Alamo Car Rental

I'm just like the rest complaining about or commenting about Alamo Rental. I rented a mini van for one week. The van has so many scratches and small dents. I told them about it when I exited their premises and I was told that it's okay for all these scratches and dents as long as it's not bigger than 1 inch in diameter. I had a paper from Alamo with circle of 1 inch so I looked and I have seen the van with so many scratches and dents.

So when I took the van that I used inside Maui for one week and and I used to go here and there basically shopping and no major drive, so when I returned the van to Alamo the agent showed me a scratch and damages that I caused the van and she made me sign an incidental report. I was so shocked what she was telling me and I had choice to do and I refused to sign the incidental report.

When I returned, I got a letter from the recovery unit with $1,407 of damages to van. So now, I'm opening a claim with my current insurance and I created a claim against something I have no clue of anything that happened to mini van. All I asked from the state is to monitor this false practice by these rental companies. I need to see a regulation against those companies. I will never rent again.

I reserved an Alamo car, using my frequent flier miles. When I got the car in Hawaii, I told the clerk I would waive the insurance. He had me initial some papers, and I was on my way. When I returned the vehicle, I was charged for $125! I went inside to dispute it, and was told I have to have insurance in Hawaii. I said I never had this with other car rentals. She told me, "we are not Avis or Hertz, sir!" I asked for the paper I initialed, and she said it would take a while. I had to catch a flight, and was unable to talk to the manager. I disputed, and got a copy of the paper I initialed that agreed to the charge, when I was told it was a waiver.

I reserved a car from Alamo/Enterprise on 11/26/11 at the Wichita (ICT) airport for a daily rate of $24.99. When I turned the car in, I was charged $54.99 per day, a total difference of $111. I pointed this discrepancy out to the agent and she agreed that it was a mistake. She told me that I had to pay the higher rate to close out the rental but provided me with copies of the receipt and reservation and gave me the phone number for the regional manager. I protested but paid the higher rate due to my pending flight.

Upon my return home, I left a voice mail message with the regional manager and requested that she give me a call. I never received a call back. I emailed customer service and received a series of computer-generated responses. Finally, I turned in a dispute with my American Express card and included the documentation showing the reservation rate versus the billing rate. Alamo/Enterprise never responded to the inquiries made by American Express. The company subsequently blacklisted me and put me on their Do Not Rent list without ever responding over a 3 month period to any of my inquiries. Alamo/Enterprise does not give a rip about its customers and is too big to care.

I've rented a car from Alamo at their RDU airport office for 3 weeks. After I drove out of the office, I noticed that the from window had a little scratch. I returned the car as it was received, with no damage at all done from my side. When retiring the car, I was asked by the worker about it and I told her that it was there when I got the car. She gave me a receipt and didn't charge for anything. 3 weeks later, I received a letter from Damage Recovery Unit asking for my insurance information and saying that they have received a damage or loss notification. I feel like I'm being charged for something I didn't do and don't know how to handle the situation.

I had a reservation for a rental car in France (Versailles) for a mid-sized car for 4 passengers and we had 6 large pieces of luggage. When I arrived they did not hold the reservation and offered me a Picasso, that could not hold all the items. We were told they would not have the car. We went to Avis and paid double for a car. I asked Alamo if they would pay the difference or in any way help and they said that they would not. I had to pay much more than I had budgeted. I let Alamo know that I would never use them again, nor would my firm, or anyone that I could influence not to. Avis was a pleasure to work with.

My sister is currently at the end stage of Breast Cancer. In panic, the doctor called for me to come home (South Florida). My husband used the internet to hold a car for me. In the chaos of trying to get home before my sister became worse, we simply forgot about cancelling the car. This was just not on our minds. We were charged $136.00 and were told, "too bad! That's our policy."

I can't believe that in such a bad economy, that we can't help one another. I can't afford to just give away money. My sister needs me and I had to take the train back home and now I have to find a way back home to see her again. I was so desperate to get home, that I even sent an email asking another car agency to help me get to her so that I could be with her for whatever time she has left.

Please reconsider this fee. I am already struggling to take care of my needs including my home being in foreclosure. I just need a little help.

I've always rented with this company in the past and became pretty familiar with their policy stating you can't rent with a debit card unless you have a return ticket. This time I was traveling via train and wanted to be sure I could rent a vehicle with a return "train" ticket. Not only does their website mention this as an approved method of transportation that would warrant a rental with a debit card, I also took the time to reach out to customer service and specifically asked if I would be okay renting with a debit card while traveling via train.

The customer service agent referred me to their website and proceeded to copy and paste the information where it clearly states that yes this is okay. Wrong! I get to the counter, provide my information only to be told that I could not rent with a debit card and a return train ticket and that the policy was changed months ago. What?

The customer service agent proceeded to get a manager who seemed somewhat confused when I mentioned to him that, per their website, it states debit and check cards may be used when the renter has proof of a round-trip travel ticket (airline, cruise ship, or train) at time of rental. The manager only apologized repeatedly before proceeding to tell me that there was nothing he could do. Needless to say, I have no intentions of renting with Alamo again. Even if I get a credit card, I still won't rent with them.

Luckily for me, I thought ahead and reserved other vehicles at other locations to be on the safe side. I walked right over to Dollar Rent a Car and had a vehicle within minutes for the exact same price. These days, most car companies accept debit cards with a deposit. I'll just stick with them and say no thanks to Alamo.

Every now and again it's nice to fight the man, and it's especially nice if you fight the man and win. I'd like to take some time now to talk about the fraud-ridden, unethical company that is Alamo Rent A Car. Read on. This one will save you a few bucks and heartache, I guarantee it. So here is the deal at Alamo. You pick up a car, you aren't given any inspection paperwork, and told to go on your merry way. When you choose to return the car, one of three things can take place:

1. The person notices nothing wrong, they sign you in, you catch your flight.

2. They notice something wrong that legitimately occurred during your possession, you provide them insurance information, and off you go.

3. They notice something wrong that did not occur during your possession, yet, because they noticed, you are now liable for anything and everything they say.

I'm firmly convinced that this is a very purposeful scheme. Somewhere some actuary calculated out the risk of what discovering damage really means, including an approximate cost of a recovery scenario, potential profits, etc. This is a money maker folks, no two ways about it. This essentially hedges their bet that, should you (like me) be covered on your own insurance policy and decline the pure profit that is their hard-counter-sell insurance policy, well, they're getting that money back and a hell of a lot more. The best part is that you sign your life away in terms of responsibility assuming, incorrectly, that there would be some amount of fairness associated with any disputes regarding damage. What really happens is that it's your word vs. theirs (they always win) and you're left holding the bag.

This past summer, for the first time in my life, I actually rented a car and had a problem. Actually two problems. Because I'm a smart consumer and didn't take the sucker bet that is daily insurance coverage, this gave Alamo carte blanche access to make my life hell. As an aside, I never rent from Alamo or Enterprise unless I absolutely have to. I'm a Hertz and Avis guy, but this deal happened to be part of a Costco travel bundle, which was a great deal all in. In addition to getting two lemons in ill repair, I was hit by a native Hawaiian who failed to turn around and see if anyone was behind him before throwing his F150 in reverse. He admitted full fault, yet we did not have cellular signal and could not obtain a police report. When I returned I spoke to Island Insurance who said they would get the full claim paid, and I forgot all about it.

Then the letters started arriving from Alamo. After two hopeless phone conversations, I directed them to my insurance agent who got to the bottom of what was going on. Island had requested additional documentation and, rather than supply it, Alamo felt they would just bill me instead and see who paid first, either me or Island Insurance. After all, I signed the contract stating I would be liable no matter what, right? Yeah, shady. Beyond shady. Note that I did not receive any of the following:

1. Accounting of the claim, detailing total damage estimate and all associated fees.

2. Details of payments received to date and explanation of any delta.

3. Reason explaining my responsibility for the balance, if any, and why it was not being pursued from the other party.

As of yesterday, I completed the correspondence with their Damage Recovery Unit, aka Collection agency that will make up random bills and threaten you with a real collection agency should you contest, question, or request additional information (read: proof) regarding the bill. I had received my final notice that they were moving me over to collections (without any justification whatsoever) and that I was no longer allowed to rent from them ever again (like I would). I promptly drafted a letter to the entire executive staff of Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of Alamo, Enterprise, and National. Rather than risk one letter getting buried, I sent 6 via post to the CEO, COO, Board Chair, and a selection of EVPs.

I then found an email address for their CEO Andrew Taylor (ataylor@erac.com) and sent a PDF copy. Not sure if it was received, but it didn't bounce either. Last, but certainly not least, I sent a PDF copy of the letter as my final notice to the Damage Recovery Specialist. Where he hadn't previously responded to emails, I got a response within 13 minutes stating he had decided to close the claim and waive all charges. When did this happen? He said just yesterday, but in reality I think it was within maybe 9 minutes of receiving my email.

The lesson, folks, is to pound executive staff with the realities of this horrific business. I'm copying my letter here for your enjoyment. Should any of these people choose to respond directly,I will most certainly post the updates.

St. Louis, Missouri 63105

Dear Mr. Taylor:

I am writing to report to you regarding my recent experience with one of your companies, Alamo Rent A Car, and its associated Damage Recovery Unit.

In brief: I rented the car on 7/20/11 at the Kahului Airport location, confirmation number **.

48 hours after renting the vehicle, the battery died in a parking lot. I was forced to call AAA to get it jumped (AAA stated it had clearly had this problem before as the battery lead covers were already removed from a prior jump), and had to call Alamo to tow the car, as it was unsafe to drive.

Two months later (September 15, 2011), I receive a call from a Recovery Specialist attempting to collect a fee. After repeated return phone calls, I finally reach a different agent who states that I owe an administrative fee but it is usually negotiable. I gave my correct address and said to send me proof in the bill, including why the other insurance company was not billed in full. Subsequent to this request, I am now getting bills from your Recovery Specialist, Randall ** (**) for the amount of $437.69. He has held exactly one conversation with my insurance agent and verbally stated the following:

"Island Insurance was billed for the full amount, the majority of which was remitted. Island Insurance had been unresponsive to his phone calls."

Upon contacting Island Insurance directly (phone call immediately returned), they have stated the following:

"Island Insurance is and has been willing to pay all charges, including administrative fees."

In order to remit the balance regarding loss of use of the vehicle, they requested written proof from Alamo.

Both my insurance agent and I have made repeated attempts to contact Randall to understand why the requested documentation was not provided to Island, and most importantly, why I was billed instead of Island when they have stated very clearly that they are willing to pay. The most recent communication I have received from Alamo has not been in response to phone calls from my agent or email communication from me, but rather, a more threatening letter stating that, as a final notice, if I do not remit I will be sent to collections and I am no longer eligible to rent from Alamo, Enterprise, or National Car Rental.

What I am asking you is as follows:

Why have my repeated requests for proof and justification of the dollar amount been continually ignored?

Regarding my ineligibility to rent from any one of your companies, please do not worry, as a result of this experience I wouldn't provide one dollar of business to any corporation associated Enterprise Holdings.

Ultimately, my personal auto insurance policy would cover any damage that was justifiably my fault in any rental car I drive. Thus, why I declined Alamos daily insurance charge. I am in no way debating this. But surely you cannot contest the fact that by not conducting and providing documentation for initial vehicle inspections, you introduce an astounding amount of subjectivity to the rental process. Subsequently, by not readily providing proof and an accounting for any activity associated with a legitimate claim, you immediately associate the words scam and fraud with the entire damage recovery process.

You've lost a customer, Mr. Taylor, and I will not hesitate to caution any others regarding the business practices of Alamo Rent A Car. I hope this letter will, at a minimum, get someone's attention regarding this poor and unethical practice such that it can be repaired for future customers.

I have rented cars on numerous occasions from this same company, once in February 2011 and again in June of 2011. I had no problem at those times. I went to Sacramento and repeated what I had done on previous trips. This time, Mr. Alamo would not accept my credit card I had used on the previous trips. He and his manager were very rude and offered no assistance. I had no family or friends in the area and had traveled from the state of Oregon. I was left distraught at the counter with not many options.

I had to take a city bus into Vacaville, the place of my destination. It cost me $51.00 to go from Sacramento airport to my hotel in Vacaville. It cost well over $100.00 in cab fares, and another $51.00 to get back to the airport. I had to have my family from Oregon wire me money to complete my trip. Alamo's reason was they do not accept debit cards. There is a sign on the counter that said, we rent to you if you have a roundtrip ticket from an airline, bus, train, or cruise ship. I want my money back for the shuttle fare and all the cab fare I had to pay. They were rude and I am just getting over how miserable my trip was thanks to Alamo.

They should refund my money, check their records and see that I rented their cars with the same card I attempted to use on December 9, 2011. I will never rent from them again. I will make sure no one I know rents from them again either.

Rented a mini van for the week of Thanksgiving at Ft. Lauderdale airport. The lot is a dimly lit parking deck. I did not check the outside of the vehicle when I picked it out but I did notice the damage (a scuff) on the rear bumper the next morning. Of course when I returned the vehicle the attendant pointed out the damage, which I told them was there when I rented the car. If I had caused the damage, I would gladly accept responsibility; but this wasn't the case. I asked then to check their computer to see if this had already been reported. I was told at the desk (which added 45 minutes just to return the vehicle) that there was a report of prior damage. Now I'm getting threatening letters, saying I owe $500.00 plus for damages, etc. I'd rather pay a lawyer $500 to sue them rather than give them one dime. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Alamo needs to check their own vehicles before they leave the lot to prove they left in good order. Not after the fact and then make claims for damage that leave the customer with no recourse. Don't pay and they ** your credit rating. It's black mail! We should all band together and bring a class action lawsuit against Alamo for unfair trade practices and harassment!

This is to report an incident at the Jacksonville International Airport, Alamo car rental ticketing counter, on December 8 at approximately 7:00 PM. I had initially prepaid for a flight, car and hotel package through Expedia on October 14, 2011 (Expedia Itinerary number: 139863514026, car confirmation code: 372327477COUNT). Upon arrival at the Jacksonville International Airport, I proceeded to the Alamo car rental counter, where I had made a prior reservation through Expedia.

I was met with a reservation clerk, who asked me for my ID, and major credit card. I presented an ID and my debit card. The clerk asked if I had another card, because even though it had a VISA logo and the word debit, it was considered a prepaid card. I explained that I had spoken to their corporate call center, and they said that it was in fact considered a debit card, but if their location didn't accept it, a cash deposit was acceptable. The clerk proceeded to call her manager. A man appeared, and without hesitation said we do not accept prepaid cards, we only accept major credit cards.

I told him who I had spoken with, and said that there must be another form of deposit that I could use, seeing that the rental was already paid for. The manager was extremely rude, and insisted that there was nothing he could do, and further claimed that no one (other car rental companies in the terminal) would accept that form of payment. When I asked how I would recoup the funds, I already used to purchase the rental, he said to call Expedia. I left the counter in distress, after traveling for 10 hours, stranded, with no form of transportation. I called Expedia that evening to cancel my rental, December 8, at approximately 10:00 PM and they asked the reason for the cancellation. I explained the situation, and they said as policy they would relay the information to National/Alamo per our conversation.

The following day, December 9, at approximately 5:00 PM, after spending over $300.00 in alternate transportation for my previously scheduled plans, I called the National/Alamo corporate call center to file a complaint. I spoke with several agents. The last, Rah, expressed to me their confusion with the situation. First, they said they rarely get these complaints, because they have built there company to work with each individual. Boasting "a value-oriented, internationally recognized brand, serving the rental needs of airport leisure travelers. Alamo offers low rental rates and a hassle-free customer experience at the most popular travel destinations". Secondly, he stated it is National/Alamo policy to accept a cash deposit, as long as the traveler meets the requirements;

4. For rentals in Canada, only customers on a prepaid tour, or renting on corporate accounts that have negotiated the option to use cash, are allowed to use cash to qualify for a rental.

The following are required: verifiable proof of employment, verifiable home/cell phone and/or utilities in renter's name, verifiable return transportation ticket. A deposit of $50 per rental day may apply. Rah further checked his system, to ensure that in fact that particular location coincided with that policy, and that was confirmed (not only was this verbally expressed to me, it is also on their website). He proceeded by giving me there Station/Operations Manger's information to file a complaint with there location, it was Carolyn **, **, **. I followed the call with a call to that number and left a message. No return call was made to me. I then called the National/Alamo call center again to get the Jacksonville reservation line, in which I called and explained my incident from the previous evening to Carl, a reservations agent at the Jacksonville International Airport-Alamo car rental ticketing counter. He proceeded to tell me that they had done cash deposits previously, but he would have to check with his manager, Miraj, who was in a meeting. I left my number and expressed the urgency.

After several hours had passed, I called again in which Carl relayed to me that his manager said that that was no longer in the policy, and there was nothing they could do. When I asked to speak with him, he said he was unavailable, and he could call me in the morning. After expressing my extreme distaste with their lack of customer service, unprofessional-ism, and down right rude manner, I was told that Miraj, (the same manager who was on duty the prior evening when the incident occurred) would call me back right away. Miraj called me, and reiterated that it was not their policy to accept prepaid cards, or cash for deposits. I gave him the name and number of the employee, whom I spoke with at the National/Alamo call center, and explained that it is in fact policy, a policy that is backed in print and verbally through customer service agents. He stated he would have to confirm this information, and would return my call in an hour or two.

When he called back, he said that there may have been a miscommunication, but he was in fact enforcing policy, that they do not accept prepaid cards, which he thought he made clear. When I expressed that he did, but I was focusing on other forms of deposits that could be accepted, he quickly said, "well we haven't done cash deposits for years, but he would make an exception for a distressed traveler". His exception was that a rental car would available to me that evening, December 9, for a $500.00 cash deposit, two utility bills, a valid driver's license, recent pay stub, and return airline ticket. When I asked why this was not made available to me the prior evening, he simply stated because it wasn't normally how they do things.

I declined his offer, due to the fact that I had already spent the money intended for the deposit on alternate transportation. I incurred a total of $726.00 in alternate transportation expenses, due to the lack of customer service and blatant violation of policy by Miraj and his staff, at the Jacksonville International Airport-Alamo car rental ticketing counter. Miraj is under supervisor Jake **. I want to seek repayment for those costs in which I can produce receipts for.

I rented a vehicle from Alamo back in August 2011. I got disturbing news from a family member that my children's estranged father was in intensive care and wasn't expected to live. Arrangements were made through Priceline.com for last minute airfare, hotel accommodations and a rental car (that being "Alamo Rental Car"). Despite the tragic situation and traveling from the South back to Honolulu in a haste to make a life altering decision, the trip went as well as it could considering the dire circumstances.

We did encounter someone keying the vehicle. We had an eye witness, filed a police report and promptly reported it to Alamo and State Farm. I gave Alamo a copy of the police report; showed them all the keyed marks. They marked the areas & I took pictures of everything including the police report I handed them. I was told okay and fully expected them to go after the perpetrator especially since we had a witness; he filed a police report also with his statement. I thought everything would be handled between State Farm and Alamo.

Wrong! They never contacted State Farm. I received a bill for over $1700. I promptly called my State Farm agent. I was called several times by somebody representing Alamo by the name of "Nathan". Several calls back and forth to the "Nathan" (for some reason we kept missing each other). I let him know State Farm was my insurance provider and I questioned him and State Farm as to why the person responsible for keying the vehicle wasn't held accountable? Eventually, I was told by State Farm rep that they paid Alamo. So, I believed that while the guy got away with the vandalism that the bill was finally taken care of and maybe I could put this whole bad situation away and move forward with our lives.

Wrong again! A couple of weeks later, I got a message on my phone from this "Nathan" again. Then I received a letter to the tune of owing another $255. I called State Farm; they investigated it because the bill had in fact been paid! Alamo now claims that we are being billed for time that the vehicle was not available to be rented out due to being placed in the shop for repairs. Basically, we are being billed for potential lost revenue! State Farm is refusing to pay this and since then I have received another letter stating that if I don't pay within 10 days, I will no longer be able to rent a vehicle from Alamo or one of their affiliates. Now I have received a letter from a debt collection company claiming that Alamo has placed the claim with them to collect the full amount of $1700.00! I called this company promptly, explaining the events along with circumstances and was told she would call me right back. I feel like I am being harassed!

When you are raising children, you teach them to always obey the law, and you teach them right from wrong. Honestly, things should fall into place when you follow these simple rules and guidelines. Well, Alamo is proving there are companies out there that don't follow honest practices! Unfortunately, I don't know where to go from here and resolve this. Any suggestions?

I rented a car for 4 days. By the time that I returned the car, I forgot my personal car keys. I went back the day after I returned the car, and went to the lost and found department to ask for my keys, and to my surprise, they didn't find the car that I rented. They said that they have so many cars that, they don't know where they parked that car. I talked to 4 managers, sent 2 emails to Alamo, and they haven't given me an answer. Really poor customer service. Never again. I'm still waiting for them to find the rental car. To get a new copy for my car keys, it will cost me $700.00.

I had been renting from this location faithfully for 2 1/2 years. I hadn't had any issues until a new manager named Derril came. Tall, white, skinny guy with glasses. He always talking down on me, talking about if I can pay. How I am able to pay, I can't rent, how I can rent, etcetera and etcetera. He did this to me in front of other workers, my mom, other customers, etcetera. I had a rough stress between November 2010 and January 2011. Before then and after that, I didn't have any problems. But He would watch me put my credit card in the kiosk, try to disallow my coupons, etcetera. On June 13, I had a reservation and went through the kiosk machine to print and the kiosk gave me a way better rate than the original reservation so I booked it.

