Complain about a product or service

Alamo Car Rental

Zobeyda of stockton, CA October 4, 2009

9/26/09 I picked up an economic car from Portland airport. I had to returned it within 30 minutes because the car was not clean, smelled and had animal hairs on the back seat. When I picked up the replacement car, the paperwork was changed to a higher rate. The clerk Su, assured me that I will be charged the weekly rate even if I return the car earlier. I rtd it within four days, and I was charged if I have kept it for a week. Watch out for this con artist. They are deceptive all the way to the bank.

Rebecca of Honolulu, HI September 24, 2009

My husband and I recently traveled to Molokai HI for our second honeymoon just before he deployed for the Navy. We rented a Jeep, spent our wonderful week going to the beach, etc. On our departure 13 Sep 09 we turned the vehicle in and the attendant walked around and initialed off on the contract. We went our merry way. Yesterday I get a letter in the mail that stated that Alamo filed a damage loss claim against me for an incident that occurred on 10 Sep 09 and they wanted to know how I planned to pay for the yet to be determined amount for the unspecified damage/loss.

How do they get away with signing a car back into their fleet and then come back later and claim damage. How am I supposed to defend myself against that? They know I can't go back there and see the damage, nothing. Unethical and shady. How are they allowed to get away with this? If damage is not caught before the renter leaves (if there is any) that should be on the agency, not the consumer!

Irene of Topanga, CA August 29, 2009

My brother, who lives in the UK, made a reservation with Alamo on 8 February 2009 for a fullsize rental car, to be picked up at Los Angeles airport when he arrived here on vacation on May 9. On arrival, the clerk at the Alamo desk said the car would not be big enough for his party totalling four adults with luggage totalling 2 large bags and 2 small. The clerk persuaded my brother to accept an upgrade to premium size, without showing him the difference between the 2 types of car.

My brother, who had been traveling for 20 hours, signed the paperwork. When he returned home to England and received his credit card bill he found he had been charged an additional 826.00 for the upgrade alone, on top of his original advance booking payment of £415.53 (around 625) for the fullsize car and insurance. This works out at 59.00 per day for the upgrade. The difference between a fullsize a premium car, judging from Alamo's website, I make to be around 11 per day. When I spoke to someone at Alamo's customer car she said that he had been charged the walk-up rate for the upgrade, rather than the advance booking rate. Since it was the Alamo clerk who had persuaded my brother to accept an upgrade, this seems to me hardly reasonable. He didn't even really need the bigger size car. It's true that he signed the agreement at the time, but he was exhausted and jetlagged and in no fit state to read small print. He swears the clerk didn't point out it was going to cost an additional 59 a day.

I have often upgraded rental cars on arrival at an airport. Sometimes I have been charged a small amount, sometimes nothing. Never have I been charged anything like 59 a day! I noticed from your website a very similar complaint about Alamo, so I thought I would register my brother's complaint also. I should mention that their customer care representative did offer a rebate of 20%, a total of 184.43. It does still mean my brother paid around 46 a day for the upgrade.

Vito of Robbinsville, NJ August 25, 2009

I reserved a car, when we got there, we received a Ford Taurus about 15 years old or looked very old. The car smelled, stalled every 5 minutes. I told rosa that i would prefer one of the cars pictured behind her on the wall, she gave no respond, but she did accuse me on giving her a bad credit card, after she realize she made an error, she did not apologize.

I will never rent from them again and will tell everyone I know not to. I have a % yeard old I reserved a car seat, but never got it. My wife had to sit in the back with my son. I beleive the miles on the car as they stated are 281641 as per there contract.

Vito of Robbinsville, NJ August 25, 2009

I reserved a car, when we got there, we received a Ford Taurus about 15 yrears old or looked very old. The car smelled, stalled every 5 minutes. I told rosa that i would prefer one of the cars pictured behind her on the wall, she gave no respond, but she did accuse me on giving her a bad credit card, after she realize she made an error, she did not apologize.

I will never rent from them again and will tell everyone I know not to. I have a % yeard old I reserved a car seat, but never got it. My wife had to sit in the back with my son.

Nancy of Tequesta, FL August 24, 2009

Returned a rental on 8/17/09 @3:45 pm and left a Navigation System in the car. Phoned that evening when home and asked to be called back. During the week no return calls, even though phoned 5 times. Received call back today, a week later from the Lost and Found Dept. "Daree" went to look for the Nav System, couldn't locate it......I assume it was stolen by whomever cleaned the car out and she said she has no control over that.....Now what?

Brian of Lebanon, NH August 21, 2009

I booked a ecconomny car for 14.95 a day out of DFW for 4 days (117 total with tax). I prepaid online (Alamo site, not a 3rd party). Used the kyeosk to pick up the vehical. No problems checking it out or in. On my credit card bill I noticed not only the 117 charge but also an additional charge of 129.00. I simply let my cc company know I thought it was a double billing. A month later I get a set of documents from my cc company where Alamo justified the extra 129 charge citing that I had allegedly agreed to take their insurance at 22/day (called loss damage waiver). Personally I never take out this type of insurance on a rental car because the cc I use covers it. I immediately called Alamo customer service and they stated that they had paperwork indicating I had taken out the insurance. I tried to reason with them saying, "why would I rent a car for 14/day and pay an additional 22/day for insurance.

