Thrifty Rent A Car reviews and complaints 375
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price gouging
In February, I was scheduled to travel to Albuquerque NM for business. I reserved a rental vehicle for 2/7/2010. I live in Virginia and it just so happens that we were scheduled to get a record snowfall the day before my flight. So, after rescheduling my flight for a later date, I tried to do the same with my rental car. I was informed that the price would be $409.00, instead of the $238 I was originally quoted. I tried to explain my situation to the customer service rep, but he didn't really seem that interested. He basically told me if I wanted to change my reservation, I would need to pay the additional $$. I cancelled the reservation, but was unable to find anything cheaper given the late date. So, I went online and reserved the car for the $409 price. When I complained about the price increase and tried to explain that my area had receivd over 36" of snow on 2/6, I was basically told "oh well". I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told that none were available. My repeated calls to the Customer Service Department went unanswered. I also wrote a letter to the corporate headquarters. As of this date, I still haven't heard anything from anyone at Thrifty. Guess they don't really care about customer service. Wish someone would look into these types of practices.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
intimidation and horrible service
- Lied to me about the exact price, I called in advance to make sure there would be no surprises I told them it was my first time that's why I'm asking if anything could increase the price. The person who answered the phone rudely told me of course it is. The day of its a different story now they mention being 25, and full car insurance. They should have mentioned it to me on the phone, that's the first strike.
-The person who checked out the car never gave a thorough check of all the damages and defects. I said before I left "I should probably take a picture" he reassured me he was "pretty thorough" and the keys were in the car. I drive off and when I stop again try to lock the door with the car remote and discovered it was faulty and I concluded that he was not as thorough as he claimed. I have a witness to verify this.
-When I come back another person checked out the car and claimed there was a new dent. The manager tried to get me to say I caused it or it happened under my care but I didn't. He said "You know you did this" I said no I don't know I did this. I paid the money so I could be early for work.
-When I came back to take pictures of the damage they claimed the car was in the shop. But they have told me things before that were not exactly true so I asked if they could send me the pictures. While I was there the manager tried to get me to lie and twist my words. They did not want to speak with any witnesses there. A worker pointed to my brother and said he could not come back even though he had done nothing wrong. I felt really uncomfortable and could see they did not want to co-operate so I involved the police to make sure nothing escalated even further.
-The police J Bauer met me there and walked me in. The manager did not even say hello, how are you doing. He would not talk and said that me and my brother can never come on the property.
This has been the worse ordeal I have gotten into with a company and I strongly recommend that no one rent cars from them again. They have been extremely difficult to work with and are not very civil. They did not value me as a customer. I do not want anyone else to have to go through this horrible situation again.
Anyone renting from anywhere should thoroughly check out the car and go over it with the worker. Take pictures, make sure price does not increase by thinking ahead of things that could bump up the price because they really wanted my money, they did not care about my service. If I had known how much it was in the first place I might not have gone that day. Through their negligence they have put me in a financial hardship.
I will never use Execu-Ride, Inc TA THRIFTY again. And no one else should either.
I am the witness mentioned above. One of the first things that I took note of was the fact that our appointment to pick up the rental vehicle was for 8 a.m. We arrived a little after 8 a.m. and no one had arrived yet. This was a shock. I expected the establishment to already be open and ready to receive customers at 8. I thought that this was totally unprofessional and greatly lowered my opinion of Thrifty.
I was standing right by my friend while the transaction was taking place. The manager seemed to be pulling a myriad of new charges and fees out of some invisible hat. All of the implications of the rental were not made clear over the phone to my friend who was misled to believe that the cost was one low rate. The manager took advantage of it being our first time renting a car and neglected to be honest about all of the pricing. Any business should make it a primary concern to present consumers with all of the options available to them so that a better, well informed decision can be made. Thrifty Car Rental (Execu-Ride, Inc TA Thrifty) does not have the best interests of the consumer in mind.
Upon arriving, I was made aware of the rental vehicles that were not in the best condition aesthetically. I honestly hoped that none of the vehicles that I saw would be the one that we'd be getting. Several employees emerged to make a list of damages that had already occurred and ensured my friend that his note taking was "thorough." After we had left, we made a stop, and upon our return to the car we discovered that the key remote failed to lock and unlock the car. If the worker was so thorough, how could he have missed that the key was malfunctioning?!
