You almost ruined our holiday.

I'm contacting you here because I sent you the letter below on your internal customer service channel last week (Monday 2nd October) and I haven't heard from you, terrible customer service.

Dear Europcar Management,

Lack of clarity when speaking to both your call-centre and your branch staff nearly ruined an entire holiday.

My wife and I had planned a 8 day camping trip to Mozambique and our car is not suited to the sandy roads. I had a look at your website and saw the HYUNDAI TUCSON 2.0 PREMIUM A/T (OR SIMILAR) which looked perfect. To make sure I called your service center at ********** 000 on the 24th of August to ensure that the car I was about to book has 4X4 and that I can take it over the border. The agent assured me that yes, the car is a 4X4 and that you would issue a Cross-Border letter at the branch when I picked up the car. So far everything looked sorted and I told my wife that we're all good for our Holiday. Keep in mind that this was a full two weeks before we were going to depart so I had enough time at that point to make other arrangements.

On the 4th of September I booked the car (***) for pickup on the 6th. At around 08:30 on the 6th I called the Sandton Sun branch to make sure that they have the right car in the pool. I spoke to your agent and he assured me that he's requested the vehicle from the pool but at this point there was already a miscommunication because he told me the class of vehicle that I had booked doesn't have 4x4. I made it clear that I had booked the vehicle with that being a qualifying criteria and to his credit he really went out of his way to help. I spoke to the Sandton branch at various points during the day to check in on progress. All the while I'm telling my wife that everything is fine, Europcar have given me absolute assurance that they can help and that we'll be able to leave early the next day.

At 16:30, James from your Sandton Branch told me that everything was still ok and that I might have to pick up the car from the Sandton Eye branch because they stay open until late. I happened to be at Fourways Crossing and I saw your branch there. With our whole holiday at stake I think I just needed a person to tell me face to face that everything was fine so I walked in and started talking to the ladies there. I asked how hard it is to get a cross-border letter and if I need anything like Proof of Residence etc... They told me that I need to get a special clearance letter from your Head Office. I called the Sandton branch while standing in your Fourways Crossing branch and gave the phone to the lady behind the counter so she could tell James what she told me. James then said that we should be able to get the letter before your HQ closes at 17:00 and that he'll call me within the next 30mins to give me feedback.

At 17:10 I got a call explaining that they couldn't help. They had tried everything but there simply was no way that they could authorize a 4x4 to go over the border to Mozambique. Your agent was very sorry and he wished he could do something but his hands were tied. As I write this I am reliving that surreal moment and my disbelief. I am not telling you that your policies are wrong, they are obviously there for a reason and that is your prerogative as a business. I am absolutely furious that after giving myself two weeks to arrange transport your lack of clarity now left me with less than 12 hours. Not only that, but what if I had not walked into the Fourways Branch? Would I have found out that night at 20:00 when I went to pick up the car? Or worse, drive all the way to the border and get stopped? Guys, this is unacceptable.

I just sat in my car, I couldn't muster the courage to call my wife and tell her. Organizing the car was my responsibility.

Now I had two options, I could borrow a car or we could take my wife's Suzuki SX4 and hope for the best. I ask whoever is reading this; would you phone a family member or friend at 18:00 on a Wednesday to ask them to meet you at the local police office so that you can take their car for a week?

I decide that we'll take the SX4 and see, now we need to leave half of what we had planned to take and I need a cross border letter from the bank which is closed.

As early as possible the next morning I get the admin sorted and we leave. The Kosi bay border closes at 17:00 and we didn't make it, so we had to stay over in Jozini. On route I get the letter from Standard Bank printed and we make it over the border. We lost a day and damaged the underside of our car but we made the most of a terrible and unnecessary situation.

In summary; I trusted your staff to give me accurate information and ask the right questions. They didn't do either. I truly appreciate that the guys at the Sandton Branch tried helping, what happened was never intentional but all of it could easily have been avoided. We ended up losing a day of our trip, a damaged car, leaving behind camping kit and an enormous amount of stress and anguish.

I am expecting a call from a senior Customer Service representative on ********** 944.