When I returned on the 16th, instead of leaving it on my card, I went in to pay cash. Their computer system wasn't pulling up the rate even though it was in the 1-800 number systems. Instead of trying to honor my rate, the manager was like "What did you do to the machine?", "Did I sabotage the machine?", "How can I get that rate?", "You're going to pay what our machine says, etcetera". Then he said that I was a troublemaker and is going to put me on the do not rent list. I called the 1-800+ and showed him my contract which showed the rate and told him to honor my rate and asked for the number of the manager above him. He gave me the number but the manager never called me back. A week later, I ended up going to jail and wasn't able to pay all the amount before 30 days up. I emailed my normal contact person Rebecca as well as other managers but they stopped emailing me back. Then I find out they added me on the do not rent list saying to me on the phone that if I was able to make the payment, if I already made it, I can't rent. They made the decision.

This was a decision you were already going to make when my record was good and you already had a problem with me. Me going to jail just gave you the ammo to cover up and justify your actions. I feel that is unfair given my record and I kept my receipts. I should be able to rent again maybe not on that location but definitely all 3 companies. Every time I called the management and asked to speak to someone over them, they refused to give me the next highest number and kept having me going in circles, dealing with the same people who all in this together. I had to go online to file complaint and talk to someone in corporate headquarters to attempt to resolve this. For a loyal customer of 2 1/2 years, I feel I shouldn't have to go through this.

I signed a contract for a 2 month rental in late March, 2011, for $1400+, and paid it in full. Then, when I returned the car, I was charged another $853.22. I told the DFW manager this was not part of my contract. He said he would deal with it and did not. I have fought with Alamo for 6 months on this and was charged late fees by my credit card because of the dispute as well. So total bill now paid is $990! Do not use them or trust them!

I picked up a Toyota Sienna at LAX on October 6th and returned it to Las Vegas on October 11th. Upon return at Las Vegas the vehicle was inspected and I was informed I was "good to go" as everything was in order. I've recently received a letter from Alamo asking for my insurance details to recover the cost of damage. They've accused me of stealing the middle seat from the middle row of the van. I have five witnesses who were with me when the car was rolled out to the curb at their LAX depot who can confirm there was no middle seat fitted.

The unhelpful staff at the damage recovery department tell me I should have noticed the missing seat and got a different vehicle. The Toyota Sienna isn't available here in the UK so I've no idea how they should look inside but as there was a plastic tray between the middle seats with cupholders everything looked to be fine. Oddly enough Alamo cannot say what they think I've done with the seat. I'm quite certain I'd have noticed it in my luggage had I brought it home to the UK.

We rented a car from Alamo through Hot Wire in Little Rock, AR. There was no walk around provided and the agent remained seated in her kiosk, remotely popped the trunk and sent us on our way. The vehicle was full of hail damage and scratches. The vehicle was filled with cigar smoke, so we went back to the representative to report that. All she did was note the file and never got up. When we returned the car, the check-in attendant asked us for our damage claim or accident form because the black colored vehicle had a preexisting white scratch on the passenger side. We took his form to the attendant inside to check out and she admitted to us that their records showed this car had previous damage on that side and hail damage.

Now, we received a damage bill for over $500 dollars for a white scratch that was preexisting, could have just been rubbed out with rubbing compound and we got billed for loss of use of the rental car. Plus this was just a shop estimate, not a repair charge or ticket. As we all know, insurances have body shops give the high-end insurance repair charge vs the actual customer repair charge.

I rented a car from the Alamo office at Tucson Airport in August, 2011. The car had several superficial scratches on the rear bumper. At Tucson, there is no Alamo personnel in the garage to do a walk-around and no paperwork to document pre-existing damage to vehicles. Like many others on this blog, I received a bill from the Damage Recovery Unit for hundreds of dollars, which included eight hours of labor to 'repaint' and lost rental time. Alamo is running a scam! I would advise anyone reading this to never rent from Alamo because they are out to rip you off.

On October 11, I returned a rental car at the LAX airport which I got from Happy Cars Rental with a voucher for $55. I was charged by Alamo for fuel, when I return the car full, so there should be no charge. I've been emailing with customer service asking them to fix it, but all they do is give the round and round, so I got tired and forgot it. I asked for the contact information of the CEO and got nothing. After reading so many complaints, I know this company works on fraud, and they don't care for customers. Why is this company still in business? We need to do something about it. All I have is my values, and the tricks they use to steal makes me mad - real mad.

Wow! It is clear that Alamo is running a scam business after reading all of these complaints. They are all similar in nature. 1.) Alamo operates a profit center called Damage Recovery Center in Tulsa, OK; 2.) they send letter 1-2 months after the rented car is not in possession; and 3.) they cannot produce any proof. So, for all I know, Alamo charges multiple customers for the same car and for the same damage. For all I know, Alamo have employed people to drive around town to damage their own car just so that when it is returned, they can bill people and scam lower to middle class consumer with fraud claim! Someone needs to take action and audit Alamo Damage Recovery Unit in OK.

My husband rented a small SUV in RI to drive our son to college in TN. After being on the road only a short time, they realized that the air conditioner was not working. They couldn't make it all the way to TN with no a/c so they called the main Alamo office. They had to drive two hours out of their way to get a 'replacement' vehicle. Two weeks later, we got a bill for $328 for damage to the condenser. We've spoken to two different mechanics who said it is highly unlikely that there could be damage to the condenser without an accident/damage to the grate in front of it. We've asked Alamo for 'proof' that we did something and they have none, only a 'bill' from their mechanic stating that he has determined that we are liable. I've done some research and Alamo seems to have a practice of charging under $500, the usual insurance deductible, to people who declined their insurance for some made up reason. Now, they are threatening to send us to a collection agency and have given us only 10 days to respond.

I think Alamo has a full blown scam going and the average consumer doesn't know how to handle it. We need help. If I could have rated our experience a '0,' I would have - a 1 is far too generous.

I rented a car from Alamo at Baltimore Washington International Airport in May. I was directed to my car by the rental agent and drove off. I did not inspect the car beforehand. Upon arriving at my hotel, I did notice minor damage to the front passenger's side of the car. The damage was absolutely pre-existing and I had no responsibility for it. Upon returning the car, I received a receipt. The return agent made no mention of the damage.

Shortly afterwards, I began to receive a variety of letters and phone calls from something called the "Damage Recovery Unit", demanding approximately $1,700.00 in damages. They have absolutely no regard for the truth. They are clearly on a mission to beat me out of $1,700. They have offered zero proof to substantiate their claim, but threatened to ruin my credit and put my name on a list of customers not to rent to (Apparently, there is some relationship between Alamo, National, and Enterprise because their threats invoke the names of all three companies). I am extremely frustrated and angry. I urge all consumers to avoid doing business with Alamo if at all possible. Consumers really need to be better protected from these sorts of dishonest and coercive practices.

I rented a car in March and returned it undamaged, only to receive a bill for $600.00. A picture of keyed car came in the mail. A total scam. Now, the debt collector is harassing me. Please help.

I booked a car rental with another company called Fox. When I arrived at the Denver airport, I went to the Fox car rental and I was told that I could not take one of their cars to Rapid City, South Dakota because they do not have an office there. The Fox clerk was courteous and stated that I could take the rate information to another car rental and they would probably match the price if I requested it. I then went to Alamo Rent a Car and told them of my difficulty. The clerk stated that he would be glad to match the price.

He discussed adding "partial insurance", which I agreed to when told how much it was compared to the full coverage (that was not in my best interest, I view that as an underhanded sales tactic). I ended up with a sales contract for 7 days of $293.19, as opposed to the $155.00 I was verbally promised. After getting home, I realized that I made a mistake in signing the contract and immediately returned the car. I was charged $87.76 for one day. Needless to say, I will make it known that Alamo did not provide customer service that was in my best interest. I attempted to find the address of the CEO to complain concerning this encounter without adequate success thus far. In my opinion, Alamo's business ethics is deficient. Stay away from this business.

My son and I flew to Salt Lake City, UT in June and rented a car from Alamo on June 27 at the airport. I returned the car at 5 am on the 30th. When I returned the car that morning, I returned it the same way it was when I picked it up. And there was no attendant there to inspect the car. My son and I walked around the car several times that morning.

On July 29, I received a call from Jon with Purco stating that the car had been damaged. They had my cell phone, and it took 1 month for them to call me to tell me that I had damaged the car. They called me on the cell phone, so they had my number. They had rented the car 7-8 times after I returned, before they had contacted me.

I immediately had my insurance company review the paperwork from them. My insurance company said that something wasn't right; they could smell a "rat." They purchased a $31.34 Emblem Front Lamp, and they are charging me $772.24 plus administrative fees. I know for sure that the car was returned in the condition the same as when I picked the car up. I have a picture from them of a scratch on the side of the car that it isn't even close to the Emblem front lights.

I am in contact with a lawyer, and he is going to review everything. I also have checked the Better Business Bureau, and their rating in there is not good. They are crooks, and they are trying to scam people out of money. I would rather pay a lawyer than give them any of my money.

We rented a car from Alamo while staying at the Mayan Palace in south of Cancun in August 2011. The car did not come with brakes. We got about 5 miles south of the resort on the main highway and had to slow down for the speed bumps. My husband frantically tried stepping on the brakes several times and we rear-ended a taxi going about 70 km per hour. We all had minor injuries because we were wearing seat belts, thankfully. However, it took days to finally talk to the manager who told us we would not be charged for the car rental or damages. Six weeks later, the hotel is trying to charge our credit card for about $5,000! Now we are contemplating a lawsuit!

I rented a car at the Honolulu airport on August 13, 2011. When I asked the lot attendant which car, he said I could pick any from the row he pointed at. I asked about inspecting the car. He said: "No need. It's all taken care of." I had the car parked at the hotel overnight. The next day, it was parked at my sister's house where we could see it the whole time. That afternoon when we returned it, they pointed to a surface scratch on the rear panel. They said they would review it and let us know. The clerk said we shouldn't worry about it. I received a bill for $517.43. The $50 was for some unspecified administration fee and $84.15 was for a loss of use fee.

I emailed them. The recovery specialist who called me back stated that it was our responsibility to check the car, but she would look into it and call me back. She never called back. But I received the bill in the mail again with a threat to send me to collection in ten days. My boss and I rented a car from another company at the Honolulu airport three weeks ago. They gave us a diagram of a car and insisted we check the car out so I know that not all rental agencies are this unscrupulous.

My four biggest problems with all of this are as follows: First, they don't give you a form to check the car. In fact, they have their lot employees tell you it's not needed when it's in the fine print of the contract that it is. Secondly, loss of use should only be charged if it's the last car on the lot and they lost business while the car is being repaired. Next is the $50 processing fee. And they should call back when they say they will, not resend the same bill with a threat of collection and no acknowledgment of the discussion on the telephone.

I rented a car on September 19, 2011 at Alamo rent a car. The representative, "Mauricio", at the counter insisted that I needed the "Optional Insurance" because if I got stopped over by the police and did not provide this insurance I will get a ticket.

I asked several times, if this is a "required" insurance why do they call it optional? And I had the CDW on my credit card. I believe that I don't need anything else. He responded that under FL law it is required and is your option if you take it or not but if a cop pulls you over and you do not provide this insurance, you will get a ticket that will cost you more than the insurance.

On August 2, 2011, I had reserved a premium car online for August 18-23 at your establishment in Miami International Airport, 3900 NW 25th St. Miami, Fl. 33142. On August 18th, I arrived and was told where to go and what cars that I could choose from. I happen to choose a Hyundai Genesis. This was the only car parked with the front bumper facing inwards, while the other cars to choose from were facing outwards. Other cars surrounded this car in front and on the sides making it difficult to see the front end thoroughly. There were no employees looking over the cars for damage with the customers. I looked all around the car, checking for dents, scratches and any visible damages, plus making sure all the lights were in working order. Since there were no employees helping customers to look for damages to vehicles rented, I didn't receive the slip with the auto picture to check for damages. I didn't think that I would have to actually crawl on the ground and look under the vehicle for damage.

Upon returning the vehicle on August 23, 2011, I was told by a woman to keep driving up to her. When stopped, she bent over so far as I could only see her rear end pointing up. She looked directly to the left side under the vehicle and stated there was damage to the underside of the front bumper. She didn't look at any other part of the car except in that one spot. To me it seemed that she knew exactly where to look to make a damage claim. I always check the car before renting, but I do not look under the vehicle, you would have to go to the ground and look up from underneath to see this damage. This was a very nice car and I drove it like I was babysitting it, I never touched anything while driving this car and only used it to take my father and brother food shopping. I have a feeling that is why the car was faced front bumper inwards and the rest of the vehicles were faced front bumper outwards.

It is unfair practices that I was billed $381.57 for damage which didn't occur while this vehicle was in my possession. I feel this damage was there already before I even took the vehicle on August 18, 2011. It could have been the previous person who rented this vehicle, or it could have been the employees who damaged the vehicle and had to put the blame on someone I have rented from your establishment before and never had any problems like this. I am writing this letter to you, the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, and the Attorney General in hopes that something might be done about this situation. I might even go as far as contacting the news media and an attorney.

I was charged $18.00 for the administrative fee two months after the rental and for a $2.50 toll. I was treated extremely rudely by the customer service. Also, the rental agreement did not outline the additional charges.

I rented a car at the Alamo location near Kahului Airport on 8/22 and returned it on 8/24. Upon return, the Alamo agent circled a small dent on the door frame, one that had not happened any time I was with the car, and said they would be filing a damage claim for it. I had declined Alamo's insurance coverage.

They said I would also have to pay for the cost of daily rentals during any time it is in the shop. I protested that there was no paperwork to that effect, that an agent and I had done any walk-around of the car to note damage before I took it off their lot. The Alamo agent said Alamo has discontinued that practice.

When I rented the car, I was not advised to inspect the vehicle myself. In addition, the time of my arrival was approximately 5:00 AM, before it was light enough to see. Alamo should be in the position of proving that the damage was done after I rented it. Instead, by not walking around the car with the customer and noting damage, they put the customer in the position of trying to prove that damage didn't occur during their rental, which is impossible to prove. This damage could easily have been on the car prior to my rental, and/or could have occurred in their lot prior to my rental.

There are numerous other complaints on this issue for this location.

I rented a vehicle from Alamo while I was on vacation in PHL during August 2011. I returned the vehicle exactly the way I received it. I had an Alamo representative look the vehicle over when I returned it and he told me that it was good to go and gave me a receipt. No accidents or anything happened to that car while it was in my possession.

Today, I received a letter from Damage Recovery Unit stating that I damaged the vehicle. It doesn't state what is wrong with the vehicle. It was only asking me to provide my insurance or credit card information. I would like to put a fraud alert on this 'claim' because I did no damage to that car while it was in my possession. I have asked them to please send all supporting documentation for the claim. Are there any other suggestions you may have when dealing with this type of issue? Any help you can provide is most appreciated.

Diane **

(Damage Recovery Unit - 866-3003239)

We arrived in Knoxville 50 minutes before our reservation time. Alamo wanted to charge us double our quoted price for arriving early and told us that it took us from 4 days to a week . They said that they do not charge by the hour, yet we have two extra hours we reserved. The customer service did nothing and told us that they would not adjust the rate. They said that we could talk to the airport manager who, of course, was not here. I would never use them again--very bad customer service.

I have had successful rentals with Alamo Car Rental in the past, however on May 19th 2011 returned car rental to Edinburgh Scotland airport. At which time, they checked the car and said that there was no damage.

On June 28th, I received a letter stating with a June 1st date from a Kwik Fit Tyre company stating that the side wall had been damaged and the US dollar charge to my credit card was $300. At this time of writing, I am attempting to get contact with Alamo as I now have received information from Europcar (rental broker from which the Alamo car was rented through) with a new letter dated May 23rd 2011.

I fail to understand how a person can be held liable for damage done 4-13 days past their rental agreement.

Rental agent sent out to the dimly lit parking lot in evening to pick a car, which I did. Upon return of rental car, agent noted scratch on left door at handle. I also noted this scratch after I arrived at my non-stop destination. There was no agent or I should have signed off on it ahead of time. Both agent in lot and behind counter assured me nothing would come of it and I did not sign for this damage. It literally was a hairline scratch 1.5 in in length at that handle. But I got a call within 6 weeks. I explained it thoroughly and was assured nothing more would take place. However, 15 months later I have received a bill from their damage recovery unit for $302.17 damages to right rear door shell and rear glass running light. The issue is not resolved. How does one go about getting Alamo to "cease and desist" in these fraudulent claims? They are harassing me with phone calls and letters and threaten to take it to a collection agency.

I rented a vehicle on 5 May 2011 and returned it on 8 May 2011 at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. When the vehicle was returned, I was asked to move it forward, to stop and have it parked. I was expecting that the Alamo employee would then check the vehicle for damages but he said, "No. Everything's fine. Have a good day." I was not feeling comfortable with his answer but I assumed that Alamo was a reputable company so I stopped worrying and drove home.

On 11 July 2011, I received a letter claiming damages on the vehicle and billing me for a total amount of $402.79. It did not state where the claimed damage on the vehicle was. For all I know, this is a scam. Attached on the letter was a form where I can include a credit card number for full payment.

I found a phone number on the letter for the Damage Recovery Unit (918-4016222). I called and left a voice mail on 16 Aug 2011 but no one has returned my call.

R. **

I got caught in a torrential downpour on the NJ Turnpike and discovered the wipers needed to be replaced. The manager at the Westchester County Airport location just kept nodding to all of my valid points, never so little as apologized. He offered no excuse at all other than "the defroster must be turned up on high on foreign cars."

I sent complaints in form of e-mail and phone call and never heard from anybody at Alamo.

I booked a rental car in Aruba through Priceline for 7 days. Priceline made me pay for the auto insurance in advance, which I did. When picking up the rental car in Aruba, I had to decline the Alamo insurance waiver, because I had already paid via Priceline. We decided to extend our rental for 3 days, so I called Alamo in Aruba. They told me I was all set and to just keep the car for 3 extra days! I asked if my insurance was also extended, I was told yes. I didn't think twice about it, until my car was hit in a parking lot while I was at the beach.

I called Alamo to report the claim. They told me I was not covered because I had signed the waiver. I explained the situation and they could not help me. I called Priceline to see how their insurance extension works. They said I would have had to do it through Alamo, and that I was only covered via Priceline for the first 7 days. Alamo is claiming that in order to get insurance through them, I would have had to come down and sign something in person and that they would not help me. When I called to extend the rental, I would have done this, but no one informed me of this. I should have known better I guess.

The damage to the car was minimal and could have been fixed for a very low rate at a local garage (I had a guy that could pop out the dent in the bumper for a small fee and replace the light for $250). But they charged me for an entire bumper when I had to turn the car in. I asked how they could possibly have assessed the damage at $1100. They told me that they had sent an adjuster down to my hotel to look at it the night before. The problem is, the address they had on file was the first place I stayed, after day 7. We had moved to another location, so they lied. They never sent an adjuster down. They charged my credit card on file for the charges, even though they had not completed an adjustment. They would not let me leave the place if I didn't allow.

Rented a compact car @ Tulsa airport, Alamo Car Rental, May 14-23, 2011. Car was fine, had NO problems. Returned car to employee on May 23rd, he looked it over, gave me my receipt. We left. Now, two months later, they send me a bill for $350.00 for "hail damage", demanding payment, insurance info, etc. I called them & disputed the claim, stating that we were NEVER in a hailstorm, and refused to pay. I sent a letter also stating the same denials. Damage estimate was also dated a full week AFTER I had turned car in. I'm NOT paying & will hire a lawyer & counter sue if necessary. I also filed a "possible fraud alert" with my insurance company......

I booked a rental in Sanford, Orlando airport and it was a $92 upgrade. When I got there, they charged me $350. I told them I booked an upgrade.

They had me to either walk or pay, so I contacted Alamo and they said, "Tough luck. Pay". Beware, Alamo are crooks and thieves.

In May I flew to Boston; I rented an auto from Alamo National, and I declined their transponder for easy pass. I left the airport. I drove along Fenway Park, and made a U-turn at the overpass at Mass Pike route 90 (U-turn is permitted). I did not go through the toll gate, and they billed my credit card $37.15. This is a rip off. If they checked their widen transponder, they will see in the week I was there. I went through toll in the national highway around ten (10) times. I will never rent from this company again.

I made a reservation with my Travelers Advantage membership with Alamo for pickup of a compact car on 06/23/2011, in which I was given a small matchbox. I requested to do an inspection with the person who signs off on vehicle given. After review of vehicle, there were so many marks placed on the paperwork that I told the lady checking me out (Mayra) that I needed another car. The vehicle being provided had so much damage that you couldn't even make out which part of the vehicle had no damage. I was given a 2004 Nissan Sedan, which I included insurance on vehicle also. The Nissan also had a lot of damages but not as much as the previous vehicle.

On June 25, I had an accident on the right side of bumper (only bumper). I called the Alamo and was sent an inspector of accident. The person's name was William, who worked for the insurance company Qualitas. A report of accident and recite to pay deductible was given. Early Monday, June 27, 2011, I went to Qualitas and was told to pay $167.90 of deductible, in which I did and was told that they will handle the rest and no monies will be charged on me.

Two days later, I got a call from Qualitas and was told that Alamo didn't have active car insurance and that they wouldn't be covering the damages of the vehicle. The deductible I paid was being given back due that Alamo didn't have car insurance coverage. I called the Alamo and let Mrs. Garcia know what Qualitas said. Mr. Garcia, in return, said I was a liar. I then said to him I am standing in front of the insurance company and I will let them tell him. Of course he hung up but the lady, Cynthia, at the Qualitas said she would handle it and have someone let him know he didn't have active insurance.

