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Started By
Message
Spinoff: Worst rental car experience
Posted on 8/5/21 at 1:44 pm
Posted on 8/5/21 at 1:44 pm
I'll start with my story:
I rented a car at the Denver Airport with National. It was a 6 month old Dodge Charger. I drove it to Beaver Creek CO to do some skiing. We were staying at the Park Hyatt there and parked it in the garage. We didn't really need to use it much since everything is right there in the village and there is a bus system.
Anyways, we end up meeting some out of town friends of a friend that happened to be there at the same time. They want to hit up a dispensary but no ubers would come up to Beaver Creek. I offer to give them a ride around 7 pm the night before we're set to fly back from Denver. We were going to ski a half day the next day and optimize our time with not a lot of cushion.
I was lucky that I offered because I go down and the car won't start. The electronics are acting really weird (things blinking, can't put it in neutral, etc). I talk to valet and they say they'll go down to try and jump it. They bring the box down that they swore was charged and couldn't get it to start. I go look and can't figure it out either.
I call national's customer service. And this dude seems stoned AF. He's acting like pretty much nothing can be done but says he'll try to call a tow truck and get back to me. He calls back and says "are you aware that you're in a winter storm right now?" I tell him it's barely dusting and isn't supposed to be over an inch for the 24 hr window. He says "well, the tow trucks won't come out." I'm pretty pissed and ask "so you're telling me that basically if a single flake falls from the sky I'm stranded?" He says "yeah, honestly it's entirely up to them. Sometimes they won't even come out in a cold rain." He says he'll keep looking and get back to me.
At like 11 pm, he calls back and tells me he found someone. Just leave the key in the glove box and they'll swap it out. 2 hrs later I don't hear anything and I realize I only told him where I was once on the initial call. I call back and the lady says she can't find any ticket that has been entered. She just kept repeating "There's no ticket, so idk what to tell you.." I tell her then I guess we just have to start over. She says she'll try to get someone out as soon as possible but it could take up to 12 hrs. She asks about access and I tell her it's in the basement garage. I give her the clearance and she says that won't work for the truck.
See next for continued
I rented a car at the Denver Airport with National. It was a 6 month old Dodge Charger. I drove it to Beaver Creek CO to do some skiing. We were staying at the Park Hyatt there and parked it in the garage. We didn't really need to use it much since everything is right there in the village and there is a bus system.
Anyways, we end up meeting some out of town friends of a friend that happened to be there at the same time. They want to hit up a dispensary but no ubers would come up to Beaver Creek. I offer to give them a ride around 7 pm the night before we're set to fly back from Denver. We were going to ski a half day the next day and optimize our time with not a lot of cushion.
I was lucky that I offered because I go down and the car won't start. The electronics are acting really weird (things blinking, can't put it in neutral, etc). I talk to valet and they say they'll go down to try and jump it. They bring the box down that they swore was charged and couldn't get it to start. I go look and can't figure it out either.
I call national's customer service. And this dude seems stoned AF. He's acting like pretty much nothing can be done but says he'll try to call a tow truck and get back to me. He calls back and says "are you aware that you're in a winter storm right now?" I tell him it's barely dusting and isn't supposed to be over an inch for the 24 hr window. He says "well, the tow trucks won't come out." I'm pretty pissed and ask "so you're telling me that basically if a single flake falls from the sky I'm stranded?" He says "yeah, honestly it's entirely up to them. Sometimes they won't even come out in a cold rain." He says he'll keep looking and get back to me.
At like 11 pm, he calls back and tells me he found someone. Just leave the key in the glove box and they'll swap it out. 2 hrs later I don't hear anything and I realize I only told him where I was once on the initial call. I call back and the lady says she can't find any ticket that has been entered. She just kept repeating "There's no ticket, so idk what to tell you.." I tell her then I guess we just have to start over. She says she'll try to get someone out as soon as possible but it could take up to 12 hrs. She asks about access and I tell her it's in the basement garage. I give her the clearance and she says that won't work for the truck.
