Advantage Rent A Car Consumer Reviews - Page 5

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- In May I rented a car at Advantage Rent A Car in Salt Lake City with drop-off in Albuquerque. The rental car was damaged before I drove it out of the lot, but I was not aware of the damage. I didn't find out about the damage until I returned the car to Advantage in Albuquerque, where the attendant pointed out the damage to me.

In the Advantage parking area in Salt Lake City the attendant had handed me a piece of paper that stated the vehicle was not damaged, and she asked me to initial it. I told her that I couldn't initial because I hadn't even seen the vehicle. She replied that the car had just been inspected and had no damage, that I should go to the car and inspect it myself, and if I found no major damage I should go ahead and drive the vehicle. I inspected the car and noted that the license plate was bent. I noticed no further damage, but snapped a picture of the front of the car "just in case." The damage is visible in the photo.

My flight had been 2 hours late arriving in SLC, I was already tired, and I had a 4-hour drive ahead of me that night, so I wanted to get going as soon as possible. The parking area was poorly lit, the car was a dark color, the bumper was a dark color, and I didn't see the damage to the bumper. In Albuquerque I disputed the charge that I had damaged the car. I tried numerous times to call an Advantage representative whose name and phone number were given to me, but I could never reach her, and she never returned my calls.

I finally dropped the matter, thinking my explanation had been accepted, but I was wrong. Now Advantage is claiming I owe them $962 for damage that they say I am responsible for. I am certain that Advantage was aware that the damage was there before I rented the vehicle. I learned some lessons the hard way.

1. NEVER rent from Advantage;
2. Inspect any rental vehicle with a fine-tooth comb;
3. Take pictures of the vehicle (and another picture showing other rental cars in the picture to prove that the picture was taken in the company's parking area).

DENVER, COLORADO -- Beware of any ‘special' offers from Advantage! I found a great internet special and ending paying 3x what I was quoted and put up with the worst customer service imaginable. I was flying into Denver, Colorado on a three day trip and needed to rent a car to travel to Breckenridge. I found an internet special from Advantage offering a Spring Break special which would waive the young driver's fee. It was valid in 13 states including Colorado. I booked the car through the link on the website and had no issues. I received the confirmation the day before with a charge showing $0 for the young driver's fee.

When I arrived at the Denver airport I was charged 3X what I was quoted because the Young Driver's fee was not waived. The manager accused me of making up the deal arguing that it was illegal to waive young driver's fees. The following day I called customer service to get the charge refunded. Again, I was greeted by a rude, combative agent that didn't believe the special existed. She almost hung up on me, but I forced her to type in the website. She read the special back to me and then abruptly put me on hold when she read the young driver's fee was waived.

Twenty minutes later she came back the phone to tell me that Denver did not participate in the special. Isn't Denver in Colorado??? Stated specifically in the special? Apparently not… I was told it was my responsibility to verify the specials they offered were actually honored before I traveled. Not giving up, I called once more a few days later hoping to get a better customer service agent. This time, Denver was included in the special, but they couldn't change my charges because the account was closed!!! Moral of the story is… avoid Advantage at all costs!

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- I rented a car from Advantage at the Houston Hobby Airport location through Orbitz. It was a two-day rental for a total of $62. I waited for nearly 45 minutes to be picked up and taken to the local office. I watched other car companies come by as many as five times during the wait. Things eventually went from bad service to a nightmare.
At the office, the employees were rude and less than truthful.

I was told that I had a special that was limited to two days and if I wanted to extend for additional days, any additional days would be $50 per day. I specifically questioned them to make sure that they were not trying to say that if I did extend an additional day, the price for my original two days would also change to the higher rate. They said that was correct, the higher price would only apply to the additional days. I did extend one additional day. I had a very early flight the third day and had to turn the car in before they opened. I called and ask for instructions on how I would do that. I followed the instruction very specifically.

A month later when my credit card bill showed up, I found an additional $188 in charges above what was supposed to have been charged. I called the office to get an explanation. I was treated rudely and received some vague information, including a claim I had not left the keys, which was absolutely false. They would not work with me at all and I could not get a complete explanation of all the charges. I worked with my credit card company to have the fraudulent charges removed. I then received a bill from the Advantage Collections office, but the details of all the charges were still not clear.

I called Advantage to try to work with them and after much tribulation, finally found they had nearly doubled the price they were charging me for the original two days. They charged me for an additional day because they said they had to have a key made that day, and they were charging me for the supposed missing key.

I furnished information to the collections office that would verify the charges were not legitimate. I was told that they did not care if the charges were not legitimate, they intended to collect the money. If I sent information to them, or requested information from them, they responded with threatening letters to pay them in full, right now.