I proceeded to call Mr. Garcia again and what he told me was how dare me go to the Qualitas and have communication with them when I should have just brought the car to them and the rest they would have handled it. I told him yes so that you could have covered up that you didn't have active car insurance.

On July 4, 2011, I arrived seven hours early to fix the problem as I didn't know how long the drive would be to get back from my vacation city to where the Alamo was rented. I returned the vehicle and was charged $418.10. I was even told I would have to pay for having the car not being rented while being fixed.

I already had a bad week and wasn't going to have a heart attack or high blood pressure and end up in a hospital so I ended up paying the amount including taxes and hoping I could fix the problem when I get to my country. I shouldn't have paid no monies as I keep my contract agreement. I paid for car insurance every day I had the vehicle. If anything I should have had the monies I paid for car insurance be deducted from the amount I paid.

I need help in getting my money back and let Alamo know that if they want to keep business, have active car insurance and stop scamming customer. Their business should be closed.

I just want to share with everyone about my experience with Alamo Rent-A-Car. I was in Phoenix for work, and rented a car from Alamo. I'm not picky about my rental cars. I don't care if they have a scratch. Even if I did, the rental car facility at Sky Harbor International doesn't have the light to see any scratches. I took a quick look around the car to be sure nothing obvious was wrong with the car. I drove the car a total of about 40 miles over about two days. Funny thing is, in every single place I parked (three places total so I remember), the car was parked with the front bumper over a curb where the car had plenty of clearance. When I returned the car, the rental agent (or whatever she was called) pointed out damage to the front passenger-side bumper. I explained that I know that I didn't cause it. It wasn't a big deal to grab my attention when I rented it, so I wouldn't have documented it with them even if they had provided a form for me to sign on, which they didn't. Now, I get a notice from Alamo saying I am responsible for the damage of the car. My only option, according to them, is to send my car insurance claim information, or I'll be sent a bill. Of course, if I have any question regarding my responsibility, I should contact their office.

It's Saturday, and they're open 9 am-4 pm, Mondays to Fridays, so I'm out of luck. I looked up the number of their Sky Harbor office, called, and eventually ended up speaking with Herman **, the branch manager. He refused to do anything except direct me to the claims department. I asked if he was concern about the people in his office filing fraudulent claims, and he says his office did exactly what they should have done. I started off very polite and professional but when I get an individual that refuses to do anything about my concerns, I start to get upset.

I again explained my complaint. He said the same thing. I explained that as a manager, it was his duty to be sure his office did everything correctly, that this scratch couldn't cost more than a couple of hundred dollars (and I didn't cause it), and they would end up losing a lot more business than that because I'll be sharing this experience with everyone I know. His response was that he understands my frustration but he couldn't do anything about it. **! As a manager, I know he has the ability to make things happen. If he doesn't, he's not a manager. I just did a quick search and found two (I know there's more but this was a quick search site) people having the same problem with Alamo. I think I'd like a lawyer to take a look at this, and check out the feasibility of a class-action lawsuit against Alamo. They can try to damage my credit all they want, but they won't be getting a cent from me. In fact, if any lawyer out there are interested in class-action lawsuit, I think I have your case.

On April 28th, we vacationed in Florida and rented a vehicle from Alamo to go to St Petersburg. Our reservation was for a midsize car as well as an infant car seat. Upon arrival we were informed that the midsize vehicle was actually a smaller car than what we expected so my wife informed the lady that it was my birthday so what can she do. She upgraded us to a full size vehicle however gave us a luxury car (Black Cadillac). She tried to talk us into the rental insurance and we declined.

We had an infant car seat as part of our reservation. This car seat was handed to us in a plastic bag. She than handed us the keys and told us the car was in the parking structure. We proceeded to the car and had to install the car seat ourselves in which the straps were improperly threaded in the loops. We finally managed to leave. An inspection of the vehicle was not performed, NOTHING was initialed citing it was and no Alamo attendant walked us over to our vehicle. Our vehicle was primarily parked in the secure hotel parking lot and used a handful of times. No accidents, bumps or dings occurred during our Florida visit.

i have received very bad service while returning the car. the lady at check in showed me some old scratch marks at the rear bumper near trunk, and started yelling at me. when i told her i was not aware of the marks, she said good luck to you and made a claim ticket. i need help in this matter, it is a cheating to the customers for blaming them for something so old on the vehicle, and claimimg they caused the damage.

this can happen to all of us, or may be happening to all. i have spoke to the store manager marsha at olraldo intnl airport regarding this matter. now i have received a letter in mail regarding this claim, i think, i need to take a legal action, as it is a fraud to claim, damage on already damaged vehicle, the damage in this case was scratch marks, for which the lady has yelled at me, this is not acceptable customer service. everyone else was very nice and customer freindly. i hope i get some help.

How about this for a policy? I rented a car from Alamo in Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) Airport. I chose Alamo because it is an American car rental company hoping that I will get no surprises as far as the terms of the rental agreement is concerned. It turns out, I was very wrong. When I returned the car the day of my departure, I had to rush to catch my plane. I was instructed to put the car in a parking lot belonging to Alamo where no one was available to greet me and take the car from me. I had to go to the main counter inside the airport to return the key. I was able to barely catch my plane. Two days later, I receive an email from the manager of the rental office at Paris Charles de Gaulle stating that they could not find the GPS unit in the car and if I do have it with me and return it to them. If not, they had to charge me $300.00. I explained to them that when I returned the car it was there. They argued that their policy is to return it to the counter which of course no one told me beforehand.

Now, I would like to believe that this is all my fault and I should pay for it. But, if this is really their policy, then it is a wrong policy that is subject to abuse. First, why was there nobody to greet customers returning their cars. That would prevent theft from the car for objects belonging to the company or the customers (left behind). In a country suffering from high unemployment like France, it should be a good thing to do. Second, let's assume for a moment the employee checking the car is a bit dishonest or on minimum wage. Well, he/she could take the GPS and report that it was not in the car when he checked it. There is little risk on them and the company would just charge the customer and the problem forgotten. Third, the manager of the Alamo office at Charles de Gaulle Airport may on purpose charge customers the $300 in addition to keeping the GPS unit to improve his bottom line and look good to his bosses.

No matter how I slice this policy, it is not fair and certainly not American. Speaking with the main office here in the USA or the Paris (France) branch lead to nothing. For them, no GPS in the car means I have to pay for it and that is it. They feel no responsibility towards making sure returned cars are indeed handed over in a responsible manner. It is my hope that all of you out there learn from this lesson and avoid Alamo car rentals in the future.

My son was involved in an accident with an Alamo rental vehicle in the state of Washington. His insurance company, American Family, paid for the damage to the vehicle. Low and behold, another bill came from Alamo in the amount of $300.00 for administrative fees. This was turned over to American Family. AF requested Alamo to define what the "administrative fees" were. Evidently, no response was received from Alamo and AF denied that part of the loss. My son received a letter stating this must be paid within 10 days or it would be turned over to the credit reporting agencies.

Folks, this is a scam. If you should receive any such letter, make copies and give it to your agent, adjuster and file a complaint with your state insurance commissioner and/or attorney general as fast as your little fingers can type. Let all your family, friends and neighbors co-work of this scam and never, ever rent a car from Alamo. This is the American way to get rid of bad apples.

I just want to warn everyone that Alamo charges $5 a day for a spouse to drive the rented car. Other companies only charge when someone else drives the car, but not if it is the spouse of the designated driver.

My husband and I rented a Chevy Open from Alamo for the day while our ship was in port. While I am not sure of the make, model and year of the car - I can tell you it had over 69,000 miles on it and several scratches and door dings.

When we returned the car, the attendant, who thought we only had thirty minutes before our ship departed, told us that we did damage to the front bumper and had to pay for it. We had declined the $11.95 insurance for the day. We did not do the damage and asked for the manager. The manager came after about 45 minutes and declared that we did the damage and told us that it would cost 3000 pesos which he estimated and made up on the spot. We refused to sign or acknowledge the damage.

We made a call to Visa, which we used for the transaction, and they explained that we are covered by their insurance for damage. The call from our cell phone was $27.88. The charge for the damage to the car was around $50.

Alamo did charge our credit card and we are currently disputing.

Annually we travel to Maui and rent a car. We are very familiar with the process and I am quite diligent when it comes to inspecting the vehicle prior to signing off. At the time we rented from Alamo in November 2010, their parking lot was under construction. We arrived late at night to pick up the vehicle. There were limited lights in the lot, making vehicle inspection very difficult (what appeared to be the result of construction in the lot). I tried my best to determine what scratches/dings existed. But due to the lack of decent light, I was unsuccessful.

I then requested a flash light from the attendants in the lot. They told me to drive the vehicle over to the light next to the building. The directional road would only allow me to view half the vehicle (the right side). I noted as many dings/scratches on the vehicle (there were many) as I could see and then left the lot with the vehicle. The paper I handed the parking attendant upon leaving the rental agency had markings indicated all over the vehicle. Upon returning the vehicle, they noted a mark on the rear left side of the vehicle (one of the few areas where a mark was not noted on the paper and also one that could not be properly viewed in the lot). We were not involved in any accidents and we were very cautious when choosing parking spaces. This was an older vehicle with a lot of wear and tear.

I believe that if the lot was properly lit, I would have been able to properly inspect the vehicle and mark this scratch. They are now seeking damages against me for this mark. They were not helpful when explaining my situation. They are only interested having users of the vehicle pay for regular wear and tear through alternative means. The vehicle inspection process to the consumer is a very important part of renting a car, yet it receives very little attention by the business (it is in their best interests to provide the least amount of lighting when signing out the vehicle and the best lighting when returning it - which is the case with this rental company). I'm never renting from this company again.

I rented a car for nine days at price of $197.40, including taxes. Travel plans changed and I returned the car to the same location two days early. Instead of the guaranteed rate, they charged me $302.57, an increase of more than 50% over the guaranteed rate, even though the car went back to the same location and I made it available to them for rental to somebody else two days earlier than it otherwise would have been. I have received nothing but double talk from Alamo Customer Service.

Rented jeep from Alamo car rental rental was fine. On return agent looked up under jeep, and said there was damage. I looked and took pictures of it. There was rust on the dent I had jeep for 2 days. Rust does not form that quickly. They rent cars out of dark parking garage in Waikiki on Oahu. I won't rent from them again. Be careful. This is a scam. I am getting idle threats from them.

To say that I am utterly disgusted with Alamo's service is an understatement. I am a frequent traveler and rent cars constantly all over the world, however, I have never in all of my 25 years of traveling and renting cars as an adult had as bad an experience as I had recently with Alamo in Florida. I am an extremely busy person and rarely have cause or desire to complain but the treatment I received from Alamo was absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible and ruined my vacation. I had the misfortune of renting a car at the West Palm Beach Airport.

This car was not registered, had a tag from another vehicle and as a result was impounded by the Fort Lauderdale, FL Police Department on Saturday 12/11/10, by Officer Gunther, case #10-133852. When I arrived at the towing facility where the car was located, I was informed that I could not retrieve the car, that this was a police matter and as a renter I had no authority to act on behalf of Alamo. At this point, I was stranded in a very bad neighborhood at the towing facility with my luggage. I immediately phoned the West Palm Beach, FL office and asked to speak with the manager, who refused to speak to me on the phone. I was able to contact an acquaintance to pick me up at the towing facility.

After four and a half hours and speaking to 10 customer service representatives and trying desperately to get assistance and a replacement vehicle, I finally was able to speak with a woman named Barbara at the Ft. Lauderdale, FL airport facility who promised me a vehicle as soon as possible. The vehicle took over three hours to get to me and as a result I missed my best friend's surprise birthday party in Miami, where I was to be a special surprise guest. I missed the entire party and was so upset and frazzled that it ruined my entire day of vacation.

Instead of relaxing and sharing with my best friend, I spent seven and a half hours stranded first at the tow truck facility and then at a stranger's house trying desperately to get an answer from a customer service representative who would help me and a vehicle. I was assured by Barbara at the Ft. Lauderdale, FL Airport facility that I would not be charged for the vehicle rental, however, I just checked my account and indeed Alamo charged my account on 12/14/10 for $230.22!

This charge needs to be removed as per my agreement with the Alamo representative and I am going to pursue further. Restitution needs to be addressed to compensate for my ruined vacation day and missed birthday party and all of the anxiety and stress that this caused and continues to cause me. This company is a disaster!

I rented a car on July 19, 2010 for a three-week trip for $578.23. At the end of the trip, my son who was driving at the time was pulled over and falsely accused and arrested in Oklahoma. After several months of hassle, all charges were dropped, as I said, he was falsely accused. The car was impounded and damaged during the tow while in Police custody. They would not release the car to me. The car was picked up and taken to the Ft. Smith, Arkansas Airport location. I expected to pay some reasonable fees and left my credit card account open. I paid for damages to the car with additional administrative fees. I paid for the car rental with additional administrative fees.

On August 17, 2010, they transferred an even larger amount from my credit card account. They justified this by saying the rates were higher at the location the car was returned. They saw an opportunity to put the sting on a consumer instead of waiving a mileage fee that was not in my original contract. Apparently, the $1,000.00 in administrative fees did not satisfy them. I disputed the fee through my credit card company and they were unsuccessful in getting the transaction returned to me.

According to claim #00826691, Alamo is claiming that preexisting scratches on the trunk of their rental car was done under my rental. When I arrived at the hotel I notice scratches on the trunk of the car and alerted them to this matter.

I was in a car accident and went through my insurance company to get a rental car. They told me that they had a contract with Enterprise car rental and would make a reservation for me. When I went to the local Enterprise car rental location in Fallon, NV, the manager stated that they do not do "insurance" rentals and that I would have to go to another location. The nearest location is Reno, NV over 50 miles away! It's hard to do without a car, right? So I called the insurance company back, and they stated that I could take my reservation to any Enterprise car rental and that they would help me.

I caught a ride to Reno, NV and found that the only Enterprise that was open on weekends or after normal business hours was the airport. Upon arrival, the manager at Enterprise told me that they don't rent to insurance companies because they don't make enough money on it. And that if I wanted to rent a car, I had to pay for it myself then submit it to the insurance company for payment. He had the reservation in the computer but said that I would have to wait until Monday to go downtown to another location or pay out of pocket.

The Alamo Rent-a-Car (right next door) had a person there that was working. He overheard the conversation and laughed. He interrupted the conversation and said that he would rent to me--insurance claim or not. I moved over to Alamo car rental and within ten minutes, was driving away in a vehicle. The next day, I noticed that the paperwork in the glove box all indicates that the vehicle belongs to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. What the heck! I called Alamo and they stated that they rent Enterprise Rent-A-Car's all the time, under an agreement with them. I just received a call from Alamo asking me to take the car back to the location in downtown Reno. You guessed it--to the Enterprise car rental lot anytime during business hours--Monday to Friday. These guys are pulling a real scam on me and the insurance industry. No wonder nobody trusts them.

I caused a 5-inch paint scratch on an Alamo car which I rented in Virginia. However, Alamo's Damage Recovery Unit sent me a bill for widespread damage that occurred at an odometer reading 3,000 miles past the point of my rental. Through repeated emails, I objected to the erroneous documentation and offered to pay immediately for (and only for) the damage I caused. Alana **, the representative, then produced a "corrected" damage report that included even more damage and a total repair cost almost twice as high as the original! The "corrected" damage report still indicated the repair occurred 3,000 miles past the time of my rental.

I believe that this goes well beyond sheer incompetence and is, like the other cases outlined here, a deliberate attempt to defraud honest and unsuspecting customers. All I want to do is pay for the damage I caused and I am extremely discouraged that my sincere attempts to settle this matter result in continued fraud on the part of Alamo.

I am a 60-something retired college professor, who on 9/24/2010 flew to Syracuse NY for a school reunion. I had a confirmed reservation for an Alamo rental car, but when I presented my license and credit card to the agent at the Alamo counter, he told me I was on a "Do Not Rent" (DNR) list. He wrote down a number for me to call, but a recording said there was an unusually high volume of calls, and my only option was to leave my number and wait for them to call me back. I did that, and waited over an hour. No one returned my call. I have since had several conversations with Alamo customer service, who admit I was never actually placed on the Do Not Rent list.

Someone with the same numbers in a different state was, and it had been a mistake. One customer service rep called it a "hiccup." I got a perfunctory apology and an email of a computer screen shot showing that on 9/28/2010 I was "active", which apparently means rentable, but the piece of paper is useless if it happens again. The counter agent's computer locks up when the system hiccups. And it isn't just Alamo that will not rent you a car if you're on the DNR list: National and Enterprise are on the same network/system.

I had great vacation in Nicaragua last week that took a dark turn yesterday at the Alamo return center at Managua International Airport. On Tuesday, I rented a 4x4 vehicle in San Juan Del Sur because the surf spot called Playa Maderas was a 1/2 hour drive away on a muddy road. We used the vehicle for 5 days and it was great (a Toyota Hilux diesel). The problems happened when we drove to Managua International airport to return the truck. Our flight departed at 12:30 pm yesterday afternoon. We arrived at the Alamo car return at 10:00 am. After a cursory check, the guy that accepted the vehicle said we needed to talk to the manager in the airport terminal.

We got to the Alamo booth in the terminal at 10:30 am (the return inspector gave us a ride in our vehicle). The manager told us they had to wash the mud off the truck (it was muddy, as it hadn't rained in 3 days but the roads were still bad so it hadn't washed off) to check for damage to the body. He said it would take a half hour but that we should return in an hour at 11:30 when he would have everything ready for us. I explained that our flight left at 12:30 and asked to please make sure everything was in order in time.

So, my cousin and I went and got some food and waited an hour. We returned at 11:30 and were told the car still wasn't ready to be inspected. The car didn't actually arrive for inspection until 12:10. My plane was already boarding at this point, and it took Alamo employees over 2 hours to wash some mud off the car. The manager then went around the car, taking pictures of water spots and telling me they were dents. He then essentially strong armed me into signing an agreement acknowledging the non-existent damages.

At that point it was 12:20 and my plane was taking off in 10 minutes. My cousin went to the gate to try and get them to hold the plane for me since Alamo was being so ridiculous. Luckily security hurried me through and I made the flight, the last one on the plane, after signing whatever paperwork your employees had drawn up (I didn't have time to read anything). There was no way I was going to miss my flight (which had a connection in San Salvador). I had full insurance so I don't think it will cost me any extra money but the whole experience felt like some kind of scam. It was very stressful for my cousin and I. I treated the vehicle with respect and did not damage it. It was muddy because the roads were muddy. That was the whole reason that I spent $105 a day to have a 4x4 vehicle. I am disappointed that a large company like Alamo would have employees that treat customers this way. I expect a response from Alamo regarding my experience.

They charged me $3.45 for an unexplained reason 12 days after I returned the car on 10/1/2010. I filled the car less than 2 miles from the airport.

We rented a car in downtown San Francisco in early July, returning it to the San Francisco airport 5 days later. The downtown rental location was extremely busy taking an hour to get the car we reserved. At the desk they handed us the keys and said the car was around the corner. We loaded up and left. There was no lot person, etc. to check us out.

They said there were scratches on the front bumper. As far as we were concerned, when we returned the car and were given the okay we were not responsible for damage done after we had the car. A letter has been written to Alamo and we are waiting on the results. Warning to Alamo renters, document everything, take pictures if necessary, or better yet, rent elsewhere.

Alamo Rent A Car has filed a false claim that I damaged one of their rental cars; claim #**. Upon renting the car on July 23, 2010, I was simply handed the keys and told where it was parked in the garage. There was no paperwork to fill out as outgoing inspection. I inspected the vehicle myself noting there was no damage to the vehicle and drove away.

When I returned the vehicle, they told me to leave the keys in the vehicle and would have someone check the gas tank levels which I had filled 1/2 tank over the agreement by the way. There was no inspection papers upon my return either. This was the first time I had not had inspection papers from any rental car place, but having seen no damage to the car when taking it, and having inspected it myself upon return, I know that the car was undamaged.

I did not take their insurance because I have Progressive insurance, a fine company and have a safe driver designation to boot! Progressive attempted to obtain proof that I had damaged the car and after 12 attempts, multiple communications, they have dismissed the claim stating that Alamo has not provided necessary proof of damage. Subsequent to Progressive dismissing the claim, I received a letter from Jeffrey ** of Alamo stating, "After making a good faith effort to settle our loss with your insurance, we have learned that your insurance coverage did not apply." This too is a false claim. Progressive went out of their way to obtain necessary documentation.

I am a responsible individual and would gladly take responsibility for any damage I may have done to the vehicle. However, I am also an ethical individual who expects the same from organizations I choose to do business with, unfortunately, Alamo is not ethical and I am appalled that this type of situation has happened to many other people around the USA.

I intend to continue to fight with Alamo and will take this to media attention and to a legal representative if necessary. I may end up spending more on legal representation than the $541.40 they are trying to scam from me, but this is now a matter of integrity. The time has come that a formal investigation into the Alamo Rent A Car damage recovery unit is conducted. Thank you.

Turned in car a little late. Had to pay for a whole extra day. Got to terminal and plane mentioned I had booked for wrong day. Went back and wouldn't let me have car back. Said would be $92 if I wanted it for day. Rented from other company because of dissatisfaction.

