Europcar Scamming Customers in France?
Complaint
TedEbear
Country: United States
I posted this as a reply to a Europcar complaint by someone else but I think it should have its own section so here it is.
I rented through Europcar in 08/2011 while in France. I used my credit card over the Internet many months before then to reserve it and I listed my wife as the driver. The car was for her use while I was off doing a multiple day bicycle ride across France.
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 They rescinded the agent's promise for the credit and said that since the car had been rented using my credit card and driven by someone else it constituted an additional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.
I rented through Europcar in 08/2011 while in France. I used my credit card over the Internet many months before then to reserve it and I listed my wife as the driver. The car was for her use while I was off doing a multiple day bicycle ride across France.
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.
Comments
Amex reverse the charges and I still waiting for trafic fine from the Milan Police.
SHAME on you Europacar you are nothing more than a pack of EUROPEANS thieves.
Thank you
Justin are you still interested in looking into this further.
I queried the VISA payment with my card company and it has been removed, they cancelled my card and have issues me a new one which I dont mind, too many companies get your card details and can charge them at will should they desire.
Its far too easy to just take money from people in this way, they should need an authorization code or verified by VISA sequence to take payment after the event if they want more money.
I did get any parking tickets or speeding fines that Im aware of, the car was full of fuel upon return so it seems Europcar just fancied a bit more money off me.
Totally unacceptable, even if the fines are real (which I'm still not 100% sure of) that amount of money for admin fee is out of order!