Alamo Consumer Reviews - Page 2

COZUMEL, MEXICO -- I am wanting to warn all consumers about Alamo car rental in Cozumel Mexico as we had several issues, which the last one happened today. My family and I had a great cruise vacation which one of our ports was Cozumel Mexico. When we got off the boat and headed down the pier we were approached by an employee at Alamo, letting us know that they had great rates on Jeeps, and that we could rent it until 6pm that day for only a grand total of $40. We decided to take the deal so we could see the whole area.

The manager of the location filled out the contract and the total was $125 not the $40 as promised. He then stated that the guy who approached us on the pier did not include tax and insurance and other customary charges. I then told him never mind, but of course had an upset wife and kids who were looking forward to going out and exploring the area. We finally came to an agreement of $85 including tax and full coverage insurance. This was in my opinion a sucker them in move with a lowball offer and we will negotiate from there.

After signing all the paperwork, contracts, and credit card receipts we were then told the vehicle was on the way and would be there in 10 minutes. This became another huge debacle. We waited and waited and waited and were continuing to be told it was only 5 to 10 minutes away. Now mind you we have limited time before the boat boards and we leave at 5pm. A total of 1 hour has passed and no vehicle. Of course my wife and I are very upset. The manager then comes and says that he was mistaken and that they have no Jeeps available. He then says they can have a higher class vehicle there in of course 10 minutes.

The problem for us is we waited all this time and have no other plans and it's too late to book anything else, so he has us. Of course 10 minutes come and go and after 20 minutes the vehicle shows up. To my surprise it's a decent vehicle with lower miles. The manager apologizes for wasting one and half hours of our vacation time but to my surprise never offers to discount the vehicle and when I suggest it even gets defensive about giving us a higher class and more expensive rental. Either way I was not going to waste anymore time. From there on everything goes as planned. No issues until we get home.

I get my American Express bill and was charged as promised. On the whole vacation and in fact over the past 9 months this is the ONLY place my wife has used her American Express card. Now fast forward a couple months and today I get a call from American Express security wanting to know if my wife, myself or someone we knew were in Cozumel Mexico and used my wife's card to charge $540 worth of electronics.

The security agent said that the charge was done in person and since my wife's card is still in her wallet that they must have made a duplicate copy of it from the Alamo receipt or it was scanned by one of those scanners to make a copy at a later date. When she charged the Jeep at Alamo the guy swiped it several times before running it through one of those older types of machines with paper where you put the card on top of paper and run the device over top of it to make an imprint.

Sorry, so long. But I just wanted to warn anyone going to Cozumel to please be careful with your credit card and NEVER USE A DEBIT CARD TIED TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Alamo in Cozumel either has someone copying the cards to commit credit card fraud, or at the least is careless with the paperwork that has the credit card information on it. Either way that is very poor business and will have this loyal Alamo customer looking at other car rental companies. Thanks for your time to read this.

MOBILE, ALABAMA -- My husband and I sought a rental car for a weekend trip and ended up going with Alamo at the airport in Mobile, AL. While the rates were better than the other airport rental companies, the lack of customer service and cavalier attitude displayed by the regional manager, along with the logic behind what gets placed in "Lost and Found" and what gets "tossed" was not worth the few dollars of savings. We were hurried to get the car back before 9pm and in the rush of getting the baby out of the car in the back, we did not check the floorboard of the front seat where I had placed my leather bound work padfolio.

When I discovered my error the next morning, I immediately called and got the regional manager's voicemail when I followed the lost-and-found prompt. I then contacted someone at the counter who assured me a call back that day. I was never called back so my husband stopped by in person. He was told that there was no such padfolio in the Lost and Found and that it was probably thrown away! What, then, is the purpose of Lost and Found? I was very puzzled and anxious by the notion so I attempted to contact the regional manager, again, the next day.

This time I did get a return call from the voicemail that I left. Essentially, the regional manager was very cavalier, told me that he didn't know what a padfolio was, until I explained/described it, and was then told that it would be a "common" item to be thrown away. He also informed me that the car we rented was rented back out within the hour and they are not responsible for lost items in the vehicle. I told him that I certainly understood that they were not responsible but I could not understand why a sturdy, leather bound, padfolio that clearly contained work items would be classified as trash.

