Alamo Car Rental Problems
 

I recently had a second very unsatisfactory situation dealing with Alamo Car Rental. I have emailed a complaint into their Customer Service folks. I will advise on this site what their response will be. Their response to my first complaint was of the nature of, "sorry, better luck next time".

On April 1, 2007 I went to the Alamo counter in Salt Lake City, UT to pickup a GS6 Pontiac or similiar that I had reserved on the internet. I found out that this particular location had no GS6's. The similiar was a hatchback that was or was similiar to a Chevrolet Aveo. In my opinion the Aveo is not in the same category as a GS6. The backseat must be folded down to store a person's luggage which is less secure, being more visible & accessible to others. Then to drive this little putt-putt in comfort on a road trip is impossible.

The Alamo representative basically told me to take it or leave it, however she could give me an upgrade to a vehicle with a trunk for $200 more dollars than the internet quote I had received. I took the deal because I wanted to get started on the trip and wanted to get started with something that my wife & I would be comfortable driving. As stated above, the complaint I submitted after returning from the road trip was given the so sorry treatment. I did not want any compensation. I thought they could clean up their website with a little better information. They thought their website was just fine.

I didn't learn my lesson. I reserved on the Alamo website for pickup on Sep 11, 2007 in Tucson, AZ a GS6 or similiar since the rate was favorable by far over their competitors. So dumb I didn't think the same situation could occur but this time it was worst.

The Alamo representative told me they had a GS6 but it was on hold so I was told I would have to take the little hatchback AGAIN. My other choice was to upgrade to a Nissan Maxima, only this time the cost doubled to almost $900 from a quote of $423. Again anxious to get started on a trip with a planned itinerary only to run into a roadblock.

We then checked with the other rental agents. Dollar said they would also have high rates at the counter. If I got on the computer I could obtain better rates, then they would honor those rates even if an upgrade was necessary. Enterprise told me the same thing. They said that what Alamo was doing was not what they would do.

We went back to the Alamo counter and told the representative that I wanted the telephone number to the Alamo CEO or any other official that had the authority to change this situation. She then said she could lower the price of the upgrade by $200. Time was passing so I reluctantly took the "deal". The vehicle I got was a Chevrolet Impala with 25,000 miles on it instead of the Nissan. I am sure it was not their cream of the crop in that location. However it served the purpose. I had no problems with the vehicle & we had an enjoyable trip minus $300 more the vehicle cost us.

I thought I would pass this info along to others that may be as trusting (dumb) as I was. All I can say now is Alamo will never be considered again in any car rental plans of mine. However to be fair I will post whatever comments they may have on my complaint.

Interesting. I've never had this particular problem with Alamo. They are my least favorite car rental company, though, because I don't like the quality and condition of their cars, and I've seen more instances of dubious customer service with them than with others. I bite the bullet and use them sometimes when the price is right; last week I had the GS6 class reserved at Alamo, and got the Impala (and they didn't even try to sell me the upgrade). I had done the "pre-paid" option though, which might have made a difference.

Thanks for the heads up. Is it just my imagination or do there seem to more complaints about Alamo than any other rental car agency in the US?

I wrote them off ages ago when I spent nearly half a day at LAX trying to get a reserved car -- and then getting one that had a number of problems with it.

Add me to the list of unsatisified Alamo customers. We wrote them off after getting terrible customer service from them 20 years ago. While Avis and Hertz cost more, we've always had excellent customer service from both, both domestically and abroad.

LOL @ Alamo 20 years ago... you mean back when their reputation had more to do with how terrible the company treated its own employees rather than how bad any customers were treated?

When you rent at backwoods locales such as Salt Lake City and Tucson, you run the risk of renting from a franchisee that doesn't exactly fall completely under the umbrella of the large Alamo company, and that could be the underlying source of the OP's troubles.

They would have older, less-kept-up fleets, and perhaps they wouldn't even have the strength of sharing vehicles with more widely heralded, sister company National Rent-a-car.

With that said, when you accept "... or similar", clearly you are subject to whatever they have or will give you.

The time to come and tell us about it is when you reserve a "convertible" and don't get a convertible, etc.

This post is nothing more than sour grapes from someone who simply wasn't aware of how rental companies operate.

Salt Lake City and Tucson backwoods? What are you talking about. And similar is similar. Yes, it's easier to compare a convertible to a non-convertible and conclude they're not similar, but a hatchback and a sedan are NOT similar in my book.

roy2moira...as many rental agencies as there are out there looking for our business, who needs this possible hassle! We are getting ready to rent next week in hokey backwater Tampa. We won't use Alamo for sure!

Thanks...these boards can be so great!!

Comeon dmlove-didn't you know Tucson and Salt Lake City were the backwoods??
Seriously, used Alamo all the time in the past and didn't have any problems especially in Las Vegas where I traveled often for work. But my new favorite car rental company is Dollar. Best rates and never have had a problem with their cars although haven't tried to get one with GPS. I rarely use Alamo now.

