I was a loyal Europcar customer of approx 15 years but that meant absolutely nothing on the 29th June when I tried to pick up my pre-booked and paid for car. Europcar was quite happy to take £3000 for a 6 week hire and shortly after booking the car I received an email from Europcar asking me to complete a soft credit check which I failed. Instead of cancelling my booking immediately and issuing me a refund the Europcar online Chat rep instructed me to present myself for the hire and "not to worry" as I had a clean license and history with Europcar. I presented myself to the Manchester Airport check-in desk (after travelling for 24 hours) and once again failed the soft check. I tried to explain to the manager the instructions I had been given online and it simply went in one ear and out the other. Europcar would have been quite happy to see me and my family stranded at Manchester Airport with no means of onward transport to our final destination. Luckily, Avis came to the rescue and I was able to book a vehicle; however, it did cost me an additional £1000. I contacted Europcar Customer Care (lol) only to receive the standard generic copy-and-paste reply.