In my opinion, Thrifty Car Rental is a shady business out to get as much money from you as they can. I would never use Execu-ride, Inc TA Thrifty ever again, nor recommend it to anyone else.
overcharged the cancellation fee
Recently we cancelled our trip to Romania due to the volcanic ash. As a consequence, we had to cancel our car rental with Thrifty Car Rental Romania/ Auto Rent SRL, as well. They charged our credit card three times the cancellation fee, and did not respond to our e-mails asking for an explanation.We contacted our bank and now they are disputing the amount. Very very bad company! Don't use!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
DON´T RENT WITH THRIFTY CAR RENTAL ROMANIA AT OTOPENI (BUCAREST/BUCURESTI) / DON´T RENT WITH SC AUTORENT SRL AT OTOPENI (BUCAREST/BUCURESTI)
I will tell you a nightmare. I rented a white Chevrolet car with plate B50BRK on July 2013 from Thrifty Car Rental Romania/ SC Auto Rent Srl and Otopeni airport (Romania) and I will try to explain how you can feel absolutely indefense. Just say that for processing complaints this company charges you 50eur, that´s their idea of customer service. But I hope that experience will be useful for other people in order to take actions to prevent getting robbed your money by them.
When you pick the car the personnel (a boy and a girl) seem very kind and told you the car iss absolutely new and had no problem and bla, bla, bla, to distract your atention from little scratches on it. They give a round to the car by 30 seconds and you trust everything is Ok. You won´t pay any attention to any little small black sign like those often caused by mosquitos.
When you return the car the personnel is the same, but the attitude is absolutelly different. In my case the boy launched himself immediately to look under the car looking for any kind of scratch (he didn´t checked it two weeks before), and also marked the car as "dirty must wash" (I washed the car myself that same morning at 12:30h, so I could never imagined that the marks of the water caused by the sponge and the 10 mosquitos I killed on the 30 minutes way to Otopeni office were going to be considered as "dirty car" with a 10 eur fee. When I saw he wrote that line I asked other three men they have there washing cars if I could borrow a cube with water to get a perfect finish to my clean, and they refused, but they said that a car wash was 6eur, maybe I had had to accept the proposition, but I was already late for my plane because of the other matter I will explain now..
The boy marked also two black points less that 1mm each as "damage on rear bumper". I am sure that black points were there the first day, but I didn´t give any importance because you have to approach you less than 20cm to be able to see them. The surprise arrived when he told to me they will have to take the car to the mechanic for that reason, and they should charge it to my credit car as "bumper repair". I was absolutely surprised that they gave me the car with a large 30cm kick under the driver´s door and some little marks on the front bumper surely charged to other silly renters and never repaired and now they were thinking to take the car to repair for this 300 times less smaller reason. It was funny that at the same moment another customer was renting a large high category car for 5 people, and I pointed to him that the plastic strip under frontal bumper was missing for a piece of 20x4cm, he told to the kind renter girl and surprise, it wasn´t marked on the contract they were signing. After that, they spent almost 10 minutes revising every little black mark on the car.
Arrived to this point, as the boy repeated one, two, three, etc, times "you must sign the contract", if not the car will appear as "no returned". What kind of menace is that?. I asked for a manager, but the manager is just available on this boy mobile phone, but not for customers. He told to me I could compain. Ha, ha, ha, and you will charge me another 50eur for "unjustified compaint" as written on contract? . Thank you. Finally he told to me I could write my email on the contract and the company would send me the cost of all the related problems. As it was the only chance he gave to me to write on the contract, I wrote my e-mail and also "I don´t agree" on the right top border. He went to do a photocopy for me, and when he gave it to me, the "I don´t agree" wasn´t there because it seems he put any paper over it. So they also change the content of the contracts at their convenience.
As it is true that I signed all the conditions marked on the contract selling my soul to them, and the check-in time for my plane was running over (the office is 3km from the airport and they must drive you there, that is the way the can hurry up you to accepot anything, other companies at least have a desk into the airport) and it was impossible to find any solution with no-one responsable there, I resigned myself and I awaited any news from my bank.
And the news arrived two weeks later. They tried to charge 277, 99eur on my credit card (the total amount of renting the car was 222eur!). They sent a proforma invoice of a friendly mechanic they use for all similar cases and never get the cars repaired. In my case it was for an amount of 172eur. I asked for a complete reparation and painting of the rear bumper in my city and it cost half price, and in Romania salaries are a third part. But they charged me also 106eur for "downtime" of the car. So, they didn´t repaired the car (just asked for a proforma) and they try to rob me another 106eur!. Even that they have repaired the car, the stimated time for the reparation is 2 hours, not several days, and it wasn´t so urgent, they could wait until the low season to do it.
For luck to me, I lost my card on the way home, and cancelled it, and it seems to be the only way to stop the charge. My bank telephoned me before accepting it, and now I am doing a full complaint to get the charge returned. After reading other customer´s experiences at Thrifty Car Rental Romania — overcharged the cancellation fee or at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/thrifty.html (more than 300 customers in total), I have low expectations about how this nightmare will end, but at least if I can save anyone from renting with this pirates I will be happy. So, be sure, as a summary, DON´T RENT WITH THRIFTY CAR RENTAL ROMANIA AT OTOPENI (BUCAREST/BUCURESTI) / DON´T RENT WITH SC AUTORENT SRL AT OTOPENI (BUCAREST/BUCURESTI)
Today I tried to book a car for the long weekend from their online website thrifty.ro .