Northwestmale, I guess my LAX Alamo experience was because Los Angeles is also a backwater? And a driver's seat that when you lean hard against it gives way and flies back to the furthest position is just a result of renting there in that backwater LAX location as well?

You're right. There are some major sour grapes here, but they aren't in the original post.

Paula, and I'm with you on Dollar. They've been great in every way, and often I think there is a mistake in the quotes as they are often so much cheaper. My one week rental in Phoenix this week is a TOTAL of $150 -- and that's with all of Phoenix' famous add-ons -- over $60 worth. Nobody else came even remotely close to them in price. I'm also doing a one day one way rental in Florida just to get to the airport. Grand total with all add ons? -- $17.

First, the Pontiac is called a G6. There's no GS6.

Pontiac G6 belongs to the "Midsize" category. A Chevy Aveo belongs to the "Economy" category, two steps down.

A rental car company does not guarantee availability of any car model or car category. In a situation where they run out of "Midsize", all rental car agents I've dealt with - Avis, Hertz, whoever - will automatically upgrade me to something bigger.

Or they can give you a discount to take the "Economy".

If their offer is "take it or leave it", then I'll leave it and rent from somebody else. And I definitely will not rent from them again.

Interesting that I used Hotwire just 2 months ago at Kansas City, and they gave me Alamo. But looking at hotwire.com, they no longer use them, though Priceline still does.

rkkwan-I think one of the reasons I like Dollar so much is that I almost always get upgraded. I am an Express member with them so don't know if that makes a difference but would think it might. It is true that rental companies can't guarantee a specific car but if you request a car with a GPS can that be guaranteed? Just wondering. I would see how travelers that request a GPS might really be depending on that during their trip.

wow, what a coincidence to find this post..... I just got back from MSP (is Minneapolis backwoods? I dunno)

I booked my car on Alamo's site and when I got to the counter, the rental was more than the internet quote! Hmmm...

Thank goodness for the "mangers special" on SUV's that only cost me $95 more for the 4 day rental...

I've never seemed to have a problem with Alamo except for extremely long waits, but I recently had one with Dollar in Manchester NH. They didn't have the correct rate for my car and tried to charge me $18 per day instead of $8, good thing I brought my printout. I rented a compact car and they said all they had left was minivans. I refused to drive a minivan so they said go over to the pickup counter and maybe they'll have a recently returned car.

They had a Ford Focus but I think it hadn't been rented in awhile, missing a hubcap, missing an interior door handle, stains on all the seats, cobwebs in the trunk but I took it because I didn't want to hassle with trying to find another rental on short notice.

Hertz in LA is always trying to give me much bigger cars than the category I've rented and who wants a gas guzzler with LA gas prices? And the last time I rented a mid size and they wouldn't give me a 4 door without an additional per day fee even though the picture on the website showed a 4 door car.

I've just gotten used to expecting an issue of some sort when I rent a car, fortunately it's never been anything major and once I even got an automatic in Europe for the same price as a stickshift when I mentioned that the car was too large and did they perhaps have something a little smaller :-)

Actually Kristi-most of the time when I rent a compact or intermediate car I end up with a minivan or a bigger car. This is true for all the car rental companies I have used although I seldom use Avis or Hertz because they are just too expensive.

Often the vans or bigger cars is all they have on the lot. They have never charged me more for the upgrade and I am usually happy to get the more substanial car. Of course a lot of the time I am not paying for the gas, but often the gas mileage is not that much different between a compact and an intermediate car.

Kristi,

Interesting. I also had a problem with Dollar at Manchester. We had a reservation as did about ten other people in line. The clerk informed us that they didn't have any cars at that time and to come back tomorrow morning. She than left and went outside to smoke a cigarette, leaving everyone in line! Everyone left but as I had to be Maine early the next morning it wasn't an option. I ended up with a SUV after one "magically" appeared.

The only time I arrived with a reserved car to be told, sorry they didn't have any cars at all was with Hertz.

I wrote off Alamo in Orlando, another backwoods location. Alamo is offsite and I arrived by bus with 2 children around 11PM. I finally reached the counter at 2AM! It's still hard to believe that they could have so few people working and so many customers.

Funny, I have started using Alamo more often because I have had better experience with them than others - especially Dollar, which on several occasions tried to give me a vehicle in questionable mechanical condition, make me pay more than stated on my reservation, or accept a different car than reserved. I got into it with one Dollar agent when she tried to tell me that I had to accept a minivan which I did not want (has reserved mid size.) The old "I don't care if the manger is not here, call him - you would find him if the place was on fire, wouldn't you?" worked but I have not patronized them again.

