Europcar via Auto Europe - Overcharged by 480 GBP - a warning!

Sailor1983

[FONT=&quot]I am currently on assignment overseas. I had to return to the UK in April 2010 and wanted to hire a car. I booked for an economy vehicle through the company "Auto Europe" for the period 1st May 2010 to 1st June 2010 and this booking was then subcontracted to Europe Car. The collection and drop off point was set to be Leeds Bradford International airport. For this rental, I was charged 510.38 GBP which shows on my credit card 29th April 2010 to Auto Europe. Upon collection of the vehicle, there had been a miscommunication between Auto Europe and Europe car (the first of many) which meant that I was not able to have the Corsa that I had asked for but instead had to have a huge estate car. I was charge 55 GBP for the full tank of fuel in the car and was told to bring the car back with as near to an empty tank as possible. (Which I did)

Towards the end of the rental period I decided to extend my stay in the UK. I called Europe car to ask how much it would cost and they quoted over 400 GBP which was totally ridiculous considering the extra time requested was only 2 weeks and the initial rental period was 4 weeks. I therefore went back to Auto Europe and arranged for the extra period 1st June 2010 to 16th June 2010 and was charged 251.93 GBP which appears on my credit card statement 31st May 2010. I returned the vehicle as planned on 16th June 2010.

Shortly after leaving the UK for the Middle East my mother emailed me to say I had been invoiced for the original amount quoted by Europe car of over 400 GBP! I sent an email to Europe car via the Europe Car website to request clarification which was never replied to. I assumed therefore that the issue had been resolved.

I now however see after inspection of my credit card statement that I have been charged again (twice) by Europe car. Once for an additional 318.62 GBP and again for 55 GBP both on 7th July 2010. Neither of these charges were authorised by me and they were both done by Europecar in my absence. I have asked Europe car for a refund and they refuse to discuss the issue as the contract was made with Auto Europe. Auto Europe never answer the phone or the emails I have sent. As a last resort I asked HSBC to reverse the charges but they say it will be 4 weeks before I get any answer.

Anyone out there who wants to hire a car - avoid these companies. They can't organise themselves properly and their administrative practices are a sham. You will be running a round in circles for weeks trying to get your money back!

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mad_rich

Right. This is the sequence of events, as I understand them. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It sounds like you were upgraded on the original rental. Granted, not everybody wants a bigger car (fearing lower fuel economy, although that's not always true IME) but you should have either argued for the car you had booked, or negotiated a discount for the unwelcome 'upgrade'. The £55 prepay should have been advised prior to the rental (unless it wasn't complusory and you were simply 'pressure sold' it).

Extending a rental, you are always at the mercy of the company, and they will often quote you the full daily rate. Doing it when you have booked through a broker is asking for trouble. I would always return the car and start afresh.

When you got the quote for £251.93 was this for an extension, or a new rental? Online or on the phone? Did you swap cars, or if not do you have a new invoice number/ rental agreement?

I think you are in for a headache. Europcar customer services are impossible to contact, and fairly useless when you do get through to a human. 'Assuming that thie issue has been resolved' is probably not the best course of action!, and I suspect you knew that. As for the charges being 'unauthorised', I'm afraid you signed your life away with the rental agreement. They can pretty much take any amount of money off your card for an unspecified length of time after the rental. It's great fun.

It sounds from the extra £55 as if there's a new rental in the mix soomewhere.

An explanation that fits would be if you made a new booking with Auto Europe, and paid £251 for it, but then kept your original car. For this you were charged £318.

But that's just a guess.

Sailor1983

Thanks for your input! To clarify, when i wanted to extend Auto Europe did it as a new booking and advised me to return the car to the airport which I did. The guy at the airport just said to keep the old car so in this respect I still feel I was in the right.

As for what your say about signing my life away, if I had made the contract with Europe Car (who are the ones who have incorrectly charged me) I would tend to agree however, the only authorised payment by me to Europe Car was for 55 pounds for fuel on the day of pick up. The contract of hire was with Auto Europe. I would have thought any adjustments to my credit card would have to relate directly to that purchase (for fuel) otherwise they could charge me for just about anything they wanted!

Sailor1983

Sending you an email with a bank statement is not a problem. Please provide me with your email address so I can send.

I will try sending to the email address I have but as yet I have only had an automated reply from it!

jnm21

Good show autoeurope - be sure to keep it up - as a regular car renter, I for one am watching the outcome.

Sailor1983

Right - After sending the bank statements I have now received an email to say that there was indeed a mistake and that I have been overcharged. Although I have not yet actually been reimbursed, I think this issue seems to have been resolved.

Auto Europe have redeemed themselves somewhat and for their prompt replies ON THIS WEBSITE and I am grateful to the team on here - thank you.

I would like to further add that this has not been a pleasurable customer experience and it was only after commenting on here that I actually got anywhere. The cost of dialing international numbers and being on eternal hold has cost me a fortune alone.

I have not had any kind of explanation although it would seem that Auto Europe feel that it was Europe car that was to blame. It would be nice to know with which company the blame actually lies. Until I find out I'm afraid that I will most definitely never use Auto Europe or Europe Car again. It's been far too much trouble....

Sailor1983

So after getting a nice email from Auto Europe saying that I had indeed been overcharged and that I could expect a refund soon, I have been checking my bank statement to see if the refund had come through. Now I see that instead of a refund I have been charged again (twice) Fistly for 106. 54 GBP and then again 49 pence. This means I have been over charged by Europcar a total of 480.65 for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON and without ever having authorised any charges or signing any receipts. I find this entire situation utterly incredible. How can it be actually legal? Do I actually have to cancel my credit card to stop these unauthorised charges? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help!!!

Max_1066

Did you raise a payment dispute with your credit card company (HSBC ?), its not clear from the comments above. It's a tedious process however it puts additional pressure in the hire company to sort it out.

There are plenty of hire companies out there and one of the main differences is the quality of customer service ... or lack of.

Sailor1983

I did yes with HSBC. I shall have to amend it now to include the additional 106 GBP! The incompetence is utterly astonishing.

jnm21

Tut tut Auto Europe! Thank goodness I have never used your 'service' (and now probably never will).

thommy

auto europe

would it not be appropriate for the op to get some sort of complimentary rental, by way of recompense for the seemingly utter bother and pain in the proverbial, not to mention monetary expense, that this has caused him? either thru yourselves or europcar?