Alamo Rent A Car
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Category: Automotive
Contact Information PO BOX 842264, Maryland, United States
Phone number: 1-800-462-5266
alamo.com
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Alamo Rent A Car Reviews
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chadnicol
June 12, 2011
VEHICLE DAMAGE SCAM
I recently travelled to the DC Metro area and rented a car through Alamo. Upon pick-up at the Dulles airport, I was brought out to the dimly lit garage where the attendent asked me to choose a car. Upon choosing a car, the employee simply handed me the keys and asked me to sign. He performed no inspection of the vehicle, and did not ask me to perform any sort of inspection. I was in a hurry, and I've never had trouble with rentals in the past, so I didn't think about how odd it was that the employee did not inspect the vehicle or ask me to. I drove the vehicle to my parent's home in a quiet, safe neighborhood where it remained parked for nearly a week. No damage whatsoever occurred to the vehicle, and I returned it at the Baltimore BWI airport, where I was to catch my return flight. There was no Alamo employee on duty, and signs simply directed me to park the car in a garage and leave the keys in side. That was it! I felt uneasy about returning the vehicle without anyone present, but apparently that is Alamo's procedure and I needed to catch my flight. 2 weeks later, with-out a phone call, I received a letter in the mail from Alamo's "damage recovery unit" claiming I owed $914 in damages to the vehicle, with 2 pages detailing all the extensive work that would need to be done, which was absolutely ridiculous. I know that no damage occurred at all, and I feel like I was taken advantage of. I feel like it was the employees responsibility to inspect the vehicle or at least ask me to inspect it upon check-out. I've never had such a problem with other rental car companies. Upon further research online, I've found that this sort of scam is common with Alamo/Enterprise, as many consumers have been ripped off and scammed into fraudulent "damage" charges, even when an initial inspection had been done! I can't believe this company is allowed to carry a business license. I've since filed complaints with the BBB and the Attorney General in the state of Maryland. I refuse to pay these fraudulent charges. I'd just like to warn other consumers about Alamo/Enterprise and their scamming techniques. Be careful and avoid this company at all costs!
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JBalaska
May 15, 2011
Damage Claim
Want to have the memory of your vacation ruined? Read further and I'll gladly tell you how...
We rented a car from Alamo online through expedia prior to our trip. When we got in to Lihue, the lady in the parking lot upgraded us to a Dodge Charger from the compact we had booked. When I pulled up to the booth to exit the lot, I let the gentlemen in the booth know that the hood decal was missing along with dents and scratches in the doors. He held up their thing that has 3 circles (one for glass, one for burn and one for dent) and did something and told me we were good to go. The only way I know this thing is in existence is because I pointed out these problems on the car.
When I returned the car, I AGAIN mentioned to the woman about the missing decal and the dents and reminded her that I had told the gentlemen on the front end. She told me "yep, you're all good." We went on our merry way. This was at noon. Mid-afternoon the next day, the manager of the Alamo location called me. He asked me if I had noticed any damage to the doors and I said "ABSOLUTELY." I then ran him through the entire story. He said everything was great, he "just needed to know how it was presented to me." That's a quote. I asked him if there was a problem, because quite frankly I was surprised he called. We had not damaged the car in any way. He told me there was "no problem at all" and again said "I just needed to know how it was presented to you." I told him I could come back, and asked "there's no problem?" He said no problem at all.
After all, he was phoning me about things I had pointed out to them BEFORE I EVEN LEFT THEIR LOT. So I thought we were good and I flew home a day later. I'm not going to lie, I thought I had had a really good experience with Alamo. The people were friendly, the line moved efficiently and they upgraded my car. I came back and told me about it. Use Alamo, great price and a free upgrade.
2 months later, I get a letter in the mail asking for my insurance/cc info telling me that their Damage Recovery group had been notified that I had damaged or lost a car. REALLY? The car had dings, scratches, dents - Even it's hood emblem was missing and we're talking about a 2010. Not an old car.
It's too bad. What more can you do than point out problems to the rental company when you are in the parking lot? Do I ask for a BRAND NEW car next time?
I'm interested in the future of this issue and will post the results. I will phone them Monday. I hope that they realize this error and take it away. Will keep you posted.
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walth
April 12, 2011
Falsely claimed damage
If you don't buy the (expensive) insurance at the time of car rental, Alamo will try to claim damage at the time of the car return. (When the plane is waiting). To make matters worse, they will notify you three months later, at which time your credit card will no longer cover the damage. Alamo will then inflate the damage costs and send you to collections. Beware of this scam!
