This past March we selected and prepaid for a compact car with a standard transmission with Europcar through Autoeurope. We have done this for years and never had a problem until last month. When we went to retrieve our car the young lady behind the desk disregarded my prepaid voucher, upgraded us to an automatic Audi A3, and charged us for the upgrade. I have read several warning posts in online bulletin boards concerning Europcar and the Stazione Termini pick-up location, but paid no attention because we have always received excellent service from this location. They were extremely slow and we were in a hurry. I signed the contract and they gave me a copy. I didn’t realize they gave me a copy without any signatures until a few days later. I received an email from my credit card company indicating a new charge from Europcar. It was then we discovered the upgrade charges. I called Autoeurope, explained the situation, and they advised me to wait until we return home to file a complaint if the charge did not disappear. Well, it didn’t disappear so we filed a complaint with Autoeurope. We also disputed the charge on our credit card, but have since removed it because we didn’t want to slow the Autoeurope process. . The issue hasn’t been resolved, but next year we won’t be picking up our car from Stazione Termini. I take responsibility for my dumbness for not catching this scam at the station, so I hope this will alert people to take their car from another location.
Buon viaggio,
Good afternoon everyone,
Ten minutes ago I received an email from Autoeurope indicating Europcar has agreed to refund the upgrade charge, which caused me to submit this post. The message stated Autoeurope successfully negotiated a full refund and it will appear on my credit card in a day or two.
Avete un buonagiornata a tutti…
buon viaggio,
We’ve taken cars from Stazione Termini with Europcar so many times without incident I never gave it a second thought. Live and learn! This was also posted on Rick Steves and Fodor’s board and some posters basically told me how stupid I was. I guess they never have traveling problems and live a perfect life. So, now we’ll pick up the car from a different location in Roma.
Sorry to hear about your experience, but it’s a good note of warning. As a rule I dislike picking up rentals in big cities. Usually I leave from airports. Some car rental vendors are very pleasant and low pressure. And then others are pushy and trying to upsell everyone.
Good for you! Glad you spoke up and thanks for making us aware of this.