Alamo Car Rental

Once customer service was opened I spoke with a representative that offered me the solution of driving to the nearest Alamo (Idaho Falls airport) to exchange the vehicle for another one, which was a suggestion I was on board with. Driving an hour outside my intended route, I arrive to Idaho Falls airport, call the Alamo rental office and speak with Blaine, who proceeds to tell me they have not received any information regarding my concerns for the car and will NOT be able to exchange the vehicle If they deem the car's tires in good condition or find the steering wheel doesn’t shake while applying the brakes.

Blaine and Zach (states he’s the manager) meets me in the returns parking lot with a tread depth tool to check the tires and says “there’s enough tread in the tires,” so we’ll need to drive the car to check the steering. I explained to both of them, my father is a certified mechanic and has been for 35 years with a reputable automotive shop, so I know when tires are worn or when rotors need to be changed. That information didn’t stop them from telling me they did NOT feel the steering wheel shake after they took it for a spin and he would NOT be able to exchange the vehicle. So, I then offered Zach to come ride along with me to ensure he was feeling what I felt when driving.

We get on the freeway, take the next exit and voila, the entire steering went shake and you can feel the shake in the front seats. I asked Zach, “did you feel that?” He was hesitant and said “no, actually, yes.” Then proceeds to insult my intelligence even more by asking about the route I drove to get to Idaho Falls, as though I was the one who caused the front end of that rental car to shake. I kindly told Zach, “do NOT try to blame me for Alamo not doing their job in inspecting this car and making sure they’re mechanically safe to drive.” We get back to the rental facility and Zach asked if I was going to take the car and I told him, “yes, when I get back to Seattle, I will have the car inspected by my father's shop and have it certified that all concerns I have will be documented when I return the car.” Zach decided that he’d exchange out the vehicle.

This entire situation was an absolutely asinine and a headache dealing with these two (Blaine & Zach) employees. I guess they didn’t believe me due to my height, my weight or maybe it was because I wore glasses? Whatever, their excuse was, it wasn’t good enough to be dishonest and truthful all in one breath. However, this has taught me a valuable lesson, NEVER do business with Alamo!

To compound the situation, when he questioned the exorbitant fee with an Alamo representative named Geneva - she refused to provide her surname - in the Customer Service Escalation Department, she kept repeating a robotic dialogue which is obviously a script for so-called customer service representatives to reel off. When Geneva was asked to escalate the issue to a manager, she refused and said she was the person to deal with - futile considering she did absolutely nothing but repeat the same thing over and over in the same monotone voice - one could be mistaken for thinking it was a recorded message except for the fact that she most definitely had attitude!!!

The second incident was where I rented a car through Alamo in the Republic of Ireland and attempted to extend the rental period. I had initially paid €1,099 for 26 days car rental and had wanted to extend for an additional 31 days. I was quoted €3,000 as a "special". I was also charged a toll fee with a penalty despite having paid the toll online. The toll should have cost me €3.10 but after paying for it in duplicate and being charged an administration fee which meant that I paid €14.70 for one toll!! I rented through a competitor for less than half the price quoted by Alamo and was given a superior car, a hybrid with only just over 300 km on the clock.

On the way out the girl at the "toll" part of the lot said she'd adjust the price, but I'd have to show what I paid for the Premium SUV vs the Nissan SUV. As I didn't have it on my phone (and cars behind me) she said call office. Expedia did send me the breakdown, and when I returned the car the manager Vladimir said he could not adjust the price from the premium I booked to the SUV class I rented because I paid Expedia-call them. I called Expedia and they researched it and said I had to contact Alamo, though I told them Alamo said they couldn't refund me as I didn't pay THEM.. The run around is very annoying-I paid for a premium SUV and they had many others that day, and what I took was not a premium-so I should only have paid for the class I got.

She says OK....that will be $75 more per day???? While I wholeheartedly agree that it should be more, I have been down this rodeo in the past at peak travel times. Basically got the same type of vehicle for a bout 1k for a slightly longer time and not the whole bait and switch method (first time I had been down that path with this company). Called customer service to talk...no dice....took me four times to actually get someone to talk to me who could somewhat make a decision. Still have not heard back on the bait and switch.