After selecting the car and entering all the data, I choose to pay online, enter my credit card detail on the payment processor "plati online"... and then after a long time "Processing"... a white empty page!
I decide to call the thrifty office to see if my booking was passed or failed, no one picked up after 3 attempts on the 2 numbers provided (mid afternoon during business hours).
I finally call the "emergency" number of contact to get the same info, I end up with a rude d...bag visibly annoyed that I dared disturb him.
Not only is he rude but tells me that there is no car available anyway while the website still will let you up to the payment step!
I ask him to send me a confirmation that the payment was not processed: his answer you'll on your bank statement, we don't send this kind of confirmation!
It looks best case like a very poor service with extremely low standards and no consideration given to customers, worth case a complete scam since you cannot check immediately whether you have been billed or not!
I don't know how thrifty is anywhere else in the world but here... they look suspiciouly like scammers.
I'm still worried it may have been a trap...
DON'T GO THERE YOU'LL ONLY BE SORRY AND THEY WON'T DO ANYTHING TO DESERVE YOUR MONEY ANYWAY
Thrifty Romania is a scam company! Stay away from it. They stole my money saying I damaged the car. I've restricted my card and made a complaint to the Bank. Bank started investigation and after four months gave me my money back.
Basically the same issue $650. Never using them again
I am still amazed how such a cheap trick can flow through the credit card systems. The company has a card reader, there is no honest need for that draft they ask their customers to sign and then postdate it without providing them with a copy (actually it should probably be a copy of each copy). They are exploiting the T&E clause and of course they get some "help" from some "friends."
This company is a scam! They confiscated my deposit without any reason. For all victims please do the following: 1. Contact your credit card provider and dispute the charge; 2) contact Thrifty customer care: http://www.thrifty.com/CustomerCare/content/RentalExperience.aspx
and write about your experience. Ask them to start an investigation. We should stop these swindlers!
I rented a car from them between August 24 and August 31st 2011 and they cashed my deposit on August 30th, one day prior to returning the car. Marian
i think dollar rulz!
Hi there,
The same happened to us. We have been living in Ireland for over 11 years. Went to see our parents in Romania, decided to rent a car from Thrifty. Got charged for o hit bumper and a dent 634 euro. The same PHOTO probably sent to us, that was sent to the guys above. Please, complain, to the Consumer Rights of European Union. The link is http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/index_en.htm .We might make a case.
Car Rental Thrifty Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Bucharest Otopeni Scams and Theft
Rental Scam Thrifty Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Scam
Thrifty Car Rental/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L.– Car Damage Scams
Thrifty Car Rental/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L.- Car Rental Overcharges
Thrifty Car Rental/ S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni Romania – Thieves and Robbers
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni – Avoid At all Costs
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni – Robs Customers of their Money
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni – Charges Fabricated Fees for Made-up car damages
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni - Rips off Customers
Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni – Do not rent cars from them
Thieves and Robbers - Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni
Avoid at all costs - Thrifty Car Rental Romania/S.C. AUTORENT S.R.L. Otopeni
After reading all the posts it looks like that the only justice against these thieves is going to be done by the Lord Almighty. As Christians we fled Romania because of the persecution and discrimination and the desire in our souls to live a life in freedom and dignity.
Therefore I call up the curse of the God upon Dragos Vlad Atkins, Mirela Vlad, their children and family. Also the curse and the vengeance of the Lord should be upon their team of thieves and their wives and children and upon Paul Dumitrache of Di-Bas Opel and Chevrolet dealership, his wife and children.
I am asking all the persons robbed by the thieves to form a prayer chain and ask the Lord for JUSTICE. Be sure that the Lord will bring justice to the ones asking his intervention!
bait & switch
Reserved a rate on the Internet. Called and informed Thrifty that my ship would be a couple of days late due to bad weather. The agent confirmed that I would still get the same rate.
When I arrived I was told that the rate was more than the email rate I had received. For $10 it was not worth going finding another car rental company.
After returning the car I found out that they had billed $15.70 more than they my written agreement.
Clearly they make their money by [censored]ing the customer with pins and needles for a few extra bucks that they probably won't notice or complaign about!
Called their customer service department who basically laughed at me and was not slightly interested in having a satisfied customer.
