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Thrifty Rent A Car
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1.6 351 Reviews

Thrifty Rent A Car Complaints Summary

56 Resolved
294 Unresolved
Our verdict: With Thrifty Rent A Car's very poor resolution rate, careful consideration is needed. Research their service comprehensively, and read up on how they handle customer disputes. If you face issues, be prepared for potential challenges in obtaining resolutions and explore other service providers as backups.
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Thrifty Rent A Car reviews & complaints 351

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3:43 pm EDT
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Thrifty Rent A Car failure to disclose all fees

Thrifty car fails to inform you of all of their fees. We were accessed an additonal driver fee that was not fully disclosed to us until we received our bill. In addition, they made their contract difficult to read, using faded ribbons on their printers. I will never use them again.

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King1970
Orlando, US
Apr 28, 2011 4:04 pm EDT

Additional driver fee...addition means add means more $$$ so when you add something it's not free ! it will be more ...not less and not the same ...more ...get a life.

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6:34 am EDT
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Thrifty Rent A Car stole $498 from me

rented a car from thrifty at there heathrow site on-line for a 2 wk. period and after me & my daughter waited at the appointed place at heathrow airport no cortisy car arrived. we found our way by public transport to the shereton hotel as this was marked as their office. when we finally found their small counter behing the door of the hotel I gave the the attendant the required documents, drivers lience, credit card & retal contract in duplicate, and after a few min. he gave me back my gredit card saying it was no good because it had to be english. I asked him why someone arriving from australia 1.5 hrs. ago would have a english credit card and that they had already withdrawn $498 from this same card to pay the rental. he just replied it wasn't his problem so I asked if I could pay cash or something else as it was 8 .0 pm and we were still 100 mls. from our prepaid accommadation. he just shrugged his shoulders and said sorry, no car. I then asked him about a refund so I could rent a car from somewhere else where he told me it was up to head office and they were closed, After we grabbed our luggage and left a bus going back to thr airport pulled up in front of us. We paid the driver and as we were about to sit down the man from thrifty came out and asked for a copy of the agreement so he could refund our money. Buget retals hired us a car at 9 pm. at night with the same credit card and the service was teriffic. On arriving back home I found no such refund had been made so after 5 emails with no reply I contacted the car rental association and recieved a email from thrifty 4 days later, but only to point out there no refund terms and conditions. after more emails that they did not reply I have given it up as a bad experience but would not recomend them to my worst enemy. terrence watts.

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1:21 am EDT
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Thrifty Rent A Car price gouging

Made reservations thru Travelocity for a 5 day rental car with Thrifty. Received a quote from Tracelocity for my full week rental. Arrived on time to get my car. When I turned in my vehicle a day early I was given a bill that was $85.00 over the quote. Numerous add on's to the bill such as a "tourist tax" and many others. I also had to "pre-pay" for a full tank of fuel. Something I have NEVER had to do in my life. I have always had to fill the vehicle up upon return. But here I was charged for a full tank regardless of the argument I had with the clerk - I told him I did NOT want the pre paid fuel option but he said it was "manditory". I contacted Travelocity and was told there was nothing I could do since I turned the vehicle in a day early. I told them it was only a $15.00 charge for an early return - where was the other $70.00? No response from Thrifty with a similar complaint. DO NOT USE THRIFTY for your rental car needs. Yes they advertise the lowest price - but thats for base price - after all the "add on's" its anyone''s guess what the final bill will be. Crooks and scamers...

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9:12 pm EST
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Thrifty Rent A Car deceptive sale tactics

I booked a car rental through carrental.com for $24.99 a day. When picking up the car the saleman asked for a credit card as usual. I presented my Bank of America Mastercard and he said that they have an incredible deal with B of A customers for an upgrade to a premium car for just a few dollars more. I asked how much more and he said $29.99 a day. I agreed and in a hurry did not read the fine print. He charged me $24.99 plus $29.99 a day for the car. I would never have rented this car for an extra $30 a day had I known that was the incredible deal. This is trickery at its finest. I called their customer service after returning the car and the agent was not helpful at all. She said that I signed it so I'm liable for the charges. I will never rent from them again!

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David D VanderWall
, US
Mar 25, 2013 3:11 pm EDT

I rented a car from Thrifty through my Credit Card company. I was to get Ford Taurus. When I got to Phoenix on March 13, 2013 I proceeded to the Thrifty desk. They informed me they did not have any Taurus, but I could have a Nissan Altima. I said it was too low and what else was available. THE agent said how about a mid size Suv. I agreed and then he proceeded to try and sell me insurance which I said I did not want. He then instructed me to initial about 8 places. When I returned home there was a bill for $318 on my credit card for upgrading. I am presently appealing the charge with my CC company. Thrifty is deceptive and borders on Fraud. Do not rent from Thrifty or Dollar as they are the same company, The car I received was a Ford escape which rents for less per day than the Taurus and they charged $30 per day extra plus taxes. David D VanderWall

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Joe Farage
Buffalo, US
Nov 21, 2011 8:18 pm EST

Thrifty is NOT thrifty or honest.
The sales lady asked if I wanted every option except the accident option. She just expected me to sign it. This option was $107.00 and my rental was only $111.00. She lied to me and said that there is no car insurance that covers accidents. My insurance does! I brought it to Brea the Manager who said that she would talk to the sales clerk before she even asked me what happened. As a manager, all Brea could do was apologize.
My name is Joe Farage and I do not recommend Thrifty!

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lepkap
Garden City, US
Aug 05, 2011 6:01 pm EDT

I just had a similar experience - they engage in deceptive practices

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2:40 am EST
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Thrifty Rent A Car stay away from thrifty rental car in latin america/mexico

I purchased a car rental from Thrifty, in the Cabo San Lucas area, from an on-site representative at a resort I was staying at. My rental started on Thursday and was to be returned on Sunday of the same week, dropping it off at the airport. I purchased the rental at a good price and chose all insurance coverage available.

My credit card was pre-authorized for a little over $600 to be held until the car was returned. Seemed like a standard normal purchase- and then the nightmare began!