I then asked what types of items did make their way to Lost and Found. He responded that he currently had a $20,000 infrared camera and a projector in the Lost and Found. My next question was that the value of the items, then, determined what was placed in Lost and Found. He responded "no" but that "common items" like notepads would be thrown away. I tried to explain that the padfolio was not simply a notepad but a sturdy, leather bound notebook that was very substantial and would be hard to confuse with a fast food cup or a newspaper (items that he also mentioned as being common to get tossed).

I then asked their policy for receiving policy or process improvement suggestions as I think they should definitely review their policies on this. Of course, he responded that I could email him or send a letter to corporate that would get pushed back down to him. Well, I will see how far that is going to go but I will be submitting that letter to corporate, nonetheless. So, PLEASE CHECK FOR REMAINING ITEMS before you return the vehicle.

Alamo's Lost and Found policy certainly doesn't give me much faith in their concern for the customer and I will not be renting with them again, if for nothing else than general principle. As a final note, I can't help but wonder if one of the local Alamo staff is now outfitted with a beautiful leather bound portfolio, courtesy of me.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- I recently had to travel for emergency business for NASA near Melbourne FL. I work in software design and was called down to troubleshoot the latest Atlas rocket that was to be launched on Friday Nov. 13th 2009. I drive a corporate car for business, insured by my company, and rent from Enterprise at least 4 times a month. I have NEVER had an issue with Enterprise but had to rent from Alamo since they were the only ones open when I would be arriving.

The reservations were made, including all pertinent information (License number, etc.). I arrived at the rental counter at 11:30 pm, and was finally greeted by an gruff, obviously not happy to be there, annoying clerk. After giving him my reservation number, he disappeared for 10 minutes. No explanation as to why, or when he would return. After handing him my reservation papers and my drivers license, he inform me that Alamo had me on the "DO NOT RENT" list. No explanation, no nothing. I have never had this happen before. I would have been stranded at Orlando airport and had to take a cab the 45 miles to my hotel.

Luckily my fiance accompanied me on this trip and she was able to rent a car, after much hassle from the clerk. I was not able to even put on the car as a second driver. When I finally got a car, there were none available. We had to wait 30 minutes for a car to be brought from another terminal!!! When it finally arrived, the girl handing out cars actually threw the keys at us. No looking over the car for damage, no nothing.

The car had a defective lighter which made our Garmin impossible to use. My fiance, instead of having a relaxing week in FL, had to shuttle me to NASA every morning, and pick me up every night. She had no idea where to go during the day, since our Garmin didn't work, and I had to hike from the main gate to the operations center daily. She could not drop me off at the op center since she did not have proper credentials. When the car was returned it was filled with gas, yet the gauge did not register completely full. The attendant asked us to present the gas receipt to the Alamo rental desk, which he signed off on. When we got to the rental desk, again, no one was there.... What a lousy way to do business.

When I finally got an answer from Alamo regarding my "DO NOT RENT" status they said it was because I had rented form another company within the last 2 weeks, and I had had an auto accident in the past. Mind you, that was over 2 years ago!!! Then they sent me a bill for the additional gas (2 gallons) and since I didn't sign up for their fill up program they charged me 56.00 for 2 freaking gallons.

Their customer service sucks, they are rude, (including their customer service dept) and their cars don't always work. I am disgusted with them and will never rent from them again. When I returned to NY, I told this story to my fellow co-workers and they have had the same "DO NOT RENT" experience.

P.S. The Atlas mission had to be scrubbed, but it wasn't my fault!!!

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- Having prebooked a car to be picked up on 6 Aug 2009 at 10.00 am in Bush Street, San Francisco, we were appalled to discover that the queue for the Alamo desk stretched to about 100 people long in front of us. We had to stand out on the street with luggage in the hot sun with nowhere to sit for THREE AND HALF HOURS before we reached the desk.

