Payless Car Rental Reviews

I immediately reported everything at pickup and later by email (with photos). For over two weeks, I received only apologies and generic replies from five different agents. No real solution, no urgency. Eventually, they offered me USD 100 compensation, which doesn’t even cover the extra Tesla Supercharger costs, let alone the time and frustration. If this is how Payless defines customer service, I strongly recommend renting elsewhere. Cheap rates mean nothing if the car is in bad condition and support doesn’t take responsibility.

He had no response for any of these answers.

When I called Payless customer service and asked these same questions, they first asked me to verify my rental by my email address- I gave it to them. They let me know they sent an email earlier in the day, letting me know that my rental was cancelled. I told them I never received the email in which they replied, "that's because we don't have your email address." Okay- so you just asked for my email address to verify my rental, but now you don't have it.

The CSR said they would hold a car for me for the following day, and we could get a hotel at the airport, to which I asked, Where they planning to provide vouchers and/or pay for the hotel? The answer was no. I asked them how they planned to make it right and the response was they weren't going to. We ended up paying $250.00 for an Uber to our location. I WOULD NEVER RENT FROM THEM AGAIN - terrible customer service, dishonest, zero problem resolution. Steer clear.

Called the rental number and was told if I felt the car was unsafe to drive I could have it towed but possibly at my own expense. Or, if I wanted to turn it in for another vehicle I would have to drive all the way to the airport on Knoxville and see what kind of vehicle was available. Most likely it would be an SUV, which I have never driven and didn't want to get, as a sedan was most likely not available. When I asked to speak to Manager no one was ever available. I would have towed the car but why should I be responsible for the charge? And, why should I have to take a day to drive back to the airport on my vacation to pick up a another vehicle? And why could I not be guaranteed a sedan if I did go back to the airport? No help from the customer service reps, no managers available to help, no concern for a customer given an inferior car for a week.

Once I got to the rental location, I approached the desk and gave the customer service rep my ID and reservation number. Once the rep found my info, I was told that I was too early for the reservation and needed to wait. No problem...understandable. After about 20 minutes, I was allowed to come back up to the desk to process my rental. The rep I dealt with was pleasant and gave me a good recommendation on somewhere to eat. Everything was going well until it came time to authorize my car rental purchase.

Once I inserted my card, everything was confirmed and approved. By the way, please make sure you have a credit card for the rental. I saw at least two people come in with debit cards not be allowed to get their rental. Here's where the issue occurred. Somewhere in the rep's process, it was discovered that I had a rental car out in their system. I confirmed to the rep that I have a rental through Avis back home that I was using for business purposes. Once this was discovered, a manager was alerted of the matter. The manager stated the only way I could get the rental would be if I had another driver on the vehicle. Since I was traveling by myself, I was not allowed to get the rental. No problem...understandable.

Seeing that the authorization on my card went through, I asked the rep when the authorization would be removed so that I could attempt to rent from another company. The rep stated that they didn't process anything so nothing should've went through. Houston...we have a problem and it's not understandable. I advised the rep there absolutely was a charge that went through and I needed to know when it would be gone. They stated it should be cleared after midnight. Unfortunately, the authorization is still on my card and I wound up utilizing rideshare companies the whole weekend to get around. It was a great inconvenience to what I wanted to do.

I don't know the process for getting reservations done, but something needs to be instituted that prevents this from happening to anyone else again. I probably could've went to another place, but my time had already been soured by the experience. I hope this finds the right department so that this step could be implemented.

When I was booking the car I went thru and declined all their add ons. I declined theit added insurance. I declined their gas fill up. I declined their towing service. I said no to every one of their add ons. I said all I want is a car at the $23 per day as you advertised. That's all. Even though it was already up to $36 per day. So we go to pickup the car and even though it's already paid for they need to see the card which paid for the rental to verify she said.

So finally we are on our way when I get a notification from my credit card co. that Payless Rentals has hit my card with an additional $425.34 on top of the $257.61. They already charged me making this rental fee $684.34 or $97 per day. I'm like wtf so asked what this ridiculous charge is for and they email me a copy of the break down and all the extra items I refused were on there saying I accepted them all plus a break down of if I didn't return the car on time which that would be the last thing I would do came to $178 which they charged my card.

If anything I would get that car back to them way before it was due but not to early before the return date because you get billed for that. This place is a total nightmare and how they are allowed to stay in business is beyond me and I read where their parent company Avis is becoming the same way. I'm telling anyone who is even looking at booking a car from them don't do, read the reviews and if the BBB gives them a 3 FFF rating that is a definite red flag