I hired a large van to move some items all in all around 30miles. I needed it on a Saturday and this was the only company with availability. I booked it on the Thursday beforehand. Booked the van from 10:00am-22:00pm on Saturday and was charged £71.45 which I thought was fairly reasonable. Noticed when booking that a charge would be added after as I would be returning the van out of hours. I called Europcar to ask how much this charge would be and was told £20. I asked for this info to be emailed to me in case they tried to charge more later. They said they couldn't provide this info in writing which made me nervous but I needed to go ahead with the booking. The next day (Friday) I had a phone call from them saying that the van I had booked was not available but they could offer me a smaller one. I declined as had to move a sofa. They said it was OK and they would make sure the van was available for my booking the next day. Saturday we arrived at Europcar at 10am but there was nowhere to park at all - it was a tiny site with cars/vans everywhere. I ended up dropping off my partner and parking at the shop down the street. He was waiting for about 15 minutes till he got served and was told the van wasn't ready. He had already checked in online but they wanted all of his details again. Clearly they needed to waste time as the van wasn't ready. They asked for the payment card so I had to go back and provide this, they made a comment to my partner saying something along the lines of 'we will cancel this whole thing off until she gets here and then start again' - my partner said 'no that is not necessary she is parked 30 seconds away - keep it on the screen she will be here now'. I arrived and they took all of my details and tried to sell me insurance. I said that the basic will be fine as we are travelling very local. They proceeded to try and scaremonger me into taking the insurance but I said no. At this point it was about 11am and they were cleaning the van. I said that I want a discount as the van wasn't ready 1 hour after my booking time. They said as a gesture of goodwill that I could have the van until the following day. I said this is no use to me, I am doing 1 trip - I want you to waive the £20 key drop-off out of hours fee and they said they would 'try'. So far, I haven't been charged this but wouldn't be surprised if it comes out of my account in the next few days. Would not recommend at all. Problem at every stage. Should have read reviews before booking. Even if you're in dire need I would go elsewhere.
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