Alamo Car Rental

Car did well until the next to last day when it overheated twice in the mountains. My husband looked at the fuel levels and they all were good but we were a little leery of trying to cross the Continental Divide with an overheating car. We called the Roadside Assistance and spoke to Adam. After many back and forth calls, we were told they would have to get a tow truck from Pueblo and pick up our car in Gunnison. Then the tow truck would take the car to Montrose, exchange it for another and bring it back to us in Gunnison and then the tow truck would have to drive back to Pueblo all on our dime because I did not purchase the Roadside Assistance package. OR we could drive the car to Montrose ourselves and exchange the car. This would only take maybe 3 hours round trip for us and the car was still reliable on fairly flat road. We chose the latter.

Adam said he would notify Montrose of us needing to exchange a car and everything should be ready when we got there. Of course when we got there, there was no advance notice that we would be coming but Joe was right on it! Only problem here was no full size cars available so we ended up with a mini-van. That was ok since we only had one day left. When we returned the car to DIA, the manager on site, Carlton, was more than kind and understanding and actually gave us a credit toward the cost of the rental for our inconvenience. I would think Alamo should look into their training and customer service. Many of the reviews are awful. I was fortunate and had helpful and kind people on my rental this time but it would make me think twice about renting from them again.

I had the transaction on my account that said $78 from Alamo that had already been charged but she still refused to refund my money. How on earth can Alamo have someone like this working for them? I was refused service based off her own opinion and was refused to be given my money back! This is the craziest, most unpleasant experience I have ever had from any service/business in my entire life and I cannot believe anyone would have someone as disrespectful as this woman working for their company. This ordeal made me 2 hours late, wasted my time and money.

I landed at 1:30 am, with 30 mins to spare before closing time. After the shuttle, I arrived at the Alamo desk at 1:45 am, 15 minutes before closing time. After being stuck in the Dallas airport for 8 hours, I was ready to get out of the rain and into my bed. Unfortunately, the Alamo location at the airport CLOSED EARLY...even with me calling ahead and telling them that I was coming. They not only didn't wait for me, they closed up early and left me stranded at the airport, in the pouring rain, at almost 2 am with my luggage and no way to leave.

I called Alamo customer service and they basically said they couldn't do anything for me other than file a complaint. So at 2 am in the pouring rain holding all my luggage in a rental car parking lot, I'm on the phone filing a complaint. I never heard a single thing, so a week later, I followed up with an online complaint. I was told someone from the MCI management would be contacting me to discuss my situation. Here we are a week and a half later and no one has contacted me yet. Still. This has been the most insanely frustrating process I've been through. Apparently, do they not only not care about the customer at the locations, the management team doesn't care either.

When we arrived to pick up the car they ask for my driver's license and I told them I was not driving, my husband was, I just made the reservation because I am the one who pays the bills. So we gave "Rob" my husband’s license and he said "We charge ten dollars a day extra for additional drivers." I told him that I was not driving AT ALL. He told me that the reservation was under my name and we couldn't change it to my husband. Then he convinced us to get the fuel for 2.75 a gallon, what a deal! Except it wasn't, you can't choose how many gallons you want. He charged me $43.94 for fuel. When we dropped it off we had only used half a tank, but instead of subtracting money they charged us more, now it was $49.43. It ended up being more than $5 a gallon, we would have been better off filling it up ourselves. Plus, most airports have a gas station close or on site. Do not get the fuel option, if you do make the mistake of using Alamo.

He also tried to convince us to get their insurance, I said “no” because I have travel insurance through my credit card and most car insurances cover rental cars. Even though I made the reservation online and it states “save time, save money” it did neither. It took us over 30 minutes to stand in line (5 min) and then deal with Rob, the man checking us in and charging us more. He was also rude and had a different man standing behind him who didn’t say anything, which I felt was awkward.

When waiting for Rob to add more onto my bill, I overheard the woman next to me having similar problems with her attendant. The contracted price I paid for the reservation was $542.93 online, but when all was said and done it was $655.73. I was very upset and Rob didn’t even try to explain anything or to calm me down. I left the building talking to myself in outrage. Another attendant was outside and did ask why I was upset and if there was anything he could do, which was nice. When I told him my ordeal, he just shrugged and said there was nothing he could do, then why did he even ask! We got a full-size Nissan and went on our way. My two boys and husband were silent and scared and there was a very negative atmosphere in the car. What a way to start our trip! I cooled down over time, but was still very upset.

A couple days later while we were sitting in a downtown park in Pittsburgh, a woman was complaining about Alamo as well. When we asked why, she told us that even though her daughter was only going to drive the car one day, they charged her the additional driver fee for the whole time they rented the car and it was an extra $15 dollars a day. When we turned the car in at the Pittsburgh airport, the lady scanned the plate and typed in something from the dash and handed me a receipt. Somehow, my total was even more $662.32, that is $119.39 more than what I thought I would be paying!

