Alamo Rent A Car
reviews and complaints

Last Saturday March the 3rd, my husband and I had a reservation for a rental car with Alamo picking up at the International Philadelphia airport and dropping off in Allentown, PA. Due to the severe weather conditions in Philadelphia, our flight from Houston (the day before) was delayed and we were stranded there overnight so we were not able to get to Philadelphia in time to pick up our car there.

Since we did not want to have to pay a higher rate for renting a car last minute and in the hopes of keeping our current reservation rate (because we were still within the time frame we had rented our car for), I called Alamo to ask what they could do to help us and ask if they could accommodate us, perhaps extending the time of the rental for the same rate because this was a situation which was out of our hands.

I was met with such disrespectful and bad attitudes. I had such an awful experience with those two Alamo CSRs I spoke with last Saturday. The first one was not only passive aggressive, he was down-right condescending. The second one actually interrupted me while I was explaining my situation and actually yelled at me.

I don't know we're exactly this help desk is located or the names of the help desk men I spoke with—I'm sure they can find a recording of these conversations if they tried. So below, where you ask city I will put Philadelphia only because that's where I was when I called from the airport but the people at the Alamo office there were actually lovely people. The problem was with the men from the Alamo help desk, wherever that may be located.

They need better training. What a disgrace.

Sir, I rented a car using the website www.argus.com
Rental ref: AE901668600
and was allocated a car from your company ( in actual fact the car we were given was a National car). Our rental was from Dubai Airport Terminal 3 from 17th Feb - 23rd Feb. I want to complain/inform you about the service we received from your sales counter staff.
The representive asked us to provide him with a credit card to block an amount in case of traffic fines, tolls etc. That's fine, we are regular travellers and have rented all over the world. When we gave him our card he flat out refused to accept it because there was less than 3 months validity on the card. I asked why and he said it was company policy and that was in our rental agreement. I have read the rental agreement and just been through all of your FAQ's and there is nothing mentioned to support his claim.
We then asked whether he could accept cash - he refused - I then got upset as my husband could barely stand due to a slipped disc and we were in UAE for medical treatment and needed the car to get back and forth from the doctor. We offered our prepaid credit card - again refused. Luckily my husband had his debit card which had ‘Mastercard' stamped on it. The representative told us he would debit 3000 dirhams from the card and it would be refunded after 30 days minus any charges we may have incurred. I then questioned why he wouldn't accept the credit card that had more than 30 days validity and again he said ‘Company Policy'. (For your info, we called the bank who told us as the account is the same, any charges would automatically transfer onto the new card).
This is extremely poor customer service and it caused a great deal of anxiety and frustration at a time we were quite vulnerable.
It is your responsibility to make things like this clear to the customer at the time of rental and not at the desk when the customer is collecting the car. Had we not had a debit card and 3000 Dirhams in our account we would have been left high and dry and out of pocket for the rental fees we had paid!

In regards to Claim #: [protected]
My Name: Andre L B Castelhano

To whom it may concern,

I have recently received a mail from EHI - in name of Alamo - in regards to an damage or loss (no details were provided) involving the car I rent from Alamo rental vehicle.
I picked up the car on February 23rd and returned it on February 26th at Miami International Airport.
The car I rented was returned in the same condition I received. The car was inspected and NO damage was noted. Attached here you will find a copy of the receipt that was given to me by the on-site Alamo associate at the time the car was checked in.
I would really like to receive a response from Alamo.

Regards,

Florida Shooting
The federal government, the FBI, the local government, the sheriff department, the sheriff deputies, all failed. The shooter killed 17 people. You blame the NRA. That is ridiculous! The NRA killed no one. Now you are punishing members of the NRA because you disagree with their belonging to an organization that favors the 2nd. Amendment.
This can, and will, work two ways, because now we will boycott your services.

My Travel Agent booked a standard convertible for Dec 27, 2017-Jan 3, 2018, for $516.25, taxes included.
At Alamo's check in, I was told I could not take the convertible, however, a jeep was available, for a sale price of $200.00/day, instead of the regular rate of $500.00/day. The $200.00/day was offered because there would be no reimbursement, of my rental car payment - made thru my travel agent!
I knew this fee was outrageous, and the Manager was very pushy, and gave me no other, requested, possibilities.
Therefore, I paid $2031.56.
After researching, and contacting your competitors, as well as, Alamo-Customer Service, I was reassured that I was totally taken advantage of, with this pricing. (Approx $500, was quoted by several other rental companies, for the same time frame.)
The Alamo representative shared "this is not how we do business. This pricing is not correct," (too High?) He apologized for the pushiness of Alamo's Manager, and lack of customer service. He sent out a request for the Manager to contact me.
36 hours later, the manager of Alamo contacted me. Instead of repeating the conversation, the outcome had no change.
Please contact me regarding the charges.

Thank you,
Penni Spongberg
1508 N 131 Circle
Omaha, Ne 68154
402.630.3090
[protected]@cox.net

I reserved a car a month prior to my trip through Costco travel. I arrived at Richmond airport on 2/20 at 12:05 am. Proceeded to the rental counter were Irving the agent was busy tenting on his phone after he was done Irving informed me that he only had mini vans available. I had reserved a small SUV. I said ok if that's all you have, he took my drivers license and credit card, after 15 minuets he said he could get in touch with anyone so he sent me up stair to the rental counter. When I arrived Ashley the girl at the counter informed me that there's no cars available. There was several cars parked in rental spaces she told me she didn't have keys for those cars. I asked what I was supposed to do it's now 1am. She offered no solutions I had to take a 50 dollar cab ride into the city. The next day I was able to rent a Nissan Armada, a huge SUV that would not fit in my assigned parking space. Hunter at enterprise was extremely helpful and professional. So my question is if I make a reservation a legal binding contract why was my car not reserved and why was I not contacted prior to make other arrangements? Why was no solutions offered to me. Why do you have cars with no keys. How did they get there? How do you employ such indifferent agents. I rental several cars a year and never had such a poor experience

Rented a car in santo domingo for 3 weeks and 6 days conformation # 1924794878count. The quote was $217.04 and I had a letter from my insurance company. Upon arrival I was told that I had to take there insurance for an additional $190 very frustrated and after much discussion I finally said yes because we had a two hour drive in-front of us and didn't want to drive in the dark. Fast forward to return of the car, I got a receipt for $ 393.72 much different then the original $217... Well! Got home and my credit card was charged $532.45 wow what a scam tried to do a charge back through my credit card and even have the copy of my receipt and they denied it dont under any circumstance rent from this company ever!

I rented a car on the internet, to be exact an SUV, one we got to Greenville SC's Alamo/ rent a car the lady there said that the SUV was not available so we ended up with a Chevy Malibu. Pretty good car but not an SUV, she said if we wanted an SUV it was $11 more. We agree to pay for gas upfront, when we got back to return the car we notice extra charges of more than $40. When we asked then, they said it was for the extra gas and the additional driver. Not to mention a few extra $$$ in taxes as well. They did offer the extra driveway but never said we had to pay extra for it. Even though I used 3/4 of a tank, they were charging me for a full tank. It wasn't before an unpleasant argument that they decided to give me credit for the 1/4 tank of gas. I will never rent with Alamo or National again and I suggest you to do the same or at least check your contract very well because there are a lot of things they will put there without disclosing it with, then when you find out, it's to late.

I rented a car at columbia south carolina airport on february 15th 2018. The car was "ready" sitting there with the hatchback up, keys on dashboard. The rental was to transport my son from fort jackson army boot camp to his ait at fort eustis va. The army is beyond strict with their soldiers, you have to have a security check, prove insurance etc. We got on base in va because my son had his military id and it was dark. The next day I was to pick up my soldier and they would not let me in... There was no license plate on the rental! I had to park the car get out open trunk, hood and all doors and stand back.. All while this whole scene was being watch by others. I was not going to be allowed to get my soldier. I had to pull out my alamo documents. Security was communicating through walkies. It was totally unacceptable, being put in this situation by alamo! If anyone is familiar with the army, they don't mess with any bs! I have enclosed a picture of what was on the car in place of a license plate.

It was the worst experience. I paid cash when I returned my car. I didn't expect Alamo to charge my credit card as well. It was double billing. After two days I saw the charge, I became panic. I called and was promised that I would get full refund. I told Alamo that I didn't use an American credit card, so there would be a currency difference. I was told they would ensure I wouldn't be affected by the currency difference. However, the refund showed a currency difference and I lost close to $100 CAD because it! Since then I called again and again. Every time I had to repeat the incident, which cost me a lot of time and energy. Recently I talked to someone at Kona, Hawaii, and got comments like "why is it our problem". Well, to this rude agent who tried to lie and argue her way out of this, if you didn't charge my credit card, as you should not have done when I paid with cash in full, nothing of this would happen. To this agent, yes, that is your problem because you double billed me at the first place. If you did something like that, the least you can do is to ensure I get my money back without being affected by the fact that you illegally double billed me! This attitude is unacceptable because Alamo should know by know that a big portion of the people rent a car in Hawaii are not from the States and there will be a currency difference if you just randomly charge people's credit cards. And yes, people from other countries know that double billing in U.S. is illegal.