There were three Alamo attendants manning the desks. And whilst they were clearly stressed, two of them were able to remain reasonably polite. But the third attendant actually accused a fellow (non-English speaking) customer of disrespecting him and started a rant about Europeans not being able to drive automatic cars and that it was not up to Alamo to provide tuition, reducing the already stressed customer to tears.

Having signed all the forms when we finally reached the desk, we were informed that the car would be ready to collect in 15-20 minutes and that we should wait in another area inside a private multi-deck car park. Again with no seating or amenities other than a disgusting toilet with a broken door lock. We waited here for another TWO HOURS before we were handed the keys. (Meanwhile, there were other customers still waiting for their cars who were in front of me in the original queue, I have no idea how long they waited).

There was no time available to ask questions about the car and because it was given to me in a position where it was holding up other cars, I had to drive it out of a dark basement and into three lanes of traffic without any familiarisation period. Not easy when you normally drive a manual gear-shift, right-hand drive car in the UK.

The total wait of FIVE AND A HALF HOURS for the car meant that the first day of our driving holiday was totally messed up. We had to drive straight to our prebooked accommodation in Monterrey rather than spend a leisurely day touring and sightseeing to get there. The delay in picking up the car was, we think, because that Alamo did not have cars immediately available. Cars were being returned by customers finishing their rental periods during our wait and were, we think, being turned around quickly for the next hirer, and in consequence were not fully checked out apart from a basic valeting.

After a couple of days use a warning light appeared on the dashboard, although the car was behaving normally. There appeared to be no handbook in the car so I had no means of knowing what a red "engine block"€ symbol meant. I tried to call the Alamo emergency help line but gave up after being put on-hold for a few minutes (with a UK cell phone it was costing a fortune!). I checked the oil level and found it to be about 1.5 cm below the min line. I had to add two quarts (4 pints?) to bring it back to the required level. However this did not solve the warning light problem immediately, though it did disappear the next day.

Eventually after trying on two other occasions I managed to get through to ask advice about the car, as by now a warning message had appeared on the dashboard saying that the car was due for an engine oil change at 20000 miles (at this stage the milometer read about 19500, but we still had another 1250 miles to go). It was suggested by the advisor that I could arrange an oil change myself, or call in at another Alamo office and exchange the car. Neither of these suggestions fitted in with our touring schedule so it was agreed that it would be OK for me to continue through the full rental period ignoring the warning message.

I have never used Alamo before and certainly won't be using or recommending them in the future. I am still awaiting a response for compensation for the lost day of our holiday and the cost of a full tank which was taken off my credit card even though the tank was full on returning the car. (It is true that I signed a clause on the form at the start of the rental to authorize this, but in the chaos of the pick-up the implications of returning with a full tank were not explained to me). The rental was arranged online through Holiday Autos UK who say they are dealing with my complaint, although I have had nothing from them yet.

30 Sept 2009 Update!! Alamo have come good and through Holiday Autos have offered me compensation for the "lost" day and the full tank of fuel. Thank you to Alamo for seeing reason.

So my wife and I rented a car in Seattle and drove up to the San Juan Islands, Orcas island in particular. For those who don't know you need to cross over on a ferry. The last day we were there a person backed up into our car with their company vehicle puncturing the radiator. The person was very apologetic and told us it was their fault, the officer who was called said so as well. Fine, an accident. They happen. Called Alamo and talked to two separate service reps about the situation and what occurred.

Explained to them in detail where we were and what town the island was on. We spelled out the name even. Eastsound, Eastsound. Two times, two different people. Even the person who hit us talked to the service representative at one point and told them where it happened. They told us to sit tight and wait for the new car to be towed to us from Seattle WA. It would take 2.5 hours. Wow I thought, they have it together. They must really know the ferry schedule well to make a quick call like that. Three hours later we get a call from the towing company. They said they could not find us in EASTON and were getting frustrated.

That's not when I lost it, it gets better.... soo we explained to him that we were in Eastsound and not Easton. They called Alamo and got it straight while we talked to one of the Alamo big wigs and got it straight as well. We ended up paying for a tow to the ferry parking lot. We left the car and grabbed our belongings and headed across. The accident happened around 1pm and we didn't meet up with the also very frustrated tower with the new car until 11pm. Alamo did not explain to him that none of this was our fault. Alamo told him all this was our fault. So we explained to him what was going on and he agreed with us Alamo dropped the ball.

