email address even monitored or do all my messages go straight into a great big recycle bin?

From:
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 9:56 AM
To: '[protected]@europcar.com'
Subject: FW: Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

Is anybody going to respond to me?

Please?

From:
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 2:41 PM
To: '[protected]@europcar.com'
Cc: [protected]@europcar.sk
Subject: FW: Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

Dear sirs,

I am writing to complain that I have still not received a refund promised to me by the local branch in Bratislava Airport, Slovakia, 5 weeks after it was due. Please do not pass this complaint straight on to the Slovakian Customer Service because so far they have ignored my emails.

I have attached my 3 previous attempts at contacting Europcar about this refund. On these attachments you can see that I have already explained clearly why I expect to be refunded and I have not had any response to this after 3 weeks. I would appreciate if somebody in the UK could read my attached messages and follow this up instead of passing me over to Slovakian Customer Services to be ignored once again.

Regards,

From: [protected]@europcar.com [mailto:[protected]@europcar.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 2:30 PM
To:
Subject: RE: Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

Dear customer

Thank you for contacting us
Firstly, please accept our sincere apologies for the delay you have experienced with our company on this occasion
We forwarded again your message to the manager of the customer service department
Please accept our apologies once again for the inconvenience caused and if we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for choosing Europcar

With best regards

Jenny Babe
Europcar International
Reservation Customer Care

3, av du Centre
78881 St-Quentin-en-Yvelines
France
www.europcar.com

-----Message d'origine-----
De :
Envoyé : mardi 8 septembre 2009 15:24
À : webmaster
Objet : Message subject : Rental Experience Feedback

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Country :GB
Email:
Pick-up Date:
Return Date:
Pick-up Country:SK
Return Country:SK
Pick-up Location:BTST01
Return Location:BTST01
Car Group:
Rental Agreement Number (* for past invoice):
Reservation number:
Amount billed:360
Currency:EUR
Message*:***THIS IS THE 3RD TIME I HAVE TRIED TO MAKE CONTACT WITH THIS COMPLAINT AND IT IS YET TO BE RESOLVED***
After contacting you through this online contact form on 17 August 2009, my message was passed to the Slovakian Customer Service. I have not had a response from them.
I tried to contact them by email on 1 September 2009 at: [protected]@europcar.sk and I have still had no response.
I was told when returning the car that I would recieve a refund of 81EUR within 2 weeks - this payment is now 5 weeks overdue. I would like to hear from somebody in your organisation within 1 week to explain what is going on because it is very frustrating to be ignored like this.
Please do not just pass my message on to Slovakian Customer Service because they are obviously not doing their job properly. I would like somebody higher up in Europcar to follow this up to ensure that something gets done.

I’m writing this to accuse europcar, especially oslo branch office in norway.
20th~23th of june 2009, I rent a car through euro car.
On 23th, I returned the car, and a staff of the office has not mentioned anything about the car.
When I am going back my country from norway, I received an e-mail that says "there are damages on the car, so we would charge for the damage.".

When I rent a car, a staff of oslo office didn't confirm car's previous damages in spite of my request to check the car. He didn't show me a damage log of the car. So I have not signed on the log. Even when I returned the car, they didn’t any mentions on damages of the car.
Since I had no problems at all with the car, I just left the oslo office without twice thinking.

But a few days later, a staff of europcar sent me a log with a signature (But I don't know whose signature it is, and it is totally different from mine on the contract document) by e-mail, and he charged 8000 nok by card at his discretion. 8000nok was the maximum price for the car crash or glass crack etc., but damage about which he showed me with some pictures was just small scratch.
Those scratches existed when I rent the car and I told the staff that there were scratches on the car. But at that day, he told me that they already knew it and said to me “you don’t need to care about some scratches”.

Because it was a one-sided judgment so I could not admit my mistake and the price. So I have sent several e-mails and phone calls, but they always said "please wait". They made me wait for 2 month! The charge has been already withdrawn from the bank. Last week they finally sent me back, it said "they already sent me all the documents”.
Which means that this case is over and they’ll not refund for the overcharge.

So, I requested them to send me an exact cost for the damage charge.
Because, the policy of europcar said that they will cost the exact amount of repairing for the damage charge.
But they never answer to my request.

Even if I did not carefully check the previous damages, maximum penalty is too excessive and I have never seen the log before.
Before charging 8000nok, do they have to send me any estimate for the damage?
They do not answer me any more just like they did during last 2 months.

