Possible Scam charge - Europcar Ireland (DUB)
Complaint
Kevin Melody
Country: United States
Back in January 2011 I rented a car at Dublin Airport from Europcar. The car itself was satisfactory and it was not until I returned the car about 10 days later that my problems began.
After returning to the US I saw charges on my credit card that did not correspond to what I was roughly expecting. Somehow the charges seemed to be somewhere in the area of 150 to 200 Euro higher. I called Europcar and was told I had been assessed a charge at dropoff the vehicle for 150 Euro for a bulging tire!
At the time of vehile these are the facts: The Europcar representative physically went out to the car to inspect it herself and upon her return I was informed by her that all was good. She printed out some final documents for me to sign which were time stamped 0639AM and none of which indicated any problem with the vehicle at all. I signed the forms and made my way to the terminal to catch my flight.
During my call to inquire to Europcar about my charges I was informed that the "problem" with the tire was discovered and my credit card charged the 150 Euro for tire damage at 0640AM! What makes this even more suspect is the fact that I was still at the car rental desk at 0640 AM as I and my daughter had to await the shuttle bus to take us to the terminal.
I made my concerns and the above facts known the Europcar representative. Several days later I received an email informing me that since "normal procedures" were not followed I was not going to be charged for the alleged bulging tire.
I find this whole situation highly questionable to say the least. I cannot escape the suspicion that Europcar intentionally made this questionable charge in the hopes I would not notice it. It makes me wonder how many others out there may have falled prey to this scam and did not notice just as Europcar would hope.
I would urge others to not use the services of Europcar or in the alternative, to scrutinize their charges for their rental at the earliest possible opportunity. Since an unfounded situation I had with Dollar Rent a Car in Oakland CA several years ago, I have been making it a habit of taking four corner photos of my rental vehicle upon pick up and shortly before drop off. I know it sounds crazy but had it come to it in this instance I had at my disposal photographs showing clearly no bulge in any of the four tires. All of which just makes Europcar's actions and intentions in this case even more highly suspect.
KM
New York, NY
After returning to the US I saw charges on my credit card that did not correspond to what I was roughly expecting. Somehow the charges seemed to be somewhere in the area of 150 to 200 Euro higher. I called Europcar and was told I had been assessed a charge at dropoff the vehicle for 150 Euro for a bulging tire!
At the time of vehile these are the facts: The Europcar representative physically went out to the car to inspect it herself and upon her return I was informed by her that all was good. She printed out some final documents for me to sign which were time stamped 0639AM and none of which indicated any problem with the vehicle at all. I signed the forms and made my way to the terminal to catch my flight.
During my call to inquire to Europcar about my charges I was informed that the "problem" with the tire was discovered and my credit card charged the 150 Euro for tire damage at 0640AM! What makes this even more suspect is the fact that I was still at the car rental desk at 0640 AM as I and my daughter had to await the shuttle bus to take us to the terminal.
I made my concerns and the above facts known the Europcar representative. Several days later I received an email informing me that since "normal procedures" were not followed I was not going to be charged for the alleged bulging tire.
I find this whole situation highly questionable to say the least. I cannot escape the suspicion that Europcar intentionally made this questionable charge in the hopes I would not notice it. It makes me wonder how many others out there may have falled prey to this scam and did not notice just as Europcar would hope.
I would urge others to not use the services of Europcar or in the alternative, to scrutinize their charges for their rental at the earliest possible opportunity. Since an unfounded situation I had with Dollar Rent a Car in Oakland CA several years ago, I have been making it a habit of taking four corner photos of my rental vehicle upon pick up and shortly before drop off. I know it sounds crazy but had it come to it in this instance I had at my disposal photographs showing clearly no bulge in any of the four tires. All of which just makes Europcar's actions and intentions in this case even more highly suspect.