I checked out of the resort hotel on Friday and elected to stay at a hotel in downtown Cabo San Lucas for the remainder of my stay. Well, by Saturday afternoon all of my money was gone. Thrifty elected to increase my hold from $600 to $4, 159.34- NOT PESOS, BUT DOLLARS! Can you imagine this happening to you? For most people, holding over $4, 000 of your money would likely ruin your entire trip… you would be wiped out! Well, it is three days later and this money is still being held, and this is only one of two major problems still remaining unresolved.

WHY did Thrifty decide to hold over $4, 000 of my funds from me? Well, I went to the closest Thrifty office and they said they have been “trying to look for me.” First of all, I had NO voice mail OR e-mail from Thrifty, so I don’t know who they were contacting, but it sure wasn’t me. Secondly, I had NO reason at all to report to Thrifty on my whereabouts. I was scheduled to drop off my car on Sunday, at the airport. This was Saturday. So, again, what was this company thinking? Obviously, they thought I possibly stole their car. The nerve! Even after several times of directly asking WHY, no one at Thrifty gave me a direct answer on why my hold was increased.

To make matters even worse, I had somehow lost the car keys on Friday night, between my trip to local shopping and back to the hotel. It is very possible that the keys were locked in the car, but this issue also remains unresolved. When I went to the Thrifty office, first to scream about the additional money they decided to hold without ANY notice, warning, or warrant, I informed them about my lost key.

First, they wanted to get to the car “right away.” The Thrifty supervisor and an intimidating larger male co-worker drove me back to the hotel I was staying at, with a camera, took pictures of the car and then called the “manager.” At this point, I felt like a prisoner and not a customer. I did nothing, but was being investigated. I cannot describe the feelings I had about this situation and this alone will prevent me from ever dealing with this company for the remainder of my lifetime.

THE WORST IS YET TO COME: Finally, even though I purchased all of the insurance available, including insuring personal belongings, I was told that for loosing the keys I will be charged an additional $380.00. You heard me correctly. Not only am I being treated like a criminal, but NOW Thrifty is stealing from me! There is no way that is will cost Thrifty $380 to replace a lost key (and it may not even be lost, but simply locked in the car).

The supervisor told me that the insurance does not pay for “negligence.” Are you serious? Did she just call me negligent? Wow…. And, where in any fine print does it say that you should be responsible for anything after you spend the extra money to purchase all of the insurance. Isn’t that what insurance is for?

Again, I am back home and none of this has been resolved. Everything I have told you here is a fact. This is the 2nd time I have made the decision to use Thrifty in a Latin American country and it is the 2nd time that something “very shady” has occurred, where I end up feeling robbed rather than helped at a time of need.

I sent two e-mails to the CEO, the Senior Vice President of Operations in Latin America, and the VP of Global Sales and Marketing for the parent company of Thrifty Rental Car, who also owns Dollar Rental Car. No resolution from them; not even a reply back. I guess they care more about my $600 than how I was treated.

I encourage you to take this information into consideration when comparing Thrifty to other car rental companies. I can tell you, for me, I will always choose to pay the extra $10 per day, or to walk the extra few blocks, to work with a brand name that I can trust… not Thrifty Rental Car.

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youshouldalearned
Chicago, US
Feb 25, 2011 3:14 pm EST

If you got ripped off the first time using these guys, why on earth would you use them again? Shame on you for not learning your lesson.

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Thrifty Rent A Car excessive charge for defective tire

Charged for replacement of defective tire. During the rental of the Ford Explorer, the vehicle had a flat tire while sitting in a parking lot. Thrifty was contacted but they took no responsibility in the issue nor did they show any interest or display any apology what so ever. We changed the tire ourselves and put on the spare donut tire since we were returning the vehicle the next day. When settling the bill, they informed us since we did not take out the insurance policy, we would be charged the replacement of the tire. Keep in mind, we only drove this vehicle only a 100 miles during the rental period and at no time did we cause any damage to the tire. We my wife turned in the keys, we were charged $129 plus taxes to replace the entire tire. They told us it may be reduced after they check the tire out but of course, they charged the full tire price. We got ripped off! After long arguments and making contact with customer service reps, there was no help or support at all. It seems to be their normal practise to rip off the customers. Please do not use Thrifty Car Rental from Hilton Head Airport.
Signed R. and P. Ahlers Rental agreement # HHH38814 Agent in duty: James W. 2/10/2011 return

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dtaginformant
Raleigh, US
Mar 11, 2011 6:51 am EST

This happens at our location, one customer will hit a curb or something like that and the check in agent wont see anything (cause its not too obvious) and later something will happen like a tire will deflate or the sensors are bad or a problem like this with a tire.

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King1970
Orlando, US
Feb 23, 2011 2:50 am EST

DOES IT MATTER IF YOU DROVE 1 MILE OR 100 MILES...YOU COULD HAVE PICKED A NAIL AT ANYTIME...PAY THE $$$$ AND SHUT THE HELL UP...YOUR OWN INSURANCE DOES NOT EVEN COVER THAT...SO WHY WOULD THE RENTAL CAR COMPANY COVER IT !

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6:24 pm EST

Thrifty Rent A Car did not receive car or similar that was booked

I booked a car rental for a Honda Accord or similar for collection on 2 April at the Durban Airport branch. I made the booking via the company's website well in advance on the 26 March and was given a booking reference number. A day before flying to Durban, I contacted the call centre to confirm my booking and everything was in order for my arrival. On arrival at the Durban branch I was informed that they did not have my Honda available or anything similar. They offered me a Nissan Livina for the Friday and promised that they will deliver my Honda or a similar vechile the following morning. I accepted these terms, gave them my address where I was staying and left with the Nissan Livina. The following morning I contacted the Durban office and they said that they were still waiting for my vechile and that they will contact me as soon as possible. I advised them that I needed my car because I had an appointment at a function later that day. To cut a long story short, they never came back to me and I never received my car. I demanded a full refund as I did not receive the Honda or similar. Instead they made me pay for the Nissan Livina which is not similar to a Honda Accord.

