![\"Europcar\"](\"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/wp-content\/\/2015\/02\/Europcar.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMarvellous.<\/p>\n
I clicked on the link to the Europecar website, selected the type of van I needed, when I wanted it from, and how long I needed it, and ran a search.<\/p>\n
The Europcar website said ‘Yes, we’ve got one of those, it will cost you this much to rent for 24 hours’.<\/p>\n
Marvellous again.<\/p>\n
I called the 0371 telephone number that the website offered me.<\/p>\n
I tried not to let my heart sink when I actually couldn’t understand what the person who answered my call said.<\/p>\n
I carried on regardless.<\/p>\n
Me: Hello. I would like to book this van, and pick it up from your Rugby depot in about two hours time<\/p>\n
Europcar: I’m sorry sir, could you spell that?<\/p>\n
What?<\/p>\n
Spell the whole fucking sentence?<\/p>\n
Me: No. It’s a very long sentence and I have no intention of spelling every word. I have searched your website for a van of this size. That I want to hire. From your Rugby depot. Today. And return it tomorrow. The website says you have one available. I would like to confirm this.<\/p>\n
Europcar: One moment please Sir. I shall check our systems for you.<\/p>\n
[pause]<\/p>\n
Europcar: Yes Sir, there is a van of that type available in our Rugby depot. I shall book it for you.<\/p>\n
Hooray.<\/p>\n
Me: I’ll get down to your Rugby depot in about an hour and a half to pick it up.<\/p>\n
Fast forward a little under ninety minutes.<\/p>\n
My hired taxi arrived and transported me down to the Europcar office. I hired a taxi because I didn’t want to leave my car outside the Europcar office overnight.<\/p>\n
I rocked up to Europcar.<\/p>\n
No actual public-facing reception as you or I would recognise it.<\/p>\n
Very strange.<\/p>\n
Oh sure, there was a sign that said ‘If reception is closed, please ring the bell’.<\/p>\n
But there wasn’t actually any reception.<\/p>\n
Just a door in to an office-type building.<\/p>\n
The door was locked.<\/p>\n
I had a choice of bell-pushes.<\/p>\n
I pushed them all.<\/p>\n
A couple of minutes later a chap in a Europcar uniform unlocked the door.<\/p>\n
Me: I’m looking for Europcar reception?<\/p>\n
Him: That’s me.<\/p>\n
Me: I’ve spoken to your call centre. I’ve come down to pick up a van that I want to hire for 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Him: Ah. We don’t have one.<\/p>\n
Me: *face*<\/p>\n
Him: I’ve got a couple, but they’re going straight out in the morning. When do you want to bring it back?<\/p>\n
Me: Tomorrow lunchtime.<\/p>\n
Him: I’m sorry, I’ve got nothing available.<\/p>\n
Me: But I’ve spoken to your call centre about this.<\/p>\n
Him: Yes, they don’t seem to understand how it works.<\/p>\n
Me: Guess how many times I’m going to use Europcar in the future?<\/p>\n
Him: I’m sorry.<\/p>\n
I walked away thinking dark thoughts about call centres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hours away from having to begin transporting things from A to B, and thence to C, and having an incomplete towing assembly to not do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}