Alamo car rental issues! I rented a car in palm beach Florida and was charged for insurance I said I did NOT want and charged for an upgrade she said she gave me for free. As soon as I noticed the error I called and the person barely spoke English and said they could not help. I want a refund of the overage as soon as possible. This is fraudulent business practice!

Only got confirmation on 18/12/17 pm that trip to Boston Mass was on. Booked flights and car rental for 23/12/17 return to UK on 04/01/18.

Requested Toyota Rav 4 or similar + snow tyres + GPS, due to predicted severe weather, as also planned trip to visit friends in Connecticut during my stay in USA .

Arrived at rental desk at 8:30pm and was given agreement to sign.
Vehicle had been upgraded to Standard size sports utility + GPS, no snow tyres at $286.75 additional cost, without my prior knowledge.

Alamo rental agreement had mid or standard size all wheel drive + gps written on front of leaflet. In my opinion, Alamo were giving me no option but to accept upgrade.

Then asked representative did vehicle have snow tyres, response was no don`t offer them as most vehicles based in Florida, so not required. I only booked with Alamo as they offered this option.

It was late and had family waiting for escort me to their home + queue of people behind me. Relative already delayed and stuck in Europe, due to plane problem, so reluctantly accepted upgrade.

On 3/01/18 at 19:42 received message from airline Delta that flight cancelled on 04/01/18 due to the impending snow storm, was re-booked for 5/01/18 at 19:30 via 2 flights not one. Could not have taken rental vehicle back on 04/01/18, as Major of Boston requested on tv that public were not to drive.

Called Alamo to inform them of flight delay, advised that there would be an additional $100.11 to pay for extra day`s rental. Returned vehicle at 11:30am on 5/01/18, so actually had vehicle for 12 1/2 days not 13.

I contacted the car rental booking agent who contacted Alamo, but were told customer signed agreement and without any written communication, it was my word against Alamo. I also contacted my credit card provider who confirmed that I needed a response in writing from Alamo, before they could assist me.

All things considered, I do not think that I have been treated fairly by Alamo Rent a Car. I have read the comments on this site made by other renters, which demonstrates that unfair practises have taken place that need to be eradicated. Top class customer care should be standard practise. Without customers, there is no business to run.

Made a reservation and was given a quote of $268.08. When we picked up vehicle at Tampa Airport I was charged $533.38. That is almost double the price I was quoted. The gal couldn't answer any of my questions as to why it was so much more.

January 10 - January 17, 2018 rental time
Tampa Florida Airport
Confirmation #1033450275COUNT - Lauren Lucas (daughter). She is even a member of the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards - [protected].

I feel that $76.00 a day to rent a car mid size car is outrageous.

I am hoping for a some kind of refund, or I will NEVER use Alamo again and I will not recommend your company to anyone.

I have a serious problem with Alamo Customer Service team during last 20 days.

I have an open claim # [protected] on Alamo Confirmation# [protected]. My Rented Car was scratched on shopping mall parking lot.

Partial payment in amount of $273.83 Alamo already received from Liberty Mutual Ins company. But the rest of amount of $500.00 I cannot receive for you from the Credit Card Benefit service because I cannot get the Original Rental Agreement # [protected]. I called 16 times during last 20 days to Alamo Customer service at [protected] and directly to the Alamo West Palm Beach location. Request # [protected] was opened and re-opened multiple time in order to send me Rental Agreement # [protected] to show my Credit Card Benefit team that I did not buy any additional insurance. I called Hotwire for confirmation # [protected], they conferenced our call with Kristine who is working in BPI Alamo location with no results. Also I talked to 20 or more other people working for Alamo customer service without any results.
I left 4 voice messages for Denise Wilson at [protected] Ext. 6634 with my name, phone # and claim number - nobody called me.
I still do not understand Why I should waste my time on small think I asked to provide to me. I'm not hiding from this claim, I try to get money for this fix ASAP and close this clam but Alamo company is striking me with unprofessional people in customer service, make me frustrated to explain to each person that I need just Rental Agreement and why I need it. They promise me that I receive it in 24-48 hours but I still did not get what I need. I've never deal with so unprofessional customer service which could just tell me: I'm sorry, but that's our policy.

I hope that this letter will help me to get required help and support.

Thanks, Ella Pikalyuk
[protected]

In December 2017, my family and I rented a car online from Alamo for a holiday trip to Puerto Vallarta.

Online, they had the best prices so we booked a car with them. When we get to the airport counter, they say they are out of cars and that whenever anyone returned one (which btw could be from an hour to days, they could't give us a time frame), they would give us a call to go and pick-up the car. I find it very unprofessional of them to not keep track of their cars and allow other customers to keep booking while they are out.