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Dlazy
, US
Feb 22, 2011 4:42 pm EST

We were given a rental agreement at the time of car pick-up that stated 'unlimited kilometers'. Nowhere else on the agreement is there any mention of a daily kilometer limit.

On the last 3 days of the trip I consulted the agreement because I suspected there might be a standard limit. Seeing there was none, I made an itinerary choice.

My friend was surprised to find a R1000 charge on his credit card some days later, so we called to find out that they charged for excess kilometers. We faxed and scanned the agreement to 3 different employees who picked up the phone over the past month, but have yet to get a response.

They have never once called back. I repeatedly call them however, and get promises of a response. An Accounts Manager yesterday named Suleman swore an oath to return my call by this morning at the latest..

There were numerous other problems: They charged us in advance for the rental (instead of reserving a lower amount on the card, as indicated on their site) and they neglected to supply us with a Letter of Authority for crossing into Lesotho, after we asked for it 3 times (once at booking, once at pick-up, and a 3rd time from a fax machine near the border...).

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4:45 pm EST
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Thrifty Rent A Car insurance scam

I was not sure if my car insurance from the states would work and I was not aware that my credit card would cover the car, so if you have a Mastercard please call them first and check your coverage, if you take out the insurance from the rental company the credit card will not cover the deductible, which Thrifty is saying they will, and they are wrong. I rented a car from then in St. Maarten and it was a new Hyundai, he had checked the car before I took it but not like they do when you return it, it showed nothing on the sheet for marks or anything but when I returned the car there were scraps on the bottom of the bumper probably from hitting pot holes near my Resort, so basically normal wear and tear, nothing that I could have stopped from happening from driving on that island unless the roads were paved! They are now saying I owe money for the damages, which are 4 scrapes on the bumper and they are trying to charge me the deductible which is $850, to which I was not aware of when I rented the car, I know I should have read the fine print, but who would have thought they would be charging me for something that was unavoidable! This is the second bad experience with this company and now for sure I have learned my lesson, also these are franchises so who knows who is watching the owners. I am feeling extremely ripped off and pissed. I will be filing disputing this with the credit card company for the charge, I can only hope for the best.

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Update by Miss Unhappy Person
Mar 11, 2011 2:53 pm EST

I forgot to do a follow up on my complaint. I contacted Dollar when I got home and they researched the situation and at first they only listened to what the franchise had to say, but after listening to my side they rectified the problem and refunded the money that the people in St Maarten had taken from me. I was pleasantly surprised at this and was very happy with the out come.
P.S. they were charging me $262.50 for the damage not the whole deductible

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KelleighK
Halifax, CA
May 27, 2011 4:27 pm EDT

My daughter rented a vehicle from Thrifty/Dollar. She didn't take out the $350. extra insurance they wanted, as her own car and card has full coverage. The cars' windshield had scratches and pits all over it and it was noted at the time of rental. She said the agent was very rude when she pointed the glass out. When she returned the vehicle, the walk around yielded no damage. A month after the fact, she is getting calls from Thrifty/Dollar claiming there is a rock chip in the windshield. How did they miss that on "their" inspection? They are telling her she owes them $305 cdn. for the windshield. They are threatening to put it through a collection agency, something they can't do since she has the paid in full receipt. The company claims the "cleaner" found the chip. Considering the shape it was in prior, one can only assume that they think they've found their sucker to put in a windsheld. Since Thrifty/Dollar did the inspection upon return, the onus is on them to stop harassing my daughter and accept that any chip could have happened in their own lot from another vehicle or by the cleaner him/herself. Bottom Line. Don't RENT from this company. Let them take my daughter to court..they will be laughed out and have to wait for the next sucker.

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dtaginformant
Raleigh, US
Mar 11, 2011 6:35 am EST

The Rental Agents are supposed to check for marks and scratches, Some Rental agents claim its ok, but really it makes the company money. That is how Dollar Thrifty is making money. If you havent read yet about 1-2 years ago there was an article on AOL that said Dollar Thrifty is most likely going to be extinct by 2011, it also said we were a couple of billion dollars in debt. Dollar-Thrifty sure turned it around, this last year we made a $100, 000, 000 profit. over the previous most profitable year. and actually if you have Loss Damage Waiver it covers scratches, scrapes, and any other damage thats done to the car, as the Managers and Rental Agents at my location always say "With Loss Damage Waiver the vehicle can be destroyed, all you have to do is return the key and just walk away" Dollar Thrifty is cheaper but its a scam. Oh and buy your own GPS, cause if you rent one from us for at least 5 days, you could have basically bought your own that you can use for a long time.

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11:50 pm EST
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Thrifty Rent A Car double charge for rental car

My family visited Atlanta on Oct. 10, 2010. Before the trip, I reserved my hotel and rental car through Sam club travel, and prepaid the cost, $184.01 (Itin# [protected]), for one night hotel and rental car. I picked up the car ~1:00 pm on Oct. 9 and returned the car ~4:00 pm on Oct 10. When reviewing my credit card activities, I noticed Thrifty charged my rental car again. When I called customer service of Thrifty, I was told that the reason I was charged twice is that, in prepaid package, there is no loss & damage coverage, which was declined when I picked up the car, because I can transfer this coverage from my personal car to rental car. When I declined the loss & damage coverage in the counter, the representative of Thrifty did not say anything about the double charge. I would expect Thrifty refund my money immediately. Instead, the customer service representative created a case for me and said someone would contact me in 7 days. The whole process may take forever.

After booking the package, I searched internet about Thrifty rental Car Company and found so many complaints about Thrifty. Now I understand why. I will never ever rent a car from Thrifty.

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Thrifty Rent A Car unnecessary insurance

I made five phone calls to the Thrifty international phone line reservation from home in the US beforehand to make a rental car reservation and when I made my reservation I stated that my credit
card would serve for insurance and I would decline the rental insurance, and none of the agents
mentioned any problem with this. In addition I arranged to get a 10% discount using my American Express card.
Arriving at the Thrifty counter in Munich airport Terminal 2, I was told that because the Munich airport location had had numerous problems with credit card companies refusing to pay insurance
claims, that the Munich airport location's policy was to require written proof from the credit card company that that rental car would be covered. In addition I was told that under no circumstances
could American Express be used for this, only MasterCard or Visa. As the Munich airport has no free Internet, I had to sign up for a one-hour paid service for $11.15 (€8) and downloaded both the
MasterCard and Visa documents online, to show that both of my credit cards covered rental cars.

