europcar closed my pickup location and never notified me

Possibly a last minute change? Were you able to successfully collect your car? For myself, I am not one to handle last minute and unexpected changes very well but usually manage to get it worked out in the end. (after a lot of hand-wringing.......)

Had to read it 3 times to realize there is no question.

To be helpful to others it would have been nice if OP had advised which rental outfit closed up at that location so others could be prepared for the change.

i believe my pickup location had been closed for weeks, if not months. i made my reservations about 4 months in advance. it took us about 4 hours to eventually get our rental car. unfortunately for us, the taxis were on streak that day in paris, which we did not know about. thanks to our hotel's concierge and to the uber app we were finally able to pick up our car at the les invalides europcar location.

fitz, i would have been extremely angry and frustrated. We encounter frustrations like that often in France and Italy. I grew up in France and love it despite stuff like this, they just operate differently than we do. I have stories i could share. Customer service, as we know it, is not the norm and i can imagine it would never occur to them to notify you. Very, very annoying.
I’m sorry this happened to you and thank you for sharing.

The takeaway is: always call and confirm a day or so before picking up a rental car.

This happened to us dropping off a leased car. We, and others, were directed to a scruffy, empty lot somewhere in Nice, and had no idea how to leave our leased cars or what to do with the car keys. One guy even left his in the car. We made it to the airport where we told someone, gave the keys, and were on our way. It’s France, things happen. It’s inconvenient. I never gave it a second thought.

Luckily it happened to you picking up, not when you had a plane to catch.

You have experienced the difference between two cultures. The concept of customer service is notably different in France than it is in the US. From a French point of view, you did not confirm the details of the rental before you arrived.

thanks for all your helpful replies. so, i guess i should also be confirming all my lodging accommodations prior to arrival as well then?

You should confirm any reservation you have made, particularly for rental cars, hotels, or restaurants.

Yes on reconfirming all reservations.....whether other continent or the city next door....particularly if booked months in advance. My rule of thumb is to reconfirm lodgings a week prior to arrival or to at least touch base with all accommodations a week before departing home. Some do this up to 2 weeks prior. Ask for last minute details, reconfirm address, or whatever. I also reconfirm whether I need guaranteed late arrival (often for hotels that is anytime after 6pm) and try to give my expected arrival time. In some places, there is no 24 hour front desk, or short let hosts need to know for coordinating check in.

Well I often (not always) re-confirm hotel reservations but just would not have thought to reconfirm with a huge car rental company. Thanks for sharing, fitz - I will learn from your story and add that to my travel process.

You should confirm any reservation you have made, particularly for rental cars, hotels, or restaurants.

In 30 years of travelling to France, I'm not sure I've ever done that. And the only problems that ever came up was 2 times when the car rental office was closed for the return (the old Fermeture Exceptional). Both times it was Europcar. But both worked out fine in the end. Oh, and there was the restaurant that was closed in s small village when 4 of us arrived for our dinner reservation. But we had just made the reservation a day or 2 before. We later learned that the chef apparently had a drinking problem and might close when he was "under the weather."