Will never rent from them again.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
charged me for pre-existing scratch under bumper
I rented a car @ Vancouver airport and no agent was available to review the car for damages before I left with it. When I returned it on November 23, 2009, 3 agents went over it and one agent found a small acratch UNDER the rear bumper that no one else could even find. Later I received a letter charging me $175.20 for damages. I left 3 phone messages with the office that were not returned. The only communication was threatening collection letters. The charges were excessive and the review of the car very agressive. One had to get on their hands and knees to find the scratch.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
drop off charges
I used RENTALCARS.COM to rent a vehicle. The vehicle was at a daily rate of $48.50. The website requires that you enter the pickup and drop off location. There is no message or indication that there is a drop off charge if the two locations are different. I made a reservation for a pickup at the Orlando Airport and a drop off at the Miami Airport for the same day a few hours later. I have learned that the drop off charge is buried in the line item “taxes and fees”. The “Taxes and Fees” area is highlighted as in a hyperlink. When you click on the item there is a listing of different types of charges and it says that some may be applicable at confirmation.
I proceeded to the Thrifty Car Rental counter at MCO (Orlando Airport). The Thrifty representative made me aware of gas, tolls, and insurance items but at no time mentioned that there was a $150 drop off charge for returning the car to the Miami airport. The representative was well aware that I was going to return the car within the next 4 hours. I rented a Ford Escape at a daily rate of $48.50 plus applicable taxes. He asked me to review information on a screen regarding some items that I agreed to. None of these items included the drop off charge. Thrifty took information from my reservation (buried drop off charge) and the additional items that I agreed to on the touch pad. The representative did not review the list of charges on the rental agreement with me. Had he done that, I would have been aware of the $150 charge and not rented the vehicle with them.
Most of the major car rentals are located side by side at the airport and they had signs with cars available. The Thrifty representative folded the rental agreement (with my electronic signature) obtained from the touch pad items, without showing it to me, placed it in a Thrifty Car Rental Sleeve and gave it to me along with instructions on the location of the vehicle.
I learned of the charge a few hours later when I returned the car at the Miami location and my credit card charge was $244. I asked the representative in Miami why it was so high and we at that point pulled out the rental agreement and he and I reviewed it and noted the drop off fee for $150. The representative in Miami apologized that I was not advised of this when I rented the vehicle and said that he could not do anything but to contact Customer Service, he said he saw the very same issue days earlier also coming out of Orlando.
I contacted Customer Service for Thrifty and was told that they could not do anything about the $150 drop off charge because the charge was on my contract and I had agreed to it.
There are three issues of concern for consumers (1) the online company buried the fee in a line item with taxes and provides you with no specific information about these charges (other sites make you aware that there is a fee); (2) the Thrifty employee does not review the charges with the customer, and (3) Thrifty combines the information from the contract on line and the signature from the items that you “agree” to on the touch screen and use that as the electronic signature on the overall rental agreement. I am aware of the practices in the past with gasoline charges and insurance coverage charges. Changes were made that helped protect the consumer. I believe that addressing the practices raised in this complaint will benefit consumers as well as businesses that are competing fairly.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Interesting. I just experienced the same thing. I rented a Thrifty car through my credit card travel site. The rental fee was $72, picking up in Orlando and dropping off in Ft. Myers the next day. There was never an indication of additional taxes, particularly the $83 drop fee. Had I been aware of this, I would have made a different choice.
I also see 3 issues in your rental...1) how can u bury $150.00 in the tax line if the whole cost was $48.00 per day. 2) read what u sign ...the rep did not book your car ...u did. 3) i will leave that blank for the other readers to measure ur IQ.
Ouch! Hopefully this will help somebody else next time they rent a car from them...
hidden charges
I booked a Thrifty car (midsize) online for LAX. The quoted price was an "estimated base rate of US$111.20 per week plus 2 extra days @ $17.59 with unlimited miles. " This is a total of US$146.38. I took this to mean all inclusive, excluding local taxes. They 'mention' that there are three types of insurance but fail to say that this will be ADDED on arrival. Most car rental companies offer you "all inclusive rates" meaning car and insurance, and then if you want to increase the insurance it's so much extra per day. Imagine my sheer horror on arriving at night in Los Angeles when the actual rate including insurance came to US$612.47!
These people should be called Shifty.com! They are a conniving, duplicitous, shady company and a disgrace to rental car dealerships. They should be forced to disclose the extra charges at the time of reservation for what they really are, 5 times as much as the "base rate"! How do I complain and who to? Is there a regulatory body in the US who deals with such charlatans? I will NEVER USE THRIFTY AGAIN and never miss an opportunity to bad mouth them wherever and whenever possible.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
crooks
Long story short- credit cards, electronics, and other items stolen from back of rental car in thrifty secure lot. Theif tried getting cash at two casinos. Police determined that security cameras in thrifty garage were not working...surprise! Almost a week later and no property or help in any way from thrifty. One fellow renter was even refused service by one agent for not allowing her to explain the insurance coverages. Thrifty has rude agents, hires theives and cares nothing about protecting anything except their own ###. If you rent here dont let anything out of your site!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Thrifty Rent A Car - $25 admin fee for 0.25 toll charge
I accidently passed through one of the many toll booths while driving around central Florida incurring a 0.25 charge. Thrifty informed me that they have changed this to my credit card and have added a $25 dollar "admin fee". the theiving ###.
