Europcar, Hatfield really gives bad service

I have received a courtesy car from my insurance after I have been in a accident with my car. The courtesy car was hired from Europcar. When I collected the car, I had to pay a deposit of R2500 cash. I was told that I will get the money back if I bring the car back with a full tank of petrol. I was also told that I will get the deposit back within a period of 7-10 working days after taking the car back.

As it is now 10 working days since I have returned the car, I phoned them to find out when I can expect my deposit back. The first person I talk to obviously has no idea what I am asking. While she tries to figure this out, she keeps on talking very loudly to herself over the phone. She subsequently tells me that there in an invoice in my name. When I ask her what this means, I get transferred to someone else.

The second person I talk to cannot find my name in their system. He says that my ID number belongs to an unknown man (I am a woman). When I tell him that he has probably typed it in incorrectly, he ignores my suggestion and tells me that that is what the system says. This is when I get angry and tell him to fix it. So he hangs up on me.

When I phone back again, I request to speak to a manager. Only to be informed that all the managers have gone home since it is after 16:00. I thus took the chance and made the same request to the third person I spoke to. He says that Europcar is holding the deposit back since I have damaged the car. I have not received any of this information in writing. They did not, at any stage, contacted me to inform me of this. No, they wait for me to contact them. Perhaps they have hoped that I will forget about the deposit, I don't know.

Anyway, when I tell him that I need this information in writing, he tells me that I must phone another number. By this time, I was thoroughly tired of Europcar. I tell him that he can contact his colleagues and get the information in writing. He responded by accusing me of being very rude. That is when I hung up the phone and decided to rather write on Hellopeter.

I have dealt with bad car hire companies before, but Europcar in Hatfield, Pretoria, takes the cake. I will probably have to except that I will never get my deposit back as they will always have some kind of excuse not to pay it back.