I rented an Alamo auto for light local usage due to having out of town guests and family. The car, a Chevy Impala, was nice, but they shorted the gas tank. I figured they'd give credit when it was returned to Phoenix airport, but they refused. The credit we agreed was $15 for fuel I paid for, but didn't receive repayment from Alamo. I spoke to the reps and they refused to pay, but after I contacted intermediaries they promised to pay the $15. However it would have to take a few months to process the payment. It has now been over 3 mos. and no payment was ever received.

I read complaints about Alamo and it's obvious they short customers on purpose. They do not keep their agreements, but give hell to anyone that loses a key or needs assistance, I've read. Alamo is among the worst of the auto rental firms in the USA. I had a problem every time I used their services one way or another, they are just corrupt! This is a loss of $15 for fuel not provided and no assistance toward resolving this. It's also a huge loss of time trying to get it corrected and being lied to and cheated over and over again. We should all avoid Alamo, because this obviously goes to the top. They are out to cheat their customers and care nothing about their reputation.

This is a consumer complaint against Alamo Rent A Car at Keahole Airport, Kailua-Kona Hawaii. Alamo uses practices of fraud and scams to charge consumers unfairly for scratches they did not cause. Consumers, beware! If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to rent from Alamo, document every single (even if there are 100) scratch, chip in the windshield, dirty spot in the interior, and take your attorney with you when you return the car or they will scam you.

We rented a Chevrolet Impala on May 29, 2010 and returned it on June 5, 2010 at which time the check-in agent pointed out a small scratch on the right front wheel well. I leaned down as low as I could and could barely see it. The minor scratch was very small, no more than numerous preexisting other scratches on the car, which had over 20,000 miles on it and had apparently been touched up before. The company detained me, causing me to miss about three vans to the airport. Their treatment of me was inconsiderate. The first agent told me he had to detain me and report this minor scratch or he would lose his job. The manager, Maurice **, tried to report it as a crack, but we required him to correct his error and write small scratch. He told me I would receive a call and assured me I would be treated fairly by their Loss Department, but we were not.

Scam. I was totally shocked to receive a bill for $816.56 to repair the whole bumper. The estimate was by a local body shop, which must be their sole source contractor for all such estimates. I had the estimate checked by my local body shop and showed them the photo. They could have repaired the scratch with a simple touch up, nothing like Alamo claimed was necessary. They said, "Clearly Alamo would not have this repair done since they had not buffed nor painted any of the previous scratches." Alamo completely ignored my letters explaining that this was an unfair and unethical situation. Fortunately for me, my credit card company AmEx paid much of the unfair one-sided bill, but I was left to pay the still unreasonable charge of $147. This scam cost American Express a substantial amount of money for damage I did not cause.

7. Alamo offers no recourse for discussion, appeal, and exercise of customer rights.

I realize my allegations have not been investigated nor proven, but I have pictures that substantiate my claim. I am filing this complaint hoping to protect future consumers, sure that this will add to a pattern of such complaints and lead to some needed disciplinary action against the Alamo Rent A Car location at Kona Airport. It is a shame to be treated this way when so much else of Hawaii is so beautiful and offers such a great experience to visitors.

I we went to South Africa for the world cup. Our travel agent booked us a car with Europcar/Alamo for 16 days at a cost of $495. I signed a waiver which in every other contract means decline a service for their insurance since my visa card covers collision damage. We had a defective tire and returned the car, was told we could get a new car and there was no charge for the bad tire. The car was returned and I wanted a receipt for what we were to be charged and was told it was the amount quoted from my travel agent. Five days later I see a charge for $971! My signing the waiver meant I declined full coverage, but accepted standard coverage.

The defective GPS, which was meant to be included and the main reason I had the agent do the booking, was $8/day. A heap of miscellaneous fees and surcharges taxes. I issued a dispute with my credit card company, Bank of America, with very little relief. Two weeks later a charge of $219 was put on for tire damage! I could buy four tires for that amount. Another dispute was that Alamo showed a quote for the tire, not an invoice and the credit card company ruled in their favor. Even though the original charge for my rental was based on a quote not the receipt they would not offer at the time of return. Last week I received a fee for turning over a speeding ticket from the police to me, it was 10% more than the ticket itself. Do not rent from Alamo or Priceline or Hotline if they will not show you who you are renting from.

I rented a car from Alamo in Portland, Oregon on August 16. I do not rent cars very often and did not take it upon my self to inspect the whole car. The agent who was with me did not check the car either. I take responsibility for not checking the automobile, but I feel that the agents need to be customer advocates and check each car before it leaves the lot. I was later told this was "not their job."

At any rate, it was very late and dark when I picked up the car. I drove the car about two miles or so to my hotel and parked for the evening. The next morning, in the daylight, I noticed what appeared to be a sticky black residue on the passenger side of the car. It did not appear to be a scratch to me, but it looked like some kind of residue.

When I returned the car, the agent said they would have to file a claim for the "damage." I told him that whatever it was, it was there when I picked up the car. Today, I received a letter with no dollar amount on it stating that I needed to report this "damage" to my insurance company!

When I called Alamo to try to resolve this, I was talked to like a child in a very condescending manner. One customer service rep even told me that she was not a customer service rep and she hung up on me! My complaints to supervisors didn't seem to help much. I have never been spoken to by a customer service rep the way I was spoken to today!

Apparently, it is Alamo's policy that their agents will not check cars upon leaving the lot. I know; I have rented from other companies who walk out with you and do a check sheet. But Alamo does not do that. But of course, they do check vehicles on return. As I said, I take responsibility for not taking it upon my self to check, but I feel that if they were a reputable company, the agent would be an advocate for the customer and do a check sheet.

My issue still hasn't been resolved. I was told that the letter I got was "computer-generated" and "didn't apply to me." If it "didn't apply to me," then why did I get it? I still don't know a dollar amount or what they are going to try to make me pay. Be wary of Alamo Rental Cars.

I booked a car through Holiday Autos. They arranged it with Alamo/Europcar. I signed a contract with Europcar for total rental charges of 391.89.To date I have been debited three times for a total in excess of 1400. I have emailed both orgs on numerous occasions and had numerous promises to look into it (I have provided copies of bank statements etc). 900-1000.

Before returning the car, we refueled it and washed the windshield. We drove the car one mile back to the airport .As there was no Alamo agent at the return desk, we returned the keys to a National Car Rental agent who shares the space with Alamo; both of which are owned by Purco Fleet Services based in Spanish Fork, UT.

I received a letter a month later stating that there were no photos taken and her "verification" of the damage was a black and white drawing of a car with a small black mark in one of six boxes. Her letter also stated, "You can see that your rental contract clearly states that you are responsible for all loss and damage regardless of fault."

Besides charges for 'physical' damage, I was charged $109.60 for loos of use (2 days) and a $50.00 administration fee. Having checked Purco (Alamo) on the Utah's BBB web site, I found that there were at least 44 complaints about this company with a C- rating. Scams like this need to be stopped.

My son is graduating from National Guard MIT, Ft. Huachuca, AZ. I booked a package via Travelocity, Airfare, Hotel and Car. The car rental is via Alamo and is from July 7 to 9. The car was not damaged while in my possession and is returned prior to 11 am deadline on July 9, which is a Friday. Two Alamo employees inspected the vehicle, found no damage, and hand me a return document showing $0 due. Two days after, Alamo calls and leaves a voice mail on my home phone landline. She states that she's calling to find out if I know anything about the damage to the vehicle I rented. I do not get the voice mail until several days later. That voice mail is followed by two more from Amy **** of PurCo. She requests a return phone call.

I called her back and am informed that there was damage to the vehicle during my rental and that a claim will be sent in the mail. I indicated that there was no damage to the vehicle during my rental. She stated that there was and she will be sending me a claim package. I received the claim package. The total Claim amount is $239.36: $125 for physical damage, $64.36 loss of use and $50 administrative fee. Nothing specific is included regarding the exact damage. There are no before and after pictures.

There's no proof of loss and Auto Body repair business appears to be questionable. The Address for Auto Body repair business is a residence address and their phone number is a cell phone number. Legitimate businesses don't normally have residential addresses or a cell phone as their business line. I dispute in writing requesting before and after pictures, documentation to prove loss of use, documentation proving body repair including car colors, legitimate business, detailed description of repair services performed and time necessary to repair vehicle and copies of any documents I signed acknowledging any damage when the rental was returned.

Two weeks later, I received another package from PurCo stating claim is valid. The package includes no before photos and the after photos are date stamped July 11, 2010, that is two days after I returned the vehicle. This is by no means proof that damage occurred while the vehicle was in my possession. Indeed two days is plenty of time for the July 11, 2010 photographed damages to have been caused by another including an Alamo employee. No other proof is included except an Arizona Corporation Commission Document showing Slogotani, Inc. Certificate with the words "DBA Car Colors" hand-written onto the document on August 13, 2010.

I Express Mail-ed a response to the second package sent by PurCo. It states that the documentation I requested was not supplied and was not an either/or documentation demand. Rather it was a complete list of legitimate documentation all of which are necessary to validate Alamo's claim. Frankly, what I asked for is what any auto insurance carrier would need in order to process a claim. A copy furnish of my August 13 response is sent to Andrew ****, Chairman and CEO of Enterprise Holdings which is a parent company for Alamo.

I advised that Alamo/PurCo's efforts would be best invested in finding the true perpetrator since damages occurred during the two day window of time in b/t my return of July 9 and July 10 photos. I also demanded that Alamo/PurCo cease and desist in pursuing me as I am not the perpetrator which is evidenced by the $0 return document I received at the time of return after two Alamo employees performed a 360 degree inspection of the vehicle.

My express mail package of August 13 is documented as received and signed for by both PurCo and Enterprise Holdings on August 16, 2010. I am now in receipt of another letter from PurCo received two days ago. It is dated August 17, 2010. It states "I mailed you claim information on August 4, 2010, regarding the above referenced loss. I am sure this matter must have slipped your mind since. To date, I have not heard from you." Interesting given my package of August 13 which was received and signed for by PurCo on August 16.

We rented a car from Alamo (operated by Europcar) and have since been charged twice as much as what we had initially agreed/been quoted on. I made a reservation online specifying I wanted no insurance or collision/damage/theft coverage whatsoever, as my credit card covers all of that. Once at the counter at the Johannesburg airport, the very unhelpful service representative who gave us our car told me to initial next to three boxes to confirm that I did not want insurance or any damage coverage. There was nothing on it stating that I would pay more for the extra two boxes I initialed, and she told me it was to refuse coverage.

I saw the word "waiver" and didn't see a contradiction. The boxes were directly under a sentence stating "personal accident insurance: DECLINED," and it isn't a stretch to think that anything below it saying "waiver" means I'm "waiving" or not signing on to coverage. Further, the policy stated on their website says that quotes are all inclusive and "no surprises at the counter," so I didn't think I had a reason to worry.

When the bill came, approximately an extra CAD$700 were charged to my card. Apparently, the "waiver" boxes were to sign up for a coverage that I was never made aware of, and that ended up costing me double the price of the quote. I have contacted Europcar and they (more specifically, Peter **) say, in essence, they don't believe nor care what happened at the counter and what matters is the contract we signed. I maintain that we were misled in this, and can prove that all through the booking process, I insisted on no coverage whatsoever.

I would appreciate any advice or help that you could provide in this matter. As a consequence, I have spent several hours on this matter, developed a stomach ulcer due to this added stress, and will have to work overnight to make up for all this time spent away from work. I feel duped and disrespected.

In May of 2010, I rented a car from Alamo Rent a Car in Las Vegas air port. At the air port I used an automated check in device and was directed to a parking lot. This parking lot had rows of car in every class from small to large. A customer can pick any car from their row. In my row of cars, all the cars had some type of damage like dents and bad scratches. I've rented lots of cars over the years and every time I would receive a yellow card with a picture of a car on it so I could mark off any damage that was on the vehicle. Because I used the automated check in device, I did not receive a little yellow damage report card. Now I'm receiving phone calls from Alamo Rent a Car saying that I'm responsible for all damage to the car.

My friend and I had reserved a rental car through Alamo on Orbitz.com for the weekend to recover a vehicle I had lent someone in Missouri, (yes, I have a witness to my accusations) I went to the service counter to make the necessary arrangements and was turned down!

If I have a reservation, and it's been approved, why would I be left stranded? The manager said that since I didn't have a round trip ticket, I wasn't able to rent one of their cars. (Although, I believe they were all racist, since I'm not black, meanwhile they rented another vehicle to a black man who was in the same predicament. go figure?) The flight landed at 6:00pm on Friday, and then I lost over 2 hours in valuable time waiting on an answer from that "so-called" manager at Alamo. That could have been spent looking for my vehicle and talking to the local police to handle a pending criminal case. I wound up spending an extra day in Missouri that wasn't in my budget. Not to mention the horrible feeling of being left stranded with no one available to assist you.

I was forced to walk a mile carrying my luggage to Hertz, who treated me with respect and rented me a fantastic car with the same MasterCard that Alamo refused (because of their policy). I will never do business with National or Alamo again!

I inadvertently failed to pay a $0.40 toll on Cermak Road in the Chicago area on 6/24 at 1:10 pm. This was done in a rented vehicle from Alamo. I admit to the egregious error but Alamo has since charged me 10 dollars for the 40 cents error. It's ridiculous, absurd, and ludicrous. How dare they gouge a consumer this way? I was never warned of the toll problem when I rented their vehicle. I am outraged at this price gouging.

I reserved a car online and cars were available. I needed to change the length of the reservation and on a shorter rental, cars become unavailable. The rental agent refused to modify the reservation or transfer me to a supervisor. This is an ongoing problem. How can a rental be available for a longer time, but not for a shorter period, but the airport location is full of cars?

Rented a car on 5/31/2010. Picked it up and headed out to the freeway when I had a flat tire. Was only five minutes from when we picked up the car and the right front tire went flat and threw me to the right of the road. At that time, we called the terminal office and told them what happened and they sent someone out with a new car to swap. My health was bad and my wife had to talk to the Alamo staff to get this all done.

It took me several hours to recover from this. It shocked me and almost gave me a heart attack. The guy who came out was very nice and we did not expect anything like a charge to come our way. If anything, they should have apologized. I just received a letter noting that they checked things out and it's my responsibility for the flat tire and the damage it caused. I cannot see how this could be so. I'm filing a complaint.

I hired a car on the 9th of June from your East 50 Office in N.Y. this year. Upon arrival at the office, it was shut. I returned on the 10th of June and the woman made me wait for 20 minutes, even though there was nobody else there. The hire was for 6 weeks and I was leaving the vehicle in San Francisco. The agreement was to run for a month with another agreement taking up the last 2 weeks. Alamo representative at the office was extremely rude and unhelpful.

When I left the office, I realized that she had not given me the paperwork. I returned to the office and she then produced the paperwork from the litter bin! This included my hire papers and my airline ticket. I do not think this is a good way to conduct a business. Before the month was up, I returned to England, being unwell. The San Francisco office McDonnell Road said that I could not have a refund on the remaining 2 week hire agreement, even though I had not used it! I would expect a refund for the two weeks I did not use. I paid $600 plus for the 'drop off' in S.F.

Contract ID **, ext. ref: **. The vehicle had partly worn tires when I picked it up. When I asked Alamo for a change of tires, they simply said to take it into the depot and change the vehicle. I hired the vehicle and wanted to keep 'that' vehicle for the duration of my visit. I ended up with a car with worn tires. I am disappointed with Alamo, having used them in Spain on numerous occasions without problems. I am 'out of pocket' by $420.00.

I will not be using Alamo again if I do not receive a refund for the 2 weeks that I did not use the car. I will pass on my complaint and take this further. Their representative in Manhattan ruined my impression of the company. I'm sure she has treated others in the same belligerent manner; not the way to impress customers! I am disappointed and depressed by the experience, especially as I found most Americans to be helpful and charming people.

On May 8, 2010, I returned a car back to Alamo that I rented for three days. When I returned the car, I notice a small dent at the top of the trunk, no bigger than a quarter. I was advised to go inside and speak with an agent. which I did. She said she had to write up a claim, because of the dent. She asked me did I have insurance, I said yes. She asked me how much my deductible was, I told her $500. She immediately took $500.00 out of my checking account without going through my insurance company. They sent me a letter dated May 11, stating that damage was done to the vehicle and that they were investigating.

When I called them back 2 weeks later, it was stated that the damage done to the vehicle was $423.00; this included 2 days for the car being out of commission and $50 for administrative fee. I never received an itemized bill of the charges. I was refunded $73.00 at the end of June. Meanwhile, my insurance company sent them a check for $268.00, also in June. which they kept, knowing this claim was already paid. I have yet to received my refund back for $268.00. It is now 7-16, and when I call nobody knows where my refund is. I think Alamo is a scamming customers and needs to be investigated. I just wanted to know can these car rental agencies get away with this?

I named my price and was excited to get a good deal for a rental car. When I received my credit card statement , I found an additional charge of $174.00 for car rental. I cannot seem to find out why that was charged. Why should we even go through Priceline, if the car rental would just charge an add on. I paid much more for my car than if I had gone through Alamo to begin with! What do I do at this point?

The auto was collected without supervision at the Newcastle [UK] Airport and was returned in the same condition 5 days later. Upon receipt of credit card account, an unexplained added 273 Pounds Sterling had been deducted.

After 13 weeks, I have been advised that a parcel shelf and boot carpet had been removed during my hire. This is of course absolutely untrue and a ripoff attempt by Alamo. I do recall upon collection of the car, unsupervised, that there was no rear parcel shelf or carpet and thought this strange from security of internal luggage being on-view from outside the car. But since no supervision was available to accompany me to car collection, or to check the auto on return despite my request, one assumes this should be okay, since no damage was caused during the hire.

I am very upset at this illegal operation and unjust deduction of cash without any notification from this company. If the items had been removed, it would have been normal to speak to the hirer and discuss. But no, they just deducted the cash and carry on. I now know why no supervision or post checks were performed by Alamo. In my opinion, they should all be sent to Alamo with no water or food and left to rot in their stinking company.

I received correspondence that the above claim has been closed and there is an amount due of $347.15. I am refusing to pay for this damage claim as it was totally fraudulent. When we rented this car, we were told to go pick any medium sized car in the Alamo section of the garage. This car we chose did not have a card in the vehicle to note any damage to the car. The lady at the checkout station asked if we would be interested in tank gas refill and we agreed, she did not ask for or verify that we had a card to check for any damage to the car.

As we were driving, we both decided whomever drove the car previously had been smoking as we had to go to the store to purchase Febreze to help eliminate some of the odor. We literally drove the car out of the Alamo garage to Athens, TX where the vehicle was parked under a carport for the entire time. When we returned the car, we were told there was a dent in the hood, which I never could see, but the man checking in the car was the only one who noticed. What was the hood to look like? When we took the car, it looked the same as when we returned it.

Anyway, we then had to spoke to the manager, who acted as though he didn't notice anything either, but he pulled up the history of the vehicle and noticed there were reports for the rock damage to the front bumper and other marks on the car, but nothing related to hood damage. He updated the history. He also mentioned that we had been charged for a full tank of gas rather than the tank we agreed upon, so he adjusted that charge. He gave us his business card and said we shouldn't have any problems, but if we did, to be sure and contact him.

I did not contact him when I received the first letter from Alamo, because I spoke to Carolyn ** and gave her all the information. She said she would send the report to the Damage Recover Unit for further review and not to worry about anything. Then I get this notice that the case has been closed and I owe $347.15.

It seems as though the Consumer Affairs website has numerous claims of similar circumstances. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car hood and I fear that I am the victim of some sort of scam. I have called and left messages for Carolyn to call me back regarding this matter and have yet to have a return call from her. Therefore, I thought it was necessary to send a letter. I'm enclosing a copy of the check-out fuel adjustment and the business card of Rob ** for your reference. Please remove these fraudulent charges from my record or I will be contacting my attorney to deal with these deceptive and false trade charges. I have not paid these charges as they are totally fraudulent.

Rented a vehicle from them, the vehicle's windshield cracked from the inside of the vehicle when the vehicle was parked, locked, and unoccupied in a hot Arizona parking lot. Obvious manufacturer/vehicle defect. Alamo blaming us the customer and despite getting paid from credit card insurance, has turned the entire amount over to a collection agency who is now harassing us. The only balance left is Alamo's $50 admin fee for the damage claim. BUT we owe them NOTHING because the vehicle broke on its own, a mechanical defect, not anything we did. Alamo absolutely REFUSES to listen to us and has sent dozens of harassing letters and phone calls about the issue.

When I returned the car, I noticed that the receiving attendant was visibly nervous and acted suspiciously. She pointed out the mark and told me she had to report it. I was about to simply wipe the mark away with my sleeve when I was I was sternly ordered not to touch the car. I drove the car less than five miles total, I only had the car for one day, and nothing ever touched the car while in my possession. I was very careful with the car because I am a conscientious person.

A few weeks later I received a notice that a damage claim was being filed against me. I called to inquire about it and the person I spoke to said that it was a common practice, and that most likely, if the mark was small and superficial, that it would simply be dropped and I wouldn't hear anything else about it. However I recently received a letter claiming that I'm responsible for $484.25 worth of damages to their car!

It is clear to me that this is a scam and I have found that there are numerous reports online of other customers who have become victims of this scam. There is no possible way that a mark that was nearly invisible is worth nearly $500 in damages, and besides, it was already there when I rented the car. Clearly they are banking on the probability that people will simply submit and pay the money, or allow their credit card protection plan cover the expenses. This business practice is completely unconscionable and unethical and they will not survive if this is the way they treat customers. This was the first time I ever rented a car from this company and it will obviously be the last. I cannot believe that they would attempt to rip off a customer in this manner. Claim against me for $484.25 in damages.