Read full review of Thrifty Rent A Car and 22 commentsbait & switch - excessive added on charges
My quote from Thrifty was $261.54 for a one week rental of a mid size car on 10/09/2009. They gave me a bill for $674.62 on 10/16/2009 and I charged it to my AAA Visa card.
I had already talked to my Insurance agent about my rental coverage and said I was completely covered with any rental car and gave the Thrifty desk person my Insurance Card to copy. They insisted that I buy from them additional daily insurance at $177.68 for the week. I was driving 200 miles into Nelson BC which my Insurance agent at home told me was covered.
The car was a 4 door Mazda that could only be described as a sub-compact. I compared it to a Honda Civic which was parked nearby and the Civic was much larger.
I shall try to block payment on my credit card as I believe their practices are predatory.
I have kept all documentation from them and would hope that other consumers are duly warned about Thrifty Car Rental and their deceptive business practices.
I shall go on line and tell my story to as many possible renters as I'm able.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Adding on to Tammy's post, you get unlimited mileage in Washington only. By purchasing coverage, you were allowed to take the car out of state and even out of the country. Otherwise you could have been charged up to $1 per mile driven for all miles. I agree with Tammy, next time you should read and do you research.
Well I can understand your frustration. You have to check with your car insurance company to see what all they actually cover. Also keep in mind what is your deductible? $500, $1000? and do you want your premiums to increase? Also you have to make sure that your car insurance company covers the value of the rental car. Most insurance companies carry over to rental cars however, let's say you own a 1999 Dodge Durango valued at only $4000 and are renting a $20, 000 car. A lot of car insurance companies will say the cover in a collision the actual cash value of the car you own. So in this scenario they cover $4000 and you are still responsible for $16.000 assuming a complete total on the vechile. You have to ask very specific questions to your car insurance company they are in business as well sure they will tell you are covered and when you need them and you're really not or just partially covered then who are you mad at? Most insurance companies don't cover loss of use. This is where the vechile is in the shop having repairs done and the rental car company can't rent out the car. You can actually be charged a daily rate while the car can't be rented out, and it is usually higher than your discounted rate you reserved online. Also you need to go to the website of the actual car rental company you are renting the car from. They will have a terms and conditions section that gives you all the information that you need. As you stated above you were going to Nelson BC. If you read the terms and conditions of the website you would have seen that this company requires that you have at least the liability insurance when you go into Canada at the rate of $13.95 per day for the entire rental. So many people are so eager to get mad at the rental car company because they were just too lazy to do their homework. Furthermore, this is not a bait and switch. According to http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Bait-and-switch the definition of a bait and switch is A deceptive sales technique that involves advertising a low-priced item to attract customers to a store, then persuading them to buy more expensive goods by failing to have a sufficient supply of the advertised item on hand or by disparaging its quality. Thrifty didn't lure you in with a deceptive sales techinque. You more than likely used a third party website to book your rental car like Travelocity or Expedia or Priceline, etc. and didn't bother to read the local policies. Now you want to complain. As far as you think you are going to block the payment for your credit card are you out of your mind. You signed the contract which is a legal binding agreement. No one forced you to sign it. You could have shopped somewhere else so tell your story all over the web but tell it truthful. YOU WERE STUPID AND DIDN'T DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND FAILED TO READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY PAID MORE THAN YOU THOUGHT YOU SHOULD. THAT WOULD BE MORE ENJOYABLE TO READ!
Maybe next time you will read the terms and conditions or better yet call the rental car company you plan to rent the car from.
service
I requested a different car after being given a car that had a stench of cigarette smoke. Five minutes before I was told that I had a choice, but when I requested a change - "there is nothing available" ... you have to go back to the place that I originally checked in at the airport. Persons name was Elizabeth. I said that I had been offered a different car 5 minutes ago. After insisting - I received a car that was sitting there. It had scratches and a 1/4 tank instead of the full tank it was supposed to have, but it was better than the other car.
The key to this complaint is that Elizabeth - when told about the cigarettes smell - said under her breath and then very clearly audible "I don't care.". I said that it was clear that she did not care. Pathetic.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
warning
My wife and I reserved an auto from Thrifty in Frankfurt Germany but after reading review comments about their Loss Damage Waver (LDW) policy and refusal to honor the insurance provided by using a MasterCard Gold/Platinum credit card in place of the LDW, we requested a policy statement from their home office and a copy of the benefits from MasterCard.
In the MasterCard benefits statement it clearly states the insurance is effective in all countries except Ireland, Israel, or Jamaica. I emailed Thrifty quoting the statement from MasterCard and asked if this was acceptable by Thrifty. Rick Moss of Thrifty responded that Thrifty accepted the Master Gold/Platinum in lieu of LDW. I then requested that Mr. Moss send me a statement that I could take with me to Germany confirming that Thrifty accepted the insurance provided by the Gold/Platinum MasterCard. I did not receive a response to that request or another request a few days later.
