Advantage Car Rental Consumer Reviews - Page 5

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- We reserved our car on carrentals.com with unlimited mileage at the airport location. We go pick up our car and they told us the ad is misleading. That it's just local. Then they wanted to charge us $50 for cancellation. We had to get an officer involved for them to agree to refund us but we still haven't seen it. Then we had to pay $100 more at another car rental.

FT. LAUDERDALE AIRPORT, FLORIDA -- We made a reservation to rent a car at Ft. Lauderdale airport last week. We only needed the car to get us to my brother's house and back to the airport. There were 2 cars at the house waiting for us, so we didn't need much. I had reserved a mid-size. When we got to the counter we had to wait for the agent to finish with someone ahead of us. When we got to the counter, he told us he had logged out and the person taking over ran to the restroom. It was late at night and we waited a good 5 minutes for him to return. When he returned, he suggested we upgrade for $10 to an Impala. We said we would upgrade but did not want an Impala.

My dad drove an Impala and had passed away 2 years before that very week, I just didn't want an Impala. At which point, the agent said he did not have a car for us. He said I should have prepaid if I wanted a specific car. I told him I tried to pre-pay but was told it wasn't an option. He called Payless and told us to go upstairs and rent from them. We went upstairs and did rent from Payless and the first car they gave us had a tire problem, so we had to go back to the counter for another car. We had our 2 kids with us and it was late and it took 1 1/2 hours to get a car. The Payless car was fine and we did use it during our stay.

I called Advantage to complain and to be honest they could not have cared less. They said we should have been given an apology coupon and they would have someone contact me and I never heard from them. It is great to have the internet to warn others to avoid Advantage, so they are not at a disadvantage too.

DENVER, COLORADO -- DO NOT RENT A CAR FROM ADVANTAGE!!!! I wish there was a negative rating because this company doesn't even deserve one star. First, they never tell you when you make the reservation that you need an extra $200 deposit. I originally made the reservation online which was $32. After arriving at Advantage in Denver, the clerk told me that an additional $200 deposit would need to be taken off this card. Well, because they hadn't given me any warning, I didn't have an extra $200 on that card. After asking if they could put it on a different card, the clerk and supervisor told me they are unable to split charges after you prepay on an online reservation. Umm WHAT?!?!?!?!

Since it was 8:00 pm on a Saturday, and I was 800 miles from home, I had no way to put more money in that account. After sitting in the waiting room for 30 minutes trying to figure something out I went back and asked to be given the number of the public transportation. The clerk told me that I could cancel the reservation and make a new one so that all charges would be on one card. I unfortunately made this decision and got my car.

After returning it and calling the 1-800 number the clerk gave me for the reservation, the agent, who was most likely from India, told me that they couldn't refund my original reservation because I had canceled within the 24 hour period of when the reservation was. WHAT? I ONLY CANCELED BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T CHARGE MY OTHER CARD!!!!! This blew my mind because not only did the clerk tell me this was a foul-proof way, but the agent actually told me I should have read the Terms and Conditions when making the reservation because it was all explained there.

I was livid at this point and demanded to talk with a supervisor who apologized and said that he would forward the issue to corporate and they would call me within 4 business days to discuss the refund. It is now 15 days later and after calling back twice I still have not received any type of refund!!! This is by far the worst car rental company and I would not recommend it to my worst enemy! How can you have such a faulty system that does not allow customers to split the charges and then have employees scam me out of a refund? Not to mention how much the taxes are and everything else they throw on last minute.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- I made a reservation online for car rental for the best price of $181 for 10 days for an economy car. I copied what I thought was the most pertinent information and printed it out, when I should have printed out exactly what Advantage gave me online and in email. When I printed out my own truncated version, I did not realize that I did not put the name, logo or phone number. I realize how dumb that was of me later.

When we got to our destination at McCarran airport in Las Vegas, we took the free shuttle to the rent a cars place. Lo and behold there were several rent a car places, and when I looked at my printout, I didn't have on there which one I was supposed to go to. So I decided to go to Dollar rent a car.

When I arrived at Dollar counter, I asked if my reservation was with them. They said no, but they can accommodate me with an economy car. They said it would be $350 for 10 days. I said "What? The quote I have from this company is $181!" The Dollar representative said "Well $350 is a good price. I can give you a free upgrade if you like." What do I need a free upgrade for? To pay more gas? So I declined. Then I decided to just check my email and found out it was Advantage who sent me my itinerary.

