Advantage Rent A Car Consumer Reviews - Page 3

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- I rented a car from Advantage at the Atlanta airport and was charged for insurance that I clearly said I did not want. Unfortunately I signed the contract without reviewing it thinking that the agent would honor my request, so now Advantage customer service refuses to give a refund - a $400 mistake on my part and a $400 swindle from Advantage.

The person in front of me at the return counter had the same problem so one could assume that there may be some funny business going on at this Advantage branch. Dealing with the customer service department was the worst I have experienced at a major company. I feel that I have been cheated and would encourage everyone to not use Advantage Rent a Car.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- Don't rent from these people – not worth the savings! If there were zero stars I'd give that rating. There were 2 major problems with my service:

1) Unexpected Charges: I asked specifically if there was a charge for an additional driver before reserving the car and again when I picked up the car in Atlanta. I was told – no additional charge for my spouse, yes for others. When I dropped the car off I was charged $60 plus taxes for 1 week for an additional driver. I spoke to at least 3 people on site, including a manager, and was told no one had the authority to remove the charge.

2) Customer Service: On-site staff said no one there had authority to remove the charge no matter whether it was misrepresented or not – I was told I had to talk to national customer service. Customer service was closed at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon and could not help while the contract was open. Calling customer service the next day I was told there was no manager to whom I could transfer my call. I was also told the issue could have only been resolved at the site when the contract was open.

You can't trust what you are told about the charges. You can't expect customer service to take responsibility about how the charges were represented. I would have actually paid less with another rental company – most do not charge for additional drivers (particularly if you are in their frequent rental program). Not to mention, save yourself the hassle of dealing with these people if anything goes wrong with your rental!

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- I am giving 1 star only because I don't have the option to give a zero. I was picked up from the airport by their shuttle, and when I got to the office, there was a line out the door, and only 2 agents working. It took an average of 10-15 minutes for an agent to complete a single transaction. At one point, one of the agents just left. The other agent was just as surprised as the customers were. I stood in line for 2.5 hours with many angry customers, who all said that they would never deal with this company again. True, they may be cheaper than some of the other well-known companies, but believe me it is not worth it.

When you finally reach the agents, they are like pushy used car salesmen pressuring you to purchase their insurance, even though you have your own insurance. I have never seen anything like this ever. Save yourself the aggravation, and go someplace else. I know I will. STAY AWAY!!

KAHULUI, HAWAII -- Traveled to Maui with my wife and a child. Booked a car online for $180 for 6 days. Got to the airport and waited 5 min to get the shuttle. Once I got to the office I waited 15 min. The salesman, because that's what he was, started pushing for an upgrade. After we said no, he started with the "loss of use" insurance, then an extra day charge for returning the car 4 hrs later (same day) but instead of returning the car at 1:00 pm, return it at 5:00 pm. Long story short the whole bill ended up being $370.

Nice way to start the vacation. I wasn't going to get back in the shuttle, go back to the Airport and start looking for a car with other companies. So I signed and got the car. I think they take advantage (wait, that's the name of the company) of the situation. Be aware of all the extra hidden charges. I would never ever rent a car with this company again and I'll make sure to spread the word so other people don't get scammed like I did. If you read the reviews online (thing that I didn't do) you will see that there are many unhappy customers.

DES MOINES, IOWA -- So we rented a car through Advantage rent a car, on Travelocity. My flight info was entered. It said that this company meets delayed flights. As our plane left the gate they saw a low oil light on and had to pull back into the gate. We never got off the plane. We arrived at 12:18 am, instead of 11:45 pm. I went to the car rental counters. There was no one there. A girl at the Hertz counter was closing up after renting out a car. I asked her if they were on break or something. She said No, they left at midnight. I started to have a panic attack. What was I going to do? The airport was abandoned. I needed to drive to Iowa City.

My sister reserved the car for me because she was at home with her 11 month old and three year old. Her husband has been deployed. She probably wouldn't even hear the phone. I opened up my printed reservation and called Travelocity. The man at customer service called the local Advantage, he of course got no answer. He called their customer service line. He talked to them first, then would come back to me. Which is good because I was hysterical and probably wouldn't have said anything that made any sense. He said that the counter was closed for the night. He suggested taking a taxi to a hotel and coming back in the morning.

