Scapegoat Customer

Hello Peter, I am had such a horrible experience with Europcar King Shaka International Airport. I rented a car from 06th to 08th September 2019. On the 06th September, I collected the car at 22:47 and upon taking the vehicle we inspected with their agent. The windscreen had a chip that was visible from far of which I mentioned it to the agent and he assured me that it was marked in the inspection sheet. Fast forward to the 08th September when I returned the car, another inspector pointed out that there was a chip and it was not marked in the sheet. I told him that the gentleman that was assisting me assured me that is was marked but this "new" inspector pointed out that on the sheet it was marked as "Pitts" of which it has a completely different meaning from the chip(s). Now I was convinced to sign the incident form and I refused because I pointed this chip out during collection. After a long chat with the new inspector, I eventually wrote my statement in that incident form but he tried to trick me saying I am signing for my statement. I read what the clause was saying and it meant that if I sign, I am confirming that I am liable for damages. I then refused to sign that and signed next to the statement I wrote which outlined the sequence of events on the night of the 06th September. Europcar then held my deposit for 7 days eventually on the 16th of September they sent me the statement with the following debits from my deposit R1495.00 (Damage Liability-Super) and further R975.00 and a “Claim Admin Fee”. This is a total of R2470.00 that which was later followed by the letter explaining that new windscreen was procured (without engaging with me). There is something ***** here. I am exploited by Europcar and it’s now my word against theirs but they have an upper hand since they have my deposit. Their explanation that I was responsible for damages was very lame and patronising and read like this “Prior to any rental all vehicles pass through stringent quality checks by quality controllers before being deployed to various branches. Please find attached check sheet which show no indication of the damage being present prior to your rental.” Clearly this did not happen as they are saying. That attached document is written “Pits” which were said to be marked as a chip by their agent. I am greatly disappointed by this and will like an intervention to get my money back.

Unhappy Customer Sandile Madlala ***