When I showed this to agent, she said I had misunderstood, and that I would require written proof SPECIFICALLY for THIS rental reservation. As an alternative, the Thrifty insurance was €250,
doubling the price of my rental. When I asked for a cheaper rate, I was told I could pay €150, but I would be charged a €1200 deductible against my credit card in case of an accident.

At this point I gave up and went to one of the other rental car companies in the terminal and quickly obtained a rental car for with none of the runaround about insurance.

If the Thrifty international reservation line had let me know during my 5 calls before the reservation while in the US that I would have to have written proof specifically covering this reservation, I have
no doubt that I could have obtained this ahead of time.

Also, if Thrifty has a special arrangement favoring American Express cards, why did the Munich site say that even with written proof of a specific coverage that American Express cards could not be used
for insurance?

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winta804
Bellaire, US
Sep 04, 2014 11:25 am EDT

We rented a car from Thrifty and when the rental shuttle got us, the driver put our laptop on the middle shelf in the luggage rack. He made a sharp turn and the computer flew off and thudded on the floor. Now when I turn it on, there is a vertical white line in the middle of the screen. My computer repair technician told me it had to be broken pixels and another screen would be about $350 plus about $125-150 labor. I wrote to the president of thrifty-budget cars, or whatever the name is: Mr. Scott Thompson CEO, at scott.thompson@dtag.com on August 11. 2017 which was about 3 days after we returned and also after thrifty customer service told me they would do nothing, despite the obvious negligence of their van driver. It is now Sept 3, 2017 and I received NOT A WORD from them! How’s that for bad customer service and relations.

Thrifty and Budget are the same company!

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Ms. Chanell
, US
Aug 04, 2015 3:21 pm EDT

As frequent customers, we are appalled at the lack of professionalism & efficiency of our rental agreement. After being inconvenience with a TWO hour wait for a reserved rental vehicle, we were also overcharged for the rental as well. On 7/26/2017, We contacted corporate as advised regarding this issue and Cherise informed us that a credit of $166 was issued on 7/26 and that it would take 3 to 5 days to process. We never received the credit. On 8/4/15, my wife contacted Jett(Jeanette), a corporate consumer response rep, to inquire about the credit. Jett advised that it was noted in the system but never sent to processing! Jett was EXTREMELY unprofessional and blatantly RUDE! She exemplified POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE in handling the situation. Her dialogue was condescending and unapologetic about our inconvenience. Jett muted the conversation as my wife expressed disappointment of her unprofessional demeanor. At that point, we asked to speak to a supervisor or manager in which we were advised that she was corporate and refused to transfer the call to someone of authority by the name of Tracey. Employees like JETT OR JEANETTE is INCOMPETENT and a DISSERVICE to Thrifty with a lack of integrity & an unprofessional demeanor. We advised her that the call was being recorded and she continued to provide poor customer service. After providing my email address to her as requested, she NEVER emailed the case ID information as she stated she would. Dalesha @corporate immediately sent the email & transferred me to Tracey's voicemail after having contact corporate again after the disturbing call with Jett. Her lack of efficiency & competency was duly noted as she NEVER sent the credit request for processing! With this said, we will NOT continue to use THRIFTY for personal or business use in the future due to the overall poor customer service, lack of efficiency & poorly organized infrastructure!

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Tbal
Vanc, CA
Apr 16, 2012 3:22 am EDT

Thrifty Car Rental has a policy now that says even if you return your rental car FULL of gas that they still charge you $8.99? I paid cash at the Shell station in DFW to fill my rental but neglected to get a receipt, the garage attendant confirmed that the car was full(8) but said we like to have a policy where we charge an extra $8.99. I rent about 9x per year, THRIFTY assumes that the customers are crooks...from now on THRIFTY can pound sand, there are lots of car companies to rent from. Tom

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Debbie
Key West, US
Jun 12, 2009 1:11 pm EDT

I reserved a car May 6-19 at the RDU Airport in Raleigh, NC and was given a mid-size car as requested. I drove it for less than a day and heard a bumping noise. I had left Raleigh and was unable to return it for a few days. Thrifty exchanged it for the same model when I made a special trip back to do so. I was back and forth across NC visiting family and friends and began to hear noises from the second automobile. Again I had to return and exchange vehicles and Cheryl of that office was very rude when I asked her what could be done because of the problems. I was basically living out of the trunk of the car with two heavy suitcases and staying with family and friends and grabbing what I needed to avoid lugging everything. She asked me if the gas was full and I told her almost and she told me that was my reimbursement for my problems. I asked if she could at least give me one free day and she said no. When I disputed that business practice, she began to say "yeah, and you're now gonna sue us, huh?" I left with a third vehicle after refusing a vehicle with no trunk space explaining I would need such vowing never to rent from Thrifty again. In addition, the person washing cars outside had the radio turned so loud it sounded like a concert coming from that area.

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Karl Legge
Camborne, GB
Dec 27, 2010 2:58 am EST

Dear Sir / Madam,

You have not answered the query at all. I want to know how you can send me a quote of roughly $450 and then on arrival the bill gets jacked to over $1200 ! As I explained in my previous email there is no part of your quote to me that mentioned this massive amount of money. In future I shall never be using your very poor services again. I will keep you posted of my mailshots addressed to all travel companies, Facebook, Twitter, review sites, forums and office of fair trade here in the UK.

When questioned, your employee at the pick up desk read the complaint script that she admitted she has to use many times a day as I am most obviously not an isolated case. In all other parts of the world that I have been too, a hire car would not be let out the car park without being fully insured, you are not operating any where near a professional service by using "ratcheting strategy" on your pricing and miss-quotes.

I have seen many forums that are littered with similar stories (just by typing "thrifty car complaints") into Google and I will be doing my upmost to bring all of these to a much wider audience. Having rented in Orlando on several occasions, I can say with confidence that you are well below par with your competitors, and really know how to put a sour taste in everyones holiday.