I had no cash. I only had my debit card on me. Plus that was an expense I hadn't planned for. I knew I couldn't afford that. I asked him if the car company was going to pay for that, my response was they couldn't guarantee it. I asked if they could call someone in to get my car. They said they couldn't. The Travelocity customer service eventually transferred me to their customer service. I spoke with that woman for a while. Asking the same questions, and not hearing an answer I liked. I finally called my mother, who travels a lot. She told me to go to those one call kiosks and find a hotel that had a 24hr shuttle.

The Des Moines Holiday Inn gave me a ride and a room. The drivers were nice even though I couldn't tip them. The front desk clerk said the rental car companies do this all the time. They gave me their best rate of 119 for the night. I went to sleep at 2 am and was up at 7 to go back to the airport. The girl there said they usually wait, and she had left a note telling them to wait. I was so tired and had taken medication to calm myself down, so I wasn't irate. I told her I was really upset that this happened. She apologized. She showed me the rental agreement. I asked her if there was anything she could do for me.

She got the manager and told him what happened. He was very calm about it and said he would address it. He said he would give me a day free. Which because this was an economy car was like 17 dollars. When we finally got to the car I was a little disappointed that it had manual locks and windows. But I knew it was cheap, so we went on our way. I was ten minutes on the highway when I was searching for cruise control and couldn't find it. I couldn't believe it, I asked them for directions to I 80 they asked where I was going. They knew I had a two hour drive. They didn't even think about the fact that cruise control would be necessary?

When I got to my sister's I searched my receipt for a local branch #. There wasn't one. I went online and emailed every Advantage email I could get a hold of. I told them what happened. No one EVER responded. NO ONE! When I finished my trip and returned the rental car, I had to wait at the counter for 5 minutes before an agent came. She was outside. I told her that I had been abandoned, she said "Oh yeah, I heard about that," I told her I would like the mgr to call me because 17 dollars was nothing on the 140 I had to spend on the hotel for five hours. She said OK. I never heard from the manager.

My calf had a cramp the rest of that day, no cruise control. When I got home I "liked" them on Facebook so that I could post on their wall about what happened. They responded saying to go the Advantage site and send them an email. Which I had already done. I still have not heard anything from them, and think I should go to the Better Business Bureau. Thank you for listening to my story. If there was a way to rate their car company they would get zero!

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- I had a 4month old baby I had to carry FOR A MILE in the cold (in November) to the airport in the middle of the night from the drop-off location at Raleigh-Durham Airport. That's all I am going to write here. I have my lawyers lined up for them.

1. The car has low pressure. Rented the car for only 1 day.
2. Lisa (Customer service) was showing attitude
3. Delivery date and hidden fees. Just a company going down the drain so ripping customers back and forth before they file bankruptcy.

COLORADO -- We rented a car a the Denver airport from advantage for 12 days they charged $190 for the the rental and $285 for extra driver and fees and taxs this is what Cheepo air calls a bundle!!! WHAT? I will not ever use Cheepo air or advantage again

OKLAHOMA CITY, MARYLAND -- The absolute WORST car rental experience I have EVER had. TERRIBLE customer service, car dirty on the inside and out with scratches all around, and an entire MONTH after my rental, UNAUTHORIZED charges on my account? STAY VERY FAR AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE.

I had a prepaid reservation for a car for my vacation. My vacation got canceled and when I went to cancel the car reservation I was charged a $50 cancellation fee. I canceled 10 days in advance and still had to pay the fee. Will never use them again.

DENVER, COLORADO -- Rented a car in Denver. Upon return, I found that the credit card system at the airport gas station was down, so I had to return the car with a half tank of gas. I thought, how bad could it be? The car rental was $31 for the day. The gas charge was $70! Not just an inconvenience fee for putting a half tank of gas in, a complete robbery! I will never use Advantage or related companies again.