I think europcar is the world worst company cheating and ignoring a customer

Europcar charged my mastercard for damage in the form of a scratch on the bumper of the 4x4 we hired in Auckland. We did not cause this damage it would appear to be deliberate and no-one in the right mind deliberately scratches a hire car when they know they would be charged for it.

They would not inspect the vehicle when we returned it, did not tell us they were charging us for any damage until I queried the amount deducted from my card. To add insult to injury the invoice was dated the day before we returned the vehicle so either they were clairvoyant or they knew they were charging us for damage they already knew was there.

All in all this has the markings of a big scam - $337.00 dollars of each person who hires this vehicle is a good little earner for them.

Anyone who hires EZZ311 there is damage on the rear bumper and front bumper that they will matt black out as part of their valeting process - be warned!

My partner and I hired a car with Europcar which was collected from and returned to Bergerac airport. Upon returning to the UK we noticed that we had been charged an extra £179.98! -- a complete surprise to both of us as we had returned the car as we had found it, with a full tank and had checked with the staff at Europcar in Bergerac that everything was OK. After two failed email attempts and several phone calls we discovered that we had apparently agreed to sign up for a "Serenity Pack", which includes comprehensive insurance (no excess) and allows you to return the tank empty at no extra charge. However, we were not informed at the time that we were signing up to an extra insurance package (no mention of it at all), and we certainly didn't request it when we reserved the car online -- it was simply added at the time of booking, and in a very discrete way at that. I was asked to initial next to it, and didn't look close enough.

Indeed, we had already taken out insurance to cover the excess with another company (so didn't need it). Furthermore, we were specifically told by the staff at Europcar that we should return the car with the tank full, which contradicts the package that we had signed for.

A search online reveals that many other people have fallen into the same trap of accidentally signing for nearly £200 of extra insurance, without being informed.

I have been appalled both at the fact we have been charged for this, without any verbal agreement, and with Europcar's response -- they didn't get back to me after numerous enquiries and forced me to chase them.

I have posted this review here:
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/transport-international/europcar/ and also here
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.htm l?p=[protected]
and would like to encourage others to get in touch via this thread -- perhaps we can all complain together!

I was to rent a car from London Heathrow from EuropCar, but despite my confirmed booking they did not have the car I wanted.

I needed only that particular car but they simply didn't have it. So I had to hire another car from another company at a much higher cost.

Besides, I was fed lies and have faced an indifferent attitude from the company ever since.

I enclose below the letters I have written to them:

I am absolutely aghast at Europcar's actions.

Not only have you refused to acknowledge and reply to my e-mail (on 9th July, almost a month ago) below, not only have you not refunded one day's rental cost, but now you have charged me the full 4 days rental as per my latest credit card statement.

Please refund my money immediately, else I will be forced to take action against your company.

Harsh wrote:
> I would like to recount (in brief) my nightmare experience with Europcar:
>
> I had a confirmed reservation with Europcar rental starting 26th June 2009 from London Heathrow airport.
>
> However, when I reached there, my choice of car (Zafira) was not available despite me having a confirmed reservation.
>
> The lady offered me a Mercedez Benz, but it was of no use because I needed a 7 seater.
>
> I asked the lady (Tracey) to offer me compensation, but she said she could not because it was a Mercedes Benz - I fail to get the logic here. I wanted a Zafira, she gives me a car I had no use for and then refuses to compensate me in any way! A Ferrari, let alone a Mercedez Benz, was of NO BLOODY USE TO ME.
>
> So then I ask her if she would be able to deliver a Zafira to me in London the next day. She says this is not possible, and that I would have to come back to Heathrow to collect one if it became available.
>
> So then I asked her if she could call other car rental companies and ask them if they had a 7 seater available. She LIED TO ME and said that all other rental companies were shut (I know for a fact that this is not true) at the time. When I told her that it was not true, she said that she would not be able to call.
>
> So far so good.
>
> The next day, I was supposed to leave London in the morning but wasted half the day phoning other rental companies for a 7 seater, which I eventually managed to get. I then had to return the Europcar Mercedes Benz.
>
> If this is the level of customer service that you offer your customers, then all I can say is good luck to you. Your company doesn't have a prayer of surviving the tough market.
>
> In any case, I would like the cost of the one day rental refunded by Europcar.
>
> PLEASE do NOT offer me a voucher of some sort because I'm NEVER GOING TO USE EUROPCAR EVER AGAIN. So a voucher is of absolutely no use to me.
>
> If I get my refund back, I will end this matter. If not, then I will make sure that fellow travellers do not go through the same nightmare as I did by sharing my experiences with them wherever possible.

