Am I being unreasonable? (car rental) UPDATED PG 1 WITH FINAL RESPONSE FROM DOLLAR

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I agree, in hindsight, that I should have called them right away, but I don't believe that not doing so relieves them of their responsibility to send all renters out in a fully functioning and safe car. The point is that I should not have had to call.

The fact that you chose to keep it tells me it was fully functioning and by your standards safe, so, I do fail to see your point.
You are correct, you should not have had to call, none of us should, however, it does happen, everyone makes mistakes. The turn around for a car is very fast. They do rely on the customer to tell them if something is wrong, they do not test drive every car. In another post there was mention made of bald tires, unfortunately, the person putting the armor all probably did not look at anything but the sidewall, but, in this case, this person noticed a problem and took the time to have it fixed, something you did not do until the end of the rental.
I have no idea what the emails sent back and forth have said, however, I have found that whenever a customer does not get their way all of a sudden the person/s denying the compensation becomes rude and is accused of all sorts of things. Not saying that you are in this scenario, but, I would look back at what you have written and see what has been said, with indifferent eyes.
Often we see things that are not there because we are annoyed, disappointed or just plain angry because we are not getting our own way.
You may not have received a world wide coupon, but, if memory serves, Dollar is a concession, not a national chain, they may well have not the authority to issue a world wide (country coupon).

 

[peachgirl]

I agree with those who think the problem with your complaint is that you waited till you returned the car to notify them. If the problem was significant and caused you to lose a portion of the time you rented it, you should have complained immediately and they would have undoubtedly sent you another car. I can't imagine driving a car around the block that I thought had brake problems of any kind. If the problem was that serious, you should have called the minute you noticed it. If it wasn't that serious you're not entitled to compensation. The fact that you feel they're being rude and insulting now doesn't change whether or not they should compensate you for the car problems. Their attitude may well entitle you to an apology from someone, but it doesn't make your original request reasonable. Just my opinion of course.

 

[LucyStorm]

she held on to the car for the entire rental period and then complained.

Did I? At what point did I say that I did? I simply said that I did not call right away. You are making an assumption here. And I agreed that I should have called right away.

I am only repeating for you what was put in writing to me, and that I find incredulous, as it appears you would too. I was told in writing that they do a maintenance check and a test drive on every car between every rental. Given that, if they had, they would have known there was a problem. I called them rude because they told me that the test drive and maintenance check both before and after I rented this car showed no problems and so no problems exist, in essence, calling me a liar. That, in my opinion, is rude, and definitely not good customer service. Had they said they were not able to replicate the problem, it would be better received than saying that because they didn't see it, it didn't happen.

And before anyone thinks I'm getting bothered by this, I'm not. I truly wanted opinions based on the information that I gave you, and I am certainly getting that.

 

[baileybrad]

LucyStorm,
I posted earlier on this thread. I tried to be fair and objective, I hope I was. I hope that you don't take these responses too personally. Some folks live to tell people that they are wrong. Some just try to answer the questions posed. The bottomline is that something happened to a vehicle that you rented from a company that you believe impacted your trip. I would be bothered too if I was being accused by the rental car company in a round about way that I was not being honest. That issue has nothing to do with if you reported the problem in the proper manner. I am glad that you are not letting this get you down. I hope it works out for the best for you. My reaction when I really believe that a company has not been fair to me is that I will tell as many as I can and hopefully impact their business in some small way....probably not a big deal to a large company but at least it is something.

 

[Lewisc]

Lucy--I re-read your last 2 messages. You asked for opinions I think you're being unreasonable.

I'm sure the maitenance checks between rentals is basically checking fluid levels and the test drive is driving the car from one part of the garage (car returns-prep/wash area-rental spots) to another. I don't think anyone expects a major service between rentals (particularly with low mileage cars). YOU READ much too much in the test drive answer. I don't think any major company would intentionally release an unsafe car.

I repeat many other posters--if the car was unsafe (in your opinion) you shouldn't have driven it PERIOD.
If it was safe enough for you to drive than you're really not owed anything (one free day is a nice gesture).

You're the one accusing Dollar of lying to you (about the test drives) when you didn't notice the problem until you got to Kissimee.

 

[Trekker]

Lucy This is JMHO - your request is unreasonable based on these facts that you posted.

Originally posted by LucyStorm
the car was still drivable

You must nor have felt you were in danger if you continued to use the car.

Originally posted by LucyStorm
I did not notify them immediately

They cannot correct what they do not know about.

Originally posted by LucyStorm
I did not want to take more of my vacation to drive it back to the airport.

This was as you stated your choice, there are several options you did not explore. A closer rental location or having them deliver a different car.

This kind of makes me think of the dinner in a steak house. After having eaten his entire steak He complain that is was cooked wrong and ask for a refund.

I'm glad to see that you are not getting upset with peoples opinions here - that sometimes happens when folks ask for opinions.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I am not asking for full reimbursement, only partial, as the car was still drivable, although it did curtail my freedom to come and go as I pleased and I did not notify them immediately of the problem as it was not discovered until we were in Kissimee and I did not want to take more of my vacation to drive it back to the airport. This was a brake/transmission problem and I seriously doubt that Dollar could have been completely unaware of the problem.

I am sorry, I must have not seen something that mentioned that you called them at all.

You stated brake and transmission problems that were not discovered until you were in Kissimee. Did you not use the brakes or transmission until then? If they were not evident when you left the airport, how would you expect anyone at the airport to pick up on these items?

I do not live to tell people I think they are wrong, I have better things to do with my life, but, I can say that in this instance you are expecting way more than you should be compensted for.

We experienced a problem with a car a few years ago, it bumped in the front wheel when going around corners. Being the safety nut that I am, we called the rental car agency, they asked if we felt safe driving it back and we said, sure. We brought it back, they gave us an upgrade and off we went. It took about 90 minutes to leave the resort, drive to the rental site, exchange the car and get back to the resort. I guess, to us, 90 minutes for our lives, safety (to us and others), and freedom of movement was not an issue, it was, indeed, a no brainer. We were very happy with the comp. upgrade and did not feel we needed anything else in the way of compensation. Different folks, different strokes.

 

[mickey4ver]

We found a gash in one of our cars tires that we rented from Dollar. We called them immediately, and after a merry-mix-up with us not waiting around the hotel long enough for them to show up with a new car (which they did, we missed them) we ended up driving over to the Marriott and did an exchange.

When we turned the car in at the airport, we were told to please go over into the office area (me figuring because this was not the original car we rented) and was pleasantly surprised when the clerk said they were going to comp us a day's rental fee for our inconvenience, which I was NOT expecting but pleasantly surprised and happy to have a day's $$ knocked off.

So, overall, I think Dollar does try to make things right. Another time in another state, I dealt with a very rude, uninformed young fellow working the Dollar rental counter...but I stood my ground and it all worked out. I would say for the most part, I'm very satisfied with renting from Dollar and will continue to use them until they do something that they won't fix or make right when I feel I have a legitimate gripe.

To the original poster,I hope the problem resolves itself to your satisfaction.

 

[LucyStorm]

bump