KM
New York, NY
Comments
we received came from Europcar Barking in East Ham London, Uk. I rented the car to make a trip to the airport. I specified that i needed the car to be there by latest 5pm but was advised on the phone that the car would generally arrive an hour earlier and the driver had to be home to collect it hence we made our booking for 5.30pm on advice that it should be with us up to an hour before that and if not latest 5.30pm. At noon on the day we received a phone call saying that if we did not come into a branch and submit our utility bills for ID the booking would not take place. (no mention of this when i made the booking a day earlier) We complied anyhow, took time out at lunch and went to the local office. Despite all of this someone rings us at 4pm and shouts at my husband for some mistake of their own and then rings back to tell us that the car was going to be late by 30mins and now arrive at 6pm. This is not good when you're trying to get across from East London to Heathrow airport to catch a flight. However the car arrived albeit late and we were pleased that it was a new car and glad it all worked out. We only had the rental until 10am next day so you could call it an overnight rental. The car had no damage to it on return and it was checked off by the person who picked it up from Europcar as well as the concierge in our building. To my absolute amazement my husband was billed £250 and £350 the same day the car was returned. we were not informed at any point whatsoever of any damage to the car or that payment was going to be taken. We were billed in total £600 for nothing! within a few short hours of returning the car, very much like what the gentleman above experienced. We phoned Europcar customer services who seemed quite concerned and advised us that the matter would be investigated and that it would be done within 7 working days. I did not expect this from a company as large as Europcar. DO NOT USE THEM EVER AGAIN.
I had booked through Cartrawler. We picked up the car with Europcar. The rental amount was on my statement from Cartrawler, but there was an addtional amount of $181.25 oddly only in Canadian dollars (no British pound exchange)from Europcar.
I called Cartrawler. They said they had nothing to do with the addtional amount, but would contact Europcar on my behalf and get back to me the next morning. That was July 10, 2011. I still have heard nothing. I did call Europcar the next day and got an email reply to my query July 22, 2011 saying they had overcharged an extra rental day and would apply a refund of 45 pounds to my visa in the next 10 days. The difference was for insurance. I bought the full insurance package option when I booked with Cartrawler. The agent apparently made notes in the file when we returned the vehicle about the insurance. I never spoke to the agent nor was there ever a discussion about insurance. Waht are they trying to pull? My return email asked that they refund the full amount. It's been two weeks and I've not had a reply.
I believe, from all the complaints I have seen on various web sites, that Cartrawler and Europcar are open to act with complete impropriety once they have access to your visa card. It seems there are all kinds of these improprieties going on with so many rentals. Arbitrarily taking funds in addition to the agreed amount could be viewed as an act of fraud.
I've spent the best part of today looking for an email address for Cartrawler as I wanted to cc them to my follow-up with Europcar. Why do they make it so difficult to reach them by email. Why don't they want to be available to their customers?
I'll share what I've found. customercare@cartrawler.com
So I'll keep following up and hope they refund my visa the full amount.
Avoid Cartrawler and Europcar if you can. Save yourself some grief.
Their websites brag about all the awards they've won. It makes me wonder what for.
Wish me luck....
All was well until I returned to our Paris area hotel several days after my wife dropped off the car and I noticed a 31 euro charge on the invoice for an additional driver. We were still in France so we went to the Europcar rental office where my wife returned the car and I explained to the agent that I had not even seen the car, much less driven it, and that my wife had been the only driver. The agent assured me that it would be taken care of and that I would receive credit.
After returning back home to the USA I waited two weeks and emailed Europcar, asking where my credit was. They rescinded the agent's promise for the credit and said that since the car had been rented using my credit card and driven by someone else it constituted an additional driver. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company and am letting them handle it from here.
Also, two days after my wife returned the car another Europcar charge of 25 euros appeared on my credit card statement for an unexplained reason. I emailed Europcar and they said it was an administrative fee for a traffic violation during the rental period. They said the local authorities would be mailing us the actual citation that we would still have to pay.
My wife says she is not aware of any violation that she committed and that she says she certainly was not stopped for anything. We have not received anything from the French authorities and it has been almost 4 weeks since returning the rental car. I will wait until a month has passed and then file a dispute with my credit card company over this new charge.
I find it highly unusual that the French officials supposedly notified Europcar so quickly and they in turn charged my credit card within 2 days of returning the car but yet I have not received any citation in the mail after nearly 4 weeks. If Europcar thinks they can do whatever they please and get away with it once a customer has returned home thousands of miles away they are mistaken. It's not so much the money, it's the principle of the matter here.
I will be renting from Avis on our next trip to France. Their counter is close to the Europcar counter at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. While I was standing in line as the Europcar agent fumbled around with the ONE person ahead of me for over 20 minutes I watched Avis process 3 customers through and out the door.
Never, Never rent a car at Europcar is my advise to everyone.