I spoke with my credit card company and they laughed. No description or info in the letter? Just pay us or write a blank cheque? I cancelled the card at their recommendation and now Alamo will need to deal directly with me in regards to this supposed issue. They also recommended that all communication be done through email to document it. I have no intention of providing them with anything until I see supporting documents about the claim. There was nothing wrong with the car when I returned it and nothing missing. I also notified them that I am aware of all the scams they are trying to pull. Have yet to hear from them. let's see them try and get antihero penny from me. I,m on the " no rent list"? No problem, I won't rent from them again any way.

i was suppose to get a car and they sent me to the alamo operators who treated me like dog crap. the first cut me off talked down to me was rude and kurt. the second was combative and argues with me for no reason, and refused to honor the deal enterprise had failed on. and the third was so dense when i called to double check, coulnt understand why i wasnt going to drive 400 miles to bring a car back by 7am. i canceled the whole mess with these jokers, two threw a fit he would not match a price a full hissy

I rented a Chevrolet Malibu on June 4,2010. After driving it 4 days mostly on turnpikes and interstates. During a rain storm, with the windshield wipers not in perfect condtion we hit a puddle and almost lost control. After being able to pullover to saftey I looked and noticed there was very little tread on the tires. I am suprised that a company of your reputation would allow a unit to be rented in this condition. We returned the unit that night and was able to get another one with good tires and wipers in good condition. In their defense the agent was very cooperative. However, I will think twice before I rent from National/Alamo again.

Rented a car from Alamo with contract rate of $30 per day and they raised my rate to $87 per day through contract loophole. They have no conscience. It was a small Chevy. Negotiated a settlement with Alamo and they welched on the agreement.

In October/November 2008 we had a family holiday in Orlando. The package was ordered through our local travel agent and processed through American Holidays. Part of the package was car rental with Alamo Car Rentals. We had originally tried to book a 12+ seater mini-bus, but were informed that there would not be any available during that time. Due to this we ordered 2 full size cars. On arrival at Orlando International Airport Alamo desk the receptionist informed us that there was a mini-bus available, and if we paid the difference on one of our vouchers we would have the second voucher refunded in full on our return home.

When we got home we went to our travel agent, who in turn went through American Holidays. They had no reply at all from Alamo. Next we went through Visa, but they say there is nothing they can do about it. Next we tried contacting Alamo via e-mail, and also tried writing to their Irish office, but still got no reply. Eventually we went to the local Small Claims Court. They have advised us to try again, and it was only the fact that we had a request from the Court that we were finally able to get a response from Alamo. They have now offered us a refund of $503.86, but we feel that as the receptionist was in uniform,at her place of work, during normal office hours we relied on her judgement and expertise, and as such we should be getting a refund of $1345.95, the value of the voucher.

We rented a Mini van in Alamo National in charlotte Douglas Airport with full coverage on 5/28 for our weekend trip. Me and my family went to Ocracoke island in outer bank in the memorial day weekend. On Sat 5/29 4.30 PM the key didn't ignite the vehicle and couldn't start from the island. We all carrying AT & T mobile with no signal stranded in an remote island, then used the local telephone to call up customer service. They refused send replacement car on Sat (5/29) as it was late in the evening. But we had no means of transportation back to Ferry which is around 10 miles from where the car broke down.

Despite going through all these odds and paying full insurance they have charged me the towing fee of the vehicle.

Rented the car for 5 days with the "fuel service option", which was explained as "locking-in" the price of gasoline if needed when I returned the car. We returned the car with full tank (less 20 miles of gas) and found later that we were charged $60.11 for gas. Called the 888 no. and was told the car was returned empty. Told Yolanda that was totally false. Said all she could do was change to standard refueling and would cost even more.

Paid $30.30 on Mon. 31 May, 2010 to fill tank and was charged $60.11 more on Tue. 1 Jun, 2010. Didn't catch charge with the rush and their facility since check-in man looked and said, you are all ready to go and prepaid.

When the staff asked me if I wanted an insurance, I told her, I don't need it because my credit card will cover for it. She told me that my credit card won't cover the basic. Then she asked me againg if wanted the insurance, I told her, I don't think I need an insurance because the credit card will cover it, then she said it again add it to my bill and swiped my credit card with the insurance charged. Not being sure that what she said is true, I signed and got the car. Now that I am back from my vacation, my car insurance broker told me that I don't need to get the insurance (as I have thought). My complaint is that these Alamo staffs are trained to make customer question the capability of the credit card. SHe didn't even get a "yes" from me before she swiped the card. I'm sure it's the same in any car rental shops!!!

I rented a car from Alamo on 10/15/09. On 10/16, we were hit by another car. She was at fault, sited/ticketed by police. Thank goodness no one was hurt. Our car was unable to be driven, and I contacted Alamo right away for instructions. The police called a tow truck, of which I gave the name to Alamo on several occasions. Alamo brought me a new car via a tow truck the next morning and was supposed to go pick up the damaged car. For several weeks after, I spoke to Alamo giving the same info, related to the other driver, who picked up the car etc. I assumed all was okay. I received bills but was assured by Alamo, that they were just sending me copies for my own records.

My own insurance company was also made aware of this accident, just in case there were any questions. Now, it is months later, and I have received a bill for $1,337.73, for towing, administration fees, loss of use, diminishing of value. I called Alamo, only to be told that according to my "contract" I am responsible for these fees. The Damage Recovery Specialist told me, that the other insurance company did not pay this, so I am responsible. I asked her to send me a copy of the bill for this amount and the claim number so that I may contact the ins. company.

The original total cost including those above fees, was $5,005.42. Travelers ins. paid Alamo $4,377.69, a difference of $628.73. I am being billed for $1,337.73. First, I spoke to Travelers and they said they have requested that Alamo provide evidence for loss of use, and diminished value of the car. They have not done so. Next, Travelers paid $417.50 for towing/storage which was half of the $835.00 bill that Alamo originally submitted. The car was not picked up from the original place, J&M towing for 6 days, and then it was finally picked up and taken to Buffs Body shop where it was supposedly repaired and then auctioned off on 11/30/09.

I have spoken with Travelers and with my own insurance company and they both say I am not responsible. Travelers accepted responsibility and therefore Alamo should be fighting with them and providing the information that they are requesting. I feel that Alamo is trying to bully me into paying them more money. I have copies of every letter, notations to who I have spoken to, copies of the original towing bill, copies of the original cost to repair, and none of these add up. I recently sent Alamo in writing that I am not responsible and that I will not be paying any amount and that they need to contact Travelers insurance company if they want more money. This car was rented in Charlotte NC, can they really prove that there were no other cars available while this car was out of commission, therefore causing them to lose money? Really...

This has caused me a large amount of unneeded stress. I am like everyone else in this country being affected by poor economy, I do not have that kind of money just sitting around. Alamo has collected way more than that car was even worth.

We rented a car at the Guadalajara Airport from Alamo Rental Cars. The vehicle we rented was a newer compact car. We rented for our vacation and from the get go the vehicle did not sound right. My husband complained that the vehicle kept veering to the right. He checked the tires and noticed that the wheel was severely dented. Also, it was so bad that we had to stop on our way to our destination and have that particular tire changed. The gentleman at the tire shop stated that it would be safer to drive with the spare.

When we arrived at our destination, my husband phoned the Alamo office and spoke to the representative and explained what was wrong with the car. My husband asked if we could take it to the nearest major city and trade it for another car at the Alamo Rental Center. The representative said no, that we would have to return it to the Guadalajara store. We also had plans of going to Puerto Vallarta, so again my husband asked if we could exchange the vehicle at the Pto. Vallarta Alamo store and again we got a no.

Upon our return to Guadalajara, we returned the rental vehicle 1 day early from our planned return date. When they inspected the vehicle, they immediately started questioning us about the dented tire that was in trunk. We told them that it was the tire that we had called them on that didn't work. The sales representative went on to say that they had never gotten a call from us, when in fact it was him that my husband had spoken to.

My husband immediately took out the business card that showed the dates and times that he had called with the vehicle complaints. The Alamo representative went as far as saying that had we called, they would have taken us an exchange vehicle to our destination. This only enraged my husband further as this representative was lying through his teeth. Not only did we get awful customer service, but they also charged us for the dented tire.

As we were still there in the sales office, I noticed that they wanted to rent the same screwed-up vehicle to a tourist from another country. I told the tourist to not rent that vehicle as it had many problems that they had not disclosed to us in the beginning. The tourist stated that he was already upset, because he had made a reservation for a specific vehicle and they told him that they did not have his vehicle. That gentleman ended up ripping his contract in front of them and walking out of the Alamo Rental Store.

On March 19, 2010, I rented a car from the PDX airport location of Alamo. I was headed to Las Vegas. Twenty miles from Portland, the car began having transmission issues. Customer service suggested I switch cars at the Boise location. After switching cars and heading towards Hwy 93 in Nevada (a long, desolate road), I filled up my tank in Wells, NV and noticed a bulge in one tire and that the tread on all 4 tires were worn down to the wear bar.

Being alone and with little cell reception in the mountains, Customer Service suggested I replace the tires and bring the tires and receipt to Las Vegas and they would reimburse the amount. I spoke with CS once more to verify that I would be reimbursed, and they agreed. The tire shop charged me $1300 for parts and labor for the Dodge Charger.

In Las Vegas, I presented my receipt and tires to Manager Mahmoud and Supervisor Moe. They refused to reimburse me at the time cash or check, because the amount was "greater than a couple hundred dollars" and that I was to "take the matter back to the Portland office." After calling the operations manager in Portland, Mika, he said he couldn't reimburse me for the amount and that the issue would have to go to the corporate office. After several times leaving messages and faxing a copy of the receipt to Mika, I have heard nothing back from him as of today.

I am a safety director for a company called Arita Poulson who is the contractor on Alamo's ground in Kahului at the Kahului Airport on the island of Maui. Facility Improvements are being constructed by Arita Poulson on Thursday, March 18th. At approximately 12:30 pm, I was leaving the job site after a safety inspection that I had conducted. As I left Alamo, I was trying to straddle approximately three potholes in the road. Alamo had cars parked to the right of my vehicle, and to the left (driver side), there was approximately three or four feet before trees would be on the side of the road. The road narrowed enough for one car for approximately 12 feet. It had rained and potholes were filled with water, and puddles were to the left of my vehicle.

As I drove slowly and tried to straddle the puddles, an older 4X4 lifted truck came extremely fast down the road leaving me no time to get out of the way. The driver of the 4X4 stepped on it and was heading right for my vehicle in a manor to intimidate me. I was now at a complete stop in astonishment to figure out what this truck was going to do. As I mentioned, the driver shot up to my truck in a manor to hit me, then drove to my driver side, looked down at me with anger and was very scary looking, then spun his tires flying rocks and mud everywhere.

I noticed that the employee was wearing an Alamo uniform, and since there was a security at the gate where I was at, I turned around and asked the security guard if he witnessed what had just happened. He said yes, he heard the noise of the tires, and witness the driver driving erratically, passed my vehicle as rocks and mud was flying. I asked the security guard to please talk to the driver who was parking his vehicle.

The employee was apparently coming back from a break, and/or may be starting a new shift. The employee now had to pass through the gate where the security officer and I were standing. The employee approaching the gate with chest puffed out and anger all over his face, staring into my face as to intimidate again. The security guard says to the employee, "Brah, are you okay?" I was so amazed that this was all the security guard said. The employee brushes past me still glaring at me and replies, "Yeah," and keeps walking. I was amazed at the employee's demeanor of anger and attitude, and had just displayed road rage and intimidation toward me.

I turned and walked over to the main office. As I walked to the office, the employee began to argue with me saying something to the effect that I wouldn't get out of the way. I told the employee I had nothing to say and continued to walk toward the office, and asked to speak to a manager. I spoke to the managers and took the first manager out to the road where the incident happened. He spoke to the security guard admitting that the employee had just done what I describe. I apologized for not remembering the manager's name, but I am sure you will have record of the date and time of what manager was on duty.

The manager went to the back and brought out manager number two. He handed me a business card and his name was Brad **. He apologized for the employee and said he would talk to him. The employee's name was Clifford **. I told the manager that the employee displayed anger and rage on the road and that I felt I needed an apology. The manager asked me what he should do. I was amazed and told him we are both professional and when an employee displays this kind of action to either a fellow employee or to anyone, policy and procedure should be in place to handle the situation. I could now tell that possibly I made this manager a bit uncomfortable, so he kept saying he would call me.

I explained that maybe they should talk to the employee, then bring the employee and I together for a verbal apology. The manager said that he would call me. I then left, and about 15 minutes later, I got a call and it is the employee who identified himself as Clifford **. He proceeded to tell me that he apologizes for his actions. It was not a sincere apology and what do two individual say on the phone who can't face the other.

Because I visit the site a couple of times a week, I do not want any trouble with this employee and/or anyone else. I believe it was handled poorly by the managers. How do I know they just didn't give Clifford ** my number to call? Within 15 minutes, I received the call, that did not leave these managers enough time to reprimand this employee, and the managers did not come on the phone or even call me back in reference to the closure of this matter. I previously told the managers that I wanted the apology in person in front of them. I would like to please ask if you could follow up on this incident to see why the managers ended up having the employee call me instead of what I had previously ask them to arrange.

I believe it would have made for a better understanding of both me and the employee if we could have been brought together and made amends. Secondly, was there any type of incident report put into the employee's file to protect Alamo of any further incidents that may end up in a fatality by the road rage displayed. I am sure that this employee drives rental cars for Alamo.I greatly appreciate your time and concern in this matter, and will wait to hear from you. I need to visit Alamo's job site regularly on a weekly basis. This employee's attitude displayed today and unprofessional conduct, makes me feel uneasy and scared of having another confrontation with him and/or any of his fellow employees that may retaliate.

I will summarize my awful experience. I have rented a car from Alamo Rent Car. On 22 January 2010, I landed on in Miami from Brazil. One reason I'm always visiting the USA are the business for over 10 years. I located car in National Rent Car and never had problems but unfortunately, it seemed that the National Rent Car not went very well because they had few cars to lease and little people to meet. As I sought a rugged SUV many times, it's medium and there were not available for rent at the National. The employee indicated the Alamo Rent car. I had no other choice. It was across the street. I had to walk until you reach the Alamo Rent car. This car rental I met and after me ensure rugged SUV many times, its media signed the contract at a price $ 1573 to rugged SUV. Many times it's for four weeks and two days.

Only after a few hours, I noticed that the car had only one key in the key chain. I returned at Alamo Office rested and asked another key and was informed that there would always be in more than 25 years rented cars in the USA. I have never seen something like this now had with key a warning if you lose this key, you will be charged $125. I drove this car at Tucson, AR, which was one of my objectives for this trip. It was a new experience. Lead by Interstate 10 at Tucson but on 9 February the only key was not found it was stolen in my hotel room. Because of that, I asked for Alamo Road Assistance that sent after 24 hours one person to open the car that wasn't the correct assistance because I informed the key wasn't inside car.

I needed a second key. It was in Miami. It's only request the registration key and the problem would be solved but could not do so only this was very simple. But the Alamo in Tucson, the shipment of vehicle a resale Kia and they made a debit in my credit card for $2,800. It was absurd. When I went back to Miami after having filled the tank in a petrol station far mile headquarters of Alamo, they made a new debit my account 4.5 gallon in gas charging me U$17. Anyone reading this report and am sure that this company is a number one enemy of the American people and all that as I act properly in our life, warn your friends your sons and relatives to the Alamo to isolate from the world of business and no longer harm honest citizens and workers like us.

I rented this beater car from Alamo. I discussed the brakes and condition of the care with the attendant and was told not to worry about it. I only had two cars to choose from. I returned the car which was really broken. The car would not lock nor would the windows go down and the crank--yes, crank for the windows, would fall off. After returning the car and getting the okay, I left for the airport.

Three weeks to a good month later, I received a letter saying there had been damage to the car. I talked with the supervisor for the claims department and told her that there was no damage by me. She said that all would be taken care of for me. Six months later, March 2010, I get a bill for nearly $1,000 in damages. I called to ask to speak with the manager and was put in voice mail. I was supposed to get a call back. Still, there was nothing.

After reading all of these fraud reports on scratches and dings that were there, I felt that I need to let people know not to rent from Alamo, Enterprise or National. They are all the same company. If there is someone out there to get legislature to protect the consumer, this is one area I am 100% for. We should not have to pay for wear and tear. You know that they are doing this to numerous people. I would like to know who else has received charges from Memphis Alamo, National, Enterprise, car rentals.

I rented an intermediate-sized car from Alamo for official government business from February 11, 2010 through February 19, 2010. I arrived to pick up my vehicle. They were out of intermediate, so the clerk upgraded me to a full-sized vehicle. I was initially very happy with the type of vehicle, size upgrade, etc. I loaded up the car with my luggage and headed to my hotel.

The car was very smelly with smoke, but I thought it could be aired out. Once I got to my hotel and unloaded the car, it was very dirty (pretzels, peanut shells on the back seat, oil stains on the carpet). I returned the car the next day. The counter clerk was very rude and defensive. She asked me why I didn't mention the smoke and dirt when I first got the car. I responded that I only noticed the smokey smell at first, and later, I discovered the dirtiness.

She gave me another vehicle, and I moved on. I returned the vehicle after filling it up the night before, as I had a very early morning flight. When I arrived to return the car, nobody was available to check fuel, mileage, etc. I walked inside, and the clerk looked like she was asleep. She asked me if I wrote down my own mileage, and I responded that I had not. She accepted to print my receipt invoice, but her printer did not work.

We went outside to the kiosk, and she printed up my receipt. I proceeded to catch my flight home. I reviewed the receipt when completing my travel voucher and noted an erroneous refueling fee of $44.98 for 9 gallons of gas. I promptly contacted Alamo and was told to speak with Cindy, the manager. I faxed information along with my receipt to Cindy.

She returned my call and advised me that she thought the charge was correct since I refueled in Beebe, Arkansas which was approximately 40 minutes from the airport. I mentioned that the car got great mileage, and it was refueled beyond the full marking. I also mentioned that none of the agents were available to check my mileage or fuel gauge. So I wondered how they determined the amount of refueling. Cindy refused to remove the erroneous charge.

I rented an intermediate sized vehicle for official government business from 12/7/09 through 12/17/09. It's our company policy to re-fuel our vehicles prior to returning them to the rental agency. I refueled my vehicle at 7:06 am at Exxon Express in Little Rock and returned the car to Alamo at 7:26 am. I obtained my receipt from them and proceeded to catch my flight home. Some weeks later, my accounting department discovered we had been charged for 7 gallons of fuel. Ironically, that was the exact same amount of gas I had filled the car with 20 minutes prior returning it.

Buyer beware! I made a reservation through Alamo for a compact car in Barcelona, Spain. The total charge for my rental should have been $199 (including a GPS unit I rented at the airport for 21 euro). Upon my return from Spain, I discovered three separate charges from Alamo on my credit card statement totaling $65 in overcharges. After several conversations with a rude and inefficient customer service department, I decided to have the overcharges reversed by my credit card company. Based on this experience and the other reviews I have now read, I will never again go back to Alamo or National (they seem to be affiliated). Hope this review will help someone out there avoid the heartaches that this business can cause by their poor practices. Absolutely the worst rental car company I have utilized.

Recently, I filed a complaint against Alamo Car Rental for citation fees they had charged me. My complaint was posted on this website. I had noticed several other complaints that were similar to mine. I actually obtained legal counsel who sent a letter on my behalf to the Citation Department for Alamo. I had tried to handle these citation complaints on my own without success or cooperation from Alamo. On the citation I received in the mail is a 1-800 number to call for information.

The staff answering the calls there are a joke. To say they respond with belligerence and ignorance is an understatement. When trying to deal with my issue, I spoke with Sam who was less than knowledgeable and frankly, not well versed. If he is the first impression someone gets of Alamo customer service, there needs to be a serious overhaul. I wanted to do a follow up on my issue that was resolved with the assistance and a simple letter from a lawyer. The lawyer requested all information and proof of payment that Alamo claimed they made on my behalf concerning the citations I supposedly received.

Amazingly, several days later, the lawyer received an email from the Citations Supervisor, who according to Sam was too busy to talk to me the first time, saying that the toll fees had been waived, not citation fees but toll fees and that I was in good standing with Alamo if I ever wanted to rent from them again. I wanted to post a follow up to include another name and phone number of the Citation Supervisor for those who are dealing with this issue.

Hopefully this will assist anyone who has tried the 1-800 number to get assistance and was treated the way I was by Sam. Just another FYI, Alamo was bought out by Enterprise. Good luck to anyone dealing with Alamo. Please save your receipts and paperwork because you may receive a citation months later like I did.

When I returned my car to Alamo, they charged me $40 more than what was agreed on. I went into the office and they immediately acknowledged the mistake, but took a half hour to correct it. I get home and they ran my credit card for the higher amount even though I had never agreed to the charge. I'm having the credit card company reverse the entire charge as it wasn't authorized.

Besides the thousands of dollars a year in lost business from my company, I'm going to make sure that I warn other people about them on as many sites like this as possible. I'm also banning the use of Enterprise. The family that owns Alamo owns them. I complained and went through a half dozen emails back and forth with their customer service person, who said that they refunded me, giving me the confirmation number. She basically told me I was a liar.

Visa said the number doesn't exist and Alamo is the one who is lying. I told them I am directly responsible for 22 people who rent a car from them and they had someone from customer service leave me a message. I've tried leaving a couple messages, but they don't call back. It's only $40, but it's the principle. I don't like it when companies steal from me, hoping the amount is small enough that the victim will just let it go.

