Slightly rough experience Alamo

[Luv Bunnies]

We rented from Alamo at MCO last December. When we booked, we chose an "intermediate" which the website would be a "Pontiac Grand Am or better." The specs on the car showed that it would easily hold 4 passengers and 4 pieces of luggage. There were four of us - 2 adults and 2 kids. We each had a suitcase and a carry-on. We figured there would be no problem fitting everything in the trunk. If the carry-ons wouldn't fit, we'd put them on the floor, between the kids in the back seat or on our laps. You only carry the luggage to and from the airport and the rest of the time it's not a problem.

After claiming our luggage, we went to the Alamo counter. The woman pulled up our reservation and said we should upgrade to a minivan or SUV. We said the intermediate would be fine. She said an intermediate would be a Toyota Corolla. I said the website indicated a Pontiac Grand Am or better. She said, no, we would only get a Toyota Corolla and it wouldn't hold all of our luggage. I said we have no problem putting that much in our Honda Civic. She said Honda's have deeper trunks than Toyotas.

I think Alamo was running a scam. They bait you with one type of car and then try to get you to upgrade when you get there. Our reservation was pre-paid so it wasn't easy to just walk to another counter. After we discussed it with her for a while, she could tell we weren't going to budge. She said, "Well, since you got incorrect information from the website, let me see if there's a Grand Am available." She looked and, voila, there was! So, basically, we got what we had reserved and paid for in the first place because we didn't fall for her little upgrade tactic. And all of our luggage fit just fine in the trunk!

I'll be avoiding Alamo from now on.

 

[BonnieA]

We rented from Alamo at MCO last December. When we booked, we chose an "intermediate" which the website would be a "Pontiac Grand Am or better." The specs on the car showed that it would easily hold 4 passengers and 4 pieces of luggage. There were four of us - 2 adults and 2 kids. We each had a suitcase and a carry-on. We figured there would be no problem fitting everything in the trunk. If the carry-ons wouldn't fit, we'd put them on the floor, between the kids in the back seat or on our laps. You only carry the luggage to and from the airport and the rest of the time it's not a problem.

After claiming our luggage, we went to the Alamo counter. The woman pulled up our reservation and said we should upgrade to a minivan or SUV. We said the intermediate would be fine. She said an intermediate would be a Toyota Corolla. I said the website indicated a Pontiac Grand Am or better. She said, no, we would only get a Toyota Corolla and it wouldn't hold all of our luggage. I said we have no problem putting that much in our Honda Civic. She said Honda's have deeper trunks than Toyotas.

I think Alamo was running a scam. They bait you with one type of car and then try to get you to upgrade when you get there. Our reservation was pre-paid so it wasn't easy to just walk to another counter. After we discussed it with her for a while, she could tell we weren't going to budge. She said, "Well, since you got incorrect information from the website, let me see if there's a Grand Am available." She looked and, voila, there was! So, basically, we got what we had reserved and paid for in the first place because we didn't fall for her little upgrade tactic. And all of our luggage fit just fine in the trunk!

I'll be avoiding Alamo from now on.

Sounds just like the same b*tch I got in November. Trying to tell us that the car we drove at home was much bigger than the car we reserved and wanted to argue with us about it.
If I ever use alamo again, I will use the kiosk.

 

[Southernswthrt1]

I agree with you here. I don't rent cars often (maybe 3 times in my life), so have very little to base a full judgment on. This was a comedy of errors, and I was not expecting such a tough time of it. It all came out fine in the end, and no major harm done, except minor irritations to start off and end my vacation.

Just wanted to make one thing very clear...I was not HOPING for an upgrade. I was not LOOKING for an upgrade. I was looking for a car in the lot to which I was assigned. Service and setup was sloppy in this instance, which led to the misunderstanding of which cars were available to me. I'd heard that sometimes upgrades are given, but was not looking for one. I saw a small car, it was cute, it was in the proper lot, I thought that was the one I was supposed to take (it was even the one closest to me...I didn't go seeking it out). Just thought it was lucky that it happened to be convertible as well as compact. Was I wrong? NO. They were, for putting it in the wrong lot.

