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Dollar -- Rates

Dollar Rent A Car •Rate Disputes •Damage Disputes •No Car Available •Surprise Fees/Taxes

Mary of Mission Viejo, CA, writes (1/7/03):
I made reservations over the Internet for a car rental from Dollar. Upon arriving at the Philadelphia airport and finding that my luggage was lost in transit, I proceeded to the Dollar office to pick up my car. I gave the rep a copy of the internet printout of the reservation for her review. She scanned the printout, which did not include any additional insurance plans, but only stated the weekend rates and extra daily rates, as well as taxes and state fees as required by law, and asked if I wanted to sign up for a prepaid fuel plan. I said I would sign up for this plan and only this plan and no other plan.

She then presented me with the rental agreement and asked that I sign it. I informed the rep that I could not read it as my reading glasses were with my lost luggage but told her that I did not want to sign up for anything other than the prepaid fuel plan. I was aware that add'l insurance could be verbally offered to me but it never was. I waited for the rep to offer it and she never did because I assumed I had previously stated that I only wanted the basic rental agreement with no add'l plans besides the prepaid fuel plan. So when I signed the agreement I point blank asked her becasue I could not see what I was signing if I was signing up for what I had requested. She said yes that the only add'l plan that I was agreeing to was the prepaid fuel plan. So I signed the agreement based upon her acknowledgement that she was offering me what I had requested.

When I checked my receipt when I arrived home, I realized that I was charged $154.70 for insurance I did not want and was told I did not sign up for I wrote a letter to Dollar Corporate explaining my dilema. They said they could not speak for individual sites and their business practices. I was lied to when I signed the agreement by the sales rep at the Philadelphia office and asked for a refund of the insurance amount that was charged me. They have refused. I find this poor business practices taking advantage of me in a situation that I had no control over and could not fend for myself when I couldn't read what I was signing and point blank asking the sales rep if I was signing for anything other than the prepaid fuel plan. She lied and I feel this is a fraudulent business practice.

Fraud it is but since it was all verbal and there were presumably no witnesses, there is not much Mary can do, other than complain loudly and hope that Dollar comes to its senses.

Chris of Bloomington, IL, writes (11/05/02):
I rented a car in August 2002. I was quoted a two-day rental fee (total) of $70.98. When my son returned the car to the Pittsburgh Airport he was charged twice the amount that had been quoted to me. I called the Pittsburgh Dollar office only to be told that they would not or could not do anything about this. In the future, I will avoid using Dollar Rent-A-Car. I personally feel that they misrepresented their fees and are not concerned about customer relations. I compared their prices with another agency that I used and we rented a luxury car later in the year for less that what Dollar charged us for a mid-size automobile.

Rodrigo of Cuernavaca, Moreles, Mexico writes (8/31/01):
I booked an economy car for a week through the Internet, my fare was $124.99 for the week and 28.12 for an extra day. With a full tank of gas as well as state taxes I should have paid around $180.00 or $200.00.

Even though I declined the Insurance charges I ended up paying $457.27. I am aware about the insurance fees that these companies charge, but doubling the bill! That is outrageous.

'Jack', the Dollar assistant then proceeded to start processing the details. When I asked why we needed an upgrade he said that the car booked was only a 2-door compact. He also omitted that there would be an additional cost for this and additional insurance for the upgrade!

When challenged and informed your website clearly describes the 'economy' car as a Kia Sephia 4 door/5 seater saloon (NOT a 2-door compact) he just ignored this and continued to ramble on about superficial detail relating to the upgrade being a "nice" new silver car with only 1600 miles on the clock!

Unable to access the information on the website and quickly becoming exasperated by the patronising and weak sales pitch from your employee and realising we still had a 6+ hour drive to LA on our hands we said we would follow up the complaint at the end of our holiday.

After the way I and my friends were treated so patronisingly and in a way which assumed our money was there for Dollar to take as they wished, I suggest that the unnecessary upgrade and related insurance fees are returned in full and compensation made promptly for the outrageous way in which we were treated and had our valuable time wasted by your employee.

Paul tells us the complaint was submitted more than a month ago and -- surprise! -- Dollar has not yet chimed in with its two cents worth.

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