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USTraveler
March 26, 2011
Claiming GPS unit was not in Car and Charged $300.00 for it
How about this for a policy? I rented a car from Alamo in Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) Airport. I chose Alamo because it is an American car rental company hoping that I will get no surprises as far as the terms of the rental agreement is concerned. It turns out, I was very wrong. When I returned the car the day of my departure, I had to rush to catch my plane. I was instructed to put the car in a parking lot belonging to Alamo where no one was available to greet me and take the car from me. I had to go to the main counter inside the airport to return the key. I was able to barely catch my plane. Two days later, I receive an email from the manager of the rental office at Paris Charles de Gaulle stating that they could not find the GPS unit in the car and, if I do not have it with me to return it to them, they had to charge me $300.00. I explained to them that when I returned the car it was there. They argued that their policy is to return it to the counter which of course no one told me before hand. Now, I would like to believe that this is all my fault and I should pay for it. But, if this is really their policy, then it is a wrong policy that is subject to abuse. First, why was there no body to greet customers returning their cars. That would prevent theft from the car for objects belonging to the company or the customers (left behind). In a country suffering from high unemployment like France, it should be a good thing to do . Second, let's assume for a moment the employee checking the car is a bit dishonnest or on minimum wage. Well, he/she could take the GPS and report that it was not in the car when he checked it. There is little risk on them and the company would just charge the customer and the problem forgotten. Third, the manager of the Alamo office at Charles de Gaulle Airport may on purpose charge customers the $300.00 in addition to keeping the GPS unit to improve his buttom line and look good to his bosses.
No matter how I slice this policy, it is not fair and certainly not American. Speaking with the main office here in the USA or the Paris (France) branch lead to nothing. For them, no GPS in the car means I have to pay for it and that is it. They feel no responsibility towards making sure returned cars are indeed handed over in a responsible manner.
It is my hope that all of you out there learn from this lesson and avoid Alamo car rentals in the future.
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Roger Faust
March 12, 2011
Hidden fees - Scam - Fraud
On August 2009, we book our compact car by the Internet at Sanford int, Airport. When we showed up at the counter, the clerk ask us if we wanted to have a convertible for 3$ more a day. I ask the clerk 3 times if it was realy 3$ a day and he told me yes and It would be only 30$ for 10 days plus taxes.
So I decided to take the convertible since the clerk told me nobody wants to have convertible in Florida in the summer time and that was why it was so cheap. When we came back from our trip I saw on my credit Statement that Alamo took 265$ + 310$ for the convertible. So I paid 575$ when I was supposed to pay 295$. I called the customer service and the gave me 100$ credit and they told me as a courtesy. I forgot to read the review before booking my car and that is my mistake... I never gonna book any car with Alamo after that... The customer service is very bad and I strongly suggest you to read all the review before taking any reservation with this company. I feel very angry being ripped off by a company who don't care for their customer... I am telling you read the review carefully or you will pay...
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Means
January 4, 2011
Beware
Never rent from Alamo at their Lihue, Kauai location. They deliberately deceive you to pad the pre-arranged package deal from Costco. I entered all information online so I could use a Self-Service Kiosk to save time at pickup. None was available so my husband and son, our drivers, waited in line. My Costco deal was for a standard 5 passenger, 4 door Pontiac G6 type car.
We had been awake and/or traveling for about 30 hours by the time my husband reached the agent. He was told that I rented a 2 door and it would not fit 5 people but she would upgrade him to a full size for $1 a day. Sounded like $6 extra for the 6 day rental so he said yes and told her we do not want the additional insurance. My son verified that he heard the same information. The lot attendant said they do not even have any 2 door cars there, proving her lie. Also, we were never given any paperwork to note pre-existing damage to the car, which my husband checked, it was clean so we did not say anything.
The next morning I asked my husband for the rental agreement to put in a safe place and saw that my pre-arranged 6 day $340 rental was now $557! I called the Lihue manager and told him that we had declined the insurance and had a perfectly acceptable 5 passenger car on reserve. The agent had circled the choices for my husband to initial to decline insurance. In his exhaustion he did not realize she circled that he wanted insurance, an extra $56.56, and she charged $11 x 6 days for the full size upgrade, not $1 a day. He did pre-pay for gas for $56.56 making the correct total $404 without the upgrade and insurance. This overcharge of $153 sure added stress to our first day of vacation and cost my husband over an hour to get back to the airport to straighten this out. The desk agent said he was out of luck but he asked for the manager, who had talked to me already. We ended up getting the correct price and keeping the full size car, which was not at all fuel efficient, but we did not want any more trouble.
Later I did an online search for Alamo Lihue and read identical stories of deception, two specifically mentioning a Costco reservation. Apparently they are signing everyone up for insurance whether they decline or not. As we were returning our rental two people, outside the door to the Alamo counter, were discussing that their receipt said they asked for insurance and they had not. We quickly told them our experience and what I learned online. From now on I am going to look up any rental car agency for complaints before making a reservation. I have never had a problem with Enterprise but thought that this time Alamo was a better deal (wrong)!
