Europcar customers left waiting for refunds after double-billing blunder

Customers of the car rental firm have hit out at its "shocking" customer service after being charged twice for bookings made on 27 December last year.

Europcar insists refunds will be made "soon" and says it has identified all those affected, but those left out of pocket by the blunder say they feel they haven't been kept up to date.

For full help on what to watch out for when hiring a car, and how to cut the cost, see our Cheap Car Hire guide. 

'It's very poor customer care'

Europcar customer Marie told us she made a booking on 27 December to rent a car at Inverness Airport. She says a second charge came out of her account on 2 January, meaning she paid about £200 instead of £100 for her booking.

She said: "I think it's very poor customer care. They are not keeping me up to date and I have no idea when this refund will be done.

"Some people might be really struggling with this issue."

Other Europcar customers have complained about the situation on social media. Paul Daniel said on Twitter: "Europcar double-charging customers. Customer service shocking. When are refunds due?"

And Katie Gaffney tweeted the company: "Waited over 20 minutes to get through to customer services for a refund request after you charged me twice... Appalling – costing me time and money."

Check if you've been affected

At the moment, Europcar won't tell us exactly how many customers have been affected by the issue, only saying that it's a "small number". But we do know that the issue affects at least some of those who made bookings on 27 December.

Europcar says it's "in the process" of contacting affected customers, so if you were double-charged, you won't necessarily have been contacted yet. If you made a Europcar booking on 27 December, check your bank statements – and if you've been double-charged, contact Europcar to complain.

I was double-charged – when will I get my cash back?

Europcar will only say that customers will "soon" be reimbursed for the double-charging.

If you're affected by the issue and are still waiting to get your cash back, let us know on news@moneysavingexpert.com.

What does Europcar say?

A Europcar spokesperson said: "We clearly identified that an exceptional IT issue occurred on 27 December, generating double-invoicing for some of our customers. This issue has since been fixed.

"We can confirm that all customers who have been charged twice due to this technical issue have been identified and will soon be reimbursed.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers."