When we got to the airport, they sent Dennis to pick us up. He got there, told me to put the bags in the back of the car myself, then got frustrated with me and helped when I didn't fit them all in immediately.
We were given the Jeep Wrangler we were quoted, it was noted that the tire pressure alarm light was on, and I was informed that it was broken.
After driving to Drake's seat on day 2, we got in the car to find that the power steering was completely inoperable. We almost crashed twice just backing the car out of the parking lot and realizing what was going on.
We pulled over and called discount. It was 4:30 and they said to us point blank that they were closing at 5:00 and we could either drive the car back to them ourselves now or we could just deal with it until tomorrow when they reopened. That's it, no apologies or any other help. Mind you we are at a lookout point miles from everything and I'm with my children and wife.
So this was one of the scariest fucking moments of my life as I realized that I had to now drive this massive Jeep Wrangler downhill with my entire family through the shitty horrible roads of St Thomas which are also incredibly curvy and narrow with no power steering whether or not I wanted to keep this car or return it. And I had to do it in the next 25 minutes... thank you God that I work out.
I got the car there at 4:55... they pointed to another car, dirty and clearly not washed and older, gave me the keys, and said I could take it, that's it. I pointed out that it was not clean and that it was not nice and asked for a different one and they told me no unless I wanted to come back the next day.
We got in and realized that beyond dirty, the radio didn't work. We pointed this out and instead of saying an apology or offering a different car, one of the people got into the car muttering under his breath that I was stupid and started jabbing at the radio as though we were idiots and had no idea how to work a fucking car radio. Clearly his wizardry did shit, and again i was told I could simply come back tomorrow if I wanted to trade but they would NOT do it today because it was 5pm... This is in a yard full of jeeps.
So we go back now with our 2nd Jeep. On day 2,, we rush down to the car en route to make the ferry to St john to find that the front right tire is completely flat. Upon further inspection, I realize that all of the tires are missed their valve caps, are completely bald and old and totally unsafe and should have been replaced on anyone's car, let alone a rental.
So I called them and they point blank told me again, tires are your problem, I told them they were crazy and they needed to come fix this tire immediately and that the tires on the car were totally unsafe in general. I pointed out that this was the 2nd car we had had true safety issues with and that we had wasted a ton of time with them already. The manager got on the line and told me she would give me a call back and hung up on me.
Oh boy. So I wait 20 minutes and calles back and they inform me that someone is already on the way... Dennis and another friend, who pull up... Grumble... Tell me that I can take the car THEY just drove up in and that they would change the flat and take the car that we had had. I went upstairs for 10 minutes, & came back down to find that they had already changed the flat tire and had ALSO left me an angry voicemail about taking too long ("COME ON! {click}), and then they drove off and left me with a third Jeep Wrangler after impatiently waiting for me to retrieve the keys from the car myself.
This 3rd Jeep Wrangler had an incredibly bad BO smell, had over 29,000 miles on it, had an outdated registration (which also means it was past inspection), but the radio worked and the tires had air in them, albeit again, the tire pressure gauge on this car was ALSO broken and on constantly.
We dealt with this third car the rest of the week and had to keep the top off and the windows down the entire time to deal with the smell. Seats also had some weird stains.
When we returned this last car on our way to the airport I was told I would get a one day discount, then they fully inspected the car, and then I walked out paying $90 less. WAS NOT WORTH IT. No apologies at any point. No smiles.
Then here comes Dennis again... he pulls up with a white couple, carefully backs up the jeep he drove them in to another jeep, moves their bags from one car to the other for them and then happily jokes, smiles, and gives them their keys so they can leave. He then makes us wait while he brings his lunch inside and then drives us to the airport and impatiently gets the bags out and complains that we're not helping him. I give him $10 and he leaves.
God bless... but those cars were incredibly unsafe and the service was rude specifically to us. ESPECIALLY FRUSTRATING BECAUSE WE CHOSE THIS PLACE BECAUSE IT'S BLACK-OWNED AND LOCAL. read more