OK stand by and try to stay awake!!!!!!!

On the 10th April I picked up a Chrysler 300M from the Dollar depot at LAX as booked under our contract and drove to Springdale in Utah to start our vacation. On the evening of Sunday 13th April, when backing out of a restaurant car park, the air bag light came on and the steering column started to make ?clicking? noise when turning the wheel. Back at our hotel (approximately a mile away) I telephoned the customer care line who arranged for a replacement car to be delivered to us the following morning. The car was duly delivered, but was a Chrysler Concord, a lower specification than that booked on our contract and was extremely dirty. Whilst driving that day, I put a CD into the player, unfortunately this CD could not then be ejected and I could not change over to the radio - both buttons were broken. Since we were planning to drive a considerable distance on our vacation we obviously could not suffer the same CD playing continuously and I therefore turned to the customer service line again. Since we planned to drive to Salt Lake City the following day, I requested a change of car at the Dollar offices there but was told that the only car available would be a SUV. I accepted this and was advised that I could change this again at Denver later the next week where a 300M would be available.

I drove to Salt Lake City airport to change the car and explained the stuck CD to the staff there who then tried to give us a soft-top Jeep Wrangler as our replacement vehicle. We could not even get our suitcases into this vehicle, let alone drive through the snow covered Rockies and therefore asked for an alternative as promised by the customer service staff. The only alternative available was a Dodge Caravan that I reluctantly accepted. This car was also dirty.

When I arrived at my hotel in Salt Lake City, I yet again telephoned the customer care line and asked them to confirm that the car contracted to be supplied to me, a 300M would be available at Denver for collection. The customer care staff checked with Keith at the Denver office who confirmed that a 300M would be available and asked us to telephone 24 hours prior to arriving in Denver to confirm our arrival time. I duly telephoned to confirm our arrival to be in the early afternoon of the 21st April and was reassured by Jessica that the 300M would be waiting.

I arrived at Denver at the appointed time but unfortunately Keith was not on duty. Jessica nochalanylt remarked that she had given away the 300M and instead I was given a Dodge Intrepid that I had to keep for the reminder of my trip and I returned the vehicle to LAX on 26th April. The vehicle had not been valeted and the ashtray had not been emptied.

When I returned to LAX at the end of the trip I was given $69 in cash (one day's rental) as 'compensation'.

Are you all still with me????????

I've now sent this complaint to Dollar SIX times by email, twice by fax and once by registered mail. I'm tearing my hair out and I think because I'm in the UK they are deliberatly ignoring me - after all I can hardly turn up at their offices! Can anyone offer any suggestions???

Regards, Kate

On one occassion I rented a car at an internet special rate that was not honored (they charged me more at the time of pick up and said the computer would factor in the internet lower rate)After unsuccessfully contacting the car rental agency (was not Dollar), I was able to get the lower rate by sending the Ad containing the internet special rate to my credit card company, who refused to pay the higher rate.
In your case I think you should propose to Dollar what you think would be fair compensation for the inconveniences that you suffered, that way they have a chance of satisfying you. Personally I inspect a car as thoroughly as possible before accepting it, and insist on replacement and if this does not work, demand to see the Manager of the agency. Hope this helps.

Kateh- I don't know how much this will help, but I would tell this same story to Dollar through www.planetfeedback.com

This site allows the consumer to voice their problems and opinions to companies while using planetfeedback's leverage. It may get Dollar to listen to you. Good luck.

You may be stuck with trying to make a big, long-distance ruckus and just crossing your fingers.

Here is a random list of suggestions:

1. write the Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles (I believe the website with the proper information is www.bbb.org, from which you can get to city offices) with copies of everything to Dollar (btw, what office address did you use for Dollar -- headquarters or....?). Where the BBB is concerned, they want you to have some specific "fix" in mind -- and I wouldn't accept a freebie for a future Dollar rental in the US unless you are planning to come back. You can claim breach of contract and require full reimbursement or your might think up some formula like one day's credit for each time you had to detour from your trip and spend time exchanging vehicles, compensation for the lost CD, etc., then double that for
nuisance.

2. Send copies of this thread to Dollar Customer service and alert them that you are going to keep telling people your story until and unless they resolve this to your satisfaction. Find other sites to post the story on (the previous post is right-on).

3. Send letters detailing the story written to each of the publishers of guidebooks to the US and copy in Dollar.

4. Depending on how much money is involved and how ticked you are, you could engage an LA lawyer long-distance to send them a letter suggesting this could go to small-claims court.

Be aware, however, that 1) you need to stick to facts and not characterizations ("those idiots") to avoid being charged with defamation, harassment, etc. (I think you've done a very good job of that in this post), and 2) if you signed off on the contract at the time of return without complaint AND you never pursued the matter through your credit card, it's possible they'd claim you accepted their settlement "de facto." However, the fact that they gave you the $69 in CASH suggests they are trying to shove everything under the carpet, with no records. This won't go over well with arbitrators or whomever.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I'll keep you posted!

When I have a complaint, I write directly to the CEO of the company in their corporate office. I have always gotten a response that way.

Thanks for all your advice, received a cheque from Dollar this morning for £120.00! Glad I persevered and glad that they finally took some notice, it does wonders for my perception of them as a company.