Also please remove me from your mailing list, it is an insult.

regretfully yours,

Mr Legge.

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kamalj99
Everett, US
Aug 16, 2011 1:47 pm EDT

I rent the car July 15 to 21, 2017. When i got there to pick up the car they give me more old car then i thought. I take it because did not have choice i have to meet someone in New york. When i when to return the car tire got flat i call the road assistent they told me wait hour and half. I call the triple aaa. they come chang the tire. When i got there they told me it's my fault the tire got flat how, because i rent the car. They charge me two hour late fee $150.00. Then they chage me for tire and rim $174.00 How they did thet i don't konw. I try take to mange he said i cannot do any thing. I don't know why i go to cheap rental place.

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Berleck
, US
Mar 29, 2011 4:34 pm EDT

We rented a vehicle from Thrifty Car Rental in San Jose, Costa Rica & after stopping for gas we noticed a "bulge" in the side if the front tire.

We returned to the rental place and asked if they would change it for safety reasons, but they declined to help us.

We were told we had to find a tire place on our own and have the same quality tire and replace it at our cost.

The clerk was rude and offered very poor customer service skills. The new tire cost us almost $50.00.

It scares me to think what could have happened if that tire would have blown on those mountain roads.

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Shawn Zhao
, US
Nov 24, 2010 3:16 pm EST

I rent a car from Thrifty Car Rental company at the airport of Augusta, Georgia in Nov of 2017. When I was driving at the highway normally, the light above the driver seat fell down by itself. I did nothing to the car before. When I returned the car to the company, I reported that, and thought I would not be liable for this. But to my surprise, I received an invoice of about $400.00 for the damage that was not caused by me. Thrify Car Rental company should check their cars very carefully before it rent the car out, and should not let innocent customers get hit by those hidden quality issue of their cars.

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ItsDawn
Vancouver, CA
Jul 26, 2012 1:28 pm EDT

Dear Car Renters,

Be aware of the unlikely budgets and low dollars of the Thrifty's website.
I am not here to write a huge complaint today but to only lay out the basics for any future renter possibly considering Thrifty's as they offer highly lucrative rental dreams.
From my online "estimate" as is typical of all dealers, I was interested in the compact (standard) rental car.
It was small made for a few adults and a bag or two of luggage. It was for 2 people with luggage and a budget on fuel expenses.
Having been able to allegedly recieve the car for 110$ for 3 days I figured it was the most ideal, easy wallet rental place of them all.
In my expereince smaller rentals comanys tend to be less costly and more friendly.
To make sales I guess one must be friendly as the gentleman helping my out today on my rental experience was very "friendly" as was I.
To start, apparently he was going to give me an upgrade because they apparently did not have the car I was putting my reservation in for. Most places when they do not have a reservation available for you, do not make it a faulty option.
At this point he was going to give me a luxury upgrade which regularly cost 75$ a day for only around 45-50$ a day.
I was in a pickle as I was to pick my friend from the next cities airport therefore I obliged. I figured the price in the end would not be much different than others renters such as Budget or National based on their standard rentals.
So I committed. I also needed the smash it up insurance which was surprisingly low at a rate of about 19.95 a day.
This was typical so I accepted. My totaled bill therefore would now land me at the 210$ mark.
True it was a bit more than I wanted to pay considering my budget but was still in the areas of other dealers prices.
I told the gentleman I needed a fuel efficient car and something not to big like a Hemi.
To my surprise it was not a Hemi but a car just as big and luxury, Sedan style. I inquired about the mileage on the vehicle and was seeing my time window narrow as I had spent the last 45 minutes with the guy, incurring interruptions on personal I phone calls, problems with the printer and an inability to find my vehicle, as if they were not expecting me.
I was now on my way in the somewhat pricey car with a good price sticker for fuel.
The fuel bill for this car was astronomical, it road nice and was some what luxury but I definitely have seen nicer cars in the luxury department, a direct comparison being the Ford Fusion I would later rent with National.
Upon a late arrival with the car, and one phone call as I was fueling the car before returning it, I discovered no one to be at the desk having just spoke 2mins ago across the street.
I waited for nearly 20 mins at the desk. The guy showed up with a nice little surprise for me.
After they had taken a 500$ hold on my credit card which is still locked on there after 40 days, for any potential photo radars, I was handed another nice hefty bill owing Thrify's another 160$. For what exactly I am not sure.
They would not except debit, or could not charge my small Visa card anymore with their 500 holding fee plus my payment and my hotel reservation. They did not accept cash or have a machine for withdrawals. They would not let me keep the car for the remainder of the day even though I was obligated to pay for it.
The total time he wasted of mine in waiting on personal calls, front abandoned desk etc. probably accumulated to a good 2 hours on my watch...now I had to find some magical way to pay for this card.
The solution was a cell phone call to my friend to pick my keys to return to my home to obtain my in-case of emergency card...only to discover they would not except that Mastercard because the Numbers were not raised, however on my first purchase the card was the same. Now I had to have my partner pay for the additional expenses on the car.
Most humiliating unexpected situation ever. In the beginning he said "we will take care of you, as long as you rent from Thrifty's again" I obliged at that point given the current repitoire. Pardon moi now, but Thrifty''s can go beep themselves and take advantage of someone else, as I am done being a mistreated customer and I hope you can say the same, or never have to say this in general. Spare yourself the grief and take a higher priced company because in thee end you could end up saving so much more, even if it is just your DIGNITY.

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matthewj
Ann Arbor, US
Mar 08, 2010 1:35 pm EST

My boyfriend and I dropped off our rental car (Which was stained and dirty when we picked it up) on the monday we got back from vacation, by wednesday night we realized we forgot some stuff in the trunk so I called and talked to someone who said the car had already been sent back out but that they would check it when they got it back. So I called everyday since that night and no one would answer my phone calls. I left numerous voicemails with my number and my boyfriends number and the list of items we were missing. It took us a whole week to finally get a hold of someone to find out only some of our things were in the trunk. Someone had taken expensive photos and our new sweatshirts we had gotten on our trip. Now I know they wanted us to think the person who rented the car after us took the stuff but with the run around we got my belief is that whoever cleaned the car out when we dropped it off had something to do with taking our missing stuff. It has been a very shady situation and I would never deal with them again. I had already been turned off by the stained seats when we picked up the car in the first place!