He slept in his truck to wait for the ferry the next morning while we took the new car and headed to our new destination. I stupidly assumed the company insurance of the person at fault in the accident would cover all repair costs to the old vehicle. That's what the deputy on the scene told us. He also told us the police report he wrote would be sent to Alamo.

Fast track a couple of months. I got busy with life and forgot about this mostly. Today I open the mail and read that Alamo is billing me for the TOTAL repairs cost to the vehicle. Close to 3000.00 called them up and they want my insurance info. They explained also that a police report was never received and that I'm solely responsible at this point.

Amazing but not beyond belief Alamo would drop the ball, or rather never pick up the responsibility and leave a customer hanging for so long and in the end pin the bill anyway on me. This is worth fighting and I intend to not pay one dime, me or my insurance. It simply sad a large company treats at least some of its clients this way.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- We rented a car through Alamo and paid for it in advance and declined the insurance already as we booked it.
At the airport we arrived tired, 2 kids, long line. The employee asked if we want insurance. We DECLINED it. Then he kept talking with me about upgrading the car as he marked the places to sign to decline stuff (like in 4 places). I signed fully trusting his marks and thinking that I can look it up later, just in case, but the copy that I got was just a printout not including my signatures. On the printout there is a lot of stuff: no way to know later where did you sign.

Anyway I didn't think much at that time, not even as I returned the car and got the receipt (there was the approx. the same amount I paid for the car and a balance of $0.0, so I thought this is the rental fee that I have already had paid. As I got home I saw that amount charged on my card. I thought that might be a double booking but no, it seemed that I was misleading to sign an insurance of $20 a day (that I already have and never needed and declined more than one time). So I ended up paying almost double for a compact rental: nice way to make profit scamming your customers.

It turns out some other people complained about it and that this behavior has method. They were rude to my complaints and stated that I should read carefully what I sign (true, but with a long line in your back you kind of trust them to put the x-es on the right place or at least not to talk to you like a waterfall as you sign). So if you book Alamo expect huge lines in the future!!!

They gladly take your money and do not cooperate and if you want to see your signatures on the damn contract you have to request it in written and wait 4 weeks :)) I am still not sure I signed there actually but they say I did, I assume they are right otherwise the scam is much more than that... Why not fax a copy over right away to clear the doubt????

And why would you print out a form with multiple options if the customer denied it verbally already? (We have computers now and you print it out especially for your customer anyway, why then all the listed options) Yep, I think this has method and it is intentionally set up like this! And why do not provide the customer with a signed copy of your contract so you can see your wrongdoing 5 min later as you get settled in the car?

I have serious doubts of the validity of a contract with multiple options where I cannot see later exactly what I signed! To me this seems like organized scam. And from a big US company like Alamo I wouldn't expect this at all. It makes me mad and sad that a US company will go so far just to make profits. We as consumers have to stop this or we'll all have a lot of bad days in the future.

RENO, NEVADA -- Alamo really surprised us with very strange business ethics! To sum up my experience: Alamo personnel give customers false information (about reimbursement and about car details). Alamo cannot handle special requests (we needed a special car and tried to solve this in advance). Alamo rather takes short term money instead of building a long term relationship with a satisfied customer.

The whole story: We made a reservation from Germany and rented a car in Reno. As we planned a camping tour, we needed a stow & go car because we intended to sleep in the back. In order to make sure that we get this special car, we phoned Alamo in Reno in advance which car to book and explained that we definitely need this car type and no other. They told us we need a full-size SUV and promised us that this is no problem.

Once being there, it turned out that the full-size SUV had no stow & go function. Unfortunately, we got into Reno with the last flight, so being back at the Alamo station we found this station already closed and everybody gone. So we had no other chance to take the “unusable” car and stay over night in a hotel. The next morning we drove back to Alamo.

