Alamo/National Car Problems

[susie6505]

Arrived on Wednesday (10/06/04) at 10:00pm at Orlando Airport and went to get my rental car which I had reserved on-line. Got in line, which was long, and was told they had no cars. I was given a letter that stated the cars were taken 1-way and not returned because of the hurricanes. I asked the gentleman that my hotel had an Alamo Rental Car office and if I could get a car there. He stated there were no cars anywhere. So, I waited 1 hour, and was told there would be no cars until Monday, Oct 11. I was leaving that day. They gave me an account number to take to a counter at the end of the terminal for a transportation company to take me to my hotel, which was 12 miles from the airport. I was told the wait was over 1 hour!!! I decided to get a cab. $40.00 included tip. Went to check in my hotel, and started telling the security gaurd my story. She informed me that the Alamo office had a parking lot full of cars! The next morning I went down to the office and I proceeded to tell the agent about my experience and wanted to get a car here. She said no, because I did not have a reservation at this location. She called the manager, and she said no. Needless to say, I was very angry.

When I got home Monday, I went to www.planetfeedback.com and wrote a letter to the CEO of Alamo and stated the above. The only thing I wanted was the reimbusement for the $40.00 and the cab ride to GatorLand for $60.00. Last night I received an email and they are going to send me a check for $100.00!!

I wanted to let anybody who had problems the week of 10/06/04 to 10/11/04 to use planetfeedback and maybe you can get some real compensation for your troubles. Even though I will be getting my money back, I will never rent from Alamo/National again.

 

[missyc]

My cousin flew in on 10/8 and was told there were NO cars available for him either. They eventually "found" a minivan for him. $600 for the weekend. (Friday afternoon 'til 1pm Monday). Is this normal? He was SO mad! I've never rented a car before so I don't know what they run.

 

[susie6505]

Originally posted by missyc
My cousin flew in on 10/8 and was told there were NO cars available for him either. They eventually "found" a minivan for him. $600 for the weekend. (Friday afternoon 'til 1pm Monday). Is this normal? He was SO mad! I've never rented a car before so I don't know what they run.

Not usually. I have never had a bad experience renting cars, ever! This was the first. They had families stranded with no cars and the "compensation" they were offering was just a ride!! What really got me was the location at my hotel which had a lot full of cars, and would not help at all!!! I would have your cousin contact Alamo/National and see if he can recoup some of the money he put out. I had heard that Budget was charging $125 a day for compact cars. Talk about taking advantage!!

 

[missyc]

So if these rates are well over the norm, this is price gouging, right? Are they that much higher?

 

[susie6505]

Originally posted by missyc
So if these rates are well over the norm, this is price gouging, right? Are they that much higher?

Well, my reservation at Alamo was for a compact car (chevy cavalier) for $27.00 unlimited miles. I have gotten better rates, but this was a week rate. Weekend rates are usually much better, i.e., I have rented a mid-size (monte carlo) for pick-up on Thursday, drop off Monday, for under $70.00!!! Unlimited miles. Most rental car agencies make their money from the businessman who needs a rental car for the week. Those rates usually run $40.00+ per day. My hubby rents from Hertz a lot and he has a contract through his company and he gets a rate of $37.00. The internet is a great source for discount rental car rates.

 

[twinsmom&dad]

That seems like price gouging to me. I think I would contact the company and see what they would do about reimbursement. I know Fla. is into catching price gougers and i believe they have a law against it. If the company is no help try bbb or someone in the fla. government.

 

[susie6505]

Alamo sent me an email and said that my $100.00 check was sent for processing and I should receive it within 45 to 60 business days! I responded" that's about how long I stood in line at the airport". We shall see.

:

 

[turnerx5]

You mention problems with Alamo; how is National involved in the problem?

 

[susie6505]

Originally posted by turnerx5
You mention problems with Alamo; how is National involved in the problem?

National owns Alamo. They are the same company.

 

[DVC Jen]

we have had horrible problems with Alamo.. overcharging.. them not accepting our auto insurance.. lying

we did eventually get it all taken care of and full reimbursement.. but what a pain they are.

Never ever ever again.

 

[CarolA]

A few things for future reference.

1. Take a print out of the reservation
2. Do NOT leave the counter. Ask for the manager THEN! Explain that you have a reservation they accepted and they OWE you a car. (It helps if you have a second person... send them to the garage to actually see what is there. They can come back and tell you. You can tell them they can upgrade you for free!) DO NOT LEAVE THE COUNTER UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED. (They can also "sub lease" from other agencies. I had Avis do this once)
3. If they offer you an upgrade for fee, turn it down. (Lots of times they do this when they are short on cars and then when you don't pay, you get the upgrade anyway)

4. And my best advice. AVOID ALAMO! A horror story in Atlanta is why I won't ever use them!

Actually the rental agencies get away with these rates ALL the time. I had to have a Hertz corporate rep fix a reservation once where Hertz charged me $70 a day and refused to honor the corporate rate since it was "President's Day" week. In probably several hundred Hertz rentals that has been my only issue so I really can't complain.

