How did I get here? Because I was looking for the cheapest car rental due to an unforeseen, unexpected death in the family. Well, as a result I reserved a car at Payless rental. I guess it was an oversight on my part but once I touched down in Chicago, I had to wait by a sign to be picked up and transported to an off-site location. I am not sure it that is clearly posted on the website or was it written in the size 3, times roman font? Nonetheless, I rented my vehicle with a couple in house hiccups- but was on my way. THE RETURN-I made it into the car rental place to witness a man complaining that he was about to miss his flight. The printer would not print, and the driver was on another run. The man was obviously antsy, pacing, asking if he is going to miss his flight. The service was borderline detached. I suggested he catch Lyft when he popped a glycerin pill (he whispered my glycerin). The young African American lady had no customer service. The European American lady was mostly focused on fixing the raggedy printers. As the African American lady begin to check me out, she asked for my email address. I have it to here. She stated your receipt will be emailed. I asked if she could confirm the final charges, she stated again, it will be emailed. I advised I would like to know for certain what's going onto my card. She told me to look at my original contract. It's too early to let her know that customer service gains consumer loyalty. Anyway. In an effort to help, I had two bottles of Apple juice that I would not be able to fly with so I offered it to them. They accepted and finally SMILED! Then she asked if I needed a ride to the airport? (Blank stare). Um. Yes ma'm. This review is based on my perception of what customer service should be. I advocate for both instances of good and bad service encounters. If I would rate today the female agents would receive a C- . The male driver that transported me to midway earned an A! read more

I rented a car from Payless Car Rental (owned by Avis Budget Group, Inc.) on June 27, 2023, and due to extenuating circumstances had to return the car earlier than planned. At the time, customer service said they could not offer a partial refund, but they created a case ID for me to grant a credit toward a future rental. I kept the original invoice and case number until I needed it. When I spoke to customer service recently to redeem this credit worth between $200 and $300, the agent was unable to find any of my information. She was not able to locate me through my case ID, phone number, drivers license number, rental agreement number, reservation number, or zip code. She stated that nothing came up in the database. The agent provided me with an email address for corporate customer service so I could send a copy of my invoice to provide any additional clarity or information needed. Through email, a new representative told me that records are eliminated every six months, so they could not validate my claim. I expressed my disappointment since no one had previously mentioned a time limit on this credit, and I asked if I could at least receive a discount code. This too was denied. I am astounded by the lack of record keeping and customer service, and I will never rent from any of the Avis Budget Group Inc. companies again. read more

Worst. Payless in ft myers. Gave me a subcompact when I paid for mid size. 2 hours to wait in line. 2 agents for avis, budget and payless - during spring break. Worst customer service. Given a QR code to scan when I left airport. Didn't work. Person there said " read your terms and conditions", 10 minutes after yelling for help. NEVER AGAIN. read more

Absolute scam of a company. I wound up with one of their rentals because I went through Expedia. I picked up the car, no problems at all. Brought it back without a hitch. Several minutes later, I received notice from my credit card for a $90.55 charge. I emailed the company to ask why the random charge. Five days later, I got a cockamamie response blah blah-ing about "fuel". I gave the car back with a FULL TANK OF GAS. Run, run, RUN from this company. I cannot imagine they'll be in business long if stealing from their customers is common practice. read more

I made a reservation a week in advance because they had the best rate. I called a few days prior to my trip to confirm and everything was OK. We arrived at the airport only to find that they had double booked everyone and had no cars to rent. We had to take an Uber to the hotel and we finally found a rental at another agency for twice the price the next day. Will never use this agency again! Pay the extra few dollars for a more reputable car rental agency. read more

DO NOT rent here. There are reasons why their rentals are so much cheaper: 1) dirty cars; 2) car with rattling noise and 'check engine' light on-we were told not to worry about it; 3) very poor customer service. Not only are 2 shuttles from the airport required to get to this off site location, the agency is open from 7 am to 5 pm only. You cannot return a vehicle prior to 7 am. That was challenging for us when we had an 8 am flight. When I contacted the national customer service line, I was essentially told, too bad...nothing we can do...it's your responsibility. One of us went directly to the airport with all luggage and got checked in. My wife went to the location and waited for someone to show up with an Uber ready to go. She made it to the gate as we were boarding. That was just too close for us. Spend some additional money...you will have nothing but trouble by renting here. Awful. I would have given them 0 stars if I could have! read more

