
Melissa of Delray Beach, FL on July 10, 2009
Upon arrival at the san francisco aiport car center, i arrived at the fox rental care place where, with only 5 people standing in line and only 2 attendants, i waited about 45 minutes before i went up to check out my car. I had just flown nearly across the country, was exhausted and starving to say the least.
After they finally checked me out and told me they were charging me 150 upfront for holding the car (which although most places put a hold on the cards they do not actually process them until checkout. Fox car at that time charged my CC the full 150 and then credited the difference back although i had already paid in full through expedia). Nevertheless, i received the car and went down to find out. Every other car rental place had a office. I finally found the car and thought it odd that they gave me a pre-filled out sheet of current damages but not too off and took it as theme being proactive.
Becuase i was wary that this was not a large company i still perused the car, making sure the checks were correct. I did not scrutinize every last detail as in most car rentals unless it is clearly visible they would not have small scratches, etc marked. I assume that outside of normal wear and tear when a company hands me a car they have inspected for other small minute details. If an individual had to go through every piece of a car that functions and decide if up to par that would be ridiculous. Even with those thoughts, they handed me a non-key entry car and began examining the car and key lock systems. I noticed that one of the car doors DID not Lock at all.
It took me 10 minutes to find someone which i only knew it was them because they finally approached me (since there was no actual office) and he told me to go upstairs and exchange it. I almost died at the thought of waiting back in the line again. Although he called up and told the desk i was coming up i still had to dredge my luggage back upstairs. Thank god they paid attention to me after 5 minutes and at first seemed annoyed and made it as if i didn't want to take the car because it wasn't automatic locks. I articulated that i did not want to be responsible not only for the car but have to worry about my belongings in a car that did not lock at all. He quickly drew up another paper, didn't need me to sign and gave me a keyless entry care that was the same.
Although i did not become more wary at the time he handed me back the exact same mark up sheet and said it's fine to use they didn't need to do another one. In retrospect, how could one car have the same markings as the other and even if they had it the markings registered internally how did i know what to double check for. Unforutantely, i was near the point of fainting as i was ravenous and now spent almost 1.5hrs at the car rental itself. I went back down to the new car- made sure all locks worked and quickly walked around the care to see if there were any large damaged. Except for small scratches i noticed nothing that i needed to make sure was pointed as i still assumed this was a somewhat standard car company.
Long story short the car remained in valet for 2 of the 3 days i was in san fran because i was in the city. (i was careful to not leave it at one of the standard lots but with the hotel valet) and only drove the care one day in which the majority of the day i was driving in the car or it was parked in a covered garage.
When i brought the car back, i noticed the check-in guy quickly pass the marks that i observed as if he knew they were there and lean over the front window (again as if he knew where he should be checking) and 2 mintues later one of the other attendants says, you have a chip in your front window and you need to file a report. I was stymied as when i say a chip i mean the size of half of my pinky nail (i am only a 114pd girl keep in mind so my pinky is small). I went up to the checkout counter and they told me i had to fill out an incident report of which i clearly stated i don't have any incident to report. she said write whatever you can.
I clearly wrote that i highly doubt that this small chip we were referring to was done while in my hands, not to mention it was under the winshield wiper blade and in any cirumstance would be considered nothing more than standard wear and tear. They gave me some song and dance that they check back 2 statements to see if it was there and compare. Really...because my first car apparently wasn't checked off as malfunctioning carlocks!
just yesterday i received a call that a claim was beig processed and sent to a third party and estimated of the damage were being sent to me! I was furious! we all now how car parts work. you do not pay for a centimeter of a window to be fixed. If they fixed anything it would be the whole front window! That is preposterous to ask me to pay for a whole new window!
What a scam artist of a company. In retrospect, i can't remember if it was the original car they tried giving me or the new one but even the seats were dirty. These cars were not kept in good condition and even if they tried to stretch the financial responsiblity for every mark and ding on a car then i would like to know where all this money the are collecting from people (as i read numerous other complaints about the same type of damage claim issues) suppossedly for miniscule damages or damages that were already there. This company must be pocketing all of the excess money that they are making by stretching the truth and delivering horrible customer service.
since this just happened, i will also be making a complaint with the better business bureau and made a formal complaint to my car insurance. Although this seems like a small incident relatively, it has implications for alot of wrongdoing and it seems even worse has been taken advantage of in other peoples cases! As of now, i have informed both my credit card used to pay and my car insurance company that no charges are to be processed.