 

[hockey mom]

I was in that same line-up but with National. I can understand no cars due to 4 hurricanes but it was the way it was handled. One guy working the desk with about 15 in line and the manager hiding in the back knows full well they do not even have any cars. Finally someone comes out to tell everyone that they will pay for mears to get you to your hotel and hope to have cars for the next day but the catch was you had to pay for your reservation right then. The next day the number was impossible to reach anyone on but when we finally did they told us a car was being sent to our hotel as we speak-NOT. Day #3 need to check out by 11 and move to Pop- they say we will have our car by 11-no such luck so they pay for cab ride to Pop- car we will delivered to Pop- we go to DD for lunch and right in the middle get a call that DH has to get back to Pop and sign the same paper he has already signed.

 

[n2mm]

These stories are so horrible....what a terrible thing to happen on vacation. We leave this week and are holding our breath on the rental car situation. I had made 2 ressies, one with Dollar and one with National, with full intentions of cancelling one before we leave. After reading these stories I will probably keep both and hope one of these companies have a car for us. The same thing goes for my dauther, she too has 2 ressies, Dollar and National for a minivan and will hold on to hers until she gets there. I certainly understand this usual situation, but you would think that National (and other rental companies) would put their heads together and bring in help from other locations around the US to help get this mess straigtened out. I have my fingers crossed that we get something. We have a full size reserved at both companies.

 

[susie6505]

Originally posted by CarolA
A few things for future reference.

1. Take a print out of the reservation
2. Do NOT leave the counter. Ask for the manager THEN! Explain that you have a reservation they accepted and they OWE you a car. (It helps if you have a second person... send them to the garage to actually see what is there. They can come back and tell you. You can tell them they can upgrade you for free!) DO NOT LEAVE THE COUNTER UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED. (They can also "sub lease" from other agencies. I had Avis do this once)
3. If they offer you an upgrade for fee, turn it down. (Lots of times they do this when they are short on cars and then when you don't pay, you get the upgrade anyway)

4. And my best advice. AVOID ALAMO! A horror story in Atlanta is why I won't ever use them!

Actually the rental agencies get away with these rates ALL the time. I had to have a Hertz corporate rep fix a reservation once where Hertz charged me $70 a day and refused to honor the corporate rate since it was "President's Day" week. In probably several hundred Hertz rentals that has been my only issue so I really can't complain.

I had my printed reservation in hand. They would not honor it. I have to agree that the way they handled the situation was terrible. While I stood in line, I called my hubby, who was in Jacksonville at the time, tried to use his Gold Status with Hertz, and they also did not have any cars. I could have stood there until 2:00am, but they were not budging. Alamo called the Orlando Police Dept to keep things calm.

But what surprised me was that the hotel I was staying at (Sheraton Studio City in Orlando across from Wet-n-wild) had an Alamo Rental Car office and the parking lot was full of cars the whole time I was there!! Not only did they not honor my reservation, but why didn't they transfer the cars to the airport for other reservations they knew were coming up!!

Never, never again!!

 

[missyc]

I could understand the hurricanes being used as an excuse (they said they were sent out of state) a few weeks ago....but we haven't had any hurricanes in several weeks now.
Maybe they are being used by the adjusters and those who's cars were damaged? Either way it's just not right to screw people like this.
And remember, if you pay higher rates than are reasonable REPORT it. Not only to the agency headquarters, but to Florida authorities (Attorney Gen. Charlie Crist?) as price gouging. Don't know how much they can get away with, but at least they will be investigated if people report it. It's worth a shot. I can't imagine that charging someone $600 for the weekend is acceptable (my 1st post about my cousin last weekend).

 

[CarolA]

I flew into Orlando last night to see my Dad. I asked Hertz about this. They said thier shortage was NOT due to out of state cars, but just several conventions and heavier then usual reservations.

It sounds to me like Alamo really screwed up. I still would not have left. Did you physically verfiy there were NO cars in the garage? That is actually pretty vital since rental car agencies LIE! (Trust me I once pitched such a fit at Avis that they found me a car. I spoke to the manager. Took out my cell phone and called the 800 number and asked WHY if I had a reservation I did not (A) have a car or (B) had not been notified. It was NOT pretty. I wound up with a luxury car from another rental company at my midsize rate and after my success several others used the same tricks to get thier cars!) They kept asking me to move away while they waited on other customers and I kept saying NO. (I explained that if they did not have ME a car what were they planning to tell anyone else!) I would have stayed there until 2 AM (I can be flat out stubborn when I want to be and car rental companies bring it out in me.)