We took the MasterCard benefits booklet with us in case we had problems. Upon arrival at the Thrifty counter, we were told the MasterCard was not acceptable in lieu of the LDW without a specific letter from MasterCard stating that we (by name) were covered by their insurance in Germany and we would have to buy their LDW or put up a very large deposit. We immediately cancelled the Thrifty reservation and went to Hertz who had no hesitation in accepting the MasterCard in lieu of the LDW.
It appears Thrifty is playing a con game. Since Thrifty refused to provide a written statement confirming they accept the MasterCard insurance, they are obviously aware of the Thrifty Germany policy. The day may come when they make this a company wide policy, don’t get caught. After making a reservation and arriving at your destination, they feel they have you cornered and can force you to buy their LDW. Don’t accept this blackmail. There are other auto rental companies that will accept the MasterCard in lieu of the LDW.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
double charged 2 credit cards
I rented a car from thrifty and the guy that ran my card "accidently" charged both cards they had on file instead of just the one for the rental. Resulting in me paying for the rental twice... Now over 2 weeks later they still have not refunded the money. Even though thrifty admits to the double charge and said the case has been "expedited"... Never use thrifty! Enterprise is usually the same price and has much better customer service... I rent a car at least a week a month... Guess thrifty doesn't need the business
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Yeah, choose Enterprise next time, they will treat you right. Since Dollar and Thrifty Rental agents have to sell stuff thats how they make their money. Believe me, they wont upgrade for free you unless you are 21-25 year old woman that looks like a supermodel.
I had a rental in Birmingham AL reserved on a corporate credit card (Avis, with which we have an account did not have cars available). When I picked up the car, they required my personal credit card even though they had the corporate card with authorization on file. The counter help was rude and since I was now in Alabama I gave them my card (it was a 2 week rental, had I sent one of my junior employees they probably wouldn't have had enough credit).
First thing in the moring I call the corporate accountant and she has an administrator straighten it out, supposedly. After returning the car, I'm charged, not the cc on file. I expense the car and get a call from the accounting department, Thrifty charged my card and the card on file. It seems that the corporate office charged the account and the Birmingham location (a franchise) charged me. The franchise refused to take a voucher from the corporate office for the rental.
It took me two months to get a credit (and at least 3 hours phone time from an admin assistant at my office). Never again.
scam, do not use!
Warning to all that have the misfortune to have an accident in a rental car owned by Thrifty. In Albuquerque New Mexico in the Summer 2008 I had such a misfortune. Bottom line, in New Mexico and several other states which follow the NAAG (National Association of Attorney Generals) guidelines, a rental company cannot charge Loss of Use that is not proportion to their local fleet usage rates. Thrifty charged 100% (fleet usage around 75%) and did so based on a fictitious body shop labor day of five hours instead of the industry standard of eight.
After several months of obfuscation from Thrifty, I am now forced to file a law suit to have them honor the law. If anyone has a similar situation and would like to participate in a class action suit, please leave a response to this post. Thank You.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
no cars in category
June 2009. We went to pick up our 'Toyota Yaris, Chev Aveo or similar' from Thrifty LAX. Our rental was fully paid with all insurance, CDW etc - yet he still tried to sell us, pushed and cajouled us, to buy TRIPSAVER® 24-hour Roadside Assistance, which was included anyway, but didn't cove if you lost your keys ETCETERA - an extra $5.99 per day - I asked for a brochure as to what the ETCETERA was and he slid open a few drawers and 'can't find the brochure' - A COMPLETE RIP OFF an extra $84 plus tax for 2 weeks in case you lose your keys. (There was a spare key in the glove box anyway which we carried separately) The Yaris does 42mpg so is not so bad for the environment given we were to drive over 3000 miles in 2 weeks.
They ONLY have Chryslers, which was confirmed later by Thrifty staff. There are NO Yaris or Aveos available. The smallest available was the Dodge Caliber or, as we know it, the Dodgy Low Caliber - a truly dreadful car - that does less than 30mpg at best. Such uncomfortable hard rubbery seats for thousands of miles of piles! The front tyres were about 1mm from the fully worn line when we picked it up. The issuing guy didn't care and there were only much larger PT Cruisers and people movers as an alternative. The WORST aspect is that not one of the cars in the economy/ compact class has ANY way to hide your luggage no boot/trunk or cover - so if you are visiting a National Park or stopping for a meal YOU ARE VULNERABLE. The caliber thing screamed around every corner due to the tyre wear and bad handling charactistics, it also had out of balance tyres - things you don't notice till you have taken it. And yes, it was covered in scratches which you MUST REMEMBER TO NOTE on the condition report.