Our experience was good and can't complain: car was clean and worked well. Shuttle service from offsite office to midway airport was prompt and courteous, 5-10mins depending on traffic. Considering the pricing and service I would use it again. If you want convenient in airport service, you should consider another service. If you want inexpensive service and don't mind taking a little longer to return rental this is a good option. read more

Payless Car Rental - Payless Rental (Offsite location) - Car Rental Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Worst experience ever. Waited 45 min. Had to take two shuttles. Agree with prior one star. James the manager (in at Avis) did nothing but call to verify the shuttle was coming, twice. Of course it is coming. Just very late. Avoid Payless and Avis at Midway in Chicago. read more

Upgraded car without consent! My wife and I rented a car from Chicago airport. At the desk I asked the representative, "why is this amount higher than what I booked through Orbitz?" The representative said, "Oh it's only the deposit, you'll be refunded once you return the car in the same condition." Once I looked at my credit card statement I noticed that the difference was not refunded and when I called Payless, they took down my information and a customer representative e-mailed me back saying, "you upgraded the car, therefore you were charged additional $20 per day." Renters beware, avoid Payless car renter if possible. If you do decide to reserve the car - do not sign or initial any amount that differs from your reservation receipt. read more

ALL PAYLESS CAR RENTAL LOCATIONS. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY. Especially in San Diego, California. They will be nice to you, give you some small talk and after they get your credit card information you're done for. They have just con you for more charges to come after you have drop off your rental car. BE WARE read more

Payless? Never again. Lousy counter service. The guy who waited on me couldn't care less. Talked to the outside team and gave me a compact that was DIRTY, on the outside and inside. Car was not cleaned when it was returned. It had a thick layer of salt on the out side. Dirty seats. An empty water bottle and scrap papers. The USB charger plug did not work. The washer bottle was empty. I was embarrassed to take my client out to a business dinner in this car. read more

They list that their counter is in the terminal on Kayak but in reality you have to take TWO shuttles to their spot. And the second shuttle you have to call to get them to pick you up, which no one tells you. And the shuttle smells like a freshly burnt blunt. read more

Renter Beware! My flight was canceled and rescheduled to arrive 2.5 hours later than anticipated. I called Payless immediately to tell them I would be in 2.5 hours later than expected but still wanted the car for the week. Payless: "Nope - your reservation will cancel after 2 hours. We will not extend your pick up time. And your cost now goes from $219 to $570" Why wouldn't a rental company keep the reservation (repeat customer)?? Never again. Adios Payless. read more

As much as I was looking forward to writing a terrible review for this place, I instead decided to copy and paste the form I filled out for their customer service form after my experience with them. I rented a vehicle for about 8 hours from the location at 5401 W 47th St, Chicago, IL 60638. We have not rented with Payless before, so after all of our paperwork and before getting into our rental car, we asked the employee who was helping us (her first name is Carlissa) if we would be okay getting a shuttle to the airport from them as long as we came before 5PM (which was their closing time). Carlissa told us as long as we came back before 5PM that we would be taken care of. We came back to the location with the rental car at 4:45PM and found that the building was locked with all of the lights turned off. We called the customer care number that was located on the front of the door and whoever we talked to said that they weren't sure why the location had closed early but that we could drive the rental car to the AVIS location at the Midway Airport and get a shuttle from there. As we were getting back into our rental car to head to the AVIS location, we saw Carlissa who had helped us previously, one of the other employees, and what looked like one of their kids, exiting out of a side of the building that was blocked with gating. We tried talking to them to ask why they had closed early and Carlissa had no explanation. I also had asked her how we were supposed to get our shuttle to the bus as she had talked about, and not until then did she tell us that the last bus shuttle was at 3:30PM. I asked her why she didn't tell us that when we asked her about the shuttle before taking the rental car initially and she had no answer either. We gave up on getting answers from Carlissa and put our bags back into the rental car. As I was putting my bag into the rear of the vehicle, the other employee that was with Carlissa snickered loud enough for me to hear which I thought was also highly unprofessional. We then dropped off the vehicle at the AVIS location at the Midway Airport and talked to an employee at that location about what we had just experienced. He scanned something on our rental car and also wrote down what time we had originally dropped off the car at the Payless Rental location, the latest mileage, that we brought the vehicle back with a full tank, and also included his name and that day's date. I tried calling the 24/7 customer service line to explain my experience to a live person, but I was left on hold for long periods of time. If I could not only get a response to this but also have a live person talk to me about the situation it would be greatly appreciated. After also going through my paperwork, I noticed there were several areas that Carlissa should have had me signature/initial that she did not prompt me to do. Terrible customer service and professionalism which made for a hassle of an experience for the last day of a state that I was visiting from out of town. read more