I received a letter from Alamo Rent-A-Car stating I was responsible for damage to their car driven by their renter in San Diego 11/13/09. I was working an 11-hour shift that day in Oregon, and the last time I was in San Diego was 1970. I believe Alamo is trying to commit fraud on me because I found many similar complaints on the web. I'm in a better position than the stories I've read here, because I have proof I wasn't even in the state! I've filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and I urge you all to do the same, also the USPS for mail fraud and the FBI.

They have to be stopped now! When I told Alamo what I think, they said it would be taken care of, (they would drop it because they knew they'd harassed the wrong person), but I said I was not going to let this go, They are in trouble, and she hung up on me. This was after I asked for the address of the alleged accident so I could get a police report, and she didn't know it. I'm with Ruby of Casper, WY January 12, 2010, who said we should do a class-action suit, but that's probably not feasible if there was no loss, at least on my part, because I'm not paying these thieves a dime!

I was recently surprised by several toll violations I received in the mail from Alamo in Texas. The total NTTA violation charges were $80.13. I looked at the NTTA toll charges online and they would total only $10 (if there was a booth).

I live in Newport Beach CA and was on a business trip. I did not see any toll booths to pay the toll. How would one actually pay the toll if there are no booths and you are arriving out of town late in the evening? There were no warning signs to the driver to not drive on the toll way or you will be fined. As a driver from out of town, the driver must be given strict reading instructions about this new toll and the location. How would anyone out of town know the fines will be excessive or even which highways have tolls and which ones do not have toll booths? This is unfair practice by NTTA!

Looks like Alamo Car Rental was sent the violations from NTTA as the owner of the car. Alamo immediately paid the fine and charged my card without my consent to file a complaint about the excessive charges. I have not seen the original NTTA citations that were sent to Alamo. Alamo just sent me the citation letter with the Alamo letter head and charged my credit card without any written notification or call.

This complaint is directed to NTTA as I want to recover the $80.13 in citation charges. NTTA needs put up clear signs across the freeway that say "Do not drive on this toll if you do not have a toll card otherwise, you will pay a fine!" There should not be an unreasonable fine but just the charges you would actually pay if there was a toll booth.

Upon return of the car, the receiving attendants looked around the car, checked mileage, etc. We checked out in the office due to an error in Alamo's fuel calculation, which was corrected in our favor.

There was no mention of any other issue. Today, I get a letter in the mail that stated that Alamo filed a damage loss claim against me for an incident that occurred during my rental period and they wanted to know how I planned to pay for the yet to be determined amount for the unspecified damage/loss. I am working through my insurance company to address this blatantly false claim. nothing. Again, please note that this incident is near identical to that posted by Rebecca in Sept 2009 at the same Honolulu rental agency. I would certainly hope that this complaint leads to punitive action against Alamo for its fraudulent business practices.

I rented a car with Alamo during September 2009, and paid fully for the rental with my credit card. On checking my bank statement during December 2009, I found that Alamo had debited my account for a further charge without any notification whatsoever, and without my authority. I telephoned Alamo UK who were rude and unsympathetic, and told me to write in with my complaint. I have not heard anything from them to date. I would never hire another car from them again, and will inform my friends of this bad experience.

I went to California to visit my mom. I picked up the rental in the dark early morning. They "upgraded" my rental from a Ford/Chevy to a Toyota Solara for no extra charge. That's a joke as insurance for Toyotas are much more. Anyway, the vehicle was dirty: windows you can't see thru, wasn't vacuumed, smelly, etc. Plus it had previous damage as per the guy at the gate before you leave stated. I did check it after we arrived at my mom's during the daylight hours. I have a good driving record and treat my own vehicle with care and wouldn't want to cause any damage to property that I don't own or belongs to someone else! Long story short, I never saw any new damage before I returned the car to the terminal, again in the dark. My mom was my witness.

So two weeks later, after what I thought was a good trip, it was ruined by a letter stated there was new damage to the passenger side door! What a crock! Plus why two weeks or so later? I called these people based out of Texas, and the lady states there was "minor" damage to the side passenger door. Minor equals to $750.00?! That is not minor! I told one of my friends about this matter, and she stated they did the same with her. I called her and told her there was damage, etc.

That's why the fees are so low. They bait and switch you to another vehicle that has a higher insurance and then you pay thru the nose for claims damage. Who knows when the damage was put there? It was when it was in my possession. Sounds like they do this kind of scam often. I told them I will contact the media if they don't back off. Who else has had this problem? Shall we band together and get a class action suit going?

I rented a van from Alamo during a trip to Florida in August of 2009. We picked the van up at Orlando Airport. We had no problems during the week we had it. Now four months later, I received in the mail a citation for a whopping $0.75 that apparently Alamo paid on my behalf and now is trying to recoup. I called the 1-800 number that was provided to follow up on this to find out what the citation was for. I spoke to Sam who informed me that the actual charge was $11.75. That was $10 administrative fee and a $1.00 airport fee in addition to the citation amount of $0.75. When I asked Sam why it would be an increased amount instead of what was on the letter I had received, he stated "that is probably what Alamo would have paid".

When asked what probably would have paid meant, he became very rude and stated "why don't you just pay it and it can be done with". To that I told Sam that if Alamo sent another letter showing that they had paid $11.75 instead of just $0.75, I would pay it. Sam stated that Alamo would not be sending out another letter and I should just send the payment to the Citations Department at the Tulsa, Oklahoma address at the bottom of the letter. When I told him I would not pay the increased amount until I received some proof that indeed Alamo had paid that amount, he became belligerent. I asked to speak to his supervisor and was told she was too busy to talk to me. I then told Sam I would call the Citations Department and discuss it with them and was told by Sam to go ahead and try it. I then told Sam I would pursue further options before sending any payment.

I then called Corporate Headquarters to speak to a "Driver Happy" representative. I spoke to Devin on 1/6/09 who said I would have to call back and speak to another representative at the 1-800 number where I had spoken to Sam. When I explained that I got nowhere doing that, Devin said he had no other options to offer me. I then sent an email to corporate offices who emailed back saying I would have to again call the 1-800 number that I called in the first place. I then Googled "Alamo Car Rental complaints" and found several pages of people posting saying the exact same situation is occurring with them. These were also rentals out of the Orlando airport with exact amount for the citation and the exact amount for the increased fee. They also are having no luck speaking to someone to who can help resolve this issue. I am looking for some assistance in resolving this once and for all. Thank you for any assistance you can give me.

Sends me an internet deal of $10/day on compact car. When reserving the price is at least $30 a day plus fees. This is a bait and hook deal. Could not get rental for price advertised.

I recently had to travel for emergency business for NASA near Melbourne FL. I work in software design and was called down to troubleshoot the latest Atlas rocket that was to be launched on Friday Nov. 13th 2009. I drive a corporate car for business, insured by my company, and rent from Enterprise at least 4 times a month. I have NEVER had an issue with Enterprise but had to rent from Alamo since they were the only ones open when I would be arriving. The reservations were made, including all pertinent information (License number, etc.) I arrived at the rental counter at 11:30 pm, and was finally greeted by an gruff, obviously not happy to be there, annoying clerk. After giving him my reservation number, he dissappeared for 10 minutes. No explanation as to why, or when he would return. After handing him my reservation papers and my drivers license, he inform me that Alamo had me on the "DO NOT RENT" list. No explanation, no nothing. I have never had this happen before. I would have been stranded at Orlando airport and had to take a cab the 45 miles to my hotel. Luckily my fiance accompanied me on this trip and she was able to rent a car, after much hassle from the clerk. I was not able to even put on the car as a second driver.

When I finally got a a rental and went to pick it up, there were none available. We had to wait 30 minutes for a car to be brought from another terminal!!! When it finally arrived, the girl handing out cars actually threw the keys at us. No looking over the car for damage, no nothing. The car had a defective lighter which made our Garmin impossible to use. My fiance, instead of having a relaxing week in FL, had to shuttle me to NASA every morning, and pick me up every night. She had no idea where to go during the day, since our Garmin didn't work, and I had to hike from the main gate to the operations center daily. She could not drop me off at the op center since she did not have proper credentials. When the car was returned it was filled with gas, yet the gauge did not register completely full. The attendant asked us to present the gas receipt to the Alamo rental desk, which he signed off on. He never checked the car for damage, just checked the gas gauge and signed off on our receipt. When we got to the rental desk, again, no one was there.... What a lousy way to do business. When I finally got an answer from Alamo regarding my "DO NOT RENT" status they said it was because I had rented form another company within the last 2 weeks, and I had had an auto accident in the past. Mind you, that was over 2 years ago, and not my fault!!! Then they sent me a bill for the additional gas (2 gallons) and since I didn't sign up for their fill up program they charged me 56.00 for 2 freaking gallons.

Their customer service is awful, they are rude, (including their customer service dept) and their cars don't always work. I am disgusted with them and will never rent from them again.

When I returned to NY, I told this story to my fellow co-workers and they have had the same "DO NOT RENT" experience. P.S. The Atlas mission had to be scrubbed, but it wasn't my fault!!!

I wasted over 3 hours renting, waiting for, and returning this car.

9/26/09 I picked up an economic car from Portland airport. I had to returned it within 30 minutes because the car was not clean, smelled and had animal hairs on the back seat. When I picked up the replacement car, the paperwork was changed to a higher rate. The clerk Su, assured me that I will be charged the weekly rate even if I return the car earlier. I rtd it within four days, and I was charged if I have kept it for a week. Watch out for this con artist. They are deceptive all the way to the bank.

My husband and I recently traveled to Molokai HI for our second honeymoon just before he deployed for the Navy. We rented a Jeep, spent our wonderful week going to the beach, etc. On our departure 13 Sep 09 we turned the vehicle in and the attendant walked around and initialed off on the contract. We went our merry way. Yesterday I get a letter in the mail that stated that Alamo filed a damage loss claim against me for an incident that occurred on 10 Sep 09 and they wanted to know how I planned to pay for the yet to be determined amount for the unspecified damage/loss.

How do they get away with signing a car back into their fleet and then come back later and claim damage. How am I supposed to defend myself against that? They know I can't go back there and see the damage, nothing.

Unethical and shady.

How are they allowed to get away with this? If damage is not caught before the renter leaves (if there is any) that should be on the agency, not the consumer!

My brother, who lives in the UK, made a reservation with Alamo on 8 February 2009 for a fullsize rental car, to be picked up at Los Angeles airport when he arrived here on vacation on May 9. On arrival, the clerk at the Alamo desk said the car would not be big enough for his party totalling four adults with luggage totalling 2 large bags and 2 small. The clerk persuaded my brother to accept an upgrade to premium size, without showing him the difference between the 2 types of car.

My brother, who had been traveling for 20 hours, signed the paperwork. When he returned home to England and received his credit card bill he found he had been charged an additional $826.00 for the upgrade alone, on top of his original advance booking payment of 415.53 (around $625) for the fullsize car and insurance.

This works out at $59.00 per day for the upgrade. The difference between a fullsize a premium car, judging from Alamo's website, I make to be around $11 per day. When I spoke to someone at Alamo's customer car she said that he had been charged the walk-up rate for the upgrade, rather than the advance booking rate. Since it was the Alamo clerk who had persuaded my brother to accept an upgrade, this seems to me hardly reasonable. He didn't even really need the bigger size car. It's true that he signed the agreement at the time, but he was exhausted and jetlagged and in no fit state to read small print. He swears the clerk didn't point out it was going to cost an additional $59 a day.

I have often upgraded rental cars on arrival at an airport. Sometimes I have been charged a small amount, sometimes nothing. Never have I been charged anything like $59 a day! I noticed from your website a very similar complaint about Alamo, so I thought I would register my brother's complaint also.

I should mention that their customer care representative did offer a rebate of 20%, a total of $184.43. It does still mean my brother paid around $46 a day for the upgrade.

I will never rent from them again and will tell everyone I know not to. I have a % yeard old I reserved a car seat, but never got it. My wife had to sit in the back with my son. I beleive the miles on the car as they stated are 281641 as per there contract.

I will never rent from them again and will tell everyone I know not to. I have a % yeard old I reserved a car seat, but never got it. My wife had to sit in the back with my son.

Received call back today, a week later from the Lost and Found Dept. "Daree" went to look for the Nav System, couldn't locate it......I assume it was stolen by whomever cleaned the car out and she said she has no control over that.....Now what?

Long story short, they agreed as a "courteous" to credit me $55 (50% of the insurance). I told the customer service agent that I did not consider it a courtesy, but an intentional deceptive practice that Alamo was engaging which resulted in stealing $50+ from me. I had long since discarded the paperwork I received from the kiosk (if I received any) so I really had not paperwork to justify my position. So, I regretfully accepted their 50% credit. To me this is a clear fraudulent deceptive practice. I wonder how many other people they have easily done this to.

Through my Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa card, I was referred to your site and found the price of a car rental that met my needs and was competitive with others I had researched. My rental period was August 13th through August 18th, 2009. When booking my car, I selected a mid-sized car as I would be picking up 2 tall people from the airport who would be attending with my wife and I, my sons wedding in New Hampshire. I own a 2009 Toyota Corolla and knew that my own car would be uncomfortable for our guests, thus the need for the larger, mid-sized car rental.

In my research of cars offered through Alamo at Alamo.com 2 cars are listed under the mid-sized category; a Pontiac G6 and a Toyota Prius, or similar. I booked my car based on the competitive posted rate for the time period that I needed it, as well as the incentives from my Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa card and the acceptable size of the cars offered through Alamo as mid-sized. Upon picking up my rental, however, I was told that my mid-sized car was a Toyota Corolla. Well, to say that I was somewhat surprised is an understatement. Had I needed a Corolla, I would have used my own car. Obviously I was in a bit of a predicament at this point because I needed the car to pick up our guests within the hour at the airport but knew that the Corolla would be totally inadequate. In addition, my wife dropped me off at the Alamo office in Warick, RI adjacent to the airport and obviously I was left essentially no options other than to accept the upgrade enabling me to pick up my brother and sister-in-law flying in from West Palm Beach. (Just as a side note, because my sister-in-law was my kidney donor for my recent transplant, we wanted to make every effort to make both she and my brother comfortable for the trip to and back from New Hampshire.)

When I stated that a Corolla was unacceptable and not what I had expected, based on the Alamo site and their mid-sized car offerings, the desk attendant advised that I would have to upgrade to a full-sized car, which, in this case, turned out to be a Toyota Camry. I had no option at that point but to accept the upgrade as I had no opportunity to make reservations elsewhere at such short notice, plus my wife who dropped me off at Alamo had headed back home.

Tthe G6 IS in fact a midsized car and is compared in its class to the Ford Fusion, The Mazda 6 and the TOYOTA CAMRY. In an article in the Pontiac G6 is described as mid-sized. Again referring to Edmunds, the Toyota Camry is classified as a mid- size car and is compared to similar models, (there were 75 mid-sized car listings), which include 2009 Saab 9-5, Saturn Aura, Subaru Legacy, Suzuki Kizashi among many others. Regarding the Prius, also offered as a mid-sized car on your web site,

In researching the Toyota Corolla, automotive offered this statement, count on Automotiv as your resource in your price research for a new Toyota compact car. Ten types of Toyota Corollas are listed as compact cars in this article. In another article in the Toyota Corolla is listed under Economy Cars Runners Up. Finally, Kelly Blue Book states of the Corolla, If your vehicular preference is for a modest but fuel-efficient and presumably reliable compact sedan from a trusted Japanese brand, this may be an excellent choice. www.kbb.com . [Underlining mine] There seems to be no shortage of articles expressing the fact that a Corolla is classified as a compact car but at this point, I think further documentation would be redundant.

How prevalent this confusion is with Alamo or other car rental agencies is I am not sure. I feel that further investigation would be appropriate in this instance and I do hope to generate interest by consumer organizations to that effect. I also feel it prudent to make the Southwest Rapid Rewards program aware of the issue as well as the Rhode Island State Department of Business Regulations, the office of the Attorney General of the state of Rhode Island and the offices of consumeraffairs.com. I also hope to pursue this matter through local public television consumer units to see if I can generate interest for further investigation. Happily, at least check-in went smoothly with no problems. Alamo in my opinion did NOT honor their commitment to me for the rental of a mid-sized car at the price that was mutually agreed upon, nor did I receive full and fair value in this transaction.

I booked a midsize car for pickup at the airport on May 30th, returning the car on Jun. 3rd. Upon arrival, I was given a Kia Spectra. I told them I had booked a midsize car, not a compact. I was told by the agent and then the manager that the Spectra was a midsize car. But I could wait another 2 hours for another car. The manager swore the Spectra is a midsize. I took the car. Upon return to my home, I called the corporate office and was told that this is indeed a compact car.

Counter lady told me the gas was MUCH cheaper to buy from them. I trusted her and went ahead and signed up for the "return car empty" only to find out they LIED. the gas on the island of Hawaii was not as much as she said. I filled the tank for $35.oo BUT was charged $55 at the counter-a diff of 20 bucks.

When I returned the car and mentioned this to the return guy he gave me a song and dance and did nothing to make me THE CUSTOMER happy.

The people that work at Alamo are just robots with no common sense nor customer savey. locals who just have do a job-nothing more.

I was in at the airport on a Tuesday morning following an urgent trip for a family emergency - April 1, 2009. I had a reservation with Alamo, and dutifully waited online. I decided to go with them because a) I had rented from them many times before and b) they would accept my debit/mastercard without placing at least $250 against it on hold. The agent at the counter was seemly very nice and very synpathetic. I told him that I wanted a compact car, did NOT need any insurance - collision or otherwise since my own insurance from Geico covered everything with no to small deductibles and would fill the gas tank myself since I did NOT expect to be driving much.

Under the guise of being a concerned person (and he was SOME actor...) he told me that my collision would not cover me. (And remember I am in a hurry to get to a hospital that morning after a red-eye flight - so I don't have the luxury or taking my time to call my insurance company and wait and check this out...) He said that it would cover the collision... BUT... there would be an additional deductible from Alamo AND that even if the car was in a minor scratch/dent collision OR had some sort of vandalism however minor - the car would be taken out of commission - sometimes for months! That I would be responsible for the cost of what it would be to rent out - for everyday that it was being fixed - even if it was 6 weeks or more... that my insurance would probably have a limit - and I could be paying a lot... and I was exhausted and was led to sign for additional collision insurance in additional to the fact that my own car insurance had full collision.

ALSO - he told me that it would be better to pay in advance for a full tank of gas BECAUSE there were no gas stations in close proximity to the airport - and even if I gassed up the car before bringing it back - I would use up quite a bit of it before I would bring it back and would be charged at a higher rate... I was beated down and signed just to get the car... (I was however given a free upgrade when I found that there were NO compact cars left, and stormed out wanting to cancel the entire thing... "Tom" then went back there to confirm the lack of small cars, wrote something on my contract, and I was able to take a Corolla which qualified as a midsize.

Back in May I booked a flight/car for wife to return home to visit her parents. I paid for it with my American Express. She was so excited to go home. Well she arrived with her sister whom met her for the connecting flight via Charlotte NC and flew into Tampa on the morning of 27 June 2009. They proceeded to the Alamo car rental via the shuttle bus to get the car and go visit the family.

When they got to the counter the Agent brought up the reservation and then asked her if she wanted to take a Dodge Challenger. She said no a few times as he kept pressing her to take this car. He said it was the same class as the intermediate car I had booked for her. After telling him no a few times and his persistence along with the same class car she said okay. The only other thing he did was hand her the rental agreement to initial and sign. He did not say anything about money or rates.

She returned the car at 4:10 in the morning of 5 July, got her receipt and returned home. In talking about her trip she mentioned paying for the car and I told her I had paid for it with my AMX card. I assumed they had made a mistake in double billing us. So I tried to call and they were closed on Sunday. I also sent an Email to the customer service department and called them today (6 July 2009). They told me to contact the Tampa agency directly.

I spoke to the Manager and explained the situation and was told that my wife had agreed to an upgrade. Unfortunately on paper she did not realize that 1) I had already paid for the car and 2) not realized she was actually being charged for an upgrade which she did not want in the first place and never would have agreed to had the agent told her such. I feel the agent intentionally tried to pull a fast one and may have gotten away with it by not telling her there was a charge and telling her it was the same class car. She feels so violated and do not know what options she has to get her money returned for something never requested. According to the BBB records Alamo/National Car rental is owned by Vanguard car rental and has an F rating for deceptive selling practices. That really got my attention and is a reason I wanted to contact let people know.

On July 7th I waited at the hotel a good part of the day for Alamo to come by to pick up their dangerous vehicle. So because of Alamos unsafe vehicle, the first three days of our 7 day vacation were ruined

By the time the manager returned to work 4 days had gone by even though I tried from day 1. Feel they were negligent in dealing with this situation and possibly could have retrieved camera with priceless memories on it if there had been someone to answer immediately instead of 4 days later--only after corporate office interceded reluctantly. I had to finally talk to a supervisor in corporate, but she was not very helpful but after much urging upon my part e-mailed Richmond site.

Economic loss was approximately 150.00 camera with memory card with priceless college graduation pictures gone forever.

I rented a car from alamo at Houston Hobby Airport on March 24th and returned it in the same good condition on March 27th. I was on crutches and an employee was there to check the car in. No problem was mentioned at the time. I now have received a letter postmarked April 08 2009, claiming that alamo's Tulsa Damage Recovery Department has received a Loss/Damage Report on the vehicle I rented.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car and I fear that I am the victim of some sort of scam. I noticed by doing an internet search that others have had the exact same experience that I have. The payment address is listed as Atlanta while the envelope says Tulsa. I was unable to get anyone on the phone today. Others who have had the same problem say that they never could get a live person.

