Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Alamo Car rental Liberia Costa Rica

Beware of Alamo Car rental in Liberia airport- Had a bad experience that I cant seem to resolve, Basically what happened was I had a short vacation planned to the Westin Playa Conchal (which buy the way was amazing). I was excited to get a direct flight that would get me into Liberia by 12:43Pm on July 25th from New York, this would give me time to pick up a car at the airport and get to the hotel and at least have a half day at the beach, sadly thanks to Alamo I arrived at the hotel after dark, basically they ruined 1 day of an already short 5 day vacation.

What happened was I booked a car with Alamo through Expedia rather than a local company figuring I would get Alamos good service, I was wrong! Upon arrival at the airport I quickly cleared customs got my bag and went to Alamos desk. I gave my confirmation number and asked if they had my car they said yes and told me i would be shuttled a short way to their facility. After about a half hour wait when their shuttle was full They finally took us to a small strip mall a few kilometers away that housed several car rental agencies.

After waiting for two people in front of me( which took a long long time) I reached the desk and gave my conf. number and was told that their was no car currently ready but there would be one in about 15 minutes. I asked every 15 minutes for hours, and they kept telling me 15 more minutes because they were just waiting for a return from a nearby hotel.

I was literally trapped at this location where none of the companies had any cars. I just would have appreciated the truth at the airport so I could have went elsewhere!

I figured at least when I got home either Alamo or Expedia would do something for me, again I was wrong. I let them both know what happened. Expedia never responded to my email to their customer service dept. and Alamo offered me 60 dollars after ten emails to their international rep. I told him I didnt think that was fair because the rental was 400 dollars! and their mistake ruined four peoples day and to put me in contact with his supervisor. After that I never heard from him again as he promised in over three weeks.

try to book a car from anywhere but Alamo in Liberia, its not really Alamo, you wont get the kind of service that Alamo normally gives nor the customer support if there is a problem.

It is ridiculous to think a days vacation for four people is worth 60 dollars.