So I went to the Advantage line, and they had quite a lot of customers in line compared to the other places. I waited in line, and was helped by a very professional and helpful lady. She explained everything to me, asked me if I wanted to pay additional $20 up front so that I don't have to refill the tank when I turn it in. I said OK (Plus, paying the $20 extra is cheaper than having to pay for a full tank of gas at the end, and I don't have to have the hassle of worrying about filling the tank).

The Toyota economy car they gave me was beautiful! We had an awesome vacation, beautiful ride, and turning it back in was easy. So the total charge (including the full tank of gas) was about $200 for 10 days rental. I had such a great experience with Advantage from the ease of making reservation, helpfulness and friendliness of employees from checking out to checking in, and the great price! I definitely plan to use Advantage again when I need to rent a car, and I will recommend them to everybody!

DALLAS, TEXAS -- Amazingly disappointing experience - Have been a long time renter and this was the first time to see such an absurd scam to rip off the poor customers - BEWARE OF ADVANTAGE CAR RENTAL (Specially if you're smart enough to shop around and use search engines for best rates).

As always, we used CarRentals.com for best rates for a 3-day trip to Dallas, and Advantage came out with a $90 rate to pick up at 10 am on Nov 15 and drop by 5 pm on Nov 17. Our flight was departing around 3 pm, but we always rent for a few extra hours to avoid any possible late fees due to delay, etc. Anyway, we dropped the car with full tank and everything around 1 pm and were shocked to see that they are charging us for more than $120!!!

The reason: "YOU RETURNED THE CAR EARLY!" (like 4 hours early!!) and they charged us based on a totally different rate schedule (2 days plus 1 hour extra at an outrageously high rate) and came up with the $120 figure. When we complained to the so-called "manager" (which of course was very rude and even tried to grab and destroy our initial receipt showing the estimated $90 cost with our pick-up and drop-off times), he said that basically that's what they do and there is no thing we could do.

I asked him that the receipt says the car should be dropped "by 5" not "at 5" and hence, we were being charged extra. He said that it should be "At 5", and when I asked him to define how soon is considered "early" for them to use it as a pretext to rip off the customers, he refused to explain. I guess even if we were to return the car at "4:59", they were going to consider it "early" since it wasn't 5 sharp!!

Very disappointed. Surely the last time I do business with them and will advise everyone against doing business with them too. Just beware of the prices they claim to lure the customers to their business and away from other car rentals. Then, when you have made the grave mistake of getting into their trap, they will charge you way more than what they initially claimed as bait and much more than others. Just beware!!

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- I made a reservation for an economy car with Advantage for my trip with my oldest son to Salt Lake City (We were going to Zion and Bryce Canyon and so were going to do a lot of travelling and I wanted to economize on gasoline). I received a confirmed reservation with Advantage for an economy car when I arrived in SLC on May 23rd at 1:30 pm. I was told summarily and quite coldly that only SUVs or vans were available. I could have one of those at the same price, but nothing in between. This, friends, is a classic bait-and-switch maneuver and one that doesn't bode well for any company wanting to continue doing business.

SUVs and vans are notorious gas-guzzlers and I was planning to travel many hundreds of miles. Worse, though, was that Advantage's "contract" was what they wanted it to be when they wanted it. The stone-faced, unfriendly, and very unhelpful clerk-attendant told me that I would have to accept an SUV, a van, or nothing. He was not in any way constructive, sympathetic, or even human (I might almost say he was instructed by management to employ this shoddy tactic).

I wanted nothing more to do with them: the principle of the thing really bothered me and I was irate. I cancelled that reservation and made another with another car rental agency on the spot. When I went out to the garage, I looked around at what Advantage had, and they had plenty of economy and compact cars. So much for their credibility and good faith.

Not only did Advantage lose a customer for the day - as I say, I gave business immediately to another company on the basis of that treatment - but forever. I don't honor companies that do such shoddy, unprincipled, unethical and, in fact, quite a bit less than what I expect of an American company. Indeed, I have rented many cars, but have never ever been treated this badly. Advantage is the WORST car rental company I have EVER dealt with from top to bottom. DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. YOU'LL REGRET IT.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- I thought I had fixed my problem with my booking, BOY WAS I WRONG! I had given them the benefit of the doubt, boy was that a wrong thing to do. Now even though they have admitted it was their mistake they refuse to cancel the booking unless I PAY A $50 FEE... "just read the contract"... "that is why you should never pay with us in advance"... "the people in Sacramento will fix it. If not, pick up the car and call us again".... "Don't worry about this, we have noted it in your account. We will try to reimburse you OR credit you on your next rental".... These are all the excuses I have gotten from customer service and customer relation.

