Say no to Alamo!!!!

[nuthut]

Because I turned my car in a couple of hours early Alamo (Six days and 23 hours) changed the weekly rate of my full size rental from $137.49 to $529.99 and charged my Discover the difference. The persons working the service counter at the Alamo Orlando airport would not change the charge back to the correct rate either. I told them I would take the car back and return it later and they told me I no way. The reservation was closed and I had to pay $529 plus taxes. Just a warning to all of you out there. They are waiting to rip you off.
Alamo is looking to take you to the cleaners. Just say no to Alamo. No more rentals at Alamo for me. "Renting happy smiles is their policy, but not their action" I will now see if discover will remove the extra $400 from my credit card.
Just say no to alalmo.

 

[denisenh]

Thanks for the info!
Thats just terrible!!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

That stinks! I'm so sorry it happened! We just got back from using National, and returned the car early, and the price was basicly what we were quoted (our quoted price - and then for gas, which I kind of forgot about! LOL).

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> I told them I would take the car back and return it later and they told me I no way. The reservation was closed and ...

That is the key part of the argument in your favor. Did you speak to the head manager as well?

Normally, car rental companies have the right to back charge you the daily rate if you don't keep the car long enough to qualify for the weekly rate, but it should be no more than the daily rate already showing on your contract, perhaps labeled extra day rate. But most weekly rates apply to rentals that go into five days.

Write a letter to Alamo right now, send copies to both the corporate headquarters and the rental location. Don't wait for the credit card bill to arrive. Have another copy of this letter to send to the credit card company if needed. Feel free to use the company's advertising slogans in your letter, for example Alamo has used the slogan "Drive Happy". Your letter might say something like "My drive turned mightily unhappy at tne end.".

For others eavesdropping on this thread, do not sign a document or charge slip or employee evauation that has words or numbers you don't agree with or that you might want to dispute in the future, without your first writing the words "under protest" above where you would put your signature.

More Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Beverly Lynn]

don't let this go. also contact your CC company and dispute it. do you have the original agreement with the original price on it? an hour shouldn't make that much difference. Contact their headquarters cust svc dept asap. and stand your ground. let them know youy will contact any and every orginazation that you can and travel boards etc to let others be aware of this practice. I hope that you also have everyones name that you spoke to as well.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

nuthut,
that is really different, I have turned my car in early (sometimes 3 hours) many times and have never encountered this. Perhaps a computer glitch? I would definitely call them at their customer service number.
With Alamo anything over 5 days is considered a weekly rental.Also, how long was the rental supposed to be?

 

[nuthut]

Today, I contacted my local travel agent who booked the reservation for me. After quite a long phone call to Alamo they adjusted the rate to what it was supposed to be and Alamo told my travel agent that they need to be careful when booking Alamo because this was their new policy and it will be enforced from now on. My travel agent told them she had booked their last Alamo resevation!!!

So, you better watch out..

Bruce at customer service (?) told my agent that all I had to do was keep the car for two more hours and there would have been no problem. I think this is a bunch of nonsense and will be using other rental companies from now on. That is Alamo's loss because I rent at least 12 times a year.

 

[sgtdisney]

I have had nothing but problems with Alamo in the past. From 1 1/2 hour check out lines to bait and switch to pricing problems. I will NEVER use them again. They could quote a minivan for 20.00 a week and I would pass it up. Brings all sorts of new meaning to 'Remember the Alamo'

 

[baileybrad]

Alamo will not keep this so called policy in place very long. As soon as word of mouth spreads about this new change in policy, they will take it in the pants. Personally, I would have protested the charge on my credit card and told Alamo to come and get it. We deal with only on-property companies in Orlando not that this would make a difference for a trumped up charge such as this. Their recent reorganization may soon become a Chapter 13 if this type of stuff continues. Sorry to hear about your problem but much thanks for spreading the word. That is the only way to stop such a stupid and poor practice.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

you would think that they would rather have the car back earlier to get it ready for the next customer. they shouldn't bite the hand that feeds them.

 

[seashoreCM]

Has anyone found any rule that allows Alamo to do that? I looked on their website (alamo.com, click the help button) and could not.

Their weekly rate according to the rules on the web site applies to rentals 5 to 7 days.

I would also question their charging more than the smallest of (1) the daily (or extra day) rate quoted on your contract, (2) the daily rate as of when you made your reservation, (3) the daily rate that you would get for making a future reservation at the moment you returned the car, if you returned the car before 5 days have passed.

 

[loveswdw]

We used Alamo once & NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, EVER AGAIN!! Don't get me started!!!

I won't go into the gory details but it wasn't quite as bad as this! That's crazy! Dollar was going to give us a price break if we turned in our car early-- go figure. We have used Dollar the last two trips & they have been fine.

It just all the dang add-ons & extra fees & special taxes that up my bill!! Not returning the car early!! What are they thinking???!!!

 

[spruce]

We used Alamo 3 times and only ever had 1 problem. I too returned a car a few hours early and my bill was $27 more because of the early return. This charge was reversed before I left the counter. This was over a year ago so I don't know how new this policy is...spruce

 

[Esmerelda]

Gee Nuthut, I'm so sorry to hear of your mishap with Alamo....but I too am in that "just say no to Alamo" group.

We had the worst car rental experience with them a few years back...actually we had a bad one...decided to give them another chance....didn't matter...was even worse?

I won't even go into details about what all we encountered but it wasn't a pretty story. You ahve to be very very careful because alot of times travel agents CAN get a better rate with Alamo and there is a reason. (it took me a while to figure that out years ago but then it made perfect sense) Their customer service is basically non existent. I can honestly say we didn't encounter any rate/fee problems...just everything else.

If I were you, I would keep on top of this matter and definitely not let it slide. I have returned rental cars early before too National (maybe 2 hrs early) and NEVER ever had any slack from them about anything.

I have rented at Orlando from National (my fav), Avis, and most recently Enterprise (great rate and experience!) but my heart is still with National.

I hope you get satisfaction out of all of this and your charges are adjusted.

best of luck to you,
E