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Thrifty Rent A Car the company

Narrow Minded Robots,
I had my rental car window broken out and some change stolen. The Hotel (Homewood Suites) was going to have the window replaced in the parking lot right away and pay for the window themselves, great. There was so much glass in the car that I wanted to get it detailed by Thrifty, or get another car. I was told that I could not have the window replaced and had to turn the car into them to get it fixed. Due to the glass and already giving myself up I was stuck. Now I'm on the hook with the Jerks at Thrifty for the window when the hotel was going to step up and pay for it.
Some robot that cant think out of th box just cost me a couple hundred buck, NEVER AGAIN will I rent from these jerks. I will be sure and tell everyone I know and my office and my friends and family to avoid these jerks.
Eat it Thrifty.

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Thrifty Rent A Car damage charges and compensation for faulty car

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Jason Muscat from Malta and I am writing this letter of complaint with regards to my car rental from your company.

On the 20 th of August 2010, I hired a Volkswagen Touran from your company for 4 days, where I have paid extra charges to remove the excess of GBP500 in case of damage.

Please note that on the third day of my rental period around 05:00pm, while driving back to the guest house we were staying in Windermere, the car suddenly stopped from working properly. I noticed that I couldn’t insert the gears. At the same time smoke was coming out of the bonnet. After several attempts, to insert the gears the clucth collapsed under my feet, as a result the car couldn’t move. I managed to put the car aside and started thinking of what to do. The location was a remote area in the mountains at the Lake District. No radio reception was available. Kindly note that this was a very terrible moment for my family, especially for my 17 month daughter and for my brother, suffering from reduced mobiltiy, since it was getting dark and cold and supplies were ending. We were really afraid in not going to make it through since we had never been through such a terrible experience.

Luckily enough, I spotted an emergency phonebox, and a cottage in the nearabouts where I have called the emergency service. From the nearby cottage, I have called the road assistance too claiming that a tow truck should arrive in 90 minutes. When the police arrived, they told me that from experience it was going to be more than 90 minutes, so they decided to take us to a safer place, which was situated about half an hour drive from the car location. They called the road assistance informing them of the place we were at.

At around 09:00pm I phoned back to the road assistance since the pickup truck hadn’t yet arrived. I told them that the place was going to close and to send the assistance as soon as possible. They told me that help would arrive soon. At 09:30pm – almost six hours after the car broke down, the tow truck from T.J’s came and picked us up. Together we proceeded in collecting the car and then headed back to Windermere. We arrived there at midnight, where we managed to get the car in a safe parking.

The following day, in the afternoon, we had to reach Manchester airport in order to fly back home, so in the early morning I phoned Thrifty car rental office in Trafford Park to see what was going to happen. The staff at the phone advised that I could get a replacement car, however it was going to be a standard car. I objected instantly since, I couldn’t fit all the luggage in a standard car, that was the primary reason for which I have rented a bigger car. Your staff insited that this was the only car available and offered no alternitaves. After several attempts in convincing your staff of my situation, she told me that she was going to call me back. After sometime she called back and told me that suddenly a Zafira was available. In the meantime, another tow truck from another different company (RAC), came to tow the faulty car. It took us quite some time to get the car on his equipment since it was parked in a parking lot, and it was raining heavily. I am still recovering from the cold.

The Zafira was delivered at 12:30 pm, just in time to do all the paper work, get all our stuff in the car and leave to the rental depot. We made only one stop during our way to Manchester, just the time to grab something to eat and then headed back to the depot were we handed over the car and keys at 05:30pm. As you can see almost the last 2 days of our holiday were ruined due to a malfunction of the car. My family is stressed out after this terrible experience.

To add insult to injury yesterday I received a call from your representative, intimating that after inspecting the car, the charges totalled to GBP680 had to be down on the driver. I rejected these accusations instantly and advised her that I was not going to pay a penny, since the malfunction was not caused by me. As a matter of fact I have enquired on this fault, where it has resulted that a clutch damage takes a long time to be caused.

In this regard I am asking you to clear all these charges instantly and I am demanding compensation for ruining our last days of our holiday and for delivering a faulty and unsafe car from the beginning, thus putting my whole family at risk. This is unacceptable.

Please note that this is the second negative incident we had with your company. Last year after renting a car from Manchester airport and delivering it back in Etrop Grange, I have handed the car keys to the receptionist in the hotel as agreed, with the difference that we were not provided transportation to the airport as per our previous agreement, leaving my family stranded at the doorstep with all our luggage. We had to call a taxi to get to the airport.

I was under the impression to make business with a serious company, but appareantly I was wrong.

Kindly revert at your earliest.

Brgds

Jason Muscat

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Thrifty Rent A Car thrifty lax

We were planning a holiday to Los Angeles for our family of 5 (we are from New Zealand).

I booked a Grand Jeep Cherokee (or similar) via the Thrifty website for about $59 per day, since we had a lot of luggage and this car could fit 4 suitcases according to their website. I did this 2 months in advance.

After 13 hours of flying, we arrived at LAX and caught the thrifty shuttle with all of our luggage.

However, the vehicle we booked was unavailable, and they said we offered us a Ford Escape for the same price. I was not sure how much luggage it could take, I took a look and the trunk was tiny. It could not fit our luggage.

I asked for a vehicle more like the Grand Cherokee which would fit our luggage.

They said I would have to pay an extra $300 to upgrade to their next model since I was rejecting the ford escape.

I had no choice, with 3 children and partner and all our luggage sitting on the sidewalk in the middle of the airport commerical zone we were at thrifty's mercy.

Now I'm back from holiday, I've done a little research. The Ford escape they offered to me is listed as a smaller vehicle on their website, certainly not an equivalent vehicle to the cherokee.

Also, the ford escape is only $45 per day, and they wanted me to pay the same as for the cherokee.