Worst car rental company ever and I rent cars a lot Alamo is still the best, sadly they were sold out so I'm here with hidden charges , fees, fines, and anything else they can sweep under my credit card. read more

First of all, very poor service.An employee didn't show up at the location even after waiting for 1 hours at payless rental car office.I reached at 7 o'clock which was opening time for the office, waited there till 8; Called customer care 3 times, all they did was apologize to me. Then a shuttle came to pick up and dropped at partner's location.I had Indian driving license, for which they declined to give a car. In the past, My friend successfully rented a car on Indian Driving license. Pathetic experience. STAY AWAY!!! read more

let me start by saying STAY AWAY from this location. When using Midway airport and renting a car you are taken to an offsite location where all the big name car rentals are, from there you have to take a shuttle van about 12 blocks or so to an office. The customer service from the employees at this location is HORRIBLE and let me tell you that is an understatement. After have the worst encounter with the counter gal I swore I would never rent from them again. But the experience I had returning my car, I promise you I will walk to Wisconsin before I ever rent from this company again. The shuttle to the airport left the location at 3:30 (mind you the office closes at 5) and when I retuned my car at 4pm and asked can I get a shuttle to the airport I was told. "your going to have to call a cab or Uber".. (after spending $252 for a 5 day rental). I made them find someone on the lot give us a ride to the airport. Filed a complaint and was told I would hear from someone in 72 hours. Never happened. Do yourself a favor and rent a bike before using this company. Note: I am contacting Southwest too in hopes they discontinue their relationship with them. HORRIBLE, HORIBBLE 1 star is being WAY to kind read more

This place is a fucking scam!!!! I rented a car for only $230 for 4 days, two weeks later they charge me $1,060. I actually only use the car to drive to downtown and parked in the hotel because parking in downtown is very expensive, in fact I had to $67/day for valet my car in the hotel and never use the car for the entire trip in Chicago. The only time I use the car was to the hotel and back to the rental place. How the fuck am I being charged $1,060 when I signed my receipt of $230? What a fucking rip off this place is. Stay the fuck away from this place. read more

We were asked specifically what time our flight got in when we booked the reservation assuming that meant to make sure that someone would be ready to check us in, that was not the case... When arriving at the counter at about 1:40pm after put flight I waited almost 20 minutes for someone to come to the desk at which point I called the 1-224-220-0604 at 2pm which phone records can prove at which point approx 8-10 minutes later I was finally able to talk to a person who I quote said "if no one is there go to the budget or avis counter and they can help you". So after waiting another 10-14 minutes in that line i finally get to the counter only to be told that "they can't help me, she is at lunch go back to that counter". Mind you there was ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING ON OR AT THAT COUNTER STATING THE EMPLOYEE WAS AT LUNCH not that it would have been appropriate for me to sit there for 40 minutes waiting on someone to come out when I had a confirmed reservation for the time of my flight arrival. So at this point I have been on the ground up Chicago an hour and a half and can't even get my rental car..... she comes out at this point as I'm at the other counter so I go over there only to be told that she "came back 6 mins early from her 30 min lunch break" which maddened even more because if she walked in the back at the second I arrived at the counter the timeline still didn't match. It's not her fault she is the only one there while every other counter had a minimum of 3 employees at the desk at any point in time but it was completely an awful and uncalled for experience. read more

Run as far away from this company as you can, if your reservations get messed up --and that's a likely possibility --good luck getting through to anyone. You'll definitely get through to the "international call line" but they can do nothing for you. Run away! read more

Unacceptable experience with Payless Rental car this past Sunday. Came into Midway Airport in Chicago for an appointment for my disabled daughter. I made all my travel arrangements 2 weeks ago including booking a car rental through Hotwire (another crappy company). We arrived to the rental car terminal only to find out we had to call Payless so that there shuttle could come pick us up and take us to the rental place. After calling several times with no answer I called there customer service number and all they could do was send an email, after several sent messages and calling Hotwire and more calls 2 hours later I had to rent a vehicle through another company because payless never showed up! I was furious, I had my 6 year old daughter who is disabled, tired and hungry, this is just unacceptable and to top it off, I ended up paying twice as much for a rental because I did it same day! Never again for them or Hotwire! read more