Long story short, they agreed as a "courteous" to credit me 55 (50% of the insurance). I told the customer service agent that I did not consider it a courtesy, but an intentional deceptive practice that Alamo was engaging which resulted in stealing 50+ from me. I had long since discarded the paperwork I received from the kiosk (if I received any) so I really had not paperwork to justify my position. So, I regretfully accepted their 50% credit. To me this is a clear fraudulent deceptive practice. I wonder how many other people they have easily done this to.

Alan of North Smithfield, RI August 20, 2009

I would like to relay a development that has me somewhat troubled regarding my recent car rental with Alamo in Warwick, RI. Through my Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa card, I was referred to your site and found the price of a car rental that met my needs and was competitive with others I had researched. My rental period was August 13th through August 18th, 2009. When booking my car, I selected a “mid-sized” car as I would be picking up 2 tall people from the airport who would be attending with my wife and I, my son’s wedding in New Hampshire. I own a 2009 Toyota Corolla and knew that my own car would be uncomfortable for our guests, thus the need for the larger, mid-sized car rental.

In my research of cars offered through Alamo at Alamo.com 2 cars are listed under the mid-sized category; a Pontiac G6 and a Toyota Prius, “or similar”. I booked my car based on the competitive posted rate for the time period that I needed it, as well as the incentives from my Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa card and the acceptable size of the cars offered through Alamo as mid-sized. Upon picking up my rental, however, I was told that my mid-sized car was a Toyota Corolla. Well, to say that I was somewhat surprised is an understatement. Had I needed a Corolla, I would have used my own car. Obviously I was in a bit of a predicament at this point because I needed the car to pick up our guests within the hour at the airport but knew that the Corolla would be totally inadequate. In addition, my wife dropped me off at the Alamo office in Warick, RI adjacent to the airport and obviously I was left essentially no options other than to accept the upgrade enabling me to pick up my brother and sister-in-law flying in from West Palm Beach. (Just as a side note, because my sister-in-law was my kidney donor for my recent transplant, we wanted to make every effort to make both she and my brother comfortable for the trip to and back from New Hampshire.)

When I stated that a Corolla was unacceptable and not what I had expected, based on the Alamo site and their mid-sized car offerings, the desk attendant advised that I would have to upgrade to a full-sized car, which, in this case, turned out to be a Toyota Camry. I had no option at that point but to accept the upgrade as I had no opportunity to make reservations elsewhere at such short notice, plus my wife who dropped me off at Alamo had headed back home.

Yesterday, after our guests’ departure and returning my car, I began researching this issue a bit to see if perhaps some error had been made. First, I researched the Pontiac G6 and the Toyota Prius, both mid-sized cars which appear in your own site as midsized offerings. (Please see the site listed above.) Tthe G6 IS in fact a midsized car and is compared in its class to the Ford Fusion, The Mazda 6 and the TOYOTA CAMRY. In an article in the Pontiac G6 is described as mid-sized. Again referring to Edmunds, the Toyota Camry is classified as a mid- size car and is compared to similar models, (there were 75 mid-sized car listings), which include 2009 Saab 9-5, Saturn Aura, Subaru Legacy, Suzuki Kizashi among many others. Regarding the Prius, also offered as a mid-sized car on your web site,

In researching the Toyota Corolla, automotive offered this statement, “count on Automotiv as your resource in your price research for a new Toyota compact car. Ten types of Toyota Corollas are listed as “compact cars” in this article. In another article in the Toyota Corolla is listed under “Economy Cars Runners Up”. Finally, Kelly Blue Book states of the Corolla, “If your vehicular preference is for a modest but fuel-efficient and presumably reliable compact sedan from a trusted Japanese brand, this may be an excellent choice.” www.kbb.com . [Underlining mine] There seems to be no shortage of articles expressing the fact that a Corolla is classified as a compact car but at this point, I think further documentation would be redundant.

How prevalent this “confusion” is with Alamo or other car rental agencies is I am not sure. I feel that further investigation would be appropriate in this instance and I do hope to generate interest by consumer organizations to that effect. I also feel it prudent to make the Southwest Rapid Rewards program aware of the issue as well as the Rhode Island State Department of Business Regulations, the office of the Attorney General of the state of Rhode Island and the offices of consumeraffairs.com. I also hope to pursue this matter through local public television consumer units to see if I can generate interest for further investigation. Happily, at least check-in went smoothly with no problems. Alamo in my opinion did NOT honor their commitment to me for the rental of a “mid-sized” car at the price that was mutually agreed upon, nor did I receive full and fair value in this transaction.

Debra of Midwest City, OK August 20, 2009

I booked a midsize car for pickup at the airport on May 30th, returning the car on Jun. 3rd. Upon arrival, I was given a Kia Spectra. I told them I had booked a midsize car, not a compact. I was told by the agent and then the manager that the Spectra was a midsize car. But I could wait another 2 hours for another car. The manager swore the Spectra is a midsize. I took the car. Upon return to my home, I called the corporate office and was told that this is indeed a compact car.

kal of los angeles, CA July 21, 2009

Counter lady told me the gas was MUCH cheaper to buy from them. I trusted her and went ahead and signed up for the "return car empty" only to find out they LIED. the gas on the island of Hawaii was not as much as she said. I filled the tank for 35.oo BUT was charged 55 at the counter-a diff of 20 bucks.

When I returned the car and mentioned this to the return guy he gave me a song and dance and did nothing to make me THE CUSTOMER happy.

The people that work at Alamo are just robots with no common sense nor customer savey. locals who just have do a job-nothing more.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |