Car Hire 3000 / Europcar The Worst Hire Car Companies in the UK

[Storminorman]

Having hired a car through Car Hire 3000 for five weeks, I would like to suggest to all members to avoid booking any form of vehicle through either of the above companies.

 

Not only will you be shouted at when you have a valid complaint over 1200 pounds of credit card overcharge in just one week, but they will pass the buck between the two so you can not get any form of answers or refunds.

 

I have now been waiting for 10 days regarding an over charge and have still not received a refund or a reason for why I was overcharged.

 

Do not use Car Hire 3000 or Europcar

[kwaks]

Chargeback?

[red.ninja13]

I would like to add to this I rented through Holiday Autos from Alamo, which is part of the Europcar/National brand (they are all the same company so why bother with different names!!!!) I was told i would be charged £45 and a £35 one way fee....guess what.... i got charged £45 and £96.80 slight different hay!

 

2-3 weeks after i complained they come back saying as the car was returned 39 minutes late so they have charged me a full days rental!! WTF!! Funny how the guy we returned the car too didnt tell us that at the time!! W****Rs!

 

If anybody has any idea how to take on these vehicle rental theives drop me a line as I have just submitted another email demanding my money, but i dont really have anything to threaten them with apart from telling my friends they suck

[buzby]

I've used HA for a hire from Alamo in the USA with no issues. What country was the hire in? I've known them to give you a 30 minute window on return on fixed weekly or fortnightly hires are holiday irports to allow them a fast turn round for the (usual) inbound flight the hirer is meeting, if you miss this and they have to use a different vehicle they do charge a further day. That said, when it is a one-way rental I've seen up to 90 minutes lee-way, especially if the office is off-airport and you have to hunt it down. The guy accepting the car back wouldn't know of the charge, it is invariably applied centrally. Because your CC is 'open' for 28 days after the hire to enable them to help themselves, your only reall complaint is if they took the money without telling you first. If you only found out via your CC statement and queried it, they've boobed - as they MUST tell you by way of a 'close of rental' statement if you paid up front at the start.

[Storminorman]

Red.ninja,

 

Please record the conversation on the phone I did and as soon as they know you are recording they either put the phone down or get a senior supervisor.

 

However I have still not had a refund of my over payment (not chargeback) CAR HIRE 3000 WHO ARE CRA# AND EUROPA CAR HIRE WHO ARE CRA# are just the worst company in the world to deal with I have written a letter to their customer services of bothe companies and will await the response with baited breath.

 

Please do not book any form or vehicle with either CARHIRE3000 OR EUROPACARHIRE as they both will give you bad service and charge ghost payments off your credit card.

[red.ninja13]

I've used HA for a hire from Alamo in the USA with no issues. What country was the hire in? I've known them to give you a 30 minute window on return on fixed weekly or fortnightly hires are holiday irports to allow them a fast turn round for the (usual) inbound flight the hirer is meeting, if you miss this and they have to use a different vehicle they do charge a further day. That said, when it is a one-way rental I've seen up to 90 minutes lee-way, especially if the office is off-airport and you have to hunt it down. The guy accepting the car back wouldn't know of the charge, it is invariably applied centrally. Because your CC is 'open' for 28 days after the hire to enable them to help themselves, your only reall complaint is if they took the money without telling you first. If you only found out via your CC statement and queried it, they've boobed - as they MUST tell you by way of a 'close of rental' statement if you paid up front at the start.

 

Its in the uk a one way rental from scotland to manchester i was apparently over by 39mins. I entered my pin on a cc machine when i was picking up the car to authorise a £35 one way charge but this was when i picked it up. when i dropped it off i did nothing but drop the car off and go after being told "everythings fine"

 

Red.ninja,

 

Please record the conversation on the phone I did and as soon as they know you are recording they either put the phone down or get a senior supervisor.

 

However I have still not had a refund of my over payment (not chargeback) CAR HIRE 3000 WHO ARE CRA# AND EUROPA CAR HIRE WHO ARE CRA# are just the worst company in the world to deal with I have written a letter to their customer services of bothe companies and will await the response with baited breath.

 

Please do not book any form or vehicle with either CARHIRE3000 OR EUROPACARHIRE as they both will give you bad service and charge ghost payments off your credit card.

 

I actually refuse to phone them as their phone number is expensive and they keep you on hold for hours, i will only communicate via email. The bad thing is Europcar are the same as National and Alamo everything else so you kinda have to use them if you are hiring a car

[michty6]

I have actually used many car and van hire companies in the UK. I can confirm that Europcar are by far the worst.

[Caterthun]

Having hired a car through Car Hire 3000 for five weeks, I would like to suggest to all members to avoid booking any form of vehicle through either of the above companies.

 

Not only will you be shouted at when you have a valid complaint over 1200 pounds of credit card overcharge in just one week, but they will pass the buck between the two so you can not get any form of answers or refunds.

 

I have now been waiting for 10 days regarding an over charge and have still not received a refund or a reason for why I was overcharged.

 

Do not use Car Hire 3000 or Europcar

Agree 100% with the above I have just been ripped off by these people. They do not explain that you are NOT insured if you pay Car Hire 3000 for a car in another country. They then charge you nearly the same amount as the car rental when you collect the car.. Please avoid these two companies. If you make the mistake of going to Eurocar be aware that their staff will NOT explain the hidden charges that they are about to add to your credit card.

[Abigail1234]

I would like to add to this I rented through Holiday Autos from Alamo, which is part of the Europcar/National brand (they are all the same company so why bother with different names!!!!) I was told i would be charged £45 and a £35 one way fee....guess what.... i got charged £45 and £96.80 slight different hay!

 

2-3 weeks after i complained they come back saying as the car was returned 39 minutes late so they have charged me a full days rental!! WTF!! Funny how the guy we returned the car too didnt tell us that at the time!! W****Rs!

 

If anybody has any idea how to take on these vehicle rental theives drop me a line as I have just submitted another email demanding my money, but i dont really have anything to threaten them with apart from telling my friends they suck

 

Hi - Europcar/Alamo/National are part of the same group, they use the 3 different names as they market to different sectors. National for example is the corporate arm where Alamo/Europcar is who you will be booked with for a one off personal hire. I do know that Europcar allow a 30 minute grace slot before they charge you a full extra day. So really they are charging you 1 extra day for the sake of 9 minutes surley as a goodwill gesture they would refund the days rental. When you collected the car did it take you a while to get the car, as if it did you could advise you didnt actually leave the rental station at the time on the sheet due to delays. I do agree though when you returned the car they should have made you aware you were over the agreed dates and that you were subject to an additional fee rather than you finding out at a later date. Good luck and hope you can get this resolved.

[Abigail1234]

When speaking to Europcar Customer Services, they will log a complaint and come back to you with an outcome within a certain number of days (think its a week but dont know for certain). If they come back to you with an outcome that you are not happy with advise you are not happy with the outcome and that you would like to escalate the matter which is the next step. This sometimes just pushes them and rather than taking more time they may agree to refund. Not saying it will definatley work but worth a shot.

[ian graham]

i was charged £53.77 for full tank of fuel when i returned the car full ! they said it was in the terms and conditions that i would be charged for a full tank. I knew i was only going to do 120 miles so would never have agreed to this but what can you do !

[shawad]

I rented a car through with Alamo via Carhire3000 in November 2011. Before returning the car I was confused by the contradiction inT&Cs between Alamo and Carhire3000:

a. Carhire3000 stated:”Fuelshould be paid for on arrival and it is not necessary to refill the tank beforereturning. Refunds are not given for unused fuel.”

b. Alamo stated: “Allcharges are estimate only – subject to change if vehicle not returned tolocation on date and time specified, or if fuel tank is not full at return andfuel service option was not purchased.”

As a client, even if you ignore the Alamo agreement and trust the Carhire3000 agreement, the policy is misleading. “Fuel should be paid for on arrival” implies that it is part of what I have already paid (like it is with many other car rental companies). It is not clear either what is meant by “arrival”, is this arrival to pick up or return?

 

What Carhire3000 did not make clear is that on top of the voucher cost, Alamo would charge a “Mandatory Fuel Service option”. We did not know this and therefore refuelled the car.

I have been unable to see anywhere in Carhire3000’s T&Cs that there is a “Mandatory Fuel Service Options” charge on top of the voucher. In the US at the time, the price to fill our car’s tank was $40, $20 cheaper than then mandatory charge. A month later I noticed that Alamo had charged my credit card. I requested a refund for this through carhire3000, but this was refused. In the end I contacted Alamo directly who agreed to refund my card as I had returned the car with a full tank.

