A Visit to Italy and How A**s 'Promoted Good Customer Relations'

As a wheelchair user a visit to Italy is impossible without the use of a car!  In 2010 we hired a car from A**s!  We had a rather nice BMW until 8 days in we were unfortunate to have a puncture!  My wife removed the wheelchair from the boot, along with the other stuff needed to make a Disabled Wheelchair User's Life comfortable to drive around the Lago di Como countryside safely, or so we thought!

Lo and Behold, no spare, no jack, no repair kit!  Now I hear you say, why didn't we check before signing for the vehicle [something the Italian Police would have asked as we were paying a considerable fine, or so I am reliably informed by a friendly Italian Police Officer or acquaintance]!  Passersby of the Italian persuasion all offered assistance in our moment of need!  Non [I know but It's my tale] say's I A**s are coming to our rescue, or so I had been assured!  It had taken quite numerous calls to finally get somebody, who repeatedly told me that he didn't speak German, even though I was speaking in English and what passes for Italian in my mind but obviously not his!  Having been transferred to a nice lady in the Rome Head Office, remember we're in a town at the base of Lake Como!   She informed me that help was on the way and would be with us soon!  Actually 90 minutes passed in close to 100 degree heat 36 or so, I think in the other scale! 

Finally after the 90 minutes wait had passed by, a Recovery Vehicle hove into site [sight] sic!  The chap who was driving didn't speak any English and [on my phone] a three way conversation took place, Nice Lady in Rome, Me, The Recovery Drive [oh 4, my wife was also involved]!  It came to pass that the driver, having discovered no spare, no repair kit and confirming to Nice Lady In Rome that I was correct in my assumption, he assisted us in removing all of our belongings from the car to the side of the road, I should be grateful thought I that we were not on an Autostrada somewhere other than where we were!  He then proceeded to winch the NICE BLACK BMW onto the rear of the Recovery Vehicle!  A light bulb finally burst into flame above my head, I'm not usually this dim I assure you dear reader!  But on this occasion it took some time for me, and Dear Wife to realise that we were being dumped, unceremoniously, and shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe Style [friends will recognise my usual leanings toward literary allusion and hyperbole] on the side of the road in an Italian town that had previously never before raised itself above my intellectual parapet!

Nice Lady IN Rome did hail a cab/taxi for us, but we had to walk/wheel nearly a mile to a local supermarket where she had directed taxi driver to collect us from!  Remember, all of our belongings, one wife, and one wheelchair user!  How to manage this without finding belongings gone on a number of return journeys?  Again the friendly Italian passers-by came into their own!  A lady and friend who happened by offered to assist us, carrying belongings and pushing me to previously unknown location of supermarket to await cab as our hired A**s BMW vanished, winsomely into the Italian hinterland, never to be seen again!  It had been decided that the taxi would return us to our hotel and we would contact A**s at Milan/Malpensa for a replacement vehicle for the remainder of our holiday!  140 Euro's to return to the Hotel!  Shock Horror, on top or hire charges and extra insurance charges we arrived!  Attempts by Ourselves, The Hotel Receptionists, Tour Company failed to obtain a replacement vehicle or even to get the office at Milan to answer the phone or to return the 1 call that was answered by machine!  The Nice Lady in Rome had assured me that the Taxi cost would be refunded and after a further conversation it was agreed that a replacement vehicle would necessitate a taxi journey from Lenno on Lake Como to Malpensa and then two days later to return for the journey home!  Therefore we agreed with the Tour Company, who were extremely helpful arranged for a Car to collect us and convey us to Malpensa for the journey home!  Oh, another 200 Euro's which included a tip!  This was also to be refunded to us upon our return home, by A**S Nice Lady In Rome assured me that this would happen and indeed offered profuse apologies for the predicament!

So, safely home, 3 days passed by!  Having been out we missed a call from, yes YOU GUESS correctly A**S Customer Services, where is the car, have we returned to the United Kingdom with it, the message on our Voicemail!  Can you believe it?  We couldn't!  I asked good wife, did she secrete a BMW in our baggage for the Return Journey She assured me that she had unpacked upon our return and found that we were sans BMW!  Attempts to return call failed so we requested our Travel Agency, a famous company in the UK with the initials of T***** C**K, I'm certain that you will be able to fill blanks in, on the Hire Car Co. also I'm sure!  Anyway they did this!  It would appear that a further 9 days passed by before they found the car, in the Car Repairers, 12 days to replace a punctured tyre, I KID YOU NOT, I have the Credit Card Bill and Invoice whereby A**S charged us a further £1000 for the pleasure of getting a puncture, time that the car was in the Garage to be "Repaired" and then the company failed to return phone calls, emails, and answer the Registered Letter that I sent them challenging this charge!  Attempts by the above mentioned Travel Company, at each step up the "Chain Of Command" in A**S ended with messages being ignored and My Bank, on whose Credit Card this charge was debited Froze The Card, kindly credited the account all of the charge from A**S and took them to task!  It took a complete year before this millstone was removed from around our necks, the company took the bank all the way to arbitration, remember they had abandoned us beside the road, ignored all of our attempts to speak about this situation and then charged us an exhorbitant fee for this honour and pleasure, and they had the gall to take it as far as possible before losing!  We never once denied that we should pay for the hire of the nice BLACK BMW less our out of pocket expenses!  We never accused them of abandoning a wheelchair user and his carer/wife on the side of the road in the middle of Italy and were patient, to a fault I believe but 5 months on [not including the year that the case took to end] I still find it difficult to believe such a well known company, a household name, one of the world's foremost car hire company could treat "Anybody" in such a Crass and Asinine manner!

So Dear Reader, whoever you are should you come across my tale!  If you are considering a holiday which involves hiring a car, anywhere in the world, should you be a wheelchair user in particular, was I you I would carefully consider whether to ................................. the name should you be unsure is something in the region of A**S!!