Europcar overcharge uk residents to rent cars in spain! Do not use.

Excerpt below:

Dear mr xxxxx,

As jenny mentioned in her email below, the rates are different according on the "source market", meaning the resident country, even if the period, pickup and drop off points are the same.

Best regards,
Véronique
Europcar web service

— message d'origine —
De : xxxxxxx [mailto:[protected]@xxxx.com] envoyé : mercredi 15 juillet 2009 16:50 à : webmaster objet : re: message subject : rates / reservations / rental policy importance : haute

Hi jenny,

This really does not answer my question. This is the same car for the same period with the same pickup and drop off points. If this is a mistake on behalf of your website, you are losing business. I can guarantee it.

Once more, please check why the same product with the same electives in the same market costs usd372 to a us resident, but gbp461 to a british one.

Best regards,

Xxxxxx

— original message —
From: [protected]@europcar.com [mailto:[protected]@europcar.com]
Sent: 15 july 2009 15:37
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: re: message subject : rates / reservations / rental policy

Dear customer,

Thank you for contacting us.
The rate differences you may observe depend on a various number of factors. These factors are influenced by the supply perspective on the "destination market", as well as the demand perspective on the "source market".

Seasonality (Holiday periods in different source markets), promotions, local conditions on both source and destination markets are among the main factors which may influence the price quoted.

The europcar reservation team remains at your disposal to answer your questions, and looks forward to organising your car rental arrangements in the near future.

Sincerely yours

When I made and modified a car reservation in June, 2007, I was accidentally charged three times for one rental. For the next 8 months I tried to get this money back, but no-one at Europcar cared. At every little step, I had to wait, beg, wait again, beg again, wait again, and beg again. Only one person cared, Kosana Arsic in the Europcar Serbia office, but she could not solve the problem by herself. She forwarded my emails to other people. It was impossible to find out who was at the bottom of this, even what office. After seven months, Carole Hesry, a customer service rep at Europcar France, got the word. With Ms. Hesry again I had to beg at every step of the way. On 8 February, 2008, I finally got an email from Ms. Hesry that the bank transfer was made, but my bank said there was no transfer and no request for transfer. The details in Ms. Hesry's email to me were not clear, and my bank wanted details so that they could make sure their information to me was correct. I sent Ms. Hesry emails clearly saying that I need clarification of the details of the transfer, but she didn't answer my questions. She ignored these emails. All afternoon on Feb. 14 I tried to call her on the telephone, but she didn't answer her telephone; twice someone answered her telephone saying simply, "Allo?" and when I said "Carole Hesry?" she hung up.
The telephone robot gave a number to call if we have any comments about the quality of service. Sounds helpful. Of course the customer pays to call this number and it is very expensive. I called it and got Frederick. Although I was polite, Frederick wouldn't listen to my request for help and wouldn't connect me to a manager as I asked. This was no help. On 19 February I got a wire transfer. The amounts I was charged but never used (the amount I was overcharged)
totaled $980.92, as stated by Carol Hesry and also as
they appear on my bank statement. But the wire transfer
to me was only for 965.92. I pointed this out to Ms.
Hesry but she ignored my email again. In addition, my
bank charged me $12.00 for the wire transfer. Can you
believe Europcar charged me the $15 for the wire
transfer? So to this day, they have not returned all the
money. Plus I had to change my plans many times because
of not having 1000 dollars that I was expecting. And I
spent a ton of time and stress trying to motivate
Europcar employees. I have received no appologies, no
interest for the time they kept my money, and nothing to
attempt to make up for this problem. Nothing to show that
anybody cares, except for Kosana Arsic's words. I told my friends early in the ordeal that they should never use Europcar. I guess they have enough customers
that they don't care about a few serious mistakes. But no-one should have to go through this. No-one should run the risk. No-one should use Europcar.

Now I know Europcar France was at the bottom of this. When I booked this car rental online I used europcar.com rather than europcar.fr, and I paid with a U.S. bank card with a U.S. billing address. The only reason my booking went to Europcar France was that I was in France when I made the booking. I don’t know if booking physically outside of France is safe or not. The guys in the Belgrade rental location were nice, but they were not the ones who charged my card and they could do nothing about it.

I was patient and polite for 8 months. Europcar wouldn't respond to me and Europcar consistantly doesn't care. With its attitude, Europcar doesn't deserve to have any business.

