Dollar Rent-A-CarReviews 92

Before leaving to return the rental to their LAX location about 45 miles away, I filled up the gas tank. But I used up a bit of gas due to heavy traffic and high a/c usage. To ensure they got their car back with completely full tank, I stopped at the gas station right across the street from their return location. It was $3 and some cents, paid cash and didn't feel a need to ask for a receipt. But Dollar rental car charged me penalty of $10 or $15 for not showing them the gas receipt. They agreed that the gas gauge showed completely full. The rude manager guy insisted that their staff told me about the policy simply because they were instructed to do so. How does he know all his staff were doing 100% job 100% of the time? He then told me it was in the contract that I signed. That, I believed even though I didn't want to go thru the contract which was literally at least 2 feet long narrow piece of paper and in fine prints. I realized that it was intentional cheat. Who can read such a documents, but it does cover themselves. All it takes is don't advise the customers verbally and Dollar gets to collect extra money.

For work, I used to pick up a rental car on Mondays and return on Fridays. For decades of renting cars, I had never had any rental car company requiring a gas receipt. But still easy to comply if they had told me so. But really, how is a gas receipt going to tell Dollar whether the customer filled up the gas tank fully? It only shows how much gas was purchased, not how full the gas tank was filled up. IMO, completely intentional to profit unethically.

My friends and I went on vacation and rented from this company and we ended up cutting our vacation short and came home 3 days early. The guy at the return center told us to call the next day about getting refunded for the days we didn't use. So we called and spoke to this guy and he said we would be getting back 300$ and it should be in our account within 5 business days. A month passed and still no refund. So I call again and the lady who was helping us this time told us no refund could be issued. Like what!? The guy before totally just lied to us and this company is such a scam. Got charged for 3 whole days that we didn't use the car. I will be telling my friends and family and everyone I talk to, to never use this company ever. Such a scam

Avoid renting a car from Dollar at all costs. I was in need of emergency roadside assistance at 11pm one night. I called and called then called again to get through to someone, anyone. For HOURS I called trying to get in contact with their "24/7" emergency assistance line. No luck. I called the company, even the airport trying to get help. I was totally stranded in a dangerous part of town and ended up contacting the police because I needed help. I was in danger, Dollar never answered. Moving past this experience, I finally returned home to find that they had charged my card twice. When I called to discuss it with someone, they said they had no recollection of any of those transactions. Again, spending hours getting the run around, they said they had no record of my rental in Texas... Um what? I was NEVER in Texas. They refused to cooperate with me about the fraudulent charges, or being stranded. This has fraud written all over it. There are other great companies to rent a car from. Don't choose this one. It turned out to be a dangerous, expensive, stressful, and dishonest situation.

Giving them 1 star is being nice. I reserved a car over a week in advance. They had a new girl do my transaction for her first time(her name was Candy), without assistance. Her face looked puzzled, and I knew something went wrong. They swiped my card 4 times and claimed it came up declined. Me being confused because I was just paid that morning so there would never be a way for it to have declined. Sure enough, the transaction was taking out of my account 4 times. The 5th time my account was fraud-ed and it was declined. This happened Friday at 12pm, its now Monday and I have yet to receive any of my money. No car rental! Trip was cancelled! Money lost on hotels i reserved the list goes on. Now they tell me I have to wait 5-7 business days for this to process before my claim from my bank to proceed. Even though MY BANK CONTACTED THEM WITH AN AUTH NUMBER SHOWING THEY PROCESSED THIS BOGUS MONEY SCAM-still wouldnt refund me. Now I have to wait 7-10 business days to see my money. 401.00 charged 4 times, ridiculous. Worst company ever. DIDNT NOT CARE this happened, offer me deals, nothing to make up for THEIR MISTAKE. Do not, do not use this company! I reported them to the BBB, this is completed fraud! How van they hold my money on a rental I never got! THIS HAPPENED AT THE CHICAGO MIDWAY LOCATION-

This is for the SFO location.

TL; DR This place lies to you, charges you extra, then tries to blame you.

Last year, over an hour wait to get a car. This year's wait (12/23/19) was short, but they don't have the car type we reserved, which I know happens and that was ok. But the service desk then lies and says they'll give us a different car type for no additional charge or we could sit and wait for the original car type we booked. The service agent then starts talking quiet and says she could even save us money by us taking this other car type. I thought, its Christmas they want to get rid of specific car types that people aren't renting and I was fine taking anything as there were just two of us. We verified with the employee by showing her our original charge via email ~$530 and she said "yep, you will save around $200". She pointed out a total cc authorization on our receipt of ~$360 and said that would be our end price paid and we would get a refund because we had prepaid more than that.

When we returned the car, they wanted to charge us $167 beyond our original charge for the "upgrade" we took. We went back to the service desk and was told to see the manager, Rosaria (or a name similar to this) at the office in the garage. Went to the garage and asked for Rosaria the manger and a male employee said "You can deal with me." Asked again for a manager and he repeated "You can deal with me." Never gave us his name or said he was a manager. When we discussed our issue with this male employee he very rudely said it was our fault and we "should of checked our bill" or " should of verified this rate with multiple employees". When I told him that was BS he said "lots of employees do this." I told him I was following up with this and asked for his name and he refused to give us his name or a business card. He said he could "knock the extra charge in half" then at the end of the conversation said he was only authorized to take off $75 of the $167.