Sometimes upgrades are welcome, I got a minivan when I went to LA with my nieces and SIL and we really liked getting a van. But usually I want exactly what I reserve, I don't drive a big car at home and I don't want to try to park something that size. And I tend to do a lot of driving and gas mileage is a concern. But places like LA and Orlando a lot of their patrons are families looking for larger vehicles so I imagine that's why they tend to "upgrade" me when I go to those destinations

I only use Hertz and Avis when I get them through Priceline or Hotwire, you're right, the rental rate is always so much more when you rent the conventional way with them!

The gist of this thread seems to be that all rental companies seem to have their issues, I usually just hold firm and eventually get something that makes us both reasonably happy...

<i>The gist of this thread seems to be that all rental companies seem to have their issues, I usually just hold firm and eventually get something that makes us both reasonably happy..</i>

Which reminds that at Thrifty in Ontario, CA, we arrived to find no cars in the class we had reserved. We heard the clerk telling the people in front of us that they could &quot;upgrade&quot; for a fee. I don't know what those people did, but when we got to the front of the line and they fed us that same line, our response was &quot;you can upgrade us at your cost&quot; and of course, they did. We stopped using Thrifty in Ontario, but not because of that incident, instead it's because every time we went, the line at Thrifty just took forever to get through, and that wasn't the case with other companies.

dmlove, that's my strategy exactly and it has never failed. I carry a copy of my confirmed reservation, and when they try to upsell I politely decline. When they try to say they have nothing and must substitute, I politely decline if what they offer is not acceptable. Occasionally - actually, rarely - an agent will get a bit pissy and I just ask for the manager, display my reservation and sympathize with their problem but make it clear that it is not my problem. Sounds pretty narcissistic but when I turned 50 I announced that I was embracing my inner old fart and so far it has worked pretty well.

<i>when I turned 50 I announced that I was embracing my inner old fart</i>

LOL!!

dmlove,

Yes, in the rental car industry, Salt Lake City, Tucson, and many other cities of their size AND relatively remote locations are backwoods.

The main rental car brands often sell franchises in small-market, low-demand areas, and that is the reason why one-way rentals of just a few hundred miles at times, come with astronomical cost quotes.

In these small, backwoods franchisee locations, the fleets are in service for longer periods than in their bigger-city counterparts, AND, of course, they have fewer cars.

So when you go there and tell them you have a reservation for a vehicle that simply does not exist, period, let alone one that wouldn't be in their fleet even if it did, there is only one possible outcome for you.

Now, the guy comes on a travel website hoping to do some sort of damage to the reputation of the company. It's just wrong.

Back fifteen years ago, when auto rental costs were more volatile, Alamo was a good option because costs were typically lower than those advertised by industry leaders. Now that average base rental costs haven't increased significantly since then, Alamo is just another name in the running for auto rental revenue.

Nobody cares whether the OP uses Alamo or not, but before he starts bashing some company in print, he should at least have a reasonable case against them.

NorthwestMale, the point where your logic escapes me is that Alamo allowed the customer to make a reservation for a particular class of car in that backwoods location. If they offer the car, they should at least be prepared to supply what they promised. If not, a similar car is promised. This guy got neither the car he reserved nor a similar car.

I've used Alamo and not had any issues. Here are a couple of coupon codes if you decide to use them:

AD3829MRB - $25 off weekly
AD395OL2VN - $15 off weekend

Northwestmale, please read all the posts. We've all pretty well agreed that the original poster meant a Pontiac G6 (or similar) was reserved. It is pretty easy to assume that since Alamo on their website shows the Pontiac G6 as the midsize car that IS the classification that the poster reserved. It is not important that the actual model number or name is wrong. That is classified as a &quot;midsize&quot; car by Alamo. That is what the poster reserved and was paying for. When he got there they substitued an economy car instead -- not even a compact which is the classification between the two cars. They downgraded him TWO classifications of car. You seem to think that because Salt Lake City is some backwater town (absurd to say the least) that he should not only NOT complain but simply expect that? And you're claiming that to tell others that he was downgraded two classifications without any monetary adjustment is unfair to the company? Please tell me you're joking. That is simply absurd!

Perhaps the poster made an error here calling the G6 a GS6 -- but there is little doubt that what he means is he reserved and was paying for a midsize and got an economy. If he had wanted to reserve an economy car to begin with, he surely could have done so and gotten a lower quote than he was given for his car classification of choice -- a midsize. Surely you can understand the issue. It has nothing to do with the specific car he got, but rather with the lowering of two classes.

Patrick, you should probably read the first post, and the only one that matters with regard to any responses here.

The facts are that the man turns up at a random internet website fully six months after his cause for complaint just to try to do inappropriate harm to some company's reputation. If you don't call him out on this then you're just clueless as to how auto rental works.

He seems to believe that &quot;his opinion&quot; should matter in the wide world of airport car rentals.