At this point there is no economic impact because I haven't given them my insurance or credit card info.

On March 13, 2009 at 7:30AM I went to pick-up a Ford E350 Super Duty 15 passenger van from the Alamo Car Rental desk at the Daytona Beach Airport. The vehicle rental was reserved and paid for with the company credit card, as it was being used for business purposes for the Daytona Beach International Festival, Inc. After filling out and signing all the required paperwork, the agent at the desk informed me that the van I was being given to drive was missing the mirror from the passenger side, but not to worry, that she would note this on the paperwork, and that I would not be held responsible.

I reported this information that same morning to my supervisor, Robert at the Daytona Beach International Festival, Inc., I accepted possession of the vehicle, drove it throughout the day, and returned it to the Daytona Beach Airport Alamo rental location later that same day. I reminded the agent at the desk that the paperwork was already filled out prior to me picking up the vehicle that morning, and that the mirror had been missing at that time.

The agent who was at the Alamo desk when I dropped off the vehicle on Friday March 13, 2009 at 5:45PM, said that the rental greement included the notation about the missing mirror at the time of pick-up, and that I was not responsible for it. At that point, there was no reason for me to believe there was any problem, since while it was in my possession, no damage was done to the vehicle. A first-class letter was then delivred to my residence on Saturday, April4, 2009, stating that the Alamo Damage Recovery Unit received a loss/damage report, and that I was being held financially responsible becuase I had declined the terms of their loss damage waiver.

I believe Alamo is extorting money from me. I requested a small SUV, and was given a brand new minivan instead, and when asked, I declined the extra insurance. Apparently, this car was so new, it had a special type key for the ignition (I was told later by a car theft detective). While shopping in Walmart, the minivan was stolen. I was in the store no longer than one hour, and when I went out to the parking lot the minivan was gone. I know for a fact I locked the car too. 56 days later, I received a call from a New Orleans detective stating the minivan I reported stolen was recovered. And, it was recovered exactly where I reported it stolen. Upon questioning the detective, he told me he found the car at the opposite end of the parking lot from where I parked it (I didn't tell him where I parked it). However, I knew EXACTLY where I parked the car because it was in a very distinct parking spot.

Now 4 months later after this terrible incident, I received a notice from a collection agency for $6, 080.40. I never was contacted by anybody from Alamo to discuss my situation and what happened.....I just goes directly to collections. Something is not right here and this whole situation that happened is very suspicious and fishy. I'm positive that brand new minivan was equipped with GPS, and Alamo new exactly where the minivan was (I was only 15 miles away from the rental car location), had an extra set of keys, and moved the car. Unfortunately, they did not return it to same distinct spot I parked in, and now they are asking me to fork over $6,000.00.

I was able to retreive some of my souveniers, and nothing looked like it had been gone through. If someone really stole the car, I'm sure my belongings would have been gone through, and the car would have been left somewhere other than returning to the scene of the crime. Something just doesn't add up.

There is already a post on this, but I will add my experience as it continues to expose Alamo's trend of deceptive practices with the inadvertent acceptance of the optional insurance waivers (CDW).

I had purchased a pre-paid 7 day car rental thru Priceline at the Alamo Honolulu airport office on Nimitz Hwy. I advised the agent that have excellent car rental insurance thru my AMEX card and would be declining all optional insurance. When she printed out the contact and had me initial and sign in 10 places, I missed the I accept optional collision damage waiver at an additional cost line sandwiched between the three other decline offers. This is a deceptive practice pure and simple and is echoed by many other posts here.

When I called customer service after receiving the unexpected $183.92 charge, she stated that I had initialed the acceptance on the contact, but as a token of good faith, she would refund 1/2 of the charge. I probably made a mistake, but I declined and opted to pursue it thru AMEX dispute process which is ongoing.

Dispute process i ongoing. I plan to furnish AMEX with all the relevant posts from this site.

Some one driving a Alamo rental car hit my father's car who was standing behind a red light. The car had extensive damage, with the rear windshield broken. The car was not drivable in winter conditions that we had. It took 2 months for us to see any check, and L. Kiser who was handeling the claim ensured that the check got to us as late as possible. The rental company's insurance company made every effort to delay the tranaction and provided no up front help.

Once their assessment was done, they did not mail the check, rather waited for us to keep calling and calling and beg for them to connect us to the appropriate person (L. Kiser) who blew us off at every chance she got. Over all I can't express what a horrible experience and a tough time we have had dealing with this company.

My father's car was not driveable for 2 months, had to rent a rental car several time and the company denied our right to it. My father lost money as a result of not being able to go to work. All and all, it is so shocking how a clean case like this, where the police report shows clearly who the guilty party is, the insurance company is yet reluctant to provide the service it was established to provide.

Very disappointing! I am in the process of deciding whether I should/can sue the rental company, the rental company's insurance (the people who made this difficult), or the driver herself for my father's hardship and out of pocket expenses.

What is this new business where rates are advertized and then you find out that they charge for an extra driver? $10.00 a day!!! It took a lot of calling and finally was assured that I would get no extra charge for my husband to drive. then, the old bait and switch and when I tried to pre register to save time at the airport...surprise!! I was going to be charged the $10.00 a day. After calls and going through several supervisors we got them to drop the fee only after we gave our AARP number! what happpens to other people who aren't as lucky or aren't as persistent as we are? I fully expect to get other hidden fees when we arrive. Can't there be a full disclosure up front?? How can you compare prices when they are not what the actual charges are.

This takes a lot more time and effort and money than should be required to rent a car for a VACATION!!

My brother passed away and I needed to fly to MN. Picked up a car at the airport January 27th. Returned the car the mornng of February 1st. They noticed a scratch on the front bumper. Told me to go in and talk to the counter person. I told her I didn't have any idea how the scratch had gotten there. She took the info, printed out my receipt and I left thinking it was taken care of. Yesterday in the mail, Alamo claim. $645.74. I called - all I got was you didn't walk around the car, blah blah. Never again.

I recently received an email from Alamo Rent A Car offering a free one class upgrade on my next rental. As I was traveling to Denver soon, I booked an Intermediate Size car and received the Free Upgrade to a Full Size car. Upon arriving at the Denver Airport Alamo location, I was informed that the upgrade was only for a two door and that the four door would cost an extra $11 a day plus applicable taxes.

Since there is no price difference on their website for Two Door versus Four Door cars, I was somewhat taken by suprise. As there were five adults in my party, I felt forced to pay the difference in order to receive my Free upgrade. I find this practice misleading, deceptive and a scam to lure customers into a higher priced vehicle. I have written to Alamo regarding this practce and will no longer be using them for my rental car needs.

I felt forced to pay the $33.00 plus applicable taxes and fees.

I rented an intermediate car from Alamo at LAX. Upon my arrival on 1/15/2009 at 10PM, I was called to the reservation desk and went through all the formal questions regarding renting a vehicle. I did not puchase insurance or additional coverage from Alamo. I was informed by the Alamo employee to pick an intermediate car in that row in the garage. The keys are in them. I was never given an inspection sheet nor did an employee come out to inspect the vehicle with me. There were a couple of cars in the lot and I seletected a Ford Fusion with Colorado license plate.

I completed the walk-through of the oustide and inside prior to leaving the garage and found no damages. Before exiting the premise, I had to go through the security gates and was greeted by a worker. Handed her my paperwork and driver's license. She reviewed everything and let me out. Upon returning the vehicle on 1/18/2009 at 4PM, I was greeted by an employee. The keys were left inside the vehicle. A complete walk through was conducted and he scanned the bar code and printed the receipt. No damages or misconduct to the car was reported at the time.

On 2/2, I received a letter from Alamo claiming that I owe $783.70 for damages to the car. The odd thing is that the mileage upon return was 19,220, which was printed on my receipt and the mileage on the documents they sent me was 19,225...something happened within the five mileage.

On a business trip to Indianapolis I rented a vehicle from Alamo at the Indianapolis Airport (07/28/08 - 08/01/08). I was directed to the parking area to pickup my vehicle (without inspection). I returned the vehicle without incident (or inspection upon drop-off). I received a phone call from PurCo Fleet Services, Inc. representative Amy Davis (Claims Specialist) informing me that a claim had been filed against me by National/Alamo Car Rental. I received this call more than 90 days after the date I returned the vehicle which was also the first time I learned about this incident. PurCo Fleet Services requested that I submit a payment of $587.46 for damages.

This claim is entirely false. The vehicle was at no time mistreated or damaged while in my possession. If any such damage was realized I would expect National/Alamo to bring this to my attention at the time of return and not 90 + days later by a claims specialist AFTER repairs have been made. The claim also indicated soiling of the front interior seat of the vehicle, feces was used to describe the stain. This is 100% false and insulting. I am a business owner and travel often such a statement is absurd and inflammatory. I was the only occupant of this vehicle during the entire rental period and will state plainly this claim is inaccurate and suspicious. This claim clearly demonstrates the condition of this vehicle is not monitored or documented properly and brings into question the integrity of the report as a whole. The vehicle had been repaired by the time I was notified (no evidence remained).

I was charged for 4 days of rental service during the time the vehicle was out of service being repaired. I have tried to resolve this issue with both National/Alamo of Indianapolis and PurCo fleet services to no avail. Please note the name of the company National/Alamo has sent me to for collections: PurCo Fleet Services, Spanish Fork, UT.

As a regular car rental customer I have noticed a recent trend towards high insurance costs and high pressure scare tactics at the counter by sales personnel to purchase insurance. While renting a vehicle recently I paid an insurance rate of 66% of the daily vehicle rental cost ($33/day rental $20/day insurance) for the least expensive insurance option. The cost for full coverage which I was pressured (fear tactics) into considering was 151% of the daily vehicle rental cost ($33/day rental $50/day insurance). The example above is an example from Thrifty Car Rental at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport on 12/14/08. Thrifty by no means stands out as an example. I rent from National/Alamo, Dollar, Budget, and Thrifty on a regular basis and these rates are standard across the board.

This is a matter of principle & fraudulent activity. On Jan. 12, 2009 I returned a rental car at National Alamo Car Rental in Fairbanks, AK. Three days later the manger, Chris, charged me for a cleaning fee, brand new windshield, and extension cord totaling $455.00. The manager never called to notify me of damages and had taken liberties to replace the windshield without taking pictures or allowing me to see the damage.

The windshield was never broken, the car was clean, and I never used their extionsion cord. After speaking with Chris, the manager, he refused to reverse the charges. I asked him for proof of damage and he said that he did not have proof. Do not rent vehicles from this location - ever. They are fraudulent in business dealings.

Loss of $455.00, time, and undue stress.

I rented a car with a child seat for a 10 month old 1/5/09 to 1/9/09. The process picking up my car went smooth until I requested the car seat I rented. I was given 6 different car seats over a 2 hour period. They tried giving me one for a newborn which my son outweighed, then one for a child over 1 (forward facing) over and over again. Then out of the 6 car seats, 2 were broken! The main strap on one of them that is an anchor on the back of the seat had broke off and they tied it together! I told the manager that an infant could be killed and they needed to throw it away immediately.

She then brought me one I though would work, but one of the anchor straps you attach to your car frame (by the seat belts) was missing! It was gone and there was no way to connect it. She said I should just put a seat belt over it but the instructions said not to do that. Again I told her that needed to be thrown away. Why would a rental car company knowingly keep renting 2 dangerous and possibly deadly car seats? I pray she got rid of them but am sure she didn't. One of the seats she gave me to try looked like it was 10-15 years old, the kind that were recalled due to them failing in an accident.

My experience there was a NIGHTMARE! For 2 hours in the cold drizzle, I had to wait till they went to their competitors lots to see if they had anything I could use for a car seat. I was not about to put my son in one of Alamo's car seats. The manager never apologized or offered anything else to me, she sped off after I finally got one of their COMPETITORS car seats to fit and one of the employees from the competitors lots came to help me since I had began crying due to frustration and fatige. Alamo should be fined and held liable! I hope parents out there read this and DO NOT RENT A CAR SEAT FROM ALAMO RENTAL CARS!!!!!

Other than losing 2 hours of my life, draining me of every last ounce of energy, and having my son sit in a filthy diaper because it was freezing outside and had nowhere to change him resulting in a rash that night and next day, and the fact they endangered my son's life by giving me 2 broken car seats that I caught (Thank God) and are probably now still endangering babies if they are still using those seats, I guess that is it.

We reserved a van at Alamo car rental two days before On Sunday Dec 28,2008. That day at 2pm we came to pick up the wan that we had reserve, but when we got there the San Jose Alamo car rental did not have a van so we waited for about 1 hour. Then a van was rushed to us without cleaning. We took the van anyway because we planned to begin our vacation that day. I drove my family for no more than a few miles on the freeway when I continuously heard a loud noise with some vibration from the van.

We decided that it was not safe and called Alamo to switch for another van. They told us to wait because they did not have a van for us. We waited till 10pm when finally there was a van for us. We were upset but understand that it was the holiday. We drove back to Alamo and made the exchange for another van. Not knowing that they continue to charge us from the 3pm pick up not the 10pm exchange for a van that run well. They gave us a tank of gas for the trouble.

We lost one day of our vacation because of this. We rented the van for one week. Because we thought that the time of pick up the van was 10pm, thus we returned at 6pm a week later for a complete 7 days rental. They charge us an extra $153 for being 3 hours late. We argued with the manager name Irene (she won't give us her last name). She was very condescending, and nasty. I was angry but I could not do much since I already signed the agreement rental. I will never use Alamo again.

I planned a trip to Texas in December to visit my daughter and grandchildren over the Christmas Holiday. She is alone with the kids as her husband is over in Iraq fighting for our freedoms. Im disabled with back problems and require the ride of a luxury car, not that it really matters why because what you order and pay for is what you should receive. So, I reserved an auto, luxury class Cadillac, through Alamos website with a pick-up date of December 25th, 2008 and a return date of January 2nd, 2009; both at San Antonios International airport.

On December 25th, we arrived at the counter at 8:45 pm, my reservation was for 8:30 pm, and I gave the attendant my reservation number. After about 5 minutes of computer key clacking and brief but frequent sighing, I was informed that the Cadillac DTS I reserved had been given away earlier and I need to see the attendant in the garage to choose an auto. In the garage I was asked to choose from either a Chrysler 300 or a Toyota Camry. At 9:10 pm on Christmas evening, tired from traveling from New Hampshire, I was not going to argue. Well, I chose the Chrysler 300 and headed to Ft. Hood to see our family. If you have driven in a Chrysler 300, you will soon find out that this vehicle is not a luxury auto.

On the way up north, the car started to skip and stutter when I tried to accelerate. Fear ran through my wife, thinking we where going to be stranded on the side of the road in a state we are not familiar. We managed to get to my daughters home with 10 minutes to spare on Christmas day. Friday, December 26th I got on the telephone. There was not a soul to be reached at Alamo except two people at reservations, where one hung up on me, and a nice operator who, after transferring me twice to dead ended line, got me in touch with the National Auto Rental agency in Killeen, Texas. The Alamo Roadside Assistance number rang and rang.

At Killeen airport, I explained my issue to the National agent that the vehicle was not running correctly and I was being charged for a luxury vehicle that I had not received. I had received a full size auto. I still do not understand why, even after knowing the luxury car was not available, they still charged me the luxury vehicle rate. The National agent tried to find a luxury car but only had Dodge Chargers available. So, I managed to get a luxury vehicle from the Hertz rental agency. The National agent did void my contract and reimburse my credit card; I have yet to confirm this point, and apologized for the inconvenience.

Now, I have a vehicle that I am paying more for because I could not plan in advance and I must pay a drop off premium because I still need to get to San Antonio International Airport for my journey home. This ended up costing me an added $300.00 on top of all my other expenses. I am disabled and on a fixed income, I did not need the added expense. Furthermore, the only reason I flew into San Antonio was because, with all other options considered, it is less expensive to return the auto where you pick it up.

I ended up paying $300.00 dollars more for the drop off premium and lost a full day of being with my grandkids and daughter on a 7 day Christmas vacation.

Manchester NH I rented small Chevy from Alamo at corporate rate $30 per day. Through vague, unconscionable contract loaded with loopholes Alamo raised my daily rate to $87, nearly triple!

Fleeced of about $900. Negotiated a settlement with Alamo STL corporate counsel and they quickly welched on the deal and commenced to spin me again!

My wife and I rented an Aveo from Alamo at Salt Lake Airport for a vacation trip. On the morning of June 28, 2008, I was driving north on I-15 at a legal speed near Salt Lake City when the driver's side window suddenly and unexpectedly shattered! Small glass pieces fell out of the window and onto my left arm, leg, and lap! I did not see any flying object strike the window and could not find any on the floor when we got out of the car. No other vehicles were within 1000 feet of ours at the time of the incident. My wife was riding in the passenger seat and is a witness.

I returned the car to the airport as soon as possible since it could not be locked. I was required to fill out an accident report with my insurance agent's name and address before we were given a replacement vehicle. Several weeks after our trip we received a bill from PurCo Fleet Services Inc. asking for $165 damage repair, $59.96 loss of use, and a $50 administrative fee.

I protested the bill stating that we did nothing wrong and asked Alamo for a refund of my rental fees on the grounds that I was not satisfied with the rental car. I argued if the car is new as PurCo asserted, Alamo or PurCo should collect the damages from Alamo's Chevrolet new car warranty. This argument was not addressed. My request was denied and Martin of PurCo insists that I pay $274.96 to PurCo.

I was shocked to see the window break since it has never happened to me before after many years of driving and after driving many rental cars. If the glass would have hit my eyes, I might have driven the car off the road. Rental car insurance from Discover Card is not applicable since it only covers collisions. Our American Family Insurance comprehensive coverage did promptly pay PurCo $65 to replace the window after a $100 deductible, but there is no coverage for loss of use and administrative fees. I owe a balance of $209.96.

I got my rate doubled when I changed the reservation at the airport. The employee did not explain things correctly, stating first that I would only pay 12$ more per day compared to the original rate (since I upgraded), and then mentioning 68$ per day, making me believe that I would pay a total of 68$ per day. The reality was that I had to pay 68 PLUS 12 per day, which got to be double rate than booked for half of the time (upgraded the car but for 3 days instead of 7). The employee rushed me to sign everything without going through all the rates she charged me, as it should be done. I was dead tired, coming from a long night-trip and I did not pay attention to the new rate, trusting her words. When I tried to complain, they always told me to try somewhere else. I decided that this is the last booking with Alamo. Hopefully they don't charge me for damages too...

Paid double rate for half of the rental time(300$ instead of 150). Employee did not explain things properly

We were with out a car in the middle of our family vacation while in Florida. Almo did not get us another working van until the next day. So we were with out a van for 14 hours. And I also made 13 long distance roaming phone call to try to get a different van since this on the we rented did not work. That is tottaly not accetable while paid for a vechile to use for 10 days and only get to use it for 9 days but still have to pay full price and they don't even refund your phone bill. I will not use or recomend Almo Car Rental to any one. Thanks

An coupon from Custco magerzine says " Save up to 25%, plus a day free." However, the when the reservation customer rep. finished my reservation and told they were only able to take $25 off my total amount since this was what their program says. I did not see the "a day free" deal.

At the pick-up counter, the clerk asked if I need additional insurance. I told her " no. My reservation amount show all I need, and I have insurance to cover." She then asked me to initial on the contract she printed out. She pointed out that the total amount $196.62 will not be charged to my card. Few days after I came back from vacation, I realized that Alamo not only charged the total $196.62, but also falsely induced me to buy the extra insurance which I indicated that I did not need.

Airport pick-up bus came 45 minutes after Alamo's car rental customers lined up and started to wait for the bus. Three calls were made by the airport employee to notify Alamo's bus drivers.

False Commercial: An coupon from Custco magerzine says Save up to 25%, plus a day free. However, the when the reservation customer rep. finished my reservation and told they were only able to take $25 off my total amount since this was what their program says. I did not see the a day free deal.

Dishornest Clerk: At the pick-up counter, the clerk asked if I need additional insurance. I told her no. My reservation amount show all I need, and I have insurance to cover. She then asked me to initial on the contract she printed out. She pointed out that the total amount $196.62 will not be charged to my card. Few days after I came back from vacation, I realized that Alamo not only charged the total $196.62, but also falsely induced me to buy the extra insurance which I indicated that I did not need.

Bad Servce: Customer representatives: I spoke to two customer representatives, and they said I bought the insurance which was shown on the contract. Airport pick-up bus came 45 minutes after Alamo's car rental customers lined up and started to wait for the bus. Three calls were made by the airport employee to notify Alamo's bus drivers.

$196.62 - $134.63 = $61.99 for soley different on file without consideration of false commercial.

I rented an Alamo car at Orlando International Airport on Friday, September 5 , 2008. I returned the car on Monday, September 8th, at which time it was noticed to have a couple of scratches on it. On September 22, 2008, I received a bill for $548.48. Alamo has no way of proving that those scratches were made on the car during the time I rented it. I believe they have the burden of proof. When I picked up the car at the airport, the Alamo employee pointed and said, The compact cars are in that row over there. Pick one. The keys are in them.

The cars were parked in a dark garage. I have rented cars before, and the rental agency employee always comes out to check the car for any marks. No one came out; no one told me to check the car. This is NOT my responsibility; it is Alamos. The garage was too dark to see a scratch on the side of a car that was parked in a line close to other cars, anyway. Furthermore, when I returned the car and the scratches were noticed, I was told that it was quite possible that the scratches had occurred while the car was parked in the garage before I rented it.

