Europcar ******* and disrespectful service.

After having a breakdown in Graaff Reinet my wife and I had to rent a car to get back to Pretoria. After an internet search I found a Europcar in the small town where we went and rented a car.

It took an hour to get things sorted on that side but that's not really the issue. Its a small town and we understand that the pace there will be a little slower.

We drive in one stretch through to Pretoria where we arrive late at night and I decide to take the car in to the Hatfield Branch the next day before 10h30. I was told if i go over 24h I will be charged for the full 2 days.

I stop at the Hatfield branch in time to hand the car in and this is where Europcar's unbelievably poor service and disrespect towards their customers started.

The man checking the polo for damage, he opens the boot and shoves his hand forcefully straight through the little hatchback's boot privacy cover. He then looks at me and said "this is broken". To which i rep**** "yes, i just saw tou brake it". I told him i refuse to pay extra because i saw him brake the thing. I knew what was going on so i immediately phoned the head office to relay the story to management. This did very little to help the situation

After a few minutes of the gentleman denying he broke the cover, his friends/***orkers started coming to join the argument. They started claiming that they saw the whole thing and that I was looking away and chatting on my phone so couldn't possibly have seen him doing anyone of the sort. They said i was clearly lying.

After about 15min of arguing, I saw there were security cameras on the area. I then demanded to see the footage to prove my case.

I was told that I was not allowed to enter the camera room and they refused that I see the footage. I was told they would go in and take video with their cellphone and show me. This sounded very fishy to me

After about 15min the guy returns to the me and tell me that unfortunately the camera deletes all the footage taken at 1min intervals so there is unfortunately no way to see anything. All the footage is conveniently gone. But its ok he said, he will make a plan and not charge me for the broken cover.

After having my blood pressure up for an hour throughout this whole ordeal i decided to let it go. I knew he was lying, he knew I knew he was lying and we left it at that. I handed the car in and left

A day later I received an invoice from Europcar to see that I was fortunately not charged for the boot cover.

I was however charged for a full extra day of renting the car. Even though I arrived on time to hand the car in, I first had to be accused of damaging the vehicle, be called a **** and argue for an hour to disprove these claims and prove that the gentleman receiving the vehicle actually broke the boot cover. This meant that the vehicle was checked in after this whole story which made the check-in run 15min over the 24h

This was the most unpleasant experience that I have had with ANY business.

I will never use this company again and would strongly recommend to anyone wanting to rent a vehicle to consider any other company. Save yourself the headaches and save your money