My group was renting a car at nice in France. Europcar rental were at desk my travelling partner was asked for a 1500 euro security charge on her visa card she could not afford it. This meant i had to use my card for the rental security deposit. Without my consent the complete rental was moved under my name.
In the end it was asked if we wanted the full tank option and i stated that i would return it full.

On return a lady took our keys .. turned on the engine and checked fuel and mileage. It was full. Filled twice.. once along the way and then topped up at the famous airport petrol station (expensive).

A week later i was amused to get a letter from Europcar stating i had been charged for fuel. I rang the irish Europcar rep and they stated it was normal and they would refund it. 5 weeks later my credit card bill has arrived and i have not had a refund. I am in the process of mailing them and asking for a refund. What are my options if i dont get a refund?
Thanks in advance.
Graham Tobin

Will not use europcar again! We were told t drop off our rental at a designated location and time, we were there earlier and the office had closed and would not be open again till monday, this was a saturday. We were billed for 3 extra days and parking fees as well as filling of tank of gas which we had done too. Worst experince ever with a rental car company.

Last month I made a booking with Europcar to hire a car. The following day I contacted them again to change the pickup point. I was informed that in order to do this they would have to cancel the original booking, refund my fee, make another booking and take another fee.

When they confirmed that the original fee had been refunded I proceeded to make another booking with them. However, after 25 minutes on the phone, the operative was so incompetent, he lost all the information I have given him and asked me to go through the whole process again for another 25 minutes - his English was not good, hence the length of time it took to make the booking in the first place.

I declined to waste any more time. I confirmed, again, that the refund had been made and was assured it had. Well, he lied. No refund was made to my account. Having little faith in British businesses I tend to record all conversations when entering in to contracts. I now find myself possibly having to sue Europcar in the courts as I have no doubt they will ignore my letter before action (it must be my lack of faith again!).

My advice: If your going to hire a car, avoid Europcar. Any company that can lie with such impunity doesn't deserve to gain any business.

Beware when you rent a car from Europcar from New Zealand.
I rented a car from Queenstown from 05-16-09 to 05-21-09, and I got ripped off. I payed using my mastercard before we took the car out of the lot. I agreed to pay the amount in full. Everything went well but a month later there was a charge of 56.25 from Europcar. It was charged to my card the same day I turned the car in which was 05-21-09. I never agreed or authorized that payment. I send am e-mail about the charge. Two days later, I was told because I had used the snow chains in the car. First, I never used them because I never had problems with ice on the rode. I did inspect them but never used them. They said the tape on the box was broken so I was charged. I send an e-mail about getting a refund to Daniel Goodsir the manager but never heard from him and never got my money. There was nothing in the contract, and I was never told about the chains. If i was told about them, I would never even touch them.

Also the service was bad and very unproffesional. The clerk was rude and did not seem to care for there guest. The car was dirty when it was given to me. I would never use this company again. They have lots of complains in customer reviews. I wish I would of check the reviews first. Be careful if you choose this company. You might find a surprise when you get your statement

Do NOT deal with this company. I was given a car with no spare wheel (and not advised of this) so when I had a puncture I had to wait over an hour for a pick up truck to transport me and the car (midday, no aircon!) for two hours. The car was then replaced (note the tyre note!). I then had a three hr drive back along motorway so lost the whole day. The replacement car (exactly the same model, WITH a spare wheel) had faulty air con and 3 hr drive back to airport was unbearable (37-40 degrees). Had there been a spare wheel the situation would have been resolved at the roadside and I would have replaced the spare wheel myself.

Got home and Europcar had taken 198 Euros from my CC. Wrote to holiday autos who were v unhelpful (apparently there had been an "on board repair kit - like a bycicle repair kit). After months if wrangling I wrote to CEO who reimbursed me some of the amount. Id told my craedt card co. who did a recall on the money and europcar were supposed to appeal within 45 days. We heard nothing so assumed the matter had been resolved until I received a demand from a credit recovery co. in italy for the amount plus interest plus admin charges (!) or else they would take legal action.

Sent copy registered to CEO holiday autos and a registered letter to Europcar Italy (who didn't respond.) Then a further demand in June. Lastminute.com (who own holiday autos) wrote back and were quite helpful. Theyve managed to get the admin fee etc taken off but I am still having to pay the 150 Euros (although this should only work out at about 50-60 punds as already partial re-imbursement.) Absolutely disgusted with the whole process and will never deal with Europcar or holiday autos again.