I guess we fell for a typical 'bait and switch'. Shady employees at a shady company. Don't give them your business. If you have no choice, make sure to verify everything on your receipt with multiple employees as the "manager" suggested /s Currently following up with someone who claims they are the owner. I'll update this if I get a response. If this isn't resolved, reporting them to the BBB and disputing the charges on my credit card as this is a total scam being ran at this location. Look at the other reviews, they are scamming people left and right.

******* read the Better business bureau reviews*********

Rented a one way rental with Dollar car rental and was told it would be 69.00. I was then charged 369.00 plus holds of another 400. I rented a car on Friday, November 15 from Orlando airport to drop it off at Tampa airport. I picked the car up at approximately 830p. I then drove it an hour and a half to Tampa. When I dropped the car off at 10p, there was no one around to speak to or go over finalizing the rental, just a sign that said to leave keys in the vehicle. The next morning at 630a I received an email stating the final charges were 69.00 and they would refund the 200.00 hold, which they did. Four hours later I received another email stating they were now charging me 369.00 for damage to the vehicle. They then put another 300 then 100 hold on my bank account. When I called, they told me it was for smoking in the vehicle. I don't smoke. So, now they have 769.00 of my money in my account. I called customer service three times, each time I was sent to a call center outside of the US. They refused to help me with my issue and wouldn't give me a direct number to the Tampa location so I could clear this up. There is no recourse for their mistake. This company has now caused me financial hardship and complete inconvenience for fraudulent charges by them. The fact that there is no way to talk to somebody at that location is horrible. There is nowhere to go with these claims. You're treated rudely and disregarded with no way of resolving the issue.

This is my ongoing story of their counter staff falsely informing me of mandatory policies' That I must agree to pay for or else I won't get my vacation car.
"My confirmation number is J*******F3
I have been asked to send you a private message to discuss my complaint. I emailed full details of my complaint in but nobody was interested in dealing with it.
I came over on vacation from the UK, and clearly made it obvious that I was a UK citizen, I was quoted a price that I was told didn't need anything else adding to it. Then when I got to the counter a very forceful woman told me that I must purchase additional insurances and that I wasn't eligible for the price I was quoted and charged more than double what was remaining on the loan. I questioned it at the time but was told that my price was only valid for US citizens and not for overseas visitors. I feel as though I have been robbed, and sold a false story of what I could have. Had I realised that this was how you operated your business, then I would have used another company. I've only chosen to use Facebook to complain as you have ignored m for a week now through usual channels
Thank you for providing me with this information, Damon. I understand your frustration and would like to look into this for you. May I please ask for your full name and relationship to the primary renter on the reservation? -Zach
My name is damon preston and I am the primary renter
Thank you, Damon. Our team will be looking into this for you and will update you in this DM thread as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience while we review your concerns. -Zach
I await your response. How long do you think it will take your team to investigate?
I also have pay by plate tolls to settle from my return to the airport as there was no other way to get there other than on the toll road, and I can't access information on how to pay them fl fore you add even more charges. I didn't buy your service as I only needed it for the last hour of my holiday and didn't want to be charged for 16 days just for that small section of my trip
Hello Damon. I sincerely regret any misunderstanding. After reviewing your concerns, I can confirm the daily rate quoted did not change. However, the service for Liability Insurance Supplement is optional and was accepted on your rental agreement. The charged billed are correct and no refund is warranted. -Ross
I am not happy with your explanation. The liability insurance was not optional as your staff member told me that it was mandatory that I take it as I was not allowed to take the vehicle without it as I was from the UK. She also said that I had to sign the documents to accept the charge or I could not have the car. She also tried afterwards to pressure me into paying even more for the fully comprehensive policy for yet another $600, the charge is not correct as I was given no choice but to take that policy, and you have now confirmed that the woman behind the counter blatantly lied about it to me to make me pay extra. I can only assume that she gets bonuses for all the extra charges they sell. The process is disgusting and this response from you just goes to show how that the issue is systemic throughout your organisation. Your delays look like another excuse to not own up to the shady practices that your company operates. If you are not willing to give me back the forced sold charged then I have no choice but to make this situation public so that no others suffer this level of deceit and theft of their highly valued "Dollars"
Damon, I assure you that your concerns have been noted and forward to the appropriate management team for further internal review. Unfortunately, we are unable to reconstruct a conversation that takes place at the rental counter so we must rely on the signed contract. While this is not the preferred resolution, we do hope you can understand our position regarding this matter. -LuciAnna
No I do not understand or accept your position. You are basically calling me a liar, to suggest that the conversation did not take place and that the signature that I was told I had no choice but to sign by your staff member or else I would not get the car whilst my wife and 2 small daughters waited with all our vacation luggage is the only method of verifying what took place. Your standpoint allows your staff free reign to rip off all customers for as much as they choose to with no risk of repercussion as you will always side with them with the standpoint that the signature confirms they behaved appropriately and not in the deceitful and underhand manner I which they do in fact operate. I am truly disgusted that in a country which prides itself on customer service you allow such practices to take place freely and with the full support of the organisation. I will pursue this to whoever I need to to ensure this practice is exposed and your staff acknowledged as the deceitful people they are, and your organisations happy support and encouragement by way of commissions of their behaviour"