I am outraged with the terrible service and extra money I was charged through Alamo. I will NEVER again use this company and will be telling everyone I know what an awful experience my family and I had. Their motto “save time, save money” is a joke. If you need to rent a car, go through a different company even if it is a little more. You will save the headache of dealing with a poorly run company and chances are you will save money going through someone else. The only reason I am giving Alamo 1 star and not zero, is because the Nissan we had was a nice car. Good job Nissan!

The next day I called the desk and asked them to change my car; they offered me one that just went into the garage for repairs, or one that was even BIGGER than the one they gave me. I asked him to get a car from another location, and he told me I could drive to Lyon (159km away) and take car of the swap myself. The car was way too large for the villages we were in, and caused a huge amount of stress for the entire week, and put a really sour note in the vacation. The ALAMO commitment is a scam and the service even worse. When I returned the car, the people taking in the cars were so rude that one started screaming to my family member and gave him obscene sign language gestures. I will never rent from Alamo again.

They quickly opened the car that morning (we dropped off the car after midnight) and rented the car right away that day. Employees took our items out of the trunk before the car went back to be rented and we never managed to get them back despite numerous calls and visits to the rental counter. The employees and managers knew our things were stolen but would not do anything about it. Their bogus online reporting system is worthless and only results in useless email notifications that they have not found our items.

We never received any reply to our email to upper management despite being told that their policy is to reply would within 24hours. The managers at the Fort Lauderdale airport counter appear indifferent to our situation. One even wanted to only give us a pickup with an open cab when we swapped our locked car. We have young children and luggage to drive back to Orlando.

I would not rent from Alamo again. Everything is ok if you do not run into any problems, but if you do there is no assistance. Furthermore, there is no consistency of the information provided to clients and they do not even appear to follow any policy. Employees are not policed by management unless it is done right in front of them at the drop off locations since they cannot steal items left in the returned vehicles. Our car was dropped off at their repair lot so there appears to be no monitoring of employees there. Dealing with this company has been a major disappointment.

A week later, I got an email from an office in France (Geneva is right on the border) saying they had no idea what I was talking about and asked that I forward all my documentation. I sent the rental agreement and the damage report. A week later, I got another email asking for a claim number. No one had given us a claim number, so I called Alamo again, and they again sent an internal query. Three days later, I received an email from France saying they had no record of the claim and to provide the claim number. I told them it was their responsibility to create a claim number.

At this point, I called Alamo again and told them I would be going on social media to complain about the runaround Alamo was giving me unless they resolved this right away. This time they routed their internal query to their Zurich office. Lo and behold, they had information on our claim, but they had never bothered to contact us. Another week went by, and we finally had the repair estimate. The entire process has taken two months. This whole experience tells me *never* to use Alamo again. If we hadn't kept dogging them, we'd still be out our $5000 deposit. On the upside, our credit card company, Capital One, was incredibly efficient from start to finish and covered everything.

My wife and I had to leave the ALAMO office because our flight was about to depart and we almost lost it. After our flight back to our hometown, I was calling ALAMO Lost and Found checking if they found my cross, but no luck. I tried everything and there is no refund and not even a feedback; they just said that they can't find the item. For me the guy in the black jacket and the parking guy in the vest are the culprits. And also the staff in the office never helped me at all, they just delayed the situation forcing me to leave when my flight was about to depart. The only one option I have is to sue ALAMO, something I am still considering.

On one occasion someone actually got into the car with us to direct us. 3. It would often not find a GPS signal, once keeping us waiting up to 30 minutes in a small town at midnight, till it got it. 4.On occasion it would work, but often would not know where it was. It sent us on the highway and promptly said, “Turn left.” Of course there were no streets to turn on. Within a minute it said, “turn back.” We often preferred not to even try using it, since it was insanely frustrating, and so we resorted to the old fashioned way of asking directions. Also, there was nowhere to mount the GPS. We had to hold it if we considered using it.

July 18, after the first full day of driving we called the office in Brindisi to ask them to send us another GPS. We were going to be in a place for a week so we could get it in time. We spoke to Francesco who at first told us to call the Roadside Plus assistance, which we had paid extra for. We had already called them and was told there was nothing they could do unless we had car trouble. Francesco said he’d exchange the GPS, but we had to go back up north to Brindisi airport to exchange it. We were all the way down south. We did not want to waste an entire day to exchange it. Francesco finally said, when you return the car you’ll talk to the office. Locauto had no locations in the south. We had to hang onto the useless GPS till we returned it on the 28th.

We returned the car on the 28th, as scheduled. Francesco was out on the lot to check it in (after a half hour because their computers were down). We reminded him about the GPS. He said to tell the office inside. The three agents inside, including the manager, Alessandra repeatedly insisted that they had never had trouble with the GPS. The GPSs were always updated and worked well. (I suspect they may have tested them around the airport only and not in the rest of Puglia.)