I would probably call Alamo and ask for additional compensation for the rude manager at your hotel. There was no excuse for that and something tells me that Alamo/National double booked and dumped the "cheaper tourists for some later arrivals. Maybe the cars were "hidden" at your location.

Rental car agencies can and routinely do charge outrageous amounts so you probably are not going to get far under price gouging since they will have a history of charging these rates.

 

[DebbieB]

Did anyone have an Emerald Club or Quick Rent reservation where they went directly out to the garage? As Carol said, I wonder if the garage was actually empty. I've been there when the aisles were pretty empty but there were lots of cars sitting in the return aisles. I'm sure many people would have taken a car that had not been cleaned vs none at all.

 

[msdis]

We arrived in Melbourne today and almost did not get our car. They were way oversold there too and I joked about how I bet MCO had plenty of cars and he said no that they were oversold by 1000 cars. We assumed he meant them but in reading the rest of these posts I'm not sure the extent of what he said. He said their new fleet had not arrived and had left everything short. We had issues w/the coupon I had then something else so we never ended up at the "we don't have a car for you" issue. OMG, I would have lost it. We are in Kissimmee at OKW as VB resort is closed. That would have been a costly taxi cab ride. I wonder if all these cars were damaged in hurricanes or people drove them out of state and dropped them elsewhere. We have ALWAYS been happy w/National and it is a horrible predicament for their employees to have to deal with.

 

[kilee]

I don't know. We arrived 9/29-- only days after Jeanne came through. We used Alamo and they were short on cars in the garage. We got a car (not getting wasn't ever mentioned). However, the whole level only had a handful of cars (every other time I've been there it's usually very full of cars). It's possible that a lot of people took the cars during the hurricane's to leave as one way rentals home. Especially if their flights were cancelled.

 

[susie6505]

Originally posted by CarolA
I flew into Orlando last night to see my Dad. I asked Hertz about this. They said thier shortage was NOT due to out of state cars, but just several conventions and heavier then usual reservations.

It sounds to me like Alamo really screwed up. I still would not have left. Did you physically verfiy there were NO cars in the garage? That is actually pretty vital since rental car agencies LIE! (Trust me I once pitched such a fit at Avis that they found me a car. I spoke to the manager. Took out my cell phone and called the 800 number and asked WHY if I had a reservation I did not (A) have a car or (B) had not been notified. It was NOT pretty. I wound up with a luxury car from another rental company at my midsize rate and after my success several others used the same tricks to get thier cars!) They kept asking me to move away while they waited on other customers and I kept saying NO. (I explained that if they did not have ME a car what were they planning to tell anyone else!) I would have stayed there until 2 AM (I can be flat out stubborn when I want to be and car rental companies bring it out in me.)

I would probably call Alamo and ask for additional compensation for the rude manager at your hotel. There was no excuse for that and something tells me that Alamo/National double booked and dumped the "cheaper tourists for some later arrivals. Maybe the cars were "hidden" at your location.

Rental car agencies can and routinely do charge outrageous amounts so you probably are not going to get far under price gouging since they will have a history of charging these rates.

This is the emal I received from Alamo/National regarding the letter I sent them through www.planetfeedback.com:

"Thank you for your email inquiry. I appreciate the opportunity to
address your concerns. We sincerely apologize for the unfortunate circumstances that you have been placed in due to a lack of cars. These cars were not available due to the fact that all reservations were overridden to provide transportation to FEMA employees who, as you know, were in Florida to assist with the overwhelming amount of damage from the hurricanes. We will certainly honor your request for compensation by check in the amount of $100. Please respond with your mailing address and reservation in order to have this processed".

Its not that I do not believe this statement, but what really upset me was the Alamo location at my hotel had a parking lot full of cars, and was less then 12 miles away from the Airpot, where they could have easily sent employees or hire temps to transport those cars to the airport. I got no response for that statement.

But what really ticks me is that she stated they "overrode" existing reservations to accomodate FEMA without informing anyone until I got there! I even checked to make sure before I left the night before and the reservation was still valid!!! They could have put something on the website or emailed me to let me know before I got to the airport. What about the paying public who were coming in? These families had saved money, planned, and took time off work to have a nice vacation, and have it spoiled because they felt the Government needed first class service!

Not a "customer friendly" company if you ask me. Plus, I promise they gave FEMA a huge discount!!!