europcar.ch

Fraudulent schemes to attempt to extract money from the customer- NEVER USE EUROPCAR GENEVA AIRPORT!

Fraudulent schemes to attempt to extort money out of the driver! Atrocious company! Customer service terrible. After stupidly declaring this was the first time we had rented a hire car, the airport desk attendant gleamed with joy. There was a problem with our rental- the car we had rented was no longer available- he would have to ring ahead to the garage to arrange. A few minutes later miraculously the exact car we had pre booked was available. We walked over to the garage in Geneva airport. The desk attendant said Sign this document here, keys were slid across the desk to my husband- it’s in car space number 34. No attempt was made to outline he was signing for an invoice listing current damage. On leaving the airport car park it was noticed the windscreen was cracked and there was a big scratch across the bonnet. Four adults in the car all noted this damage on taking the car wondering how it could have happened. On return the original damage list was then outlined to my husband and he was blamed for the damage. A big dispute ensued. He refused to sign the form to accept responsibility for the damage- of which they automatically took the £350 deposit for and an administration fee without authorisation. Then a week or 2 later they attempted to take £1900 from his credit card- which was stopped by the credit card company- luckily for us. We then in retrospect received an extortionate and in reasonable invoice quote written in German for damage to a different vehicle that we didn’t even rent. We translated the invoice We had also taken second party insurance for the car but couldn’t fraudulently claim as we hadn’t damaged the car. We complained and contested the damage via the uk EUROPCAR. We were sent a different invoice for a car with correct registration for £1600.My husband disputed the damage claim again with europcar uk. EUROPCAR Switzerland did not reply and have sent it onto a debt collection agency of which my husband tried to phone the debt collection office in Switzerland repeatedly to get no answer. They have now passed it onto a uk debt collection branch 2 years later, that are chasing my husband for the money for damage we never in any way accepted responsibility for, and the dispute was ever actually concluded to be dealt with in a reasonable way by EUROPCAR. You learn by your mistakes!!Always walk round the car pointing out damage, get them to list it before leaving the garage. Take photos and videos of the car and the assistant as proof who has dealt with you. Never admit you have never hired a car before-he walked into it hook line and sinker! EUROPCAR are crooks and the team obviously are paid bonuses for any money they can extort from the customers. Hideous business ethics.#helpUKWatchdog required!!

Date of experience: Dec 28, 2020