Dollar Rent A Car Systems, Inc. Consumer Reviews - Page 6

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- During the Phoenix, AZ hail storm on 10/06/10, the vehicle I rented was parked in a private, residential driveway. Well the hail storm lasted ten minutes starting with marble-size hail that quickly changed to golf-ball size hail and completely coated any flat surface. All you could see was white. However, in this short period of time, damage was intense. The damage to the vehicle was not good as the car looked like it had been parked on a driving range and all golfers were aiming at it as the hole.

Everything would have been a smooth transition with my Insurance company, if Dollar Rental Car didn't try to scam my Insurance Company and me, the user, with additional trumped-up charges. These trumped-up charges are so ridiculous even my Insurance Company refused to pay them. Unfortunately, I'm now stuck fighting the following trumped charges on my own. Calling Dollar and Dollar management was like talking to North Korea.

The following is a list of the ridiculous trumped-up charges that are unfounded: Administration $50.00. Appraisal Fee $50.00. Loss of use $464.38. Remaining cost of repairs $385.34. Tax $107.32. The next time you think Dollar, you better think of YOUR DOLLAR$$$$.

My husband and I have had nothing but bad luck with car rental agencies -- a small dent in the mirror in Ireland and they said they had to repaint the entire car; a flat tire in Germany and a huge fee to change it, and some extremely rude people at other car agencies in the U.S.

Given those experiences, we were fairly prepared when we rented a car from Dollar at its airport office in Manchester, NH on Sept. 29. We thoroughly checked out the car before we drove off, even taking a photo of a dent from a previous renter. The agent asked if both my husband and myself were going to drive, and although my husband does the driving, he said "Yes, just in case." However, because the agent was the only agent on duty and there was a line of people behind us, he was fairly stressed and did not mention the daily fee, which we would have declined.

When we returned the car nearly two weeks later, we noticed the charge of $117 and reported we had not been told about the additional driver fee. The agent on duty said he was not authorized to take the charge off, but advised that we send an email to customer relations, which we did. Same old story, we thought -- another hassle with a rental car company. However, yesterday we received a reply that the company would be putting through a credit on our card. Amazing -- a rental car company with ethics. Dollar, you certainly have our future business!

KEY WEST, FLORIDA -- I rented a car in Key West and returned it to West Palm Beach. The estimated rental fee was $119, which was still higher than the online quote of around $70. When I returned the vehicle I was charged $271!!! This is absolutely ridiculous. Dollar Car Rental's website was very misleading along with the sales representative at the store. They failed to inform me I would be charged more for dropping off at another location. There were many more headaches and complications with the services they so poorly provided. I called to verify I would be able to take the car back to Destin where I live and was informed there are no one-way drop offs near there.

That would have been nice to know before I rented the car. I had to drop it off in West Palm Beach and pay extra for that along with making other arrangements to get home. I feel I was misled from the start of the rental agreement and I am very unhappy with the services provided.

To this date, I have contacted Dollar Thrifty several times about this matter. I have received phone calls and letters stating that I damaged a rental vehicle on 6/8/2009. This damage allegedly occurred well over a year ago. I did not receive any correspondence from Dollar Thrifty until 4 months after the date of this rental. Well past any reasonable grace period. At the time of the vehicle's return, I was given an all clear from the employee of Dollar Thrifty stating that the vehicle was in good condition and was told by the employee "Thank you and have a nice flight".

I am being blamed for damage to a rental vehicle that did not occur while the vehicle was in my possession. I will never use Dollar Thrifty again. Tired of the harassment, and will use any other agency available when in need of a rental. I have spoke with several individuals at this point. All telling me "Not to worry about anything, we will take care of this. You should receive no further calls about this matter". Yet, I continue to field phone calls over this non-existent matter.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Went to the Dollar reservation desk on Saturday August 14th to find 15 people waiting and two (rude and disinterested) people working behind the counter. Nothing happening. After 20 minutes, I go up to the counter and ask what's up and am told there are "no cars" and that I can go two blocks away to Budget and they will "honor" my rate and reservation. I go to Budget and they're ruder and even more disinterested. They shunt me to the side but finally give me a car at a much higher rate, $100 higher for a seven-day rental.

Dollar is now giving me the total run concerning any kind of compensation. Terrible onsite service and horrible customer service. This is not the first time Dollar has screwed us on a rental. NEVER AGAIN even if the rate is much cheaper than Avis or Hertz. Twice bitten, third time wise. The whole process took an hour and a half. An hour and a half I would very much like like to have back, but I'll settle for the $100 difference, but I can't promise I'll be happy about it. Totally ruined the first day of our one week vacation.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- I have read a lot of Reviews on the Internet about Dollar Rent A Car. To be honest, I got so frightened about other people's comment, that thought to myself 'what I am getting myself in to?'. As a Christian, I remembered that all I needed to do was to pray to have a smooth experience with Dollar Rent A Car. I prayed to God and told Him that I need to return to the UK and write a good Review. Yep! You guessed it, got to the Atlanta ATL Customer Desk and was pleasantly surprised at the First Class service.