I get that we are in Covid and rental car agencies are ramping back up...but they had 10 full size SUVs...displayed. Hard time believing that wasn't a money grab. And it's really hard to believe that I couldn't reserve one online and the first customer service person didn't know they had an abundance. Also, I filled the tank up right before I returned the car. What did I get on my invoice? A charge for a tank fill up. It literally took me at least four times to call them and have the charge reversed.

So my mother in law and I rented two cars for seven days spending more than $1500 to do so. We reserved them months in advance. I specifically rented a mini van and did so well in advance because I was certain the specific type of child restraint system my daughter requires works in a mini van seat. Well upon arriving to the West Palm Beach location and after hours on a flight with my very young children and 84 year old grandmother we wait to be checked out. First they completely contradict what we had been told on the phone about being able to pay for both vehicles on one credit card, which presented a huge issue. Then after waiting over half an hour for our cars they arrive. I spend over 20 minutes trying to install the special restraint system my daughter requires as well as the regular car seats. My grandmother gets in the car, get the kids strapped in and we go to leave.

At the check out booth we are stopped and the employee says, "I'm sorry, you can't leave in this car. The plates are expired." She tells us to pull over to the side. I do and continue to wait for over 20 minutes. I then go back to her and she says, "I am waiting for someone to bring another van." We continue to wait and after 45 mins ask again the employee says she is going to check herself. A while longer goes by and she comes back saying they have no vans left. At this point I'm panicking, we had a reservation to catch and were already severely late for it. My children are losing their minds and starving having been well over 7 hours since they last ate. And I have no idea what I'm going to do because I don't know if my daughter's restraint system will work in a different vehicle. I implore with the employee named Joylena to check for another van, even a dirty one. She leaves again and comes back awhile later saying there is none.

Now during the well over hour and a half we had been waiting I saw no less than three other mini vans leave the lot. Finally because my children are losing it and my poor grandmother looks like she is going to pass out. I just say, "Well bring me anything." They bring over another vehicle and by the time I remove all the seats and the restraint system install them in the other car and get everyone in we had waited over two hours. Missed our reservations and I have no idea if my daughter's restraint system is even safely installed in the new vehicle. I did not make a huge deal of it at the location because I knew the employee I was dealing with had nothing to do with it and I was also told by her and a manager that my rate would be well compensated and they were very sorry for the problems.

Well I return the car and remind the agent of what happened and inquire about the compensation. They say they will take $160 off the reservation which wasn't even 1/6th of what it cost me but I just want to be done with it. So I sign the paperwork and leave on the 19th. Today I check my bank account and not only did they not honor the ''discount" that they had told me they would give, they charged me over $30 more than the original paperwork I signed!!!

I could tell the return agent was completely blowing me off and not listening to a word I was saying after I had dealt with the disastrous rental with more poise and self control than anyone I know would. All of that self control is out the window now. I will tell any and everyone NEVER to use alamo rental car and I intend on posting every single place I possibly can to warn people to never count on alamo to have your reservation or honor their word when they completely mess up!!! Absolutely despicable!!!

No one seemed extremely helpful in locating it. The manager claimed he asked the 2 guys that cleaned the car about it but it was 100% stolen and the phone doesn't just grow legs and walk away. I know there's no other place it was or it would have been in my pocket. All this happened in the span of maybe 30 mins and that was the last place it was, not to mention someone turned it off after we called it the first time. I tried to locate it using another phone but the 2fa was on it so I couldn't get it done in time and my flight was leaving in 30 mins. 1000$ phone I lost to these Alamo thieves. What's even worse is all the information you carry on a phone these days not to mention all your family photos. It's pretty sad that they have a thief working for them and they didn't seem all that concerned about it.

Please note: I was in a foreign Country at 11 pm. All the other rental car agencies were closed. Alamo didn't care that I was stranded! They took me back to the airport in the middle of the night not caring about my safety. They just told me to get a taxi to the hotel. Extremely poor customer service! I vowed never to use Alamo car rental. I have had to pay more money on two occasions but it is worth paying more for good customer service and peace of mind!