If there was a way to leave zero stars, I would. Complete bait and switch. Told CSR I didn't want any extra coverage. They charged me anyways and told me it was a deposit. I then called management and they said they would review the recordings and call me back. That call never came. I called back only to find out they are willing to refund some of the coverages but not all because they were provided by a third party. Not my problem! I'll be alerting the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General office for fraudulent credit card use and deceptive business practices. I'll also be filing a lawsuit for the refund. Avoid these scam artists at all costs. Huge rip off!!! read more

I should have went with my gut once I read the reviews, but hoping for the best, I still rented a vehicle from this company. Big mistake! It all started in the beginning when the shuttle took 30 minutes to pick us up from Midway. Then, come to find out, the location had NO vehicles to rent. They claimed they would be there in 15-20 minutes from another location. However, this was a lie. I waited for over an hour to finally get a vehicle after everyone else cancelled their reservations. One small plus...they gave me an upgrade for free Fast forward to returning the vehicle. I called ahead of time to ask the protocol for returning the car since the facility closed at 5pm and our flight wasn't until 9pm. They told me to return the car to Avis and call the next morning to close the contract. I did as instructed even though the rental agreement did not come up through Avis but I got all the necessary paperwork to show the return. Today is my third day trying to call to close my contract. The first day, I was put on hold for 20 minutes at a time and finally ended up hanging up. I would call back and the line would be busy. This went on from 9-5pm. The second day was a repeat of the first. I even tried calling corporate, however, they were just as bad. They weren't able to close the contract nor offer any type of assistance. They said I had to go through the facility at Midway. Bottom line, I still haven't been able to close my contract and there is still a $200 hold on my cc. At this point, this could be constituted as theft. I plan to contact the BBB and corporate again. Bottom line, pay a little more for customer service, convenience, getting your deposit back and not having to deal with incompetence. DO NOT RENT with this place!!! read more

Very poor experience. Office is not located at the offsite car rental, you have to take another shuttle, this information is not given to you. You also need to call them for a pick up, which is also not communicated. Wait time for the shuttle is long. The car I received smelled of smoke. I did not have to time to wait for a different one. When I called and complained they said they would talk with the manger and note it on my record, which never happened. The only positive to say is the shuttle drivers were very nice. read more

0 Stars, Horrible customer service, As others have mentioned they do have hidden charges and fines. They also continue to do commit fraud. I rented a car from them in December 2016. It is now October 2017 and I received a bill in the mail this week for damages that they claim were done to the rental vehicle while in my possession. Which of course was not the case. Going with this company was a last minute mistake. " BBB issues nationwide warning about Payless Car Rental - ABC News". Please read this and share. This is exactly what they attempted to do to me. Please do not rent fro these crooks!!!!! read more

Reserved a car with Payless for 5pm. When we were dropped off at the rental car center we asked about Payless and were told they closed at 5 pm. Best rate we could find for two days on a walk up was $307. We took Lyft. No more Payless. Ever. read more

Never get into this company. Pay little more and get a known rental car. First shuttle to airport car rental place and second shuttle from there to payless after 40 mins wait time. It is not in chicago, so bad place and they given a car, which is really not in place. Again another queue to correct their mistake. Never never again with payless...pay little more and get best one. read more

Do not rent from these folks. My experience was very similar to others posted here. Flew into Midway to attend a funeral. Made rental reservation through Southwest Airlines sight where I made my flight reservation. Rented car on Friday morning with a return time on my reservation of 5pm Saturday. Pulled into their office at 4:50pm on Saturday to return car and office was closed with no-one in sight. Called national customer service line to see what I should do and their only response was "that office closes at 5pm". Explained that I was there before 5pm but they would not give me any direction on what to do and said there was no other location to return it to. Drove car to Midway and left car in long term parking then called Payless customer service to let them know where their car was. They said they would take care of picking it up. Over the next 10 days received 2 robo calls from Payless asking where my car was at. Each time I would call Payless and explain what happened and where to find their car. They apparently finally picked it up. Just received my credit card statement where they have tacked on additional charges not on my contract presumably because their office closed early and I could not return the car there. Am disputing the charge through my credit card company. A very unprofessional and poorly run office and company. Save yourself a hassle and rent from someone else. read more