It finally turned out that only the minivan has this function. So they changed our reservation into a minivan. As the minivan was not cleaned up yet, we waited for another 45 minutes to finally find out that this special minivan had a backseat which was not removable at all!!! I really started to wonder if Alamo personnel ever listen to customers' needs? We got back to the station again. Finally talked to the Station Manager. We were really wondering whether Alamo expected to just accept this and sleep outside the car during our camping tour? Unbelievable.

We even tried to solve the situation and asked the station manager to take out the backseats, so we could use the car but she refused. Asking her how to solve the problem because we had no other place to sleep, she advised us to check with other rental car companies. Aha??? She even told us that the money will be reimbursed once we are back in Germany. Even though we were not reimbursed on our credit card, we took the word of the Station Manager and changed the rental car company. Being back in Germany, nothing was reimbursed.

After a long discussion and telling the story over and over again to different call centre personnel (who were unfriendly and even hang up sometimes) and spending a lot of time and money on these phone calls, we were finally informed that there will be no reimbursement. So we ended up paying 681$ for one night rental car driving to a hotel!!!

I am really surprised about how Alamo handles customers in theses cases. It seems that making short-term money is more important than building a long-term relationship with a satisfied customer. I really wonder who is responsible for such customers policies. We are renting a lot of cars in the US, but this has never happened to us. Compared to all other rental car companies, this is the poorest and most unbelievable experience we have ever made. With Hertz this would have never happened. I really wonder how you stay in business.

By the way this was the original answer: "We have tried to book a reservation on the same website that you booked your car through, and the full-size SUV does not list stow and go seating as an option. We do not allow customers to remove seats from our vehicles or they will be liable for any damage to the vehicle so the manager at the station was correct in this fact. We apologize if a misunderstanding was given by the manager concerning a refund but it should not have been promised to you. We regret that no compensation will be given in this situation since a vehicle was provided that you chose not to use."

ATLANTA HARTSFIELD-JACKSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, GEORGIA -- I really am not sure where to begin this rental nightmare. I'll take it from the top, we have been in our business since 1928, and I have just recently taken the leadership helm. Myself and my staff are diligent about professionalism and excellence in all things [but we failed to do our homework in this area... that won't happen again]. This was to be our maiden voyage business trip under our new staff's direction. All plans and reservations were completed weeks in advance, we called, confirmed, checked and then checked again everything was fabulous.

On the day of our departure all involved were briefed and prepared. We moved towards the airport. Arrival to the airport=excellent; long-term parking and transportation to the terminal=excellent; flight & departure=(you guessed it!) excellent; shuttle to the car rental location=excellent...and then at Alamo/National it all falls down.

We warned them over and again that we were a business party of five men traveling to an undisclosed location approximately 3 hours away. We had done our level best [along with another member of my staff] to emphasize the gravity of having the appropriate command vehicle. That vehicle would be in the form of a Tahoe, an Escalade or a Suburban, and I was assured that there would be MORE than enough of these vehicles available for us to choose from.

Nevertheless, I still felt a little uneasy, so we made over six calls of confirmation that week (I know...I know..that should have been a clue..what can I tell you... that week I was an optimist, plus we had pre-paid to show our level of commitment]. Allow me to continue it gets better, I walk to the counter, I'm greeted nicely, I hand over the confirmation documentation, the credit card and drivers license gets processed..but I keep asking where is the vehicle that I reserved..yet they keep proceeding.

I must have looked like one of those dogs getting dragged on a leash until finally I halt the process and ask for a straight answer. What is my car selection? After all its three options, surely they would have at least one available, correct? Wrong! He starts rattling off cars and mid-size suv's that would barely fit 4 girl scouts with no luggage..Let alone five men with a decent amount of girth and luggage. Did I mention that for business reasons we all had to take the last flight out which means that now its 1:45 am? Not exactly a rush on cars at that time.

He goes to the night manager 1:45 am, 2:00 am, [I'm still not furious, after all God wouldn't be pleased with that kind of disposition] 2:15 am, 2:30 am, 2:40 am "Sir you can't get what you wanted, can we accommodate you with something else?" I'm thinking sure...that Prius looks roomy and will save gas. I should have asked for that in the...."OF COURSE NOT THAT'S WHY I MADE A RESERVATION FOR THOSE PARTICULAR VEHICLES!".