Luckily (after and hour of arguing with them), a car got returned so they assigned it to us. Once we are at the counter doing all the paper work, the lady helping us said there were some charges pending. Apparently, Alamo has some insurance they consider "obligatory" for you to get. Online, they don't include them in their offering prices so they appear cheaper than the competition however once you are their counter getting the car you already booked, they force you to pay them otherwise they can't release the car to you.

I think it is a very low way of tricking customers into getting a better deal just to turn out to be more expensive afterwards ... and apparently they have been doing it for years. I did some research afterwards and found several forums of people complaining of the same scam dating back to 2008.

I can't believe they allowed to operate this way and I for sure will never rent a car from them. Also I'll make sure none of my family nor my company works with them so great job Alamo, you just lost at least 20 clients for scamming me.

On 01/02/2018 I rented a 15 passenger van from the Ft Lauderdale airport location. As I am getting ready to leave, the Alamo representative, who is checking my paperwork notices that my rental has an expired tag. She calls a manager to request another vehicle but there were no other 15 passenger vans available. The manager told the representative that it was ok to let me go and that if a was to receive a ticket, that "they would pay for it'. I then went back to speak to the manager and told him to give me the ok in writing. He wrote it on my contract and understood that I was traveling to Tennessee. I proceed to go on my vacation. As I am unloading my bags from the van, I noticed there was no spare tire. The seats were so filthy my wife had to put sheets to sit on them. Also after reaching my destination, I also noticed that the oil life remaining was 25%. When I got back the oil life was at 0%. I got pulled over in Tennessee, which delayed our vacation plans for that day. I couldn't enjoy my trip as well as I could have worrying about the issues I was having with this vehicle. When I turned the van in, the Alamo representative told me a manager would be contacting me the following day, which did not occur. I would appreciate someone contacting me and notifying me of how I will be compensated for all my troubles with this rental. I was very disappointed in my experience with Alamo.
Thank you for your time,
Joe Santiago
RA#[protected]

Long story short. I had to rent a car from BTV airport on 1/5/18 @ 7:25pm because my flight was canceled. I rented the car for roughly $121. I needed to get to Boston to catch a flight there. I turned the car in at approximately 11:45pm on 1/5/18. Once again my flight was canceled. With no chance to get to where I needed to go in time I decided to just go back to VT. I go back to the Alamo car rental station to see if I could get the car back. I figured because I rented the car for 24hrs that it wouldn't be a problem. Well I was wrong. It is now 5:30am on 1/6/18 and I was told at the desk that there is no cars available and I was told I can go to the cold garage and talk to the manager. He got me a car and then told me it would be $185. I fell it is ridiculous that I had to spend $300+ to rent not 1 but 2 cars in less then 24hrs. Not happy with this service. I could understand a small surcharge for getting back in to my original rental but having to rent another was ridiculous.

1. Airport shuttle - we made reservations noticed that our arrival was dec 31 about 1:30am. The Alamo shuttle passes one time, but fast, never stop in our site. 45 minutes later an Enterprise shuttle stop for third time, and give us a ride to the Alamo parking lot. The Alamo shuttle was there and the driver looks be sleeping inside.

2. The quality of rented vehicle is poor. We were supposed to receive a Nissan Rogue, that I saw at the exit, with motor running. But the employee gave us a Jeep Compass with so many scratches. The vehicle responds like an old car, and smaller.

I checked into Charlotte airport had reservations well in advance to rent a vehicle. To go visit family in carolina georgia and Florida and return the vehicle in florida. Even called prior to renting the vehicle to make sure alset. I get in January 1st and no one was at the counter at least half hour. I them spoke to your agent gave her my confirmation number. I recently was married. I had my passport one credit card that had couple hundred dollars available on it and my bank debit credit card in my newly married name. Then my license had my newly married name on it but my signature said my maiden name. The other major credit I wanted to use for payment since the clerk insisted I had to use a major credit card not only needed be in my married name. And that was in my maiden name. She not only embarrassed me empting out my purse to keep given her all my credit cards, passport, nys license, cash, check and after hour declining to rent me the car reserved months ahead time. I will never do business with Alamo again and furthermore everyone I know will hear this experience from your ignorance of a employee. At the end of the day I had everything neded with my married name and my previous name on what she could had used to rent the vehicle. So kudos thankyou budget for taking a bad situation from alamo and turning it into a good positive outcome and giving the custimer a rental to enjoy our vacation. One unhappy customer [protected].

I had rented Alamo Car as part of a Costco travel package, and after returning the car, received a zero balance receipt from the rental office.
After I returned home, I found to my surprise at a later date that the rental company has charged $300 for lost key. I left the key inside the car as the attendant suggested, and only after checking everything I was issued zero balance receipt.
I am quite sure the attendant has misplaced the key and put the blame on customer. I find this type of charging is completely unfair and I want to file official complaint to a consumer court.