After renting a car from Europcar for a week in May the car stalled on the next to the last day. We tried for 5 hours to talk to somebody in the roadside assistance department. We were continually hung up on or put on hold. Finally at 1 a.m. a tow truck picked us up. When we got to the tow truck drivers shop europcar told us they were not responsible for anything. It would be up to us to get back to our villa. We took a taxi for 200 euros back to our villa. The next day europcar laughed at us when asked how we were supposed to get back to Rome. It took us 400 euros to get back to Rome. It cost $300 in phone calls to deal with roadside assistance. When we arrived that afternoon at the Rome airport europcar office we were told it was Saturday and nothing could be done. We filed a complaint and wanted our taxi fare refunded plus the 8th day charges of the car rental since we didn't have the car for the 8th day. I have tried repeatedly to contact Europcar. They do not answer e-mails and will not answer the phone. A couple of weeks after returning home Europcar took money out of my credit card account for the tow truck, gas, and special fees. They have the worst customer service. How they can say on their website that they will take care of you wherever you are. And every Italian we met told us never to rent a car with Europcar.

i made abooking with autocar europe but the address of the car rental was fichley london which turned out to be europcar!
in the meantime i had lsot my credit car and my wife had to do the booking.
the manager of thesation messed about for haslf an hour and he couild not locate anything but the booking on the computer.
he failed to put the contacted price on the agreement and said he had given aspecial discount in liue of the contacted price .
later on when i checked the figures no discount had been given .
he was not there when returning the car and i have been charged double the contact price .
i cannot find acustomer service e mail and despite filling in complaints on aweb site which then promises areturn nothing has come back !

FYI:
Since Easyjet launched I have used the airline numerous times for both leisure and business travel and having a career in the travel industry have favoured and recommended the airline. However, after my car hire experience in Cagliari, Sardinia on the 29th May 2009 my opinion has changed.

On arrival at the Europcar rental office at the airport I was informed by both of the employees at the desk that there were no available cars. Please find the attached back up of my confirmation with their handwriting and stamp on the top right hand corner.

There was no solution given to me by the two men at Europcar. All car hire rental companies had no extra cars and it would not be possible for me to have a car at any time during my 4 night stay. The reason given was cars that were supposed to arrive on a boat from Iceland had not arrived in time. They also informed me that Easyjet was informed of this issue three days prior to my arrival.

This completely affected our holiday as I had planned a driving tour of the southern part of the Island with different stops on each night. A car was an essential part of our holiday.

We did ask at the other car rental companies and were told they only had enough cars for their own clients.

As we were without a car and our first hotel was over 60 kilometres away we were advised by Europcar staff that the only solution was to travel to the resort by taxi and to reclaim the expense of all taxis we used during the four days.

Page 2.

Enclosed are the receipts for taxis:-

27th May 2009 Cagliari, Sardinia to Tanka Village Resort 100 euro
1st June 2009 Tanka Village Resort to Cagliari 90 euro
2nd June 2009 Cagliari to Cagliari Airport 22 euro
TOTAL: 212 euro

On arrival to the Tanka Village Resort, I noticed that the resort had its own Europcar Office and I asked the man who ran the Office if they had any cars available. I was told that there was a big conference on the island and Europcar had known for some time that there would be a shortage and he had only just managed to cover his booking list.
Again, there was no available car under my reservation.

At the hotel Reception, we discussed our three day driving route and the Assistant Manager of the Resort was very helpful but said that without a car we would have to pay 100s of euros to get between locations and also it would be impossible to get taxis to take us to some of our planned locations. Due to this, instead of one night at the Resort, we had to extend by a further two at a cost of 464.80 euro. The hotel invoice is enclosed.

We also had to cancel two of the hotels we had booked for the nights of the 30th and 31st May and I am still waiting to see if the cost has been refunded to my credit card but believe I will be charged non arrival charges.

As you can see, my not being able to pick up the rental car I booked on May 7th via the Easyjet Website had serious repercussions on both my holiday plans and financially.

I would appreciate you giving this matter your urgent attention to my satisfaction. My confidence in booking a car through Easyjet has been severely compromised due to the above experience, and I really am not sure that I can reliably use and recommend the service in the future.

We hired a Europcar for one day at 10 am 0n 28 April 09 from Granada Railway Station, Spain. We returned it as per our booking and rental agreement on the same day at 5.30 pm to the designated Europcar bay at Seville Railway Station. We were not involved in any incident or accident during the day. When we returned the car it was in perfect condition with a full tank of petrol. However, our credit card was charged 410.46 euros on 30 April. We have received no correspondance from Eurocar. Several requests to customer service for an explanation and rectification remain unanswered.