That night on the road in the Australian outback the sky turned dark very fast. The rain got heavy and the red dirt on the side of the road turned into muddy water. I was driving the Toyota Corolla hatch that I picked up in Alice Springs and at first I thought it was just normal rain. Then I saw the road ahead was covered by flood water. I kept asking myself if I should try to drive through or just stop. I was scared the car would stall. In the end I got stuck on the side of the road and later roadside help came and towed the car away. It was already night. My first thought was what do I do for this night. Do I find a hotel by myself. Do I just wait for the rental desk. I felt lost so I contacted QEEQ customer service. I explained what happened and said the car was towed and there was no new car for me that night. I also asked if I needed to pay for an extra night of stay by myself. The person on the phone started to help me step by step. She first asked if I was safe. I said I was in a safe place but I was tired and worried. Then she asked where I planned to sleep that night at first. I told her I had already booked Kings Canyon Resort and I should have been there already but because of the flood I could not reach it and the car could not reach it. I also asked if this counted as extra money that I had to spend. She told me I should first find a place nearby to stay and that safety was most important. That made me feel a bit calmer. I booked a place close to where I was. The price was not cheap. About 350 AUD. In my head I was still counting if this night would be my loss. But at that time I could only check in first. After I went into the room I contacted them again and sent the proof of my Kings Canyon Resort booking and also the rule that said it could not be cancelled and could not be refunded. I asked her if these things were useful. She said I could send them and she would keep following up. It felt like someone was beside me saying you can sleep first and someone will help you ask about the money part. The next morning I finally got a replacement car at the rental counter and I felt a bit better but I was still thinking about the 350 AUD. After some time the customer service contacted me and told me they tried to fight for me but the rental company did not want to pay for the hotel. My first reaction was so I get nothing back. Then she explained that the rental side seldom pays this kind of cost but they could give me some money as a kind of quick compensation. I asked if that was real and how much. She told me the amount. It was not the full 350 but it covered part of it. I thought about the whole flood and car change situation and I felt it was already kind that they were willing to give me part of the money from their side. My mood became lighter. Later I asked about another thing that worried me a lot. The car was towed before so would I suddenly get a damage bill from the rental company later. I was scared of some charge appearing long after the trip. I contacted customer service again and said I did not have a paper rental contract in my hand and only had a document called FI and asked if I could still use it if I needed to claim insurance. She answered patiently. She told me to watch my email and that the rental company would send something if they wanted to charge. I also asked if the insurance claim had a time limit. She explained the valid period to me and told me that other people had used the FI document to claim before. With every answer my big questions slowly became smaller. A few days later I suddenly remembered the compensation and worried that it might take a long time. I asked again if the money was still not paid. They replied that it was already processed and told me to check my account. I opened my account and the money was there. In that moment I felt that the whole thing finally landed. This trip had a flood a towed car an extra hotel night and many questions in my head. Every time a new question came up I contacted them and there was always someone replying to me in a simple one question one answer way helping me think clearly and giving me clear info. With this experience I feel that I did not only book a car. What really made me feel less alone was the dedicated customer service that stayed with my case. They could not change the fact that the rental company refused full hotel pay but they listened to my story gave me a plan and even gave part of the money from their side. For a tourist stuck in a flood far from home that support means a lot. Without that kind of help that night I think I would have felt much more scared and angry and I would not know what to do next at all.
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