Car Rental Companies - A Rant

I highly suggest you view this quick clip before you read the rest of my post as it is VERY relevant!



You see, back in September I mentioned the fact that we had car issues here. I never wrote about the issues we had when we went to rent a car, which we had to since life (especially in Las Vegas) stinks without a car. On the Sunday night we went along to the off-site airport car rental place and got to the desk of the company that we use all the time. I won't name names (another Seinfeld reference) so I will now refer to the company as Cents. We went straight to the counter and I handed the Cents employee my reservation number at which time we were told that they didn't have any cars. So if you watched the clip you will know where I'm going with this and the husband and I looked at each other and repeated verbatim to each other the lines in the clip.

The Cents employee writes some stuff down on a form and explains that we should go to their competitors counter and they will honor the reservation and Cents will refund the difference of the daily rental. All we have to do is when we return the car is stop by the Cents counter with the form and our receipt from the competitor and they will send it off to their Customer Service department for the check to be issued. Now, first of all, the rate at Cents was like $30 a day, which is why we use them....always the best rate. The refund of the difference is only for the rate NOT the extra taxes incurred by us because of the higher rate! The daily rate at the competitor is like $60 a day. We had the car for 2 days and when we returned it we went straight over to the Cents counter and they took copies of both the sheet we had originally been given and our receipt from the competitor. We were told (and it clearly stated on this form) that we should receive our refund within 3 weeks. If we don't, then call.

I had it marked on the calendar when the day would be so when that day came and there was still no check I called. You are not going to believe this but the people at the Cents customer service department had NO record of this....they had not received any paperwork from the Las Vegas office. We were not the only ones they had sent to the other company. There were tourists from all over the world and I'm sure their paperwork was never sent either. I was fuming and then had to email the copies of my paperwork which they had never received. Last week I phoned again to find out the status and they say "It may take up to 21 days to receive my refund". Ummm I've already been waiting 4 weeks now and you want me to wait another 3???? I don't think so. I very nicely explained this and last Friday I got a call from one of their employees handling this to say that she had them cut the check and it will be sent out to me this week. We shall see if I do receive it more than 5 weeks after the rental.

Will I rent with Cents again....most likely yes because they always have the lowest rates. Will I let them copy the paperwork to send off if this ever happens again....HELL NO! I'll take copies and send it registered mail myself! Hopefully this won't happen again but I highly doubt it. Again, I feel sorry for the overseas customers who are going to have to try to get their refund like me but from far off. I just needed to rant about this and it was a good excuse to insert a great clip from Seinfeld especially as our experience ran exactly like that clip. It is also a sad indictment on Customer Service nowadays.