I got a Brand new Toyota Corolla; Immaculate condition (inside out). I actually was so impressed with Dollar Rent A Car, I washed the car before returning it. The moral of this is to always pray and God will show Himself Faithful. I cannot fault these guys at all; hence 5 stars all through.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA -- Traveled to Fort Lauderdale airport, picked up my car that was prepaid already by American Express travel (including hotel and air as well). At the desk there was a gentleman that started pushing for the convertible upgrade which I gave in after he gave me some discounts, but he told me that I would have to pay for insurance. I replied that I have my own car insurance back home and if I had to pay any more insurance to give me the cheapest one.

He told me that the cheapest insurance was 29.00 per day (for any car). I said that it was insane and that I never paid that much insurance before at any car rental. He replied that Florida has a high insurance charge than where I was coming from (NY). After 15 minutes of debating with the guy that it was insane that insurance would cost as much as a car rental per day I signed where he told me and got my car.

Drove to Miami and parked my car in a public parking lot and went to the beach because it was too early to check into my hotel. Left the bags in the trunk, when I came back someone opened the trunk (which I had locked) and took my cash, credit cards, laptop without any forced entry. I know it's a stretch to blame the rental company for this but I opened a case with Dollar Rental Car about the extra insurance forced on me by their representative at the desk, and even though I paid 29.00 a day for insurance it was not good enough to cover the lost property of that my belongings! So beware and read the fine print they tell you to sign.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- After flying into Orlando I went to pick up a rental car which I had already paid for. The agent insisted on seeing my credit card because of company policies. He spoke very broken English and it was very difficult to understand what he was saying. The receipt he gave me said it was a car rental agreement. I asked him why the amount was different than what I had been told when I had arranged for the car rental. He said it was more because there was a little insurance and this charge would replace the other charge. The insurance cost 193.00 which was more than the car rental.

In talking to the customer service department, they said I had signed for optional insurance when in fact the agent said I had to sign in two places to get the car. They use a code which they do not explain (at least my agent did not). Make sure your agent can communicate clearly or you will get something you may not want!

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA -- I travel with a $500 card for business expenses on my trips. After renting a car, lunch and a tank of gas, my card was declined at the motel I tried to stay at (1:15 AM). Luckily, the motel agreed to take my Debit card so I did not have to spend the night in my car. I called my card provider to find out why they would not honor any more charges. That was when I found out about the $350 deposit charge on my card. I complained about this deposit when I returned my card. The lady who checked me in told me that it would be gone within 4 hours. She also mentioned that "It would have been better if they had told you about it."

I will be talking to an attorney after the weekend is over. Anyone else up for a class action suit? I returned the car on Friday, this is Sunday and the deposit is still blocking my card. If Dollar rents one million cars on a single day, that means that they have a $350 million dollar "slush fund" that gets renewed every day. Back in the Nineties, the government stopped banks from doing these similar "funds" by not accrediting your checking "Deposits" for three days, but using the money in the meantime. A class action suit will work here. When I returned on Friday to the Dollar facility at the Oakland airport, I complained about this deposit on my card.

Just to make it clear, we made our car rental reservation through a third party company called Booking Group (known as bookinggroup.com or economybookings.com). When troubles started, Dollar blamed everything on the third party company. I'm not buying it…

Dollar robbed us 3 times:
1. According to the voucher, we were holding the balance was EUR 127: "€127.03 is payable to Dollar on your arrival" (Approximately $190 at that time). Dollar charged us $250. After an 11 hours flight it was not easy to argue... what could we do?

Dollar response: "Our records indicate your reservation was booked as $250 in our system for the rental charges, which is what you were charged. Since the Euro amount was quoted to you by the third party company, and they booked the reservation in our system as $250, we must ask you pursue this matter further with the third party."

2. According to the voucher the drop-off location was Manhattan (no fee mentioned): "Drop-off location: USA New York, Manhattan, Manhattan Downtown". Dollar charged us with an extra $50, which was a Drop-off fee for returning the car to a different location than the original.
   Dollar response: "Since our records indicate this vehicle was reserved with Dollar to return to JFK, we must conclude the third party booked with us incorrectly."

3. Dollar did not explain that the prepaid fuel plan is just an option; we understood that we have to take it.
   Dollar response: "It appears you accepted prepaid fuel upon pickup. This was $34.29."
   My recommendation: Don't book Dollar Rent-A-Car; Don't do business with Booking Group.