David Walker

Avoid at all costs.
Hired a Ford Puma from Park Royal, London depot. The car key that needed a new battery when I picked it up.
The depot refused to replace the key's battery claiming it would somehow recharge itself as I drove the car.
I complained to EUROPCAR customer services 3 times but they could not do anything as the depot refused to fix it.
After 500 miles of driving the key had not magically recharged itself. Instead it failed and I could not get in the car. I had to look up the owners manual from the FORD website and fix the battery myself to get back in the car.

Ran over a nail today after taking my disabled son to his Day Care. The tyre went complete flat when I was back home.
Called Kwik Fit, Hatch End. Knowing I use it to transport James, they warned us they were snowed under and might not get to it today. "Leave it with us, we do our best".
Their best is pretty damn good.
A couple of hours later, they called and 3 new tyres had been fitted and the car was ready.
I knew 2 front tyres were near the legal limit but that was something I was happy to bring back to them on another day when they had more time.

They made me some bespoke mats for my Morgan Plus Four ( post 2020 model) and they fit very well and look wonderful.
They had me create templates for the mats as they were bespoke, but it all worked brilliantly.

Bought a new Bosch Rotak lawnmower to replace my previous Rotak. That did 13 years of hard service and was brilliant.
I bought it because my Dad had an early version. That still works and does a great cut.
My new one is dreadful. Very flimsy and the grass box, now in two parts, falls to pieces all the time.
This experience has stopped me buying new Bosch products.
In fact my new Miele washing machine is does a much better job of cleaning and drying clothes than the old Bosch it replaced.
Perhaps wasting £95 on the lawnmower was worth it to remove my blinkers.

1. Has to set up a CHAPS payment. Three weeks ago I spent 40 minutes waiting in Ruislip branch to be seen. Not enough branches and staff.
2. Lost my credit card.
a. Called the number on my statement to report lost card, the chap said I called the wrong number.
b. Twice called the number the chap above gave me and the voice recognition could not under stand me so hung up on me.
c. Tried the banking app. That crashed with
"Sorry, we're having technical issues
Unfortunately we are unable to manage your request right now due to a technical issue.

You can try logging back and have another attempt.

If the problem persists you can tap the link below for online help, support and live chat.

Visit our support centre".

Use the Live chat and it tells you to used the banking app that is crashing.

What can you do?

Having retired, APTIA are doing their very best to stop me leaving my employer's pension scheme to set up a SIPP (which my employer's scheme does not offer).
Their trick is to send out forms. After you reply with the forms, they then send you another form that replicates the information already submitted.

Overall a very good experience.
The website kept crashing when I was trying to take photos of the car, so that part took some time. The helpful people at customer service manually loaded the ones I could not upload.