I posted this here not for sympathy. I posted it as a cautionary tale. I do not know if this level of incompetent service is prevalent in the car rental industry or not. I do want to alert people to what can go wrong, and how this particular company handled it on this particular occasion. I'm certain that many more people have good experiences with Alamo...or else I doubt they'd stay in business very long. I do know they lost my business, unless it can be shown that I would get the same treatment or worse elsewhere. If this is the standard of business industry-wide (and I doubt it is), I'll just have to learn to accept lousy treatment as my lot in life (not likely!).

Sorry...I wasn't insinuating that you were hoping for an upgrade. We all read so much here about people getting "free" upgrades once they get there, and I just wanted to suggest to those that are planning that they choose the category they really want/need.

I'm sorry your experience wasn't a good one. Honestly, when we arrived there was an Avalon on the full size aisle, but I opted for the Buick Lacrosse because I had a feeling that something would go wrong or there would be confusion at the checkout. I think it's probably the luck of the draw and the crew working that day.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Neelloc]

We had a similiar experience in March.

I left DH and the 2 kids at the luggage claim at MCO and went down to Alamo to pick up our "midsize" car. Went to the mid-size row and found it to have about 5 Pontaic G-6's and 3 minivans....we were told any car in the row. When we asked a lot attendant he said not the minivans.....so how come they were in the row? He said someone "mistakenly" put them there. Okay, I can see 1 mistake, but 3????

Then I asked why the Chevy HHR's were in the full size row when they were in the mid size row the last time we rented 6 moths prior.....they said they were full sized but sometime they have to shift cars when they are low.

There were also mini-vans in the "full size" row.....so they need to get their "sizes" and answers straight.

 

[bavaria]

I will agree that any company has its bad days, but Alamo seems to consistently get more bad press here than any of the other major companies.

From overzealous upsells to no cars to misplaced cars, we do see more Alamo complaints than Budget, National, or Hertz

 

[lats118]

This past October we reserved a 'compact' (Chevy Cobalt) from Alamo. We gave our paperwork to the attendant in the garage and were directed to the 'compact' row. When we got there the ONLY car there was a Chevy HHR. Since this was the only car, and there were no attendants around we loaded our luggage and drove to the checkout booth. I had noticed a dent over the front wheel well which I pointed out and told the attendant that there were no 'compacts', only this car in the lane. She said OK and we drove out. As we drove off I noticed footprints (!) on the front window on the passenger side. As we got closer to WDW I noticed that the gas gauge was reading only about 1/4 full! It appears that someone had just returned the car and it was put back out without being serviced or checked out. I didn't think it was worth mentioning the gas when I returned it, but I'll be sure to check the gas next time. So far this is the only 'bad' experience I've had with Alamo. (Other than the time that they pushed me to upgrade from a compact to a mid-size, which I refused, but then found that they gave me a mid-size anyway (without paying extra) when I got to the garage!)

 

[PatMcDuck]

It's bash Alamo time. I reserved a full size SUV for last August, and at the time it said it seated 7 ADULTS, and 3 large luggage, 2 medium, something like that. Envoy XL it said. It was more capacity than the minivan, as it was listed. We have 6 adults and a wheelchair, so it looked good to me. Got a great price thru Costco site. We arrived in August, afternoon, it was 95 degrees, and we wandered around looking for the full size SUV aisle. I have Alamo's Quick Silver, and can pick my car. We could not find it, so I went inside to ask, they said those are SPECIAL cars, they are never just out there. OK, whatever. They said they would have to call for one, a Durango, and it was a much smaller SUV, like a a standard SUV. They said, you will never fit in it. Take a (regular) minivan. I said NO. They stalled and stalled, and sorry, I have a kid outside melting in his wheelchair, give me a break! The girl at counter felt bad, I could tell, about how the managers were messing with us. One took us and showed us the minivan, I said no. They said they could offer us anything, fine print said "or comparable". I said comparable means same amt. of seating, same luggage space, or bigger! Not smaller. This went on for an hour. We took down names for complaints. We would not budge. FINALLY they gave us a minivan, the 8 seater, Toyota Sienna? It was huge, so we caved. They HAD the full size SUVs, by the way, Surburban type things, they just did not want to give it to us at the rate we had.