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Jim
March 12, 2010
Alamo rents a car with bald tires
I rented a car from Alamo FLL, a 2009 Mazda 5 Grand Touring and picked it up at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, on February 8 to head for the state of Maryland. We(myself, my wife and son) reached North Carolina without any precipitation. Thereafter, for four hours straight, we traveled under heavy rain until a forced stop at a hotel in Fredericksburg, VA, because the car was starting to twist. In one situation we almost hit a truck that was passing next to us on the same direction, making my wife and my child on the back seat to scream desperately. We were all frightened to death.
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Due to the hurry to get to our hotel room the night before, I left the car steering turned all the way to the left allowing the tires well exposed. And to our surprise and indignation we noticed that they were completely bald. As we found out later, part of the tire was already showing some steel mesh. At that very moment we realized how much risk our lives had been exposed to, after driving for so long. A tremendous disappointment crossed our minds, for the enormous irresponsibility from Alamo. We immediately started using our movie and photo camera to make a complete report of the situation.
I called Alamo toll-free and the attendant on the other side could not send another car because there was no office of Alamo close to where we were. Then she asked me to head to a tire store, which Alamo holds an agreement with, to exchange for new ones, just about a mile away. Later my GPS proved that it was 5 miles from the hotel. The fear of driving in the melting snow and ice with bald tires still hung over our heads. Since they would not come to us as in my understanding they should, we were forced to venture to the workshop indicated.
The situation turned into a great paradox, because the rep person from Alamo had warned me that if the tire store to which we were about to go found out that the vehicle was not able to traffic, they, the people from the store, would not allow us to drive out of there. It was like if someone asked me to walk from the top of one building to another on a tightrope, and then on the other side someone was waiting to consider whether the situation might be actually risky. If so he would not let me go back the same way I came. Because of the ice and snow the night before the streets were very dangerous even for a car with new tires. We could see some cars hanging along the road sides as the result of twists.
We talked with Marcus, the consultant of Firestone Complete Auto Care, who was waiting for us, already advised of the situation. We were extremely stressed. Bureaucracy and paper work took 3 hours before the official authorization from Alamo to change the tires, because a simple report from the workshop was not enough.
Tired of waiting, because we could not leave the store without a solution, the news finally came through the consultant, falling like a bomb on our heads. Needed to return the next day because they did not have the model and size of tires that the car used and needed to order them from another branch. Marcus settled up with us for 9 o'clock the next day, promising that the tires would be waiting for us by then. The store opens at 7 and would give them time to pick them from the other store, about 20 minutes away. There was another overnight stay in the hotel, meals, more stress, frustration and uncertainty.
The situation forced me to prove that the Alamo attendant was wrong. I drove the same car with the showing-mash-of-steel tires back to the hotel and from the hotel back to the store the next day.
Although arriving at 9 as marked by Marcus, we only left the store with the new tires at 12:35.
I'm asking for refund of my expenses and three air tickets Rio/Washington DC/Rio to give us the chance to accomplish what was not fulfilled at the time of the rental due to the setback provoked by the situation
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Kira239
August 5, 2009
Additonal Driver Fee
Recently I booked a car on Priceline for Baltimore. The contract was accepted by Alamo. I paid for the rental with my credit card and listed my daughter as the driver. Everything was fine until we were leaving the parking lot. The Alamo security lady said that the name on the credit card and driver's license were different so they sent me back to the counter. There the Alamo attendant told me I would have to add my daughter as an additional driver. I showed them my contract which stated she was the only driver. I had an eye problem and was not going to drive. They still charged me for the additional driver. I contacted Priceline and was told Alamo should not have charged me as it violated the contract Priceline has with Alamo, but they could not do anything, I would need to deal directly with Alamo. When I called Alamo, they said their policy was to charge for the extra driver, even though she was the only driver and that Priceline could not tell them to do different. I recontacted Priceline and they were unwilling to do anything else as it was Alamo that charged my account. So, beware, only the person with the credit card used to rent the car can be the primary driver. I am really annoyed at both parties for not telling us this beforehand. It is an underhanded way to get more money.
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schatz
July 18, 2009
Bait Advertising
I had a email that showed I could rent SUV for 194 a week. After I put in my dates it went up to almost $500. So I called the company and the nice young lady said well the cars were available when I received the email, but now they are no longer available. So then the both of us went to the website. There was a advertisement for last minute specials. Wouldn't you know it, there it was again. One week for $194. Of course when I put in the actual dates it too went up to $5oo. She apologized and said others had been complaining. And of course National, which is affiliated with Alamo, does the same thing. Deceptive, unethical advertising. Stay away. I'll never rent from them again.
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December 4, 2007
rate is crazy changed for changing drop off location
I reserved a car picking up and returning SF airport. However, my flight was changed and I had to change returning to Oakland airport. Charge was changed from original $194.00 to $1229.00. I called Alamo twice, the repersentatives said the charge is Time & Distance, and refused to adjust the rate and refund me. I email to their customer service and was told I will receive a reply in 24 hours but I received nothing.
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