I reserved a car May 6-19 at the RDU Airport in Raleigh, NC and was given a mid-size car as requested. I drove it for less than a day and heard a bumping noise. I had left Raleigh and was unable to return it for a few days. Thrifty exchanged it for the same model when I made a special trip back to do so. I was back and forth across NC visiting family and friends and began to hear noises from the second automobile. Again I had to return and exchange vehicles and Cheryl of that office was very rude when I asked her what could be done because of the problems. I was basically living out of the trunk of the car with two heavy suitcases and staying with family and friends and grabbing what I needed to avoid lugging everything. She asked me if the gas was full and I told her almost and she told me that was my reimbursement for my problems. I asked if she could at least give me one free day and she said no. When I disputed that business practice, she began to say "yeah, and you're now gonna sue us, huh?" I left with a third vehicle after refusing a vehicle with no trunk space explaining I would need such vowing never to rent from Thrifty again. In addition, the person washing cars outside had the radio turned so loud it sounded like a concert coming from that area.

I rented a car (Chrysler Dodge Caravan) from Thrifty two days ago. This morning, the car had a flat tire. I discovered that the tools needed to retrieve the spare tire were not in the car. (That's the first instance of Thrifty incompetence.)

I called Thrifty Roadside Assistance and they said they'd send someone out to help me.

A tow truck came 45 minutes later, but the two truck driver hadn't been informed about the missing tools (that's the second instance of Thrifty incompetence), so he was unable to fix the tire. But he said he could tow the car to Firestone to have the tire fixed. I called Thrifty and asked them what I should do. The Thrifty representative told me: "Whatever the tow truck driver wants to do, do that." She assured me that Thrifty would pay for it. The car was towed to Firestone and the tire was patched.

When Firestone called Thirfty to get payment ($23), the Thrifty representative refused to pay. He said that Thrifty would pay to have the flat tire removed and the spare tire put on, but not to have the tire fixed--thus going back on Thrifty's earlier assurance that they'd pay for whatever I decided to do. At best, Thrifty was unintentionally misleading in its communication to me (the third instance of Thrifty incompetence). At worst, Thrifty took advantage of the unclarity to make me shoulder the cost of having the tire fixed (a cost that Thrifty would otherwise have shouldered itself). My primary complaint is that Thrifty went back on its assurance to pay.

In addition, the manager of Thrifty Roadside Assistance was super annoying. He was snarky and dismissive. He didn't take seriously that I could be giving a correct account of my earlier conversation with the Thrifty representative.

My husband and I took a trip to Washington State and reserved a rental car from Thrifty Car Rentals (worst mistake). We arrived at the SeaTac airport in Washing State on March 20th, 2009. The Thrifty rental booth was closed at the airport. We were told that we would have to take a Thrifty shuttle bus to their place of business to get the car. Once we arrived there was a small line with about 4/5 parties waiting for a car. It took over an HOUR to get to the counter!!! The worst customer service ever!!! Once to the counter we learned that our rental (11:00 pm Friday start returning car early Sunday Morning) would cost us an extra $150.00+ in additional taxes and surcharges. This was never disclosed in the details when booking on-line. Our total bill was over $300.00. On top of this, when I was looking for some items that I dropped on the floor in the car I ran my hand across the floor and felt a stinging sensation. I look at my hand and it was dripping blood. The car apparently had a windshield replaced as there was broken glass all underneath the seat where I ran my hand which was cut from the glass. They did not take to time to thoroughly vacuum underneath the seat. When we reported this upon returning the car the attendant said I don't know what to tell you sorry. Very unorganized, very unprofessional and I seriously question their billing practices (thrifty my a@!#). They really put a negative start to our mini vacation. I would absolutely never ever use Thrifty Car Rental again (ever!!).

i rented a car at thrifty through southwest airlines for feb 26 2009 to use when i flew from florida to warwick ri. to bury my 36 year old daughter in law. when i called from baltimore, no car had ben reserved, when i got to warwick ri they charged me 318.80, but on my credit card they put 355.00 RA#OPO179O71. I CALLED WARWICK RI, SUNDAY AND THEY TOLD ME I WAS CORRECTED AND TO TYPE THIS. THEY ARE LOCATED ON POST ROAD IN WARWICK RI. I WOULD LIKE THE CREDIT CARD CORRECTED. UI RETURNED THE CAR ON MARCH 5 2009, THANK YOU DEBI KOSARICK

This is the letter I have sent to Thrifty Car Rental Customer Service:

Thrifty Car Rental Customer Service:
I am writing about a completely unsatisfactory rental experience. My family and I arrived at the Denver international airport on Saturday February 14 at 5:45 pm. I left my wife and two children at the airport to gather luggage and took a bus to your rental location and arrived at approximately 6:45 pm. When I arrived and got in line, there were approximately 15 people ahead of me. At the time there were only three agents working the counter. They were taking at least 10 to 15 minutes per person. There appeared to be a problem with each person because they did not have the cars they were supposed to have. Meanwhile, as the many of us in line waited, one of the three of your agents decides to take a break and go smoke a cigarette. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were many of us who were furious. After waiting for at least 55 minutes (which is entirely unacceptable), I arrived at the counter. I had a reservation booked through expedia with a confirmation number of dwpxs3. The vehicle I was to get was a standard sport utility vehicle at 96.72 per day with unlimited mileage. The agent informed me that they did not have any of the vehicles that I had requested (which took at least 15-20 minutes to determine—even more unacceptable). He offered a smaller vehicle that could still accomodate my luggage. At this point I was highly irritated. I had already spent an hour and a half trying to get a car that should have taken 20 minutes. I called and had my wife and children with luggage come to the rental location because it was taking so long. The agent offered to take off one day of the rental fee for the inconvenience of not only the extended wait, but for not having the vehicle we had requested and confirmed. I responded with “that is fine, now please get us into a vehicle”. I asked my wife to sign the papers so that I could go to the restroom. She got the paperwork and signed for the vehicle. When I saw the paperwork, I was appalled that not only did he not take off the day he offered to remove, but the charges were significantly higher than what my Expedia itinerary showed. My wife did prepay for the gas, but that was only 30 dollars. My original cost summary was for a total of $496.57. The amount that was charged was $631.88. If my children were not completely exhausted and we did not have a two hour drive ahead of us, I would have gone right back in the office and taken care of this issue right then. But Thrifty Car rental had already caused enough problems. We needed to leave to get to our destination.

The vehicle we received worked, however, it was not up to the standard of vehicle we requested and being a smaller vehicle, the charges should have been less. However, you charged us far more than what was originally indicated by my rental summary from Expedia. Lastly, your own agent offered some form of compensation (removal of one day's rental) for the misery of your rental experience and then failed to remove the daily charge.

This was and might forever be the most unacceptable car rental experience in existence. I would like a supervisor/manager to contact me at this number: 910-964-1343.

I fully expect a refund to my wife's credit card for the day that the agent offered in compensation, as well as any additional fees that they tacked on to our rental.

the base fee according to my original reservation was 386.88. the estimated fees were 109.69. Removing the 96.72 would bring the total to $399.85. This would be the minimum acceptable charge for this absolutely ridiculous experience.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience to resolve this issue.

Nick Parrous