( I had the printout of the size vehicle, they no longer show the same capacity for full size SUV, they changed the website, changed the vehicles since this occurred.)

While this all went on, people were coming in about their bills, they were paying $600 -$1200 for weekly rentals! People were so confused why it was so high. One guy was apparently not a experienced renter, and thought the upgrade charge for a larger vehicle was per week, not per DAY. Crazy.

Would I use Alamo again??? Maybe, if price was right. I have used them before, no problem.......

 

[vacation dreamer]

Rental car agencies are just like restaurants and hotels. They will have their times where customers are displeased, but overall it's not the norm. For example, I love eating at Outback, and DH and I freqent there about 1-2 times a month. Have we had bad service? YES. Have I had a bad meal? YES. Does it happen ALL the time? NO. Can two customers experience completely different situations on the same day at the same time? YES.

My point is that every company has their problems. I just wanted to post on this thread that we had a wonderful experience renting from Alamo last week. It couldn't have been easier or more convenient. They had by far the best rate of all the agencies. We reserved full size because we wanted the space. With rental car agencies, you should book what you want, NOT hope for a free upgrade.

I think it's the luck (or lack thereof) of the draw as to if you'll have a negative experience with a rental car agency, restaurant, hotel, etc. Anyway, just wanted to post a different view...

thank you for the above message. Since I was directed to Alamo by people on this board, I was starting to regret my decision.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

thank you for the above message. Since I was directed to Alamo by people on this board, I was starting to regret my decision.

No, no, don't regret your decision. Just keep your eyes open, and don't take any nonsense from them. Enjoy your trip.

 

[CarolA]

thank you for the above message. Since I was directed to Alamo by people on this board, I was starting to regret my decision.

'

You weren't directed there by all of us...

Sorry, but this board votes "cheaper" over any other considerations. I decided that Alamo was off my list if they GAVE me a car LOL! I am willing to pay for service.

As I indicated if things go fine then they will be fine, if not then you get what you paid for.

I also do NOT enjoy starting my trips having to fight with the rental car company over car size, insurance etc. The fact that people use the "kisok" to RUN away from the horrid counter service is telling.....

(And now we discover they can't PARK cars either! )

 

[keishashadow]

Was that what the several hundred dollar "no show" charge was? An attempt to placate me for failing to provide me with a car after an HOUR wait in thier line. (I was then told it would be a miniumum of another hour or two for my car, not by the rep who handed me the contract but by the agent waiting outside to tell us this.....) I took the contract back inside told them to void it and took a cab!

This was not in MCO, but NEVER AGAIN!!!!!~

As to "note to self" at a GOOD rental car company they ask you as you leave "is the tank full?" Hertz ALWAYS asks me this.....

yikes! I do think that the law of averages is against you in travel...travel enough & you eventually get the shaft

OT - do think the idea of "no show" charge a good thing, possibly help cut down on multiple advance bookings that aren't cancelled beforehand . Know they overbook, yet it's not a great feeling to show up in the garage & find empty aisles in your class.

Tried Dollar last trip, still not thrilled that we were charged an hour extra that covered the 20 min. we waited in line in TPA to return our rental car @ offsite local. Perhaps a date/time punch system when you line up. Not a big deal, yet added to the slow "Express" pickup system @ MCO (wherein the regular line patrons processed quicker than the 1 window they had dedicated to their "preferred customers" ) just annoying enough to not earn our repeat business either.