Anyway, they could not open up the reservation. Francesco had closed it. I went back to ask Francesco to open it. He said, “Sure. I’ll call them. Go back inside.” He never called. We insisted that they adjust the charge. They said all we could do is follow up with the main office. We asked them to write a note on the contract that we had complained about the GPS. They absolutely refused. The GPS was the main issue, but when we picked up the car, and drove out of the airport I noticed that the gas gauge was well, well below the full mark. I didn’t want to waste a half hour to go back to the airport to complain. (At drop off, Francesco said, “Was it closer to full than empty?” That was satisfactory by him.)

Also, they did not have the car that we had reserved, so they gave us an “upgrade”. The upgrade was way too large a car to drive in the narrow streets of southern Italy. The experience with Alamo/Enterprise was infuriating and obviously in bad faith on their part. On many occasions I have rented cars from Alamo, through Expedia, in the U.S. and Canada, and have never had a problem.

My family flew into Atalanta, GA, rented the vehicle from there, and attempted to drive into Tennessee for the family reunion. I was traveling with 8 people total, my grandparents (both of whom suffer from Alzheimer's/dementia), two aunts, and three cousins (aged 22, 18, and 12). My aunts and grandparents were in one car, and I was in the other. From the Atlanta airport, we drove to Hiram, GA to visit a cousin for dinner. We then tried to continue on to Chattanooga from there. About thirty minutes later, the car began to shake and we could hear flapping noises. I saw a piece of the tire come off in the rear-view mirror! We pulled off the highway and into a Texaco in White, GA. There, we discovered a large, crater like hole in the wheel. The other car with my aunts and grandparents came to the gas station to wait with us while we called roadside.

It took about half an hour to even get a human on the phone. From there, things went downhill. I cannot seriously believe that the person I was talking to on the phone is entrusted with small emergencies (those that do not warrant a call to 911 or police). He could not keep his words, or answers straight. He was vague and indifferent. As the call went on, the stress of the situation seemed to make him stutter and flail. He seriously suggested that I leave all of my family behind, go with the tow truck back to Atlanta, and exchange the vehicle there. He did not seem to understand that we were in the middle of nowhere, in an unfamiliar environment, with two disabled persons and someone underage.

I finally came up with the solution of taking a Lyft to Chattanooga, TN and leaving the car behind. It was getting dark and where we needed to be was still over an hour away! It took almost two hours to come up with this relatively simple solution --- and it was me who did it! Though I was reassured that notes were being taken of this incident, when I got to the Chattanooga Airport the next day to get another car (instead of driving to Nashville, for a day trip, as planned), Alamo couldn't even confirm that my disabled car had been towed! I had to wait ANOTHER period of time on the phone with roadside while they attempted to confirm that.

I was flabbergasted at the level of incompetence and lack of communication on Alamo's part. Rental cars are not supposed to fail, and I know companies do as much as they can to assure that. But, if a vehicle does, there should be some sort of failsafe in place to protect drivers and customers. There was none here for me, and Alamo has failed at every level. Though my request for reimbursement was noted in an email from the manager at the Chattanooga Airport, though I spoke to customer service the night of the ordeal, and though I have sent two emails to customer service, I have yet to be contacted or reimbursed for the nearly $70 I spent on that Lyft ride. Do not rent for Alamo. It's not worth the risk.

Came to drop-off time at the address specified in both copies of my contract, and the drop-off location was CLOSED plus without any parking anywhere! I'd inquired at the rental pick-up desk about arrival after closing and was told there'd be no problem if I arrived after hours as there would be a drop-key box and a parking lot. But there was NO key box, plus NO parking and NO drop-off lot - nothing, in the middle of the city where parking would only be illegal.

So I called Alamo from inside the car to be put on on hold for 20 minutes and was given another drop-off location, fortunately close by at Enterprise Rental Car in San Francisco but when I arrived at Enterprise I was promptly told that I could NOT drop off my Alamo car since it was not an official Alamo rental car location! But this time I was too tired and frustrated and insisted on dropping off the car without a receipt, risky liability for me. Alamo may be a Budget rental car company but the constant misinformation, despite my own attempt to be prepared and informed beforehand, was ridiculous. I would not rent from Alamo again, how could I, as no one there had ANY accurate information at any point either before or during my car rental.

I called back and received a different supervisor whom also argued with me about the rate stating that the rate at the time of an extension is not given the original rate, but whatever the current rate is instead and she can't change it. I've never experienced anything like that with a rental company before. I even quoted that my rental agreement AND the Travelocity website both state IN WRITING that an extra day is a fee of: $** and it gave the same rate I was originally given. She blatantly said she understands what I'm seeing but that they can't change the rate. So you're telling me you don't have to abide by the written agreement, but I do? This company is crap when it comes to Customer Service.

By the time we gave the car back, a “supervisor” was rude and told us that the liar girl was right because we signed a contract. So remember to refuse all - Alamo nevermore, to see more informations about Alamo, ** and check how many complains like mine exist. Unfortunately only knew about this later. My advice - BE CAREFUL WITH ORLANDO’S AIRPORT STAFF, THEY ARE NOT TRUSTED AND HONEST!!!