It was so bad we changed it for a PT Cruiser (slightly better) after a week.
As Chrysler is bankrupt, Thrifty staff told us that instead of the lease system they used to have, which I assume requires full maintainence of the cars - they dispose of them at auction - so maintaining condition may not be a priority!
If you INSIST on renting from Thrifty - Don't pay extra for a 'compact' over an 'economy' they are the same cars at LAX and Las Vegas at this time!
We are worried about our Credit Card bill - yet to come - given the horror stories we have heard about being blamed for other peoples damage to Thrifty cars ... awaiting outcome ...
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
The car covers get stolen, so you usually have to request them...
You can always ask them to refer you to another nearby company and they will pay the difference in price for what you reserved, if they don't have the car available.
And you should always take the upgrade option if offered to you. Chances are the person knows what his best car is and he will probably put you into that if you help make his commission (which is why he offered the r/s btw, totally forgivable...other insurance commissions were made by whoever you reserved with, not him). ANyway, upgrading is totally worth it, even if it is for the same vehicle class.
BTW, I don't like how the PT of the Caliber handles either.
deceptive sales practices
Do not rent from Thrify or Dollar Rental Cars. They will try to mislead you into buying their premium insurance by not even asking you if you want insurance. They'll just say: "you want the basic coverage?' They don't even use the word insurance. What a ripoff. When you get off a long flight and wait on their longer lines, you're not at your best and they count on that. My $165 weekly rental turned into a $440 nightmare. What a ripoff.
do not rent from thrify or sister company dollar rental cars.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Next time, just go back to the office the next day. They will probably remove the charges except for the one-day. But you have to go in to cancel. Over the phone won't work.
fraud - fraud and poor customer service
Never, I my life have I been scammed by a car rental company. Until I made a reservation wit hthrifty car rental. I made a reservation with thrifty car rental in norcross, ga. I cancelled my reservation wit hthem because the clerk had a nasty attitude when he ask me if I had a major credit card and told him yes. I guess by me being an african american he thought that I didn't. Well I didn't like his attitude and I cancelled the reservation. Although I canceled the reservation he charge my credit card anyway. Then got an attitude therefore I called the local police. This is considered theft and fraud I never signed anything. Or gave him permission to do this. What the hell is thrifty doing these days... I promise you I give this company another 3 years and tey will if they haven't already be filing bankrupt.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
You sound like you have the Chip of racism on your shoulder. Maybe he just thought you were an ###. Typing in all caps is certainly an indication of that.
If you make a reservation at a car rental, you agree automatically to have a fee charged for any cancelation. Having in mind that you canceled at the time of pick up it makes sense.
I worked for several car rentals, their procedure is correct.
scammers
I rented a car (Chrysler Dodge Caravan) from Thrifty two days ago. This morning, the car had a flat tire. I discovered that the tools needed to retrieve the spare tire were not in the car. (That's the first instance of Thrifty incompetence.)
I called Thrifty Roadside Assistance and they said they'd send someone out to help me.
A tow truck came 45 minutes later, but the two truck driver hadn't been informed about the missing tools (that's the second instance of Thrifty incompetence), so he was unable to fix the tire. But he said he could tow the car to Firestone to have the tire fixed. I called Thrifty and asked them what I should do. The Thrifty representative told me: "Whatever the tow truck driver wants to do, do that." She assured me that Thrifty would pay for it. The car was towed to Firestone and the tire was patched.
When Firestone called Thirfty to get payment ($23), the Thrifty representative refused to pay. He said that Thrifty would pay to have the flat tire removed and the spare tire put on, but not to have the tire fixed--thus going back on Thrifty's earlier assurance that they'd pay for whatever I decided to do. At best, Thrifty was unintentionally misleading in its communication to me (the third instance of Thrifty incompetence). At worst, Thrifty took advantage of the unclarity to make me shoulder the cost of having the tire fixed (a cost that Thrifty would otherwise have shouldered itself). My primary complaint is that Thrifty went back on its assurance to pay.
In addition, the manager of Thrifty Roadside Assistance was super annoying. He was snarky and dismissive. He didn't take seriously that I could be giving a correct account of my earlier conversation with the Thrifty representative.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Thats what Dollar/Thrify does to make the customer "learn a lesson" so to speak and purchase Roadside Assistance and Insurance. They order a vehcile without options, actually I have seen some items "deleted" according to the [censor]ey Sticker. Plus watch out, they are charging money if you smoke in their cars, even if you dont see any stickers in the vehicle.
First of all if you get a flat tire taht is your responsiblity, was the tire like that when you got the car? Second you are responssilbe to return the car the condition you got it in.