Basically, thrifty were forcing me to accept a free downgrade .

I am outraged by how we were treated. The staff at Thrifty LAX are incompetent money diggers. The worst way to begin a holiday in the US, encountering modern day pirates.

I've lodged a complaint with thrifty, but they say I will get no refund of the extra $300 we paid since I rejected the Ford Escape. Unbelievable.

Using this logic, thrifty can bait with really cheap offers, wait for the customer to arrive, offer a completely unsuitable car unlike the customer had booked, then force the customer to pay for an upgrade .

They would never get away with such behaviour in New Zealand as we have some of the strongst consumer protection laws in the world.

Is there anyway I can take this further?

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paulcwyuen
, HK
Feb 27, 2014 1:14 am EST

I have just reserved a grand cherokee just like you did at Thrifty LAX because of their cheaper rate...wow I think that's a hook. Thanks for your experience. I think I will cancel it and find other reputable companies instead. I been to NZ and yes they won't do business that way.

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Alan Thomaz
, BR
Oct 21, 2011 6:07 pm EDT
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A made a reserve in the airport with Thrifty, and the same car, Now I will definitly cancel it.

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dtaginformant
Raleigh, US
Mar 11, 2011 6:48 am EST

I hope you win somehow, I feel sorry for foreign people when they come to Dollar/Thrifty. They try to make money off of you. If you arent a nice supermodel looking woman or a friend they will not give you an upgrade. Heck I have even heard of a rental agent giving a customer any vhicle she wanted and she gave him her phone number apparently. I think you know the rest there.

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Thrifty Rent A Car customer service

Where to start. First. Horrible service. Useless managers. Dirty car. Wanted a small car. Got there with my reservation for a small car. Got told they had none and I got an impala. I wanted a small car to save on gas second my insurance doesn't transfer? I called my insurance and they said yes it does and still got charged something like 20.95 a day insurance major rip off, then I got the car. White/ beige interior had stains everywhere. And dog hair and smelled like smoke and the outside was just as bad. Little marks everywhere and dirt covering the car, was rushed outside during the damage check of the car and pointed out some marks that I seen and when I checked the sheet. They werent there ( thought they were trying to get me to pay a deductible for it to get fixed) i went back in before i left and got them to note it . Oh and the girl at the front. Not mentioning names( jen). Seemed like she hated her job. Talked down to me and contradicted herself multiple times. Oh And the manager was at a " different location". Never again will I give this company a penny.

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compl vitches
Chicago, US
Dec 19, 2013 7:24 am EST

Sorry dollar manager but i think ur on some sorta drug i had a girlfriends cousin work at mdw and they said they found drugs i wonder whose they are manager from chicago mdw

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compl vitches
Chicago, US
Dec 19, 2013 7:17 am EST

But The Dan or Doug Or Dennis whatever his name is at midway chicago is a a**whole i was tryna talk to him and he blew me off and honestly
It looked like he was tried to go his own thing on
the side dont know but fire that jabroni

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compl vitches
Chicago, US
Dec 19, 2013 7:11 am EST

Its what i think the car he gave us had baggies dont know what they do at midway but i was a friquent customer and now idk they had such nice enployees in the summer now
they have all these ppl with bad attitudes i wish the summer ppl would be around

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compl vitches
Chicago, US
Dec 19, 2013 7:05 am EST

Dollar doug from midway does cocaine

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compl vitches
Chicago, US
Dec 19, 2013 7:03 am EST

I think they should fire the midway chicago manager his name was lije dan or doug dont know but he smelled like smoke and then he gave us the car he was driving and it smelled like a party of cigarattes and weed if thats what the manager does i wonder what the gn does

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Thrifty Rent A Car attempted prioce gauging, horrible customer service

"1)We waited for just over half an hour on a shuttle bus from Thrifty to pick us up; we saw each of the other rental companies come by in excess of 5 times each during that time, and we know that there was another group that waited even longer than we did. The driver had to be waved over when one did finally show up as they were empty, but about to keep on going...the security lady did this for us. I called the number on my sheet, but it was the general number for Thrifty because they don't show the numbers for the individual stations...I tried to explain the situation, but the person couldn't understand and I gave up trying because it was also loud on my end and then the shuttle showed up.

2) We got there and there was a lady and a man at the desk, the lady waited on us... She appeared in a very bad temper, and my husband commeneted on the fact that he understood it wasn't just a long day for us, but for her too...at which point she said she'd just gotten there at 10 am, so it wasn't a long day(would've been about an hour at this point). But she never once cracked a smile... this is minor, but now that we've had the experience we had with her, it seems important.

3) I had made a reservation only under my name, the car had not been paid for at all... we got to the counter and tried to give her my husband's card and i.d. as we wanted HIM to be the driver and she wouldn't let him be the driver. She said that even tho the car wasn't paid for yet, I had to be the driver and we'd have to pay extra. I didn't think this would be that much of a difference, and she didn't volunteer the info.

4) We kept going thru the charges and she told us we had to chose one of the three coverages which confused me as well. In Alabama insurance is mandatory on all vehicles but you can show proof of insurance on your own vehicle and they will accept this instead, if you don' want to ay the extra money. She didn;t offer that option, she said we had to choose one...so I started to say that we'd have to take the cheapest one and she was about to enter that when i said to hold on and actually questioned her about this and stated we had an insurance card we could show her...this is when she amended her 1st statement and said we didn't HAVE to get the coverage (and she seemed to get a bit pissed off at us now with a change in facial expression and her already not "happy" tone went to quite strained)up front & then settle thru our insurance company afterwards. I said that was just fine, because we had full coverage insurance that would cover a rental as well.

5) She handed us the receipt and went over the charges at which time we found out the extra driver cost $63 plus tax for the week. I didn' think it would be more than $25...it made no sense- there was no more risk involved... and she still insisted I had to be the primary driver, even tho at this point we had given her the card that had HIS name on it... so we just took him off as a driver and I drove the car.