Anyway, it's 3 am we have to get going. So "what are my options?" After reviewing the list we pick the Cadillac dts sitting right outside...errr "No, that car is reserved." "What?!" so was mine, only my reservation is not virtual, it's in your hand!"...The manager does a bunch of scenarios to include two cars for the price of one but I'm trying to minimize our liability with one car full of weary travelers instead of two.

Beaten we agree upon the Jeep...[did I mention it took over 20 minutes to bring that Jeep from the other lot?...nevermind]..We begin to load up, we jump in the car and...it won't start..the keys don't work. The staff goes through approximately 6 people including the individual who drove the car over before they realize "hey..the key doesn't work". We off load the truck and I return to the counter again...Only this time my swagger is gone and I concede defeat..."Please ma'am just give me anything so we can go".

Finally, after an exhaustive search they come rolling over with a Toyota. It's moving forward so we'll take it. Right when we begin loading the car they call over to tell us that if we want to wait 20 minutes they can get another Jeep and the key should work. Yes we got a discount, yes we did get a car but for the entire trip we were squeezed on top each other when prior planning should have been enough to facilitate that not happening.

The truth be told Alamo/National ruined what otherwise would have been a perfect trip and marred the confidence in our leadership that we were trying so hard to display competence that we were so anxious to try to forge in our leaders. You can't put a price on that. Alamo/National's lack of professionalism and ignorance of customer service left me speechless. You can make a note that unless "strong" concessions are made on their behalf I nor any member of our organization will ever do business with that organization again.

My recommendation to all of you. Read the reviews from this website as a baseline and make an informed decision about who you do business with. Find a reputable car rental agency, and use them, because this agency OBVIOUSLY is not.

TORONTO -- I am one of the owners of The Urban Dog located on Whyte Ave in Edmonton, Alberta. In February I went to Toronto for a business trip. We needed a rental car and found a deal online to get a vehicle from Alamo/National. What we thought was a good deal was not one at all. Once we arrived at the airport, we signed a deal with them for a rental for 4 days, unlimited km, and a GPS unit. We decided that we should rent a GPS unit from them so it would be easier to navigate around the busy streets of Toronto. We rented a SUV and enjoyed the vehicle very much.

We were leaving Toronto on an early morning flight on Sunday and would have to drop off the vehicle and leave the keys in the mailbox at the Alamo rental store as the business was not open until 7:00 am. We didn't have time to fill up the gas tank, and we went on a toll highway, and knew that there would be an additional charge for those items. What we didn't expect was an EXTRA charge of $349.00 for the GPS unit on our bill.

Alamo said that we did not return the GPS unit (this same unit can be purchased for around $200.00 at Best Buy) with the car rental. When we returned the vehicle we put the GPS unit in the glove box so if anyone was walking by the vehicle they would not be tempted to steal it or break into the car, locked the doors and put the keys in the Alamo return box.

Alamo is accusing us of not returning the GPS unit. These are my theories on what happened. One of the workers that checked the vehicle forgot to check off that the GPS was returned, they did not check the glove box, an employee saw this was an opportunity to take it (theft from any business by employees is not uncommon), or the GPS unit was still in the vehicle upon the next person renting the vehicle and the new customers took it. Not only on the bill we were charged for the GPS unit they still had enough nerve to charge us for the rental of it for the 4 days we had the vehicle!

Alamo also included in their bill a letter stating that we would not be able to rent from them again in the future, which of course after this occurrence I would never rent from them and not recommend their company either. We also checked with Visa to see if they could do anything about this bill and they said because we signed a contract the rental car company can basically charge whatever they want afterwards.

This bill is an expense that will be written off as a business trip anyway but it has left a bad taste in my mouth front renting from this company (we always rent from Enterprise and have had nothing but the best of service from that company) and for thinking that people in the big city of Toronto are dishonest. Living in the WEST is the BEST. This incident does not want me to go back and do business in that city again.

I have phone the Alamo rental at Pearson International, left messages and nobody is returning my cars. Please make consumers aware that when renting a vehicle, NEVER drop a vehicle off as you do not know what kind of extra charges may appear on your credit card after you leave.

