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Customer Services

EUROPCAR

Europcar House

Aldenham Road

WATFORD

WD23 2QQ

I had a problem with car hire in Amsterdam which was pre-booked on-line in the UK with Europcar. 

The details are as outlined in the attached letter which I sent to Europcar on 24 September  addressed to ‘Customer Services’ at the address in Watford which is on their web site. 

I attach a copy of the e-mail concerning my reservation of a VW TOURAN 1.8L or similar – Intermediate Van Automatic Air Conditioning (IVAR). You will see that I made the reservation on June 16, 2007 well ahead of the pick- up date because I wanted to be sure to get this type of vehicle which was particularly suitable for our needs.

I arrived at the pick-up location at 1030 hours on September 8, 2007 in good time to complete the paperwork for the 1100 hours pick-up. I eventually left the office at 1330 hours, 2.5 hours behind schedule for a 600 kilometer journey to our holiday destination.

Firstly I was told that there was no VW TOURAN available; then after much searching around I was told that there was no similar vehicle available either. Eventually I was offered a Mercedes C-class estate but it could not accommodate all our luggage so I had to reject it.

Following much discussion amongst your staff and searching in the computer I was told that there was a VOLVO XC70 automatic available but it would have to be collected from Amsterdam (Schiphol) Airport. A member of staff then went to collect the vehicle but was apparently delayed at Sciphol because there was no-one there to hand the car over.

When the car arrived I saw that it was a 2.5 litre MPV Cross Country vehicle. It was not what I wanted but I felt I was left with no choice other than to accept it because there simply wasn’t anything else available and I did not want to waste any more of our holiday time hanging around a car rental office.

At no time prior to the pick-up had anyone contacted me to say there was a problem with supplying the requested vehicle.

The change of vehicle meant that the cost of fuel for our holiday was significantly more than I had anticipated but I was also disappointed that, despite an early reservation, EUROPCAR was unable to deliver the service I expected.

After three weeks I had heard nothing so I wrote again and this time sent the letter by recorded delivery; it was delivered on 19 October 2007. 

After three weeks I had heard nothing so I wrote again and this time sent the letter by recorded delivery; it was delivered on 19 October 2007. 

After a further two weeks I had still had no communication at all from Europcar so on 1 November 2007 I sent an e-mail via their web site to which I had the following (automated) response, 

‘Thank you for sending us your information.

A Europcar representative will answer you shortly.’ 

Well, it is now the 13 November  and I have still heard nothing whatsoever from Europcar so now, as well as the original complaint, I have another one, their complete failure to respond to my communications. 

What does one do when faced with a wall of silence ?

We contacted Europcar in Watford on behalf of Mr. Parsons and we asked them to look into this complaint without any further delay and we suggested that they contact Mr. Parsons now and settle this matter with him without us having to interfere again.

Europcar responded quite quickly and sent us the following e-mail:

From: Antonietta.Pascale@europcar.com

Date: 16/11/07 11:10:39

To: dh@complaint-shop.co.uk

Subject: Mr Parsons - DHS / KK

I write in response to your letter regarding the above customer. 

Please be assured that we will be in contact with Mr Parsons shortly.

 I have today been contacted by EUROPCAR.

They have apologised both for the original problem and for the delay in responding and they will be making an offer to settle the matter.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter which I believe was instrumental in moving things forward.

Regards

David Parsons

We would like say

to  Toni Pascale and Europcar for sorting out Mr.Parsons Complaint so promptly after we had sent the complaint to them