MCO Alamo Abandoned at Night?

[inkkognito]

Recently we used Alamo for a quickie Orlando area weekend trip. As usual, we got them through Priceline and got to MCO around midnight. The counter process was painless (no line...there was one Alamo person working who was waiting on someone else, but the National person was free so she checked me in). No pressure for upgrades or insurance. She just asked once and that was it.
When we got to the garage, there was a lady wandering around. She was concerned because they were out of her car class, and she told us a worker had said to take one in the next class up. I told her that had happened to us a couple of times before and that the upgrade was free and we never had any problems with their honoring it. She got in her car and drove away. Meanwhile, we discovered there were no cars in our class either. All the compacts and economys were gone, and intermediates were getting low. We went to booth, and there was no one there, nor any workers in the immediate vicinity. Since we had to take a more expensive car, I wanted to confirm before leaving. We waited quite a while, and meanwhile some returns pulled in, but no worker ever showed up. Finally we just took an intermediate and I told the attendant at the check-out booth that all the smaller ones were gone. He knew that was the case so it was no problem.
My husband said, "What if we were doing a return? How long would we have had to wait?" Just curious if anyone else has run into this. We're usually there around midnight but I've never noticed a total absence of workers before.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[CarolA]

I have returned rental cars at times when the places were deserted. You take your agreement and go stand in line. Don't wait on them, they probably have closed down the quick return due to lack of customers at that hour.

 

[safetymom]

Not sure what Alamo does but when I rent places and the office is closed upon return there is a dropoff box for the keys and contract.

You mark down the mileage and give them the keys. Never had a problem doing this.

 

[nuthut]

The poor attitudes and lousy "customer Service??? reps" of Alamo have abandoned all their customers at MCO. What a bunch crap they dish out!!!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by nuthut
The poor attitudes and lousy "customer Service??? reps" of Alamo have abandoned all their customers at MCO. What a bunch crap they dish out!!!

At midnight what fool would expect it to be fully staffed? (not directed at you Barb). The economy is not good, cutbacks happen, everywhere.

I have yet to receive anything but excellent service from Alamo at MCO.

 

[sln88]

receive good service, or they would not have posted that message.

That gives you the right to call them a fool?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by sln88
receive good service, or they would not have posted that message.

That gives you the right to call them a fool?

I did not call them a fool. Read the post again.

And, nuthut did not receive good service, in his opinion, because he returned his car early and they actually wanted to charge him for an early return.

 

[inkkognito]

Wow, I didn't mean to start any controversry!
The lack of an agent in the garage didn't really affect us, since we weren't doing a return. I just like to be able to double check with someone before taking a higher car class when they are out of what I reserved. The woman who had arrived shortly before us had found someone, so the attendant must have just left. We fly in a lot around midnight, and this is the first time I've ever seen no workers around the cars. I don't know what the people who came in with returned cars did, but if it was me, I probably would have gone to the counter.
Alamo is not my favorite (I prefer Avis because you don't have to stop on the way out of the garage), but I don't mind them at all, especially when the price is right. They must know when they will be having a lot of people coming in late because once, when we got in after midnight, there was an international flight with dozens of people renting from Alamo, and the counter was fully staffed (usually it's only one or two people at that hour). And there was no problem with the upgrade...I was just curious because this was the first time I've ever been there and not found a worker in the garage.
William Shatner says that it's Avis this weekend (same midnight flight).
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com