I needed a one-way rental for just 5 hours to go from one SC city (Columbia) to another (Myrtle Beach). This was the cheapest company available on such short notice, but I was troubled by the low reviews here (though I still needed to take my chances).
My online rental reservation said that the cost was $93, but the fine print said there might also be an additional one-way rental fee (ie, when you pick up a car in one city but then drop it off in another). I found it odd that a reservation would not tell you what any such one-way rental fee would be. So I called the local Columbia Airport rental company (got no answer!) and then the corporate company to try to figure out what that additional one-way fee would be. After all, how could I know how much this rental car cost without someone telling me what this extra fee was??!!?!
I had a funny feeling about the whole thing, so I called using one cell phone which I put on speaker and recorded using video on another cell phone. I eventually reached a corporate representative who looked up my reservation number and reviewed my travel plan, and then confidently told me that there was no extra one-way rental fee for my trip. Great, I thought! Glad I checked - so $93, it is!
Well, sure enough, days later when I go to pick-up the car at the Columbia Airport, the front desk staffer tells me there is an additional one-way rental fee. I forget what she says that fee was ($50 maybe...I forget exactly now. But it was large enough that I was greatly alarmed.) The staffer also said that the local Columbia Airport rental shop is independent, and that corporate could not waive any such local one-way fee. I protested and told her that I had a recording of my whole exchange with corporate where I was clearly told there was no fee. The staffer called her manager, and the manager told her that if she listened to the recording and heard them tell me that there was no fee, that they would honor it and take it up with corporate later. So I played the 10+ minute recording for her so she could hear that, indeed, I had been told that there was no fee.
So, thankfully, I did not have to pay that extra fee. But what if I hadn't been forward-thinking enough to have recorded the call??!?!?! No one would have believed me, even though it would have been just as true. And I would have been stranded in Columbia, with a reservation that was now way too expensive for the quick trip I needed. This should not be!
Also, when I got fully rung up (without any so-called extra one-way fee), the cost ended up being $96. I was a bot puzzled and told the staffer that my reservation had been a little less than that. And she said that it was probably just a matter of taxes being added in. I, again, thought that was odd, but I had been at the desk for 30+ minutes now so I just wanted to move things along. Fine, I'll pay the $96+. Well, when I'm signing and initialing all the various screens presented to finalize the reservation, I get to a screen that says I've accepted an additional $3 charge for roadside assistance. HOLD UP! WAYMENT! First, of all I already pay $130+ a year for a AAA membership. Second, the credit card I used for the reservation also provides roadside assistance when you use that card for a travel purchase. So, no, I absolutely did not agree to pay an extra $3 for roadside assistance. I raised that with the front desk staffer and she said that every online reservation automatically includes that. No, it doesn't! And I never agreed to that. So she ends up having to take that charge off and--lo and behold--my costs finally get down to $93, which is what it should have been when I approached the desk an hour ago!
When I finally got the keys and made the arduously long trek to the car (SN: please note that the spaces for Dollar are the farthest out). I was STRUGGLING to roll my various suitcases and then find my assigned car, which actually was not easily located. I finally had to resort to setting off the car alarm to find it. By the time I got on the road, I was nearly 90 minutes behind pace (which is why I'm glad I had built an extra 2 unneeded hours into my reservation). I actually got the car to the drop-off at the Myrtle Beach airport with just about 10 minutes left on my reservation. Then, while there, the man working that desk was soooooo slow. It took about 30-40 minutes (and I was first in line behind the family he was helping when I arrived) to turn the car in and get on my way.
In sum, this whole rental car experience was a nightmare. I lost a tremendous amount of time dealing with all the nonsense and the tacked-on fees. The only thing I can say is that the front desk staffers in both airports were both nice and professional throughout the experience. But it still was a poor experience overall. Use Dollar Rental at your own risk! And record EVERYTHING!!!!! read more