See next for continued
Posted on 8/5/21 at 1:47 pm to LSUsuperfresh
I ask the valet what to do and they just shrug and say they didnt know. I ask them if they're telling me I have to push it out of the garage myself. They just respond with "I just thought you should be aware of the situation.."
At this point I'm about to commit to just leaving the car and figuring that national would just lose the record. I go to sleep. The next day a more senior valet gets it started. I cancel the tow that was still pending and drive back.
If I hadn't tried to start the car the night before I would have been totally screwed. It blew my mind at how unable they were to get things sorted though. I thought about what would have happened if I would have slid off the road and gotten stuck and they just left me stranded.
I'm definitely a lot more carefully on my ski trips with rental cars now.
At this point I'm about to commit to just leaving the car and figuring that national would just lose the record. I go to sleep. The next day a more senior valet gets it started. I cancel the tow that was still pending and drive back.
If I hadn't tried to start the car the night before I would have been totally screwed. It blew my mind at how unable they were to get things sorted though. I thought about what would have happened if I would have slid off the road and gotten stuck and they just left me stranded.
I'm definitely a lot more carefully on my ski trips with rental cars now.
Posted on 8/5/21 at 3:56 pm to LSUsuperfresh
I got a metallic Ice Blue PT Cruiser in KC one time - and the key got stuck in the ignition. took it back, and Avis tried to charge me a tank of fuel because it wasn't filled up before the swap.
the worst part was it was metallic Ice Blue and a PT Cruiser.
the worst part was it was metallic Ice Blue and a PT Cruiser.
Posted on 8/6/21 at 8:12 am to Thracken13
I'm starting to see a pattern. Don't rent a Chrysler.
Posted on 8/7/21 at 8:15 am to LSUsuperfresh
I had an issue at Nashville Airport last year.
We had reserved a modest rental because we werent really going need it very much for the few days we were there.
We do the paperwork, fill out the forms and proceed to the lot to pick up the car. Once there the attendant sees that there’s three of us and says he’s going to upgrade us to a larger vehicle at no charge. So we go from a small sedan to a nice SUV. Pretty cool upgrade.
You’ve probably already figured out where this is going. We return and I drop the keys off and get back on my return flight. We probably put fewer than 30 miles on the vehicle over the past 3 days. The tank still reads full.
Several days later I’m reviewing our company’s credit card charges and see the rental fees which are $1000+ more than we had agreed to. We call the company who says the attendant indicated that we decided while in the lot that we wanted a larger vehicle and consented to the new charges.
Of course this was false and because there was no-contract signed for the upgrades we were ultimately refunded for the overcharges. However, had I not reviewed the credit card statement carefully I’m pretty sure I’d of missed the switch. I don’t know if this is an ongoing scam; however, I’m sure that others have fallen for it.
We had reserved a modest rental because we werent really going need it very much for the few days we were there.
We do the paperwork, fill out the forms and proceed to the lot to pick up the car. Once there the attendant sees that there’s three of us and says he’s going to upgrade us to a larger vehicle at no charge. So we go from a small sedan to a nice SUV. Pretty cool upgrade.
You’ve probably already figured out where this is going. We return and I drop the keys off and get back on my return flight. We probably put fewer than 30 miles on the vehicle over the past 3 days. The tank still reads full.
Several days later I’m reviewing our company’s credit card charges and see the rental fees which are $1000+ more than we had agreed to. We call the company who says the attendant indicated that we decided while in the lot that we wanted a larger vehicle and consented to the new charges.
Of course this was false and because there was no-contract signed for the upgrades we were ultimately refunded for the overcharges. However, had I not reviewed the credit card statement carefully I’m pretty sure I’d of missed the switch. I don’t know if this is an ongoing scam; however, I’m sure that others have fallen for it.
This post was edited on 8/7/21 at 8:19 am
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