6) Shesent us to spot 28, and there was no car there...my husband went back in but because I had to sign the contract I had to go back in and wait for her to redo the contract and resign it. Our DVD player was left either at spot 19, beside the inside bench where we stood waiting initially, or at the counter.I believe it had to be at the desk inside, unless it fell during the time he moved all of the bags from the one spot to the next while I was inside(she had told him which spot)... The last time he remembered having it was inside the rental bldg. I tried to call and report this Saturday the 19th...but was on hold too long...I calledWed am around 11 am and finally got thru, I was transferred to the Ohare lost and found. The mailbox was full- so that told me and my husband that SOMEbody is NOT taking the reports or updating their own files and people are being given a false sense that someone will help them.So I pushed the number for the manager. That person answered without giving a name, and I told them the mailbox was full and I needed to report a DVD player missing and he didn;t bother to take any info from me or give me any names or numbers in case i was cut off and he transferred me to some other guy who also didn;t answer with his name...I told him about the missing DVD player and he said he was going to tranfer me and I told him NOT to do so because LOST and found was full and was in the middle of telling him that I had just been transferred three times(once to lost and found, once to manager and once to him) when he cut me off and transferred me anyway(I never spoke to anyone more than 30 seconds b4 being handed off to someone else)... then I couldn;t tell you if the person answrred with a name or not...as the connection was terrible, and almost sounded as if I was being spoken to by 2 diff ppl...I kept saying 'hello" and twice i heard someone on the other end say "hello, hello" quite clearly. Then after a while of me trying to explain and say hello, etc...they hung up the phone on me.

I HAVE NEVER IN FORTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE had SOOOOO much trouble out of a rental company... AT THE VERY least they would never have cared which one of us was driving the car...maybe only one of us, but which would not have mattered as long as we were over 25 with a valid driver's license. I would have been hit with the sales pitch for insurance better never told i HAD to purchase it thru the rental company unless i could not prove I had insurance of my own. This was a HORRIBLE experience! "

After this email was sent to the Midway manager on 6/26/2010, as that was the only email address I was given, I received an email from him (mr. Bond) on 6/29/2010 stating he had forwarded the info to the person in charge of the Ohare office, but they had not found our DVD player. By 7/7/2010, i had not heard from him again, nor had the Ohare office called or written me me and I sent a reminder email. I was angry and was going to congtact the police over the DVD player, but i could not get help there as it had been too long with no report from me or from them. By 7/26/2010 I STILL had not heard from ANYONE via phone, email, or snail mail so i sent the following email(with no response still!):

"You need to get me the home office numbers for all corporate execs as soon as is humanly possible. Up to and including not just your district manager, but also the President of the company. YOU DO NOT want me to have to determine these things myself, as then I will be forced to say you also brushed me off. The OHare branch has YET to contact me a month later! Even if it was just to say "sorry for the problems but we can't do anything about it." NADA! NOTHING! Not a 10% off coupon, not an apology, not a "screw you"! I will certainly not recommend your business to anyone; and since I travel frequently, my father does, my father-in law and mother-in law and my husband's three sisters... ALL (except my dad) in and out of even the Chicago area FREQUENTLY... and SOOOO many others- it will affect your reputation! It won't be hearsay, it won't be slander (because it's TRUE); it is not maliciously being sent out to harm your company, as it is merely protecting others from dealing with the complete LACK of service we experienced! On facebook alone that would touch about 1000 people! I'm done with the trying to be nice and follow the rules/procedures... it was red tape meant to deter me from pursuing anything further. I am done with empty threats meant to convince somebody to DEAL with me. This is my FINAL request for resolution via your level of management."

As of 7/30/2010, still no word, and I am looking online for corporate emails and complaint phone numbers to no avail so far...just this website! Mr. Bond said I would at least get a call and probably a coupon, not enough...but better than being totally ignored. They are rude, they are evidently thieves (or at least one of them is), they lie to try and get you to pay more for insurance and extra drivers(as Mr. Bond told me in person that since it was just a reservation and nobody's card had been charged we COULD have changed the driver without being charged), and they lied(or Mr. Bond did, anyway) about what service would be done to try and make amends for the poor service that began all of this... I just now saw that they are evidently known for illegal price gauging from this site; so I would STRONGLY advise all to shun this company. You MAY be the lucky ones to come away without being stuck for extra charges, and you MAY come away with a pleasant sales rep and a good experience, but it seems the odds are against it.

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Thrifty Rent A Car over charge

Dear sir:
My name is Augusto Freitas de Sousa and I am Portuguese citizen.
I traveled along with my wife on holiday to Australia in late May for about a month.
I have to make a complaint regarding a service provided by Sydney Thrifty.
Have every reason to believe they charged me more money in the rental car I made.
There will be some entity to whom I can complain?
I suppose I can assume that tourists will have the right to complain if they consider wrong.
Thanks for the help

augusto.[protected]@ionline.pt

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Thrifty Rent A Car 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.

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King1970
Orlando, US
Jun 12, 2010 12:29 am EDT

GOOD LUCK...LOL

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1:37 pm EDT
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Thrifty Rent A Car 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.

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Miss Mariposa
Piscataway, US
May 29, 2010 3:34 pm EDT
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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.

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Thrifty Rent A Car 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!

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javiymapi
, ES
Aug 28, 2013 5:17 am EDT

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)

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EmmanuelP
, RO
Aug 12, 2013 8:54 am EDT

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

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Tourist_2013
, PL
Jan 14, 2013 10:29 am EST

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.

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Oneofmanycheated
SF, US
Mar 18, 2012 9:44 pm EDT
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Basically the same issue $650. Never using them again

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Ionel Birgean
Toronto, CA
Oct 21, 2011 5:11 pm EDT

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."

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Marian M.
Castro Valley, US
Oct 20, 2011 10:24 pm EDT
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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

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pro dollar
, RO
Sep 23, 2011 8:43 pm EDT

i think dollar rulz!

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Cris_d
, IE
Aug 12, 2011 6:47 pm EDT

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.

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eddhanganu
Evansville, US
Aug 11, 2011 1:47 pm EDT

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

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babanucky
, Vatican City
Aug 10, 2011 9:38 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

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!

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10:38 am EDT
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Thrifty Rent A Car 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.

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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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