This is ongoing as all they do is ignore what I say, then make me wait at least 24 hours for a response regardless of how quickly intent to them
OH MY GOD!
Now I find out that despite my asking you numerous times about paying the damn tolls before you rip me offf even more for that too, you've ignored every single request for that information and now taken another £35 from me for a $6 toll!
When will you stop taking my money, and which authority governs your activities?, clearly you are all working there to delay my complaints long enough to take all my money. I demand to speak with a senior manager and I also demand to know which authority regulates your activities so that I can raise a formal complaint about your entire organisation with them also. I cannot express how enraged I am with you all right now, you are all utter thieves and I am sickened by your activities. You have absolutely no shame or morals!'

If you are part of Dollar Express loyalty program, BEWARE.
I went to their website to book a car out of the Tampa Airport, and was surprised of the great rate of $15.20 per day! I noticed I didn't input my Dollar Express account, when I did, it dumped out my original information and required me to re-input my information, when I did, with my Express number, the rate changed to $71 a day, thinking this was a mistake, I tried it a second time, again the cheapest rental was $71. I signed out, cleared the cache on Safari, re-entered the information as an anonymous person and got the $15.20 rate again! This is how Dollar Rental Car treats their loyal customers, by charging them much higher rates, than just a random person visiting the website! It's sad they rip off their loyal customer base!

For a company that professes "We never forget whose dollar it is." I would have to say, Dollar is either delusional or dastardly dishonest.

I rented a vehicle for 7 days, opting for "managers special" and pre-paid for the entire week. When I arrived to pick up the car I inquired about returning it early if I found I no longer needed it. I was told that because I had pre-paid I HAD to keep the vehicle for the entire 7 days. - I find this odd but whatever, I'll put the miles on your car instead of mine.

The leasing agent was also very pushy about "pre-paying" for the gas upon return of the vehicle. I assured him that I knew how to pump gas and was even pretty good at keeping the tank filled since the last time I was left stranded without gas was in 1989. The agent continued to push, I continued to decline. - Rude, I thought, but this is Florida and perhaps he was having an off day.

I returned the vehicle a week later, but only after stopping at the gas station to put nearly $27 in the tank, not bad since it's $60+ to fill my Expedition. I then drove the 15 miles to the rental agency where they proceeded to charge me $41.37 to top off the gas tank! So here's my question for you Dollar, how does a Kia Soul with a 14.3 gallon tank hold $68 in gas ($27 that I put in, and $41 that your representatives supposedly put in) on top of the already 3.5 gallons that were present when I stopped to fill it up. In fact, it's completely impossible unless the cost of gas were over $4.50 a gallon, which by the way, it is not.

I think your representatives know EXACTLY whose dollar it is but through their own greed or your dishonest policies, decided it should no longer be my dollar.

You have sent me no less than 4 emails in the last week asking me to rate my experience and I have gladly obliged you with a brutally honest response every time. I even spoke to Grace in your customer relations department who "gladly" refunded me...$18(?). So I would presume by your rationale then that Dollar is "entitled" to an extra $23 of my dollars?

Very well then, let's see how much bad publicity I can drum up for you to go with that $23 dollars because I wouldn't want you to forget whose dollar it is.

Dollar is a ridiculous, parasitic company that will try its hardest to lower the cost of the day-to-day rental only to prey upon you with a mountain of hidden fees. I I booked through rentalcars.com and had to pay for insurance twice. Apparently the insurance through the website isn't valid. The amount of hidden fees they hit me with at the pick-up desk more than doubled the amount they gave me on their website. Their staff makes a glacier look like a cheetah, and their phone help is utterly incompetent. Between Dollar and being slowly roasted to the death at the DMV, I'd pick the DMV because it'd be over quicker. Skip this wretched company in lieu of one where you at least KNOW how much they are trying to screw you. Dollar's the type of company to molest you in an alley and then charge you for the jollies.

Rented a car at Logan air port Boston. Paid more than I was told. Then when checking out with my rental two problems. One the car wasn't clean. The windshield had a crack. The person who is supposed to check out the rental didn't even got out of his booth to look the car over. He only ask for mileage. I told him about the windshield having a little crack he never replied and didn't take the time to log it. Dollar car rental took money from my account for repair to windshield. I spoke to rep. Over the phone. He kept putting me on hold. I asked to speak to supervisor. He said the best he can do is have her call me back. She finally did but wasn't very helpful. I asked to speak to someone above her and she refused to give any phone numbers of her boss. I will never do business with dollar rental car again.