He also admits to accepting what they were offering when it suited him at the time, but (and not &quot;suddenly&quot; either) it isn't good enough six months later.

(one would think he turned the car in many months ago)

Months later he again opted for the poor services/options offered by the company despite going to the competitors and hearing that he could go online and do better for himself. Salt Lake City, while quite surely a backwoods location in terms of auto rentals, does indeed have plenty of internet connections, so a truly dissatisfied consumer would have made haste to do better for himself with any one of those.

(unless, of course, he truly didn't believe he would do much better for himself, before weeks later landing here trying to convince the likes of you otherwise)

What is most comical in all of this, is the reference at the end of his long rant to &quot;be(ing) fair&quot;.


To hear him tell the story, he could've taken a $20 cab ride to the nearest internet terminal ($40 round trip) and saved himself hundreds of dollars renting from the competition, so why didn't he do so?

I think we all know why...

There's only one point in your ridiculous post that makes any difference to me, Northwestmale. Frankly I don't care if it took him 6 months to post about this experience. That's his perogative. But the bottom line is someone reserved and had a contract for a midsize car. When he got there they offered him an economy car which is a full two classifications lower. They weren't crediting him any money and couldn't offer him a car of the same classification that he reserved, but instead said if we wanted anything other that the two grades lower that he ordered that they were going to charge him full price for, he'd have to pay a whole lot more than his confirmation. You think that's fine. I don't. And I know in my heart that if it happened to you, you wouldn't like it either. No one wants to may for a car two grades higher than what they're getting. If you do, then there is something very strange about you. Do you also not mind paying for a deluxe suite if you get to a hotel and all they have is a standard single. Do you smile and say &quot;oh, yes this is a backwater town so I'm perfectly happy paying for a suite and not getting one&quot;. Give me a break!

And although you think Salt Lake City is a backwater town, what is one supposed to do? Rent a car in NYC or LAX when going to a backwater town like Salt Lake City? Your suggestion that someone should happily accept a lesser classification car than they are paying for if they happen not to be in one of the 5 or 6 major markets of the country is nothing short of absurd.

My experience with Enterprise has always been the complete opposite. I've always booked the cheapest economy car and gotten upgraded for free when they didn't have it. I believe they only have a few of the economy cars in stock at each location, so this is often the case. I would advise to always book the cheapest since you can always upgrade on the spot if they end up having an economy car and you don't want it. :)

I've also had very good experiences with Thrifty recently in both the US and Canada. They're the same company as Dollar.

First, for more reasons than I care to go into, I think NWmale is off his rocker.

Second, my dirty little secret is that I almost always reserve cars from 2 rental companies at the same location. That way, if I get the runaround from one or the &quot;we don't have any cars,&quot; I have an option other than to just swallow what one company is selling.

If you think that's unethical, tough. I've seen from the inside what rental companies do to make a few bucks, and renting 2 cars doesn't even make it one the radar screen compared to that.

Just for your info I am still awaiting a response from Alamo. I did receive a message from Alamo that indicated they would research my complaint &amp; respond within 24 hrs. That was several days ago. It appears to me that they have no logical reason for the car rental action hence I will be ignored - how's that for a customer no service department. That's O.K. since they have lost me as a customer anyway.

As far as I am concerned if a company does not have a mid-sized vehicle I reserved than I should be upgraded at no additional cost not downgraded to another vehicle at the quoted price of a mid-size. I don't care if it's New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City, or Tucson. Their website makes no distinction of what is available at the different locations. If they don't have certain vehicles available at some locations then in my opinion the customer should be so advised when he/she makes the reservation.

For NWMale I only referred to the incident in SLC so as to let Alamo know that they screwed me two times in a row. I was not satisfied with Alamo either time &amp; so advised them. However they showed their customer service merits by doing NOTHING to correct the situation. Even if a customer is wrong a good company will attempt to defuse the situation.

Also If you, NWMale, think I have time to get to an internet site with wife and luggage when I am supposed to be on the road following a pre-planned itinerary, you are off your rocker. I want to obtain the vehicle I requested &amp; hit the road. I don't what to spend half a day trying to resolve a rental situation. If you're are willing to take what the rental folks give you that's your choice but not too many other folks are going to be willing to do that without some action or complaint. You apparently are one who is willing to pay $10 for a $5 item because you're buying in backwater America.

I think J_999_9 has a great idea. I never thought of that. I think most of us like to conduct ourselves honesty &amp; we get screwed when we end up dealing with a company who is less than honest.

Thank you.

I guess i've just been lucky, but I've never had a single problem with renting from Enterprise off airport locations. One thing about their off airport vs on airport locations is that the airport cars are nicer and newer.

Didn't Enterprise just buy Alamo and National?

j999.... dont you think by double booking, your adding to the problem of &quot;we dont have cars&quot; if 2 agencies are holding a car for you????