Well, I am a 57-year-old teacher; it is really unlikely that I would intentionally scratch the car. It is possible that the car was scratched while it was parked someplace in my possession; and it is also possible that the vehicle was scratched when I received it. No one at Alamo checked it out. This is unprofessional on Alamos part. I am quite sure that Alamo is insured for small damages that are not the drivers fault. The scratches on the car are not my fault; additionally, they could have easily been buffed out because they were very minor.

I am obviously in no financial shape to waste $ on something I did not have anything to do with. I am stressed about money anyway. This is just totally ridiculous that they think they can extort $550.00 from me.

Vehicle damage to left front suspension ($708) after running over edge of paved road while turning onto a paved highway from a dirt road. Filed a claim with Mastercard's MasterRental CDW insurance but Sherry, the underwriter, insisted that Alamo should be responsible because I had initialled near ALL the xs the agent placed near ALL the insurance options on their MANUALLY-generated rental agreement (computer issue).

However, Alamo insists that I did NOT purchase the CDW option because the rental contract CLEARLY shows a daily premium amount was placed ONLY into the blank space next to supplemental personal liability insurance (PLI) and that the CDW had been left blank. While I had questioned momentarily in my mind the agent's exact placing of the little xs near the accept/decline notation, I was not concerned because only a fee was placed in the PLI option...NOT the CDW. This was clearly visible on both my renter's copy but also the final invoice.

The MasterRental underwriter insisted that I had accepted CDW from Alamo and that therefore MasterRental's insurance was not liable for the claim. However in an email exchange, Alamo forwarded the rental agreement and final invoice to the underwriter that clearly shows I was never billed for CDW. I have told MasterCard that this is consistent with my expectations of Alamo when I signed the agreement.

Additionally, I also pointed out to Ms. Luebking that the amount frozen on my credit card by Alamo on the first day of the rental period was probably much HIGHER than normal...consistent with my actually NOT accepting the CDW option - therefore logically consistent with assuming responsibility for the full value of the car versus a lower initial amount had I paid an extra CDW premium and been insured by Alamo's insurance carrier.

I believe that despite this evidence, the insurance underwriter for Mastercard's MasterRental CDW is attempting to weasel out of their responsibility to pay this claim. Despite receiving evidence from Alamo supporting my claim, the MasterRental underwriter apparently has chosen not to reply to my repeated requests for a response. By not responding, I suspect she is assuming the case is closed on their end and that either I am responsible or maybe Alamo.

I eventually was forced to pay the card's issuing bank the $708 or risk paying interest each month by not paying it. The bank apparently couldn't allow this dispute to go forever so they stuck the customer with the bill! For what it's worth to other consumers, I am not impressed by Mastercard's MasterRental insurance and feel VISA is more honest and responsible in settling claims based on my past experience with VISA.

A similar thing happened to me like Paul in Hawaii--Unfortunately, I rented from the Kona Airport in Hawaii on August 24th-28th. A week after my vacation, I received a letter that I damaged the vehicle. Alamo charged me $348.49 to replace a windshield. At the time I returned the vehicle, I received a receipt thinking that the inspection process was over and that the car was in the same condition as I had left it. To my knowledge and to the other driver's knowledge, we returned the vehicle in the same way we rented it.

We both called, and the unpleasant recovery specialist said that there was a small asterisk-shaped crack in the windshield. I am infuriated that the Alamo damage recovery unit is charging me this money retroactively without evidence (photos) of the damage and without evidence/certainty that the damage was done during my rental period. This is an unethical business practice.

I am very disappointed by how Alamo handles these claims. If I had known about your return vehicle policy, I would have thoroughly inspected the car myself and not have rented from Alamo. My advice is to inspect the car before rental, take photos of every knicknack, or just don't rent from Alamo at all.

$348.49

I detect a negative trend here with Alamo, which I would like to expand upon. When we arrived in Hawaii, we were advised unfortunately too late in being advised by our hotel contact not to use Alamo because they have been involved in numerous complaints by hotel guests. The complaints were as follows: customers would rent cars, return them, then after a week or two, would get letters sent to them that they returned the vehicles with damage. Alamo would then charge their credit cards for the damage. Apparently, this was either a scam or a way for careless Alamo employees to cover up damage that they did to the cars themselves.

Lo and behold, and to our detriment, our business rented a car in Hawaii and returned it with absolutely no damage at all. A couple of weeks later, Alamo was reporting that we returned the car with damage. They even included photos which showed massive damage to the vehicle, which did not exist when we returned the car.

We were quite surprised that Alamo did this, and refused to listen to us when they instituted claim proceedings against us. Fortunately for us, our travel insurance covered the damage but we are resolved to never use Alamo again. We rent vehicles nearly every week. Alamo will never receive another penny of our business. There are too many risks you take in renting from Alamo.

Alamo refused to listen to our claim and proceeded to charge us for damage that we were not responsible for.

I rented an Alamo car in November 2007 at the Salt Lake Airport. I turned in the car and no damages were noted to me. Everything seemed fine and the guy gave me the slip which I expected. In March I had a pay a claim for a chip on the windshield for that car. I had protested it and I told them nothing happened to that windshield in my possession. I told them I never saw any damage to the windshield.

I wrote the protest letter and still lost. The charge was $274.98. The lady at the Purco Fleet Services, Inc. reduced a portion of the charge but I still had to pay $219.79. Then on June 1-9 I rented another car from Alamo in Salt Lake City again. My airline books me with Alamo but I had vowed to inspect the windshield extra carefully this time. I always inspect the car but had forgotten the windshield on that November trip.

The sheet they gave me of any flaws to the car did not note some major flaws on the paint. But more importantly it did not note anything on the windshield. In the dark parking garage, I found 8, yes, 8 chips on that windshield when I looked closely. I immediately went back to the Alamo guy in the garage and made him update my records. When I got out in the light, I found more flaws on the bumper which did not show up in the dark of the garage. I called back to note those.

I did not get charged this time, but feel this experience backs my earlier claim that the windshield flaw I paid for was already there when I rented the car. I wonder how many extra fees they pick up from renters by collecting damage fees and not repairing only to charge some other innocent customer.

A few weeks ago, my short visit to the islands ended in a sour note when I returned my rental car to the Alamo Rental Car on Nimitz Highway near the Honolulu International Airport. After I pulled into the lot, the return agent handed me a big surprise; a $168 charge for collision damage waiver insurance. What? I thought I made it very clear to the rental agent on the first day that I don't want or need this insurance since I was covered by my credit card company. Obviously, in the rush to initial a dozen boxes and sign the contract, I did not double-check the contract to verify that the collision damage waiver insurance option was not selected. I tried to contest this with another agent when I returned the car. I asked to see the original contract but was told it was unavailable and to call the 800 number. I had a plane to catch so couldn't pursue the matter any further. In essence I ended up double paying for this car rental. Once as part of a prepaid airfare and car rental package from Delta and Priceline.

Second, as part of this questionable insurance option at $24.95 per day for seven days. I wonder how many other tourists are being blindsided in this way? Sure, if confronted, the local Alamo station manager may say this was my fault, or there was a miscommunication, or at best, this was an honest mistake. However, one must wonder if this situation occurs more often than the public knows. Remember the Jiffy Lube oil change scam in California? Employees were ordered to charge customers for services that were not performed in order to increase profits for the district manager. I hope this is not the case with the local Nimitz Alamo. But let me tell you, at this moment, I am very suspicious.

Unexpected charge for unwanted services.

Recently we hired a car from ALAMO pre-booked and prepaid through Yes car hire Worldwide, Slough. This was prepaid for 14 days to collect from Sanford Orlando International on the 31 May 2008 and to return to the same airport on 14 June 2008. On arrival we paid for a tank of petrol $65.23. The car was returned on time and undamaged on the 14 June 08 to Sanford Airport. When the car was checked back in and inspected by Alamo the check in woman made a mistake and charged us for petrol that had been pre paid she sent us to the office with a receipt to get this petrol charge removed.

The man in the office seemed to be struggling to sort out the charge for the petrol I asked for an up to date receipt he handed me what I thought was a receipt I asked if my account was clear he said yes. The receipt I found later was actually a invoice. The invoice that I received has incorrect information and the drop off depot was wrong. It seems to me that my name and card number were on this invoice but other information not relating to me was on the document dated the 31 May and the 3rdof June 2008

There should have been no further charges however, on returning back home we find that Alamo has charged us $994.81? I have had no bill of any kind for this amount I also have contacted Alamo car hire but there has been no respone or bill yet

$994.81 =525 was charged with out notice to my VISA acount.

Beware of unethical pricing and billing tactics. Very overpriced. Bait and switch tactics used. Discount offers on website not honored or acknowledged. Dishonest sales staff with management that encourages dishonest practices.

I rented a car from Alamo the end of Feb 2008 and returned it at 4:20 am the 4th of March. I checked it for damage, there was none. I was checked out with my receipt and on my way to my early plane home. A month later I was called by someone representing Alamo telling me that there was damage to the car and the cost to me would be $600. I know that there was no damage to this car as I had double checked it. I argued with them and they told me that a manager would be calling me in 7-10 days. No call.

A few weeks later I received a cheapo xeroxed looking letter with no details of the claim against me, asking for my insurance and credit card services information. I filed the incident with my credit card company, and so far am waiting for Alamo's next move. ONce a claim number has been given, my cc company gives 365 days to supply them with the details for proof of the incident. Its very hard for me to want to follow through with the claim to the cc company and my insurance company as I know that this has to be fraudulent and I want nothing to do with it. It is Alamo's word against mine. From now on, I will be photographing any car I rent, and I will never use Alamo again. I suggest no one else should either.

There was no incident or damage, but the consequences will be $600 extorted from me or my insurance and credit card company.

I turned the car at the Orlando Int'l Airport following a five day rental and the car checker person didn't see any damage, she typed a few things into her handheld scanner, printed the receipt and I was set to go on my way. Not so fast, another car checker person in another line must have noticed the scratches and walked over to my car checker person and pointed them out. My car checker had to hand write a note on the back of my receipt that said scratch, right bumper. I stated that I did not acknowledge that the scratch occurred while in my possession. She said not to worry about it, the car is scheduled for service anyway, that I had to just turn the receipt in to the desk at the end of the parking garage. Yeah, right, don't worry about it.

As soon as I got in the airport I dug out my camera and went back out to take some photos. I was immediately confronted by three Alamo car checker persons. A week after I returned from my trip I received a damage collection notice from Alamo requesting my insurance or credit card information. No bill, no work list, no itemized list of repairs . . . just a request for my method of payment information. After two weeks of phone calls I finally got in touch with someone who could, a) provide me list of damages, and b) the cost. Initially I was told $271+ for damage to REAR QUARTER PANEL, TRUNK LOCK, and PASSENGER DOOR HANDLE!

Here's the kicker, the 'Loss of Service' charge. What the? Loss of service for scratches? I explained that I was told about the scratches not all the other damage as described. I said I doubted that a couple of small scratches would cost 271 bucks to repair. She told me to call back in a week. I called back, she said call back in two weeks. Every time I called I was handed off to a different person and had to retell the story each time. Finally, today, I was told that some of the damages would be waived, including the ubiquitous 'Loss of Service' fee. So my new total is $158.50. That's a waiver of $112.50; $49.50 for the 'loss of Service' and $63 for the REAR QUARTER PANEL, TRUNK LOCK and PASSENGER DOOR HANDLE.

Here's the part I don't understand, and neither did the lady I was talking to on the phone today (analytical thinking not being a requirement for employment with Alamo), the first time anyone told me the cost of repairs it included the Rear Quarter Panel, Trunk Lock, and Passenger Door Handle . . . there was no mention of the scratches! Now, all of sudden, those scratches cost $158 to repair and the original 'damage' only totaled $63. The repair bill for the scratch is the majority of the bill, do you really think that was overlooked during my first five calls to Alamo? But don't worry about it, right? Here were my options (actually, a veiled threat, bordering extortion as it was presented to me): 1) Pay the $158 today, on the phone with a credit card, or 2) The full $271 will be sent to a collection agency. I know people have to rent cars, and sometimes those cars get damaged, but do yourself a favor and rent from someone that's puts a little more value on their customers.

I reserved an economy car from the Washington Reagan Airport from March 11 to March 19 for $9.99 per day plus taxes. The economy car turned out to be a two door while I needed a four door. The next size up, a compact, was available with a charge of $35 per day. Since it was late and we were all tired, I took the compact car. However, I found a much better rate from one of their competitors, Avis, so I returned the car on March 13. The two day charge was $269.62 which works out to be more than $130 per day, which is more than 3 times the $35 per day I was quoted. According to their early return rental policy, the charge for an early return should only be $15 per day which means I should have been charged $70 + $30 for two days plus taxes, much less than the $269.62. Please credit my debit card which is on file. Needless to say, I will be telling all my family and friends about the extremely high prices they charge and the lousy customer service I've received. I will also be telling everyone about the low prices I received from Avis and their good customer service.

I spent $269.62 for a rental car that I had for 2 days.

I had rented a car from Alamo at Miami Int'l. Airport, returned Oct. 7, 2007. In late January I received a letter claiming there was $400 worth of damage on that rental. This is false and outrageous, not huge money and I could turn it into my insurance, but I refuse to do so because this did not happen when I had their vehicle! This vehicle was turned in with absolutely no damage, I was checked in by not one, but two Alamo employees. Alamo and their parent, in spite of several appeals and correspondence on this, refuses to reverse this claim. They have their collectors, First Financial calling me constantly. This is a nightmare. No one of any authority at Vanguard's headquarters in Tulsa will talk to me, instead they continue to try and extort money from me over a ficticious claim.

Extreme stress, damage to credit, loss of sleep.

We rented an Alamo car at the Orlando airport, and returned it 3 days later with no damage. When we turned the keys back over, the person checking us in made no notation of any damage to the car. About two weeks later I received a claim for $771 for damage. I contacted the Alamo claim center, and discussed this issue with 4 different people who offered very little in the way of negotiation. They used their body shop (14 hours of labor for a minor scratch), and the car was repaired before I was even notified. So... now I can't get a 3rd party to give an estimate. 1. The car was in my control and was not damaged when I returned it. 2. No note of any damage was made when I returned it. 3. The estimate to repair the scratch was way out of line with common sense. I could have had the entire car repainted for $770. 4. The damage was repaired before I was even notified there was damage, and could dispute what they say happened. 5. Since I signed the contract, I am bound to let them make any claim they want, repair the damage any way they want, at any price they want, by their own body shop.

Hmmm... something stinks here. I will not deal with Alamo again, and I will photograph any car I rent both before and after I get the keys. There is no question in my mind that this practice is commonplace and is very unethical. "Let the buyer beware" seems to be Alamo's motto... Best of luck....

My wife and I recently rented a car from Alamo in Las Vegas, NV (Feb 15-18, 2008). When the subject of insurance coverage came up, I told the gentleman that we had car insurance. He told my wife and me, that we needed to carry something through Alamo. Being a car rental newbie, and assuming he wouldn't lie to us, we signed the paperwork. After we got home, I called my Insurance Agent. He explained that my insurance is more than adequate to cover a car rental. He thought it sounded like a scam. Anyway, after calling Customer Service and getting a very rude agent, who kept saying Sir, you signed the paperwork...we were refunded the charge for the CDW--only after I threated to go to the BBB.

However, this would have never happened if he hadn't lied. I am much wiser now, but will never rent from Alamo again. I feel like everyone at my company is aware of my experience with Alamo now, and hopefully they will stay away from this company as well. We were charged almost $120.00 total, which included Taxes and Fees. I was informed that we will be refunded $71.71 of our total charge.

Alamo has a clever way to double or triple the bill of unsuspecting customers. Over the web, I arranged to rent a car from Alamo for 5 days and received a special weekly rate of $149. My return plans changed, and I had to return the car on the fourth day. I fully expected to pay the entire $149 as I agreed and wasn't looking for a pro-rated charge - in fact the confirmation email states that early returns on special weekly rates are not entitled to a proportionate refund. Fine. What I wasn't expecting was that for returning the car *early* my bill jumped from $149 to $288. When you return a car early Alamo considers the contract specifying the special weekly rate to be terminated and instead charges you its default daily rate.

Although this clause apparently exists deep in the rental agreement, there was no mention of this in my confirmation email; when I rented the car the rental agent only mentioned a $15 early return fee, nothing about doubling my bill. I've tried to figure out any coherent rationale for a company treating its customers like this and can think of none. As a footnote, after one angry exchange with a customer service rep who scolded me that it is my responsibility to read the contract (be sure to bring your attorney next time you rent from them) and a second follow up call, Alamo did agree to charge me only the original weekly rate this time only.

My husband, daughter and I flew to Hawaii for vacation and attempted to rent a car with a child car seat. The customer service reps there and the manager on duty were horrible and extremely rude, despite making us wait two hours at nearly 1:00am our time in the pouring rain to get a functioning and safe car seat. This never happened.

Troy Fujihara, the manager on duty, stated that Alamo replaces their car seats every two to three months and that the one offered to us was so disgusting due to regular wear and tear. This is untrue. Per the National Highway Traffic Saftey Administration, all new cars and car seats are required to be installed with the latch system as of September 1st, 2002. The car seat Mr. Fujihara provided to us did not, and he confirmed that all Alamo car seats do not come with latches. We were not able to use the car seat they provided (which looked to be 7 or 8 years old) as I did not trust my child's safety in a car seat that did not meet current safety regulations.

I wanted to warn families traveling with children to have a backup plan if they reserve a rental car with Alamo. We were stranded there without any option of getting our one year old to our hotel, in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain (can't rent a cab without a car seat!) and the manager at Alamo didn't care, in fact he disappeared one hour into our ordeal.

I am not sure if this is how all Alamo locations operate or only Honolulu - Honolulu could be the exception due to extremely poor management.

Besides dealing with a screaming child and being completely exhausted and appalled, there wasn't any damage as we did not use their outdated, unsafe car seat. The fact that they are renting these to customers is deplorable - they do not meet safety regulations.

I travel to Las Vegas several times each year. On every occasion I rent a car from Alamo Rental Car at their airport shuttle site. I have noticed that, even though the cars are supposed to have full fuel tanks at the time of rental, when I return the car they always require much more fuel than should have been required for the minimal miles I have driven. On my most recent trip to Las Vegas I decided to pay closer attention and actually check the fuel supposedly used per miles driven. Sure enough, I drove 57 miles and the car required 8 gallons of gas when I filled up to return it. This was a high MPG auto that was rented.

When we arrived in London to pick up our car, the Alamo agent told us that credit cards did not provide an insurance waiver in England. He really pressured my wife and me to accept their waiver. We finally succumbed to the pressure, believing that he must know whether there is a credit card waiver available in England.

When we returned the car, they claimed there was $600 damage, which there wasn't. The deductible of Alamo's insurance didn't cover it. I discovered then that because we had signed the waiver, it invalidates our free 100% coverage through MasterCard Gold. We ended up paying about $799 because of their business practices.

We picked up the car at Seatle WA to Vancouver BC, we were quoted aprox $400 total ended up being charged in excess of $800.00 for a total of 4 day rental and no more that 300 mile trip. my wife called their customer servive dept and complained that the charge was over excessive so we ended up paying about $800, we'll never utilize alamo's service ever again.

I could not believe that your web site (aka your company) deceived me into believing I had a rental car lined up and ready to go via your online check-in service. I put in the required? confidential information on your web site to include our debit card that I hereby request you to delete immediately from your data warehousing server. You do not need any of my information ever as I will never use nor recommend Alamo Car Rental to anyone. You can believe me when I say I will go out of my way to make my friends, relatives, and co-workers aware of the service I did not receive.

I was allowed, via your online check-in web site, to believe that the rental car was not only ready and available for pick-up that the debit card I provided was debited and the transaction was paid for. Never in my life have I been so mislead. I get to the rental car company to pick up the car and apparently your company does not take a debit card to pay for the transaction. I secured the rental with my credit card; however, I did not have enough of a balance available to use my credit card to pay for the rental thats why I used the debit card.

The supervisor sent me down the counter to Dollar Rental which was able to handle the car rental payment using my debit card. Now either you have antiquated software or you people have some sort of agreement/kick back with credit card companies. I was late leaving and therefore, late arriving at my destination due to your negligence and deception. I really should take this up with an attorney. As it is, I believe letting the ten thousand acquaintances that I know of your lack of service and deception will be sufficient.

We recently booked a rental car through Alamo.com for 10 days. Unfortunately, my husbands grandmother passed away while we were on vacation and we had to come home 3 days early. When we returned the car the agent made no indication of any problem. However, a few days later I was checking my credit card account and found that our rental charge had more than doubled from the price quoted in our confirmation. The Early Return Policy from Alamos website from which I booked the vehicle states:

An Early Return fee is charged at a rate of $15 per rental when a vehicle is returned at least one calendar day early and total daily/weekly charges is less than the initial charged amount. The email confirmation we received from Alamo says we are charged for a weekly rate of $152.89/week + an additional daily rate. After three attempts, I was finally able to receive a fax of the invoice, in which it states our weekly rate was increased to $513.30. We indeed had the car for a full week and do not understand how Alamo can more than triple that weekly rate after confirming $152.89/week.

I rented a car for 12 days. It was not damage and when I returned it I was given my receipt. No damage to the car was mention by the two agents for Alamo. I rec'd three weeks after a letter from Alamo Damage recovery Unit which stated my car was damaged. In the letter it does not state what the damage is or any information. It more like a form letter with my name and a claims number. It is telling me to contact my credit card company since I refused the CDW for payment. The letter has a threatening tone to it.