Europcar - Athens Syngrou Avenue Information, Car hire Instructions & Policies

1. When I arrived at the premises of Europcar in Athens to get the car, they asked me to block an amount of deposit 10 times the amount indicated in my contract (3000 euros instead of 300 euros). I did not have 3000 euros available on my credit card. Then they asked 5 times the indicated deposit amount (1500 euros) but, at the same time, I had to pay 50 euros more for the rental than the 88 euros indicated in my contract (138 euros instead of 88 euros). This is clearly a breach of contract. I had no means to rent another car, I was with children and this was our last day of holiday so I had to accept it. 2. The car I got was in a rather poor state, full of scratches. 3. After returning the car without any problem, they did not unblock the deposit of 1500 euros from my credit card for 3 weeks. I called them twice, to no avail. A lady at the client service assured me both times that her colleagues most certainly had done all the necessary to unblock the deposit and that it was probably my bank's fault if it was still unblocked. Then I called my bank with which I have never had any such problem (and I rent cars often). Europcar had never unblocked the deposit. My bank did it for me since it was not claimed for 3 weeks.

I chose to pick up the car at 9 PM because my mom and husband’s flight lands at 10:40 PM. By renting the car, I can pick them up from the airport and self-drive around Athens for the next two days. I arrived at the car rental agency on time and was told that my “UnionPay-MasterCard” or “UnionPay-Visa” dual-channel cards were not accepted and they only accepted single brand cards. However, the rental voucher I had did not contain such information. The clerk mentioned that if I rented the car directly from them, I wouldn’t need to provide a single brand credit card for security, but through the platform, I did. I tried to explain that my rental voucher did not mention “single brand” credit cards, and it wasn’t my fault. The clerk, eager to finish work, shouted at me and even threatened to call the police. I told him that I wasn't afraid of the police as I hadn't done anything wrong, but I couldn't pick up the car and didn’t know how to handle my subsequent plans. In the end, the police didn’t come. Our trip abroad was for twenty days and planning took two months. Because of the rental issue, our three-day itinerary was disrupted. Originally, I planned to pick up my family from the airport with the car, but the 10:40 PM flight landed and we reached our hotel at 2 AM. Our next locations had to be skipped. For the next two days, there was a massive strike in Athens, and all city buses ceased operations. We had to walk everywhere, including my 70-year-old mother. I contacted the car rental customer service, and they said there was a pop-up message indicating “single brand.” I have no recollection of such a pop-up; maybe I didn't see it, or I saw it but didn’t understand “single brand.” Regardless, such a fleeting pop-up is not a reliable contract element. Important information conveyed via an untraceable pop-up cannot ensure the client receives it. Isn't it too hasty to push all the responsibility to the customer? The agreed-upon document was the rental voucher, which didn’t mention such a condition. Moreover, after being told by your customer service to carefully read the terms, I scrutinized them and placed a second order 89635386. When I went to pick up the car the next evening, the same issue arose, and I was refused for the same reason. This proves your system doesn’t provide correct information. All the companies on your platform are actually managed by the same firm, and the clerk angrily told me they had already explained everything to me the previous day. Am I foolish enough to go back to the same place for the second night and be humiliated for the same reason? Your company handling issues by sending a few emails from the office doesn’t comprehend my experience of being shouted at and driven away in a foreign country at night. Have you considered our efforts to reschedule our itinerary and hotel bookings?

Returning the car costs 35 euros!

Nothing

The car was amazing, it’s my first time in the last years that I ordered a car and I really received the car that I booked