I want to share with you recent experiences we had with Alamo Car rentals on three different occasions in a 6-week period in the US and Canada. We used our travel agent to make reservations for three separate car hires with Alamo in North America: 1) Los Angeles 1 day 24 August 2007 Invoice **, Contract ID **; 2) Vancouver 3 days 25 September 2007 RA **, Contract ID **; and 3) Los Angeles 7 days 28 September 2007, Contract ID **, RES # **. Each time, Alamo insisted that we agree to pre-pay them to refuel the car with a full tank of gas, instead of our following the usual practice of returning the car full.

We have been renting cars through DTN in North America for the last 15 years and have never been denied the option of refilling the fuel tank ourselves until our recent experience with Alamo. They said they had the authority to do this because of the tour operator's agreement (with DTN), and that they were unable to vary this requirement. Their comment: “Blame your travel agent for not telling you”. There was no disclosure of this policy in the written documentation we received from DTN, or verbally from our travel agent, United Travel Browns Bay. Had we known about this policy we would have rented elsewhere.

In fact they are gouging the customer – using fees that look reasonable when quoted by DTN to travellers as ‘bait', with the intention of making extra windfall profits from every car rental by not having to completely refuel a car after they have required their customers to pay for a full tank of fuel in advance. This policy is contrary to Alamo's own signage at their offices and contrary to the wording in the rental agreement between Alamo and each driver.

Refueling service. The Vehicle will be provided to You with a full tank of fuel. You may choose one of the following options: (my emphasis) a. (Prepaid gas) You may pay an upfront, non-refundable Fuel Service Option charge; and b. (Return Full or Pay) If You do not elect the Fuel Service Option, You may return the Vehicle with the same amount of fuel as when You received it. You will then not pay a refuelling Service Charge. We were given no choice in this matter, even though Alamo claims every driver has this choice. It appears to be a deliberate and cynical attempt to profiteer off vulnerable overseas travellers.

The first hire was at Los Angeles Airport on August 24 this year. It was for 24 hours, and our intention was to drive from the airport down to Redondo Beach nearby. We drove a total of 28 miles altogether. There was no way we could use a full tank of fuel in one day. Why would we want to pay in advance for the car to be completely refuelled?

The clerk insisted we sign the agreement, and said the computer would not allow him to change it, but did say we could try to negotiate a refund with the manager on returning the car. Eventually on our return the next day the manager did agree to credit the refuelling fee – but it added considerable time to the whole check-in process.

The second hire was for three days at Vancouver airport on September 25 this year. Our plans were to drive to a motel in Burnaby, an inner Vancouver suburb, and visit friends – using the car only for shopping, and short trips to restaurants and our friends' house. Again there was no possibility of using a full tank of fuel. This time Alamo was completely inflexible.

We also had a third hire at LAX for 7 days from September 28 to October 4. In this case we did foresee the possibility of using at least a full tank, and the tank was low on fuel as we approached LAX when returning. Given the difficulties of the two previous rentals, and the time pressure we were under, I did not refuel the car.

The reasons why this policy is unfair and unreasonable are obvious: Windfall profits to Alamo, and added expense to the renter, if a car is not returned empty. It is very stressful attempting to judge the fuel level accurately when attempting to returning a car almost empty of fuel to an airport. It encourages unnecessary driving in order for a driver to ‘get their money's worth'.

This is wasteful of the driver's time, hastens depreciation of the vehicle, and is very environmentally insensitive given the finite supply of oil on this planet. It is common wisdom that it is best practice to refuel any car before it is ‘empty' because the bottom of the fuel tank tends to collect impurities.

We complained to DTN after we returned home, and they pointed out that they had not been informed by Alamo about this policy. They contacted Alamo, and their response was to offer us a one-class upgrade on our next rental. This offer is derisory, and we will not be accepting it.

Alamo is in the tourism service industry. If people choose not to rent their cars they would go out of business. Therefore it is surprising that at no time either when we rented the car(s), or after we complained, did we feel that we were treated like valued customers. Instead, we were exploited, by being charged for services we had no possibility of using.