They are trying to scam me. I rented a car in central Zürich. I returned it right like I received it, following the standard procedure I have always followed when renting a car. I gave the keys to the employee in the office, he came with me to check the car and after an examination he said I could leave. I had the contract papers with me and asked him if I needed to sign anything and he said no. I asked him about the deposit and he told me that he would then cancel it and I would see it in my account in the next 4-6 working days. Presuming good faith at all times, I left with no further concerns. I am a careful person and I had taken many pictures of the status of the car when it was given to me and the car was in the same condition so I assumed there was no reason to worry about anything since I was not being accused of having caused any damages, which I had not. I had never had any trouble with a car rental before so, like I said, out of good faith, I left expecting things to go as the employee told me they would. I left the car there at 8.29 AM and even had to come back at 8.41 AM from nearby Zürich HB since I had forgotten an item in the trunk. The car was already in the basement and even then I was not told any damages were present. At 9.24 AM, almost an hour after drop off, I received an email with several images of a big, noticeable crack in the upper front windshield towards the passenger side. Allegedly it was the car I had returned even though there was no way to identify it in the pictures with its license plate, but that does not really matter. The email accused me of having caused this damage and asked me to fill in the accident form that they were providing me. I am not quite sure how I am supposed to fill in an accident form when I have not had any kind of accident or any third party involved during my trip. From the airport and having a lot of trouble and inconvenience, I called the office and the employee told me in an impolite manner that the damage had appeared after they had washed the car because it was dirty before, as if a little dirt could have somehow hidden the crack, and that I was accusing him of doing the damage. Conveniently for him I was about to catch a plane out of the country and I could not argue or defend myself in any manner, all he did was threaten me that the Claims department would contact me and that he did not want to argue. I have been left for hours now with the sensation that I am getting scammed and that I should have stood there until he had refunded my deposit. The provider of my credit card has already assured me that the Car Rental Insurance the card includes will cover me, so this is not about saving me some money. No part of what has happened is serious or reasonable for a company as large as Europcar. I would have no problem accepting any liabilities if it had been done right and I had been able to see the damages and had not been misguided, lied to and lured to leave without having my deposit refunded.