Car rental places are a bunch of liars. That is why I will never deal with any of these places again. It is obviously Thrifty's responsiblity to replace the tire at no charge to you since it is "their" car and you paid for the rental. These crooked businesses will do anything to scam people. They want you money for the rental, but they don't want to back themselves up when it comes to road side assistance. They use raod side assistance as a ploy to get people to be willing to rent from them, as people are unaware that this road side assistance is just a scam and if something does happen to their rental car, the rental company will do whatever it takes to avoid paying for anything.
poor billing practices
I authorized a $250 deposit on my debit card to rent a vehicle. I was told at the time of the rental that the hold would be released when I returned my car. 2 days later, the hold still remains. My total charges for the rental $41.44. Customer service supervisor, Iona, gave me the run around when I requested the corporate office number and instead gave me the basic customer service number. I even double checked with Iona that the number was for the corporate number.
The customer service at the airport is slow. It took well over 30 mins to receive my rental. The customer service representative do all they can to avoid their customers so they are not bothered. Of course this is only after you've signed your agreement and paid your deposit. Terrible customer service and poor billing practices. Not work the headache.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
unexpected $150.00+ surcharge horible service
My husband and I took a trip to Washington State and reserved a rental car from Thrifty Car Rentals (worst mistake). We arrived at the SeaTac airport in Washing State on March 20th, 2009. The Thrifty rental booth was closed at the airport. We were told that we would have to take a Thrifty shuttle bus to their place of business to get the car. Once we arrived there was a small line with about 4/5 parties waiting for a car. It took over an HOUR to get to the counter! The worst customer service ever! Once to the counter we learned that our rental (11:00 pm Friday start returning car early Sunday Morning) would cost us an extra $150.00+ in additional taxes and surcharges. This was never disclosed in the details when booking on-line. Our total bill was over $300.00. On top of this, when I was looking for some items that I dropped on the floor in the car I ran my hand across the floor and felt a stinging sensation. I look at my hand and it was dripping blood. The car apparently had a windshield replaced as there was broken glass all underneath the seat where I ran my hand which was cut from the glass. They did not take to time to thoroughly vacuum underneath the seat. When we reported this upon returning the car the attendant said I don't know what to tell you sorry. Very unorganized, very unprofessional and I seriously question their billing practices (thrifty my [protected]@!#). They really put a negative start to our mini vacation. I would absolutely never ever use Thrifty Car Rental again (ever!).
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Now you stated that the fees and surcharges were not quoted to you when you booked on-line. My question to you is did you book your reservation on thrifty.com? Because if you did all fees and airpiort surcharges are listed even any other fees that may be such as adding drivers and so forth. You just have to LOOK for it a the bottom once your price has been quoted to you. Now I agree that it was not a correct thing for them not to fully clean out the car. ON the other note you can not be upset with the person that is running the location at the moment. They are not resposible of how many people are on the staff. So having to wait a bit longer is not bad customer service because were you not served in a timely manner? They treated you just like any customer. The agent is not going to speed up the rental process just because they saw you come in line. So come on give the agent a break!
Thrifty Rent A Car In-depth Review
Pricing and Value for Money: Thrifty Rent A Car offers competitive pricing and excellent value for money. Their rates are affordable and they often have special promotions and discounts available.
Vehicle Selection and Availability: Thrifty Rent A Car has a wide range of vehicles to choose from, including compact cars, SUVs, and luxury vehicles. They have a good selection available, ensuring that customers can find the right vehicle for their needs.
Customer Service and Support: Thrifty Rent A Car provides excellent customer service and support. Their staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to assist customers with any questions or concerns they may have.
Booking Process and Ease of Use: The booking process with Thrifty Rent A Car is quick and easy. Their website is user-friendly and allows customers to easily search for and book their desired vehicle. They also offer the option to make changes or cancel reservations online.
Rental Policies and Terms: Thrifty Rent A Car has clear and transparent rental policies and terms. They provide detailed information about their rental requirements, including age restrictions, driver's license requirements, and payment options.
Vehicle Condition and Cleanliness: Thrifty Rent A Car ensures that their vehicles are well-maintained and in good condition. They are regularly serviced and cleaned, providing customers with a comfortable and reliable rental experience.
Additional Services and Features: Thrifty Rent A Car offers a range of additional services and features to enhance the rental experience. This includes options such as GPS navigation systems, child safety seats, and roadside assistance.
Locations and Accessibility: Thrifty Rent A Car has numerous locations across various cities, making it convenient for customers to pick up and drop off their rental vehicles. Their locations are easily accessible and well-situated.
Overall Experience and Satisfaction: Overall, customers have a positive experience with Thrifty Rent A Car. They are satisfied with the quality of service, the condition of the vehicles, and the overall value for money.
Pros and Cons:
- Pros: Competitive pricing, wide vehicle selection, excellent customer service, easy booking process, transparent rental policies, well-maintained vehicles, additional services and features, convenient locations.
- Cons: None reported.
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GOOD LUCK...LOL