 

If the above happens to you, try contacting the rental company direct.

 

I raised a complaint with Trading Standards as I feel they are misleading customers.

Edited August 27, 2012 by shawad
Poor English on my part.

[Leeda]

Totally agree, never use Car Hire 3000. I was left waiting an hour for a shuttle bus to take me to Gold Car that never arrived despite numerous calls (unanswered) to Gold Car and Car Hire 3000 UK office saying there was nothing they could do. I cancelled the booking and hired from Hertz but Car Hire 3000 still charged me 3 days rental for late cancellation! They didn't turn up!!

Also used them previously - they seem cheap until you collect the car when you are charged for a full tank of fuel at extortionate prices and told to bring it back empty. How can you bring it back empty? There is always some fuel left. Now using Hertz where you get a full tank in the initial rental price and you return it full. Works out much cheaper. Car Hire 3000 advertise themselves as a broker but you can do the work yourself and get a better deal.

[bournemouthjames]

JUST A NOTE, THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR NAME TO Rentalcars.com AVOID THIS COMPANY - ITS THE SAME TERRIBLE SERVICE AS CARHIRE3000. We got stitched up by the insurance policy small print. If you don't have a credit card (we had a debit card), the rental company will not rent you the car unless you pay their excess chard too. - For EuropCar this was an additional 22EUR a day, thus making Carhire3000 comparison price completely false. Would have been cheaper to go direct to the rental company. EuropCar falsely told us this cost would be refunded as we didn't need the Carhire3000 cover. This was a lie. Carhire3000 do not ever refund this cost. Carhire3000 Customer Services were poor and rude when trying to ask them about this issue. Would not use again.

[Matthew hayned]

I have actually used many car and van hire companies in the UK. I can confirm that Europcar are by far the worst.

 

"Why I won't rent from Alamo/National/Europcar again"

 

 

Alamo/National/Europcar ARE TRULY THE WORST CAR HIRE COMPANY IN THE UK

 

I booked online car rental for a week with Alamo and recieved a email confirmation that it would cost £113 for the week. When I arrived at the airport I was old to go to the Europcar desk which was confusing, but apparently they are the same company- indeed the desk displayed all logos.

 

At the desk I was told that my booking was not valid as I booked with Alamo not Europcar (confused? I was!!) and that the car was ready for me but would be £245

 

What a con, ****, rip off. The man at the counter said "your choice, take the car or leave it, I don't care"

 

Never again

[renegadeimp]

And then you could have simply gotten a full chargeback in your credit card.

[OscarTurner]

I too have just been shafted for 65 pounds for damage that was noted on the rental agreement that I signed when I picked the car up. Because of an early flight I had to drop the car back at 4 in the morning and drop the keys into a box outside their office. I have done this before with Europcar. I phoned them when I received their email informing me of the charges for damage and thanking me for using Europcar. The response was well trained but ultimatly fruitless. I received a detailed email with photos of the damage (a scratched wheel) and in turn I informed them, again, that the damage is clearly noted on the rental agreement. I then requested a copy of their copy of the rental agreement.......silence. I can't find any way of getting higher into this shabby organization, it seems their front line are the poor souls who answer our furious calls. The culprits hide behind them basically, in my case, committing fraud and various other unethitical practices to get some extra cash. The crazy thing is I have been using Europcar for over 6 years, not anymore. I mean, why didn't they steal a 1,000 quid or so? Then it would be worth it to lose me......65 quid? Idiots. Since this has happened I have, of course been boring everyone I know with this story, hoping I can can rid myself of the fury I feel, by dumping it on someone else. I was amazed at the number of people I know who have their own Europcar stories! Anyway, never again will I use Europcar and I hope it and all of its shareholders can sleep at night.

Oh, another thing, about 3 years ago their machine would not read my credit card, so they wouldn't give me the car I had already paid for via Easyjet. (It was 10pm, raining and I had my then German girlfriend with me who was most amused by the whole affair) Anyway I went to the next desk, Alamo, and waited for assistance. The same highly trained lady from Europcar came over and served me. She rented me a car when their machine accepted my card. I asked her if she found this situation slightly bizarre. She smiled rather awkwardly and handed me the keys. After much stress, phone calls and life threats Europcar refunded my money...minus 10% booking fee................Great!