DO NOT use dollar rental car to save money

[Grumpy's Gal]

WE WILL NEVER USE DOLLAR RENTAL CAR TO SAVE MONEY AGAIN! We just got back from DW -- we had reserved a rental car from Dollar. We were to pick up a car at the airport and return it at a downtown disney hotel. That worked GREAT for our planning as to save time -- we could catch a bus from downtown disney to our hotel. Well, eventhough Dollar had our home phone number, our home email address, and our home mailing address........they didn't notify us that they were CLOSING the Dollar office at Downtown Disney. So we landed in Orlando, picked up our rental car.....and then they told us. Yes, they had known for weeks and refused to answer us when we asked why they didn't notify us. So we couldn't return the car at Downtown Disney. Had to drive a LONG, LONG way and return it on International Drive. We also had reserved to pick up a car at Downtown Disney eight days later.......of course, they hadn't notified us that we couldn't. They had accepted our reservations just fine.......never mentioned that the Dollar location was CLOSED. So, it took several hours out of our trip to make arrangements to travel to drop off and pick up our rental car. They just said there were too many reservations to have contacted us. They refused to bring the car to our hotel. How many others had problems with Dollar? I know we won't rent with them again no matter how good the rate is. And neither of our two times did they actually have the size of car that we have reserved a month ago. We were VERY disappointed with them.

 

[CarolA]

I have actually always had good service with Dollar. Sorry about your experience and thanks for the warning on the DTD location.

 

[Cinderellagrl]

I just rented from Dollar last week also. I didn't have any problems, but we returned our minivan back at the airport that we picked it up from.

 

[Magix]

I had a problem with Dollar in Las Vegas a few years back, when they added all kinds of extra charges into the bill when we returned our car. Really lame stuff that increased the total a great deal. They wouldn't even talk about it there at the rental location. I had to call their corporate offices when I got home. They did finally refund the extra charges, but I will never rent from Dollar again and have advised all of my friends not to rent from them. I don't even look at their quotes anymore. Don't need to do business with a company like that.

 

[TOMAR@SSR]

Sorry to hear you had trouble with Dollar rent a car. We used them last year with no problems at all. We picked up the car @ the airport, but dropped it off there also. They also gave us a coupon for a free upgrade, so were going to use them again
Anyway , again, sorry for your troubles

 

[i like stitch]

We had terrific experience with them 2 weeks ago at MCO. Sorry to hear about your problems with Dollar.

Would speaking with the Dollar manager help? You were given poor customer service and "a higher-up" at Dollar would benefit to know about your experience. Although I wouldn't demand or expect it, voicing your concerns may be "rewarded" in some way.

 

[tlmcmurray]

I have a reservation with them so I called them. They stated that that location is closed due to hotel renovations. They stated it will reopen on Dec. 20.

Sorry you had a mess.

Traci

 

[HookedOnDiz]

We always rent from Avis, but this past March we rented from Dollar at Ft. Lauderdale Airport to save a few dollars.

Never. Never. Never again.

They advertised as being "onsite" at the airport, but when we went to their counter there was no one there. Not even a sign or a note to explain what was going on. We finally had to ask the girl at the Avis counter and she told us tha we had to go outside and get on a shuttle for Dollar. So much for being "onsite".

When we got to the Dollar "offsite" rental counter we found the line out the door. We waited over two hours in line for our car - not a great experience. They were WAY understaffed and the people they did have working were rude and seemed to move slower than paint drying.

Maybe we just caught them on a bad day - I don't know, but I do know that I will never use them again. It was not worth the $30 we saved over Avis.

 

[grlpwrd]

Originally posted by tlmcmurray
I have a reservation with them so I called them. They stated that that location is closed due to hotel renovations. They stated it will reopen on Dec. 20.

Sorry you had a mess.

Traci

Confirming your reservation is always a good idea , but still... OP, sorry you had such trouble.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

you know what, WE DID confirm our reservation. That is the sad part. When we called to confirm our second car being picked up on the 8th day of our trip, they CONFIRMED it. And the place was closed. Go figure.......and now they have charged us for TWO DAYS on our charge card when we had the darn car for SIX HOURS. I am so NOT impressed with them.

 

[WDW_DV]

We kept asking why they didn't notify us of the change and they kept saying "It wasn't our choice to close it". I guess the fire marshall made the hotel close during hurricane repairs. Fine. I have no problem with that. But why - when they have our email address and other contact info - could they not do us the courtesy of TELLING US before we got to Orlando?

This should have been a fantastically easy thing to do, and the fact that they didn't bother speaks volumes for how much they care about their customers.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

and we had the car for SIX hours and they charged us for two days. And there is no one at their office who can help with customer service in the evenings. You can only call during the day which is inconvenient if you work...... Ah well. A lesson learned (for me) and future business lost (for them.)