Dear All,

I had a discussion with David Murdoch a representative of AutoEurope.

He personally has looked into my issues and when we spoke we disagreed about certain things.

Although I didn't get the complete resolution I was looking for, I feel it shows a better level of service

when something goes wrong and a company are prepared to deal with it, than when all goes smoothly

in the first place. So kudos to David murdoch for not dodging the issues.

My only caveat is that I had to bring this to a public forum to make things happen.

Kindest regards

James

Dear Mr Munday,

Thank you for your patience and for the time that you gave me to research and follow up on your complaint. I greatly appreciate you giving us the opportunity to review this with you.

As discussed, having researched and identified line by line the items on the invoice for damages, I cannot directly fault Sicily By Car for the charges that they applied to your credit card however I have noted your concerns with regards the cleanliness of the exterior of your vehicle when you picked up the car and that they failed to offer you the option of purchasing additional insurance prior to the collection of your vehicle. I will be following up on both of these points with Sicily By Car.

Having been lucky enough to have never lost or had stolen all of my personal posessions whilst in another country, I can only empathise with your situation and hope that you never have another experience like that in the future. I would again like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond and for the pleasant conversation today. I hope that my gesture might encourage you to give us another chance to assist you with your car rental requirements in the future.

Kind regards,

David

www.auto-europe.co.uk

Dear James,

I am already searching for the form that you submitted and your email is being watched for.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Best regards,

David

Dear David,

Thank you for your apology, however your previous post does not indicate that you were trying to solve my dispute. I used the link in your previous post, filled in all the details and indicated it was for your attention. I have never received a reply.

Your current posting is appreciated, it's interesting that this time you have given a different email, to which I will send the details of my experience so far.

I will gladly post a favourable response if concrete action is taken or if you prove me completely wrong or misguided. So far everything is window dressing.

Kindest regards

James

Dear James,

My sincere apologies if you feel that I was implying that you were confused. This was not my intention in any way. Auto Europe is a car rental broker working with many car rental companies all over the world, from your response today I now know that you did rent your car via Auto Europe and that we contracted your rental with Autoeuropa in Italy. My point in the previous response was that Auto Europe and Autoeuropa are not the same company nor management (which is a very common mis-conception) and have no affiliation other than that of supplier and client. I am sorry that I was not clear originally.

Again I would like to extend my offer of looking into your case personally but unfortunately I am unable to do so when the only information available to me at this stage is that your christian name is James and that you had a rental via us in Olbia with Sicily by Car. Please forward all of the correspondance that you have had with us to csATauto-europe.co.uk with the subject "ATTENTION: David Murdoch - please forward".

As you can see, I am absolutely not trying to "pass the buck" - I am trying to help you resolve your issue. It is also very important for me to ensure that you and all our clients are treated fairly and reasonably by the car rental companies that we have contracted with and that the quality of service provided by our partner to you is what we would expect to receive ourselves. If every client was unhappy and never used our services again after a bad experience the first time, then we would have been out of business long ago (we have been in business for more than 50 years). I need to follow up on your case to protect you as an individual as well as future clients and the reputation of Auto Europe.

It is true that Auto Europe's head office is in the US and that we have staff, call centres etc in 5 continents in countries including the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. We are a global company however we really do care about each and every client as I believe these responses to your postings illustrate.

Please send the email requested above and I will ensure that your concerns are handled promptly.

Kind regards,

David

Hi All,

The situation with autoeurope just gets worse and worse.

As you can see from the above response by David Murdoch they imply I am confused and indicate no links between autoeurope and autoeuropa. However I have the documentation to show that I ordered a car from autoeurope and it was supplied by autoeuropa. As a customer how much more of a link can there be.

I ended up dealing with a branch of autoeurope that is based in america. They now say they can't deal with my issues and have passed me onto autoeurope in the uk, and also indicated that I should deal with autoeuropa. I call this avoidance and buck passing. As a customer I should only have to deal with one person and not be bounced around to different department, countries and companies.

Also I was charged 810 euros +VAT for the repairs I dispute, yet I got a quote from a fiat main dealer (it was a fiat car) for 710 euros including VAT. It was when I brought this to the attention of autoeurope (usa) that all the avoidance began.

So be aware that apart from autoeurope not being the supplier of your car, they are also split across at least two continents and when problems arise the parent (usa) passes you onto its siblings (europe) or even an individual supplier (autoeuropa).

Basically their a nightmare - avoid like the plague.

Yours

James

Hello James,

My name is David Murdoch and I am responsible for supplier relations and contracting at Auto Europe.

I see that Peter has offered his help with your complaint. I would also like to look at your case if indeed you made your booking with Auto Europe.

Please be aware however that Auto Europe and Auto Europa (a car rental company in Italy) are not related at all. Auto Europa Italy (also known as Sicily By Car) are a car rental company and there is no tie between our two companies either legally or financially however the names are very similar (the only difference being the e or a as the last letter in the company name) so I can understand possible confusion.

If you did make your booking with us, please fill in the form at https://www.auto-europe.co.uk/customerservice.cfm, make note of my name in the comments field and I will be happy to look into your case in more detail in consultation with the supplier in Italy that your rental was serviced by.

Kind regards,

David

Hi James

I'm the Car Hire expert here at travelsupermarket.com so if you would like to mail me your details (booking refs time/date of rental etc) I can pass them on to autoeurope to get in touch with you directly to look in to this.

My email is peter.edwards @ travelsupermarket.com (remove the spaces around @)

Many Thanks

Pete

Hi All,

Just to let you know I had a terrible experience with autoeuope car hire in Olbia, Sardinia.

Terrible service, an badly cleaned car, uninterested staff. Then the car was broken into and all my belongongs were stolen. Again uninterested staff, a 1200 Euro execess and a £667 repair bill for a scratched door. The lock facia was damaged, but the lock and electronics still worked, but it looks like they charged me for a new door, new lock and new electronics. I am not happy, don't let them do it to you.

Regards

James.