I rented a Hybrid car from Alamo to drive from Raleigh, NC to Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I originally was supposed to rent a mid-size car, but took the advice of the sales rep and went with the hybrid to save on gas. Anyway, I drove down and returned the car as expected. I did not have any trouble with the car during my rental aside from the fact that I returned it an hour late since we ran into traffic on the way to return it.

However, I received a letter from the Loss Damage department saying there was damage to the car and they were investigating the claim. The odd thing about the situation is that they sent the letter to my parent's house in Chicago. I have not lived with my parents in over 5 years! I moved from that address when I went away to school and have had an apartment in MD since 2004. I also did not give them that address when I rented the car and it is not on any of my documents.

In addition, I have never rented a car before this time as I was always under age and did not want to pay the underage fee. Thank goodness my parents still live there or I would have never gotten the letter. I don't understand why they would send the letter there and not to the address I gave them. How do they expect me to get the information and act accordingly if they do not send the letter to the address where I reside?

So, I called the Loss Damage department with the information my mother was able to give me to see what damage they are investigating, but the representative was not much help. She could not tell me what damage they are investigating or when she would know. So, I have no idea what they are talking about. Also, when the car was returned, there was no damage noted on my return paperwork. I will never rent from Alamo again because this is absurd!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon at Orlando Airport and had a reservation for a compact car from Alamo Rental Car. The price of the rental was $108.00, I also prepaid for a full tank of gas which for the compact car was $30.00. We were staying at one of the Disney resorts so would not be driving more than about a 100 miles in total, but the $30.00 was worth it to not have to stop and fill up on the way back to the airport. When we got to the area to pick up the car there were about 2 dozen people waiting and there were no compact cars left... a gentleman was directing people to other vehicles and we were told to just take a Chrysler Pacifica and go... we thought wow, what a great rental company..they oversell but don't hold people up because of it. At the Orlando airport when you pickup the vehicle you go through exit stations where they record the license plate of the vehicle and check your paperwork. The gentleman there said not a word and we were on our way.

When we returned the vehicle after only having driven it a grand total of about 80 miles (3/4 tank still full), we were shocked to learn that the prepaid gas cost was $80.00. When I complained to they guy checking in the car he said that that was the cost to fill up a chrysler pacifica. He said to go see the manager in the booth. This guy was really bad (talk about crappy customer service). When I told him that you oversold and GAVE me a larger car and that I would not pay $80.00 for the gas he looked me straight in the face and said "Oh! Yes you will". When I again said I had reserved a compact car not the Pacifica he said "But you enjoyed that Pacifica!". Oh My... are you kidding me - you forced it on me. Then he said you were going to prepay anyway, I said yes but for $30 because that was convenient for me, not $80... I asked for a customer service 800 number and walked away. When I called the 800 number from the airport lounge I found out he gave me a bogus 800 number...

I found the real number myself and even their corporate customer care was unwilling to adjust the prepaid cost...

I eventually resolved it through my credit card company... but I will never rent from Alamo again... what a scam... offer great rates on compacts, oversell and force a larger vehicle on the unsuspecting consumer and then tell them they enjoyed it and would have to pay for it!!! ARRRGGGHHH!