What they did not know until after the conversation started was I am recording. Going from the East coast to the West coast, looked for best car rate, ADVANTAGE won by over $90 everywhere! They also offer corporate discounts and VETERANS. Only problem I had is the code that they gave me for vets did not work. Customer service tried and tried, but not able to help. Referred me to location for discount. Called Sacramento Air Port customer that answered, offered me a vehicle for OVER $100 more than the website. Went back to website and booked a car for 6 days at $184 plus tax ($225).

The following day I received an E-mail for corporate (evidently customer service went the extra mile to notify them!) and was supplied with another code, an apology stating that they are in the middle of a computer code change over. I went back and entered the new code. Car price dropped to $162 TOTAL including insurance.

Now all that sound good but be aware that if you, like I, use the prepay system, there is "supposed" to be a $50 refund charge. But because of the growing pains they waved the charge, refunded my credit card and the recharged at the new price. That is service as it should be. I will follow up with a post on my final experience when I pick up the vehicle on July 16, 2013, but so far outstanding!!

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- My wife and I flew into Chicago's Midway Airport for the Christmas Holiday. When we searched for rental car companies through various search engines we ended up at Advantage because their prices were lower than any others. We did not go through Advantages website to book the rental but through the airline's site. Advantage was also the only rental car company that did not have a rental kiosk right on the airport property. You had to go outside and wait for their van to pick you up.

We flew out of Providence RI and we had a snowstorm delay that affected our takeoff time so we didn't land into Chicago until 40 minutes past our originally scheduled time. The weather in Chicago was minus -6 degrees with a minus -20 wind chill factor. We had to wait almost an hour for our bags because the baggage handlers could only handle so many flights in the frigid weather.

We went outside with our bags to wait for the van and it never came. I went inside and called their number and was given an automated message to press 1 for a pickup and went back outside. Still no van. Finally one of the other rental car van drivers asked who I was waiting for and when I told him Advantage he told me that they were closed! Closed!? Who closes at 9:30 pm on Christmas weekend.

We tried finding a rental car through any of the other companies but no one had a vehicle. We had to pay $60 to take a cab to our hotel then call my brother the next day and ask him to drive to our hotel and drive us to Advantage by the airport. When we got to Advantage the stony-faced attendant unapologetically told me that I should have checked their hours when I made the reservation. This is the LAST time we will ever use Advantage. The only advantage is that they make you feel like an idiot for using them.

DALLAS, TEXAS -- I made a reservation on July 24 for a mid-sized car to be picked up on August 2 at Dallas Love Field. When I arrived at the Advantage counter, the person told me all he had was a mini van. I told him that I did not really want a mini van. He told me that if I did not take it he would just give it to the next person in line and I would not have a car. He was very rude and condescending. He was a complete jerk.

When I called customer service, the person implied that it was my fault. Why make a reservation if they are not going to honor it. I'm sure Advantage will stay in business without me, but I will never rent from them again and urge other to not do business with them. I went to the only other open rental counter and rented a car for almost double what I had been quoted by Advantage. I did rent from Enterprise and they were absolutely wonderful. They will have my business in the future.

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- We booked a weekly rental in Tampa, Florida. We thought we were getting a decent weekly rate and knew estimated taxes and additional drivers would be extra which didn't bother us. We were surprised to learn upon arrival a $200 deposit that was not included in our booking terms. Having to leave our luggage outside because of stairs and having no one offer to assist us to bring it in, only one of us could pick up the reservation while other watched our things. I made an effort to run in quickly and make sure we were not taking the insurance or fuel options.

All of this discussion clearly heard by the agent. We eventually got the car and went on our way. Later in the trip and seeing a $600 charge for what was supposed to be no more than $200 caught my attention. When calling the car rental place 2 times I got voice mail. Waited to return car to question any charges and was told we had the insurance at $20 a day. I asked to have this reversed and same agent said "too late".

When calling the manager a few days after returning, he explained nothing they could do even though his employee made the mistake. Very disappointing customer service and I would never recommend doing business with them for their deceitful marketing practices and dishonest employees.