Two calls to customer service provided no help whatsoever. When I tried to talk with someone at a higher level, they would not provide me with any names or numbers. I was just told to call the collections office again. Save yourself some nightmares and avoid Advantage. It is one of the smaller companies and it should continue to get smaller if it is going to depend on fraud to increase revenue.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA -- I booked the car online got confirmation number I got an email for easy online check-in I also did that. I thought everything was fine, until I got to West Palm Beach. Out of the airport I gave my family member the paperwork with all the information. The printout from the computer, confirming the vehicle. When I got a call informing me that they said there was no vehicle waiting for me and that they wouldn't pick me up. I called and told them I would be right in to pick up my rental car again they informed me not to bother they have no cars. So I informed them to drop off my family members back at the airport the same way they picked them up (by the shuttle bus.)

They refused and stated they have no transportation. I called a couple of times and no one picked up the phone. My family member stated "oh they closed up". Then I got really upset after one hour my family member arrived back at the airport and I went to rent a car with Enterprise.

Lucky for me I have good friends who did everything online. Enterprise was FABULOUS no problems what so ever. So if you are looking to find a real good deal. DON'T DO IT WITH ADVANTAGE. I think they really took ADVANTAGE of me. This is an unreliable company that apparently DOES NOT CARE, I think. Never never again will they take me as a sucker. ONE EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED EX CUSTOMER.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- We rented a car using Expedia for our trip to Orlando, Florida. When we got there we had the surprise to hear that they don't have the car we booked so they offered to give us a sport utility car that cost us $300 more than we already paid. When we asked for other options the guy was very rude and said we can walk if we don't like it. He called the manager (a woman) who was absolutely impolite and made us feel like being on another planet. We ended taking the car they offered because we were with a kid who was very tired. After this horrible experience Advantage is not going to be on my rental car list anymore.

DALLAS, TEXAS -- When you rent a Advantage Rent a Car in Dallas, there is construction outside their office. You drive through the construction, there is no place to pay the Dallas toll unless you have an electronic account with the Dallas tollway. You get a $.75 fine, plus $25.00 fine and then Advantage, lazy, stupid company that they are turns it over to VMS, which adds $40 to it, so a $65.75 billing, for a toll you never had a chance to pay.

They turn your credit card information over to VMS, a collection agency, so they Advantage could have done the billing for the $25.75 but no, they are lazy and cause you to incur another $40. They are a BAD COMPANY, NOT CUSTOMER FOCUSED AND I WILL NEVER RENT FROM THEM AGAIN.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- I just got done renting an "advantage" car for a week in salt lake city, ut. It took forever for advantage to get us through the paperwork and to the vehicle. Once we were driving, we noticed that the maintenance oil warning was glaring in the instrument column - guess advantage is a bit behind on scheduled maintenance. But, the worst thing is they doubled the price I was quoted! They quoted me approximately $250 - but they charged me $500!!! **.

I called and talked with the manager there and all he had to say was, "well, that was the price for the car; the rest is all additional charges that have to do with the airport." He refused to talk about it further, gave me the number to their corporate offices and hung up the phone. Don't go with advantage unless you like being taken advantage of!!! The Better Business Bureau is my next stop in my battle to get the frivolous charges removed.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- Why nobody should use Advantage Rental Cars (especially in San Jose.) When you hand someone a credit card and tell them it has a $500 limit, you don't run it for $700, tell the person your card is declined and your reservation has been canceled. Don't bother changing the reservation with Advantage by phone because they won't run the card again for 24 hours. Don't let ** & ** make your wife cry when she is turned away again just because. Don't bother wasting 45 minutes being passed from one reservation supervisor to the next because they flat out cannot do anything. Just say no to the company that made my wife cry!!!

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA -- Advantage lives up to its name because I was totally taken advantage of. I can't argue with the price, quoted at $20.00/day. But what wasn't made clear was the $200.00 hold they put on my checking account, along with the $20.00/day charge. The car was returned yesterday but the $200.00 was not returned to my checking account as of yet.

Also, during the explanation of the gas options, I merely shook my head to say I understood I had the option of getting gas myself or having them fill it when I bring it back. I had all intentions of filling it myself, but then saw on my receipt (tucked away in the little brochure they give you so you can't notice pages 2 and 3) they billed me $38.00 for gas for a little Versa! This is a company that is owned by Hertz, by the way. I am disappointed Hertz would run such a shabby business. Will not be taken Advantage of again!

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA -- First of all everyone should know that Advantage is not located in the rental car facility at the Oakland airport that the other major companies are located so you need to take a shuttle to the main facility then call for an Advantage shuttle that backtracks the opposite direction for what feels like several miles. This happens both picking up and returning the cars.

With our experience the agent told us the shuttle would be by to pick us up in about 5 minutes. After 11 minutes I called again and was told the shuttle did come by but we were not there. That was total BS because we were standing exactly where we ended up being picked up. Also the reservation was for a full size car but a full size was not available so instead of being offered an upgrade I was given a "downgrade" to a smaller car. Also neither shuttle bus driver (coming and going) offered to help my wife with her luggage.