On April 24 I arrived at Payless Car Rental in Orlando, Florida, to pick up the rental car I had on confirmation.
Upon arriving, I had to wait in line for a lengthy time. The rental agent went through his tactic of trying to upgrade my rental and offering the supplemental liability insurance. I declined both options.
Because I had declined, he put a $400 hold on my Chase Visa credit card.
I was headed to Ocala, Florida which is approximately an hour and a half to two hour drive. About 40 minutes into my trip, I was on the Florida turnpike going 70 miles an hour, which was the posted speed limit in that area. The car started shaking and it sounded as if I were in a helicopter. Suddenly the right rear tire blew out.
I had my sight impaired friend and an elderly aunt travelling with me at the time as well.
I pulled the car over to the right shoulder as quickly as possible, put my emergency flashers on and phoned the company.
Of course I was very upset this happened. The state police had called for a Road Ranger to come change my tire. The Ranger took our luggage out of the trunk to get the "donut tire". When that was taken out there was no jack, no tire iron, and the "donut tire" was flat. I spent the next hour fighting with Payless.
First they told me the car was safe to drive back to Orlando on a "donut tire". I told them I wasn't going to drive back to Orlando on a "freaking donut". The man on the phone said it was safe. I told him if it was so safe he could come and drive it back to Orlando, but I wanted another car.
Their solution was, I could either drive the car back to Orlando on that donut, or they could dispatch a service truck out to my location and I would have to pay for that service fee and a tire. I had no choice other than to drive this car back.
I told them to dream on, I would never pay for either one of them. After arguing with the rental agent, he put his manager Pam on the phone. She argued with me some more about me paying for the tire. She stated that she "didn't know that I wasn't negligent" and that when I returned to Orlando I "was going to pay for that tire, and the day's rental". I said I wasn't paying for anything I did nothing wrong.
After hanging up with her, I called my husband in Massachusetts. He called Pam (the manager) and she said " I am not talking to you about this, your wife rented the vehicle, not you". So he said "then you will be talking to my lawyer in the morning."
In the meanwhile, I drove the Hyundai 17 more miles to a service plaza. They had a tire place there. I asked one of the men to come out and look at the blown tire. He stated that there was "no way to tell if someone is negligent" after a tire blows out like that.
I fueled up the tank, and after the same man motioned for me to go to the air station. He checked the pressure in the three remaining tires and all three had 22 pounds of pressure in them. This is almost half the pressure they should have for the Florida heat. He put the correct pressure in the tires and I proceeded to drive back to Orlando.
I arrived at about 9:10 PM. It seemed as though everyone at that counter expected me, and of course the man that rented me the vehicle recognized me.
They made me wait 20 minutes before talking to me. As I was waiting I was informing the unsuspecting renters of what happened and told them to please make sure their tire pressure was checked before leaving. Two of the night managers came up to me saying "you cannot talk to the customers, this was between you and us, not them". I told him that this was "buyers beware" and I was warning them of their practices. I was still told not to talk with the customers.
While waiting to be waited on another customer came up behind me. He asked if I had "ever rented from this cracker jack company before"? I told him no, and I never will again. He explained that his car "was shaking and he could barely keep it on the road". I told him that is what my car had done right before the blowout because of the low tire pressure in the tires.
I finally got waited on, and told the man who had rented me the car that before he got the keys, I wanted copies of everything. He only gave me copies of where I returned the car.
He said to me "my manager made a deal with your husband" I said really? Your manager refused to talk to my husband. He said "no she called him back and she is going to take the car to a mechanic to see if you are negligent before your credit card is charged." So I called my husband to confirm what this man had told me. My husband said there was no deal, but that Pam did say she would take the car in the next day.
I still had to rent another vehicle from a different company, and get to my destination.
So I left and rented from Hertz. I am a diabetic, and got nothing to eat until 11:30 PM after renting the car from Hertz.
The next day my husband called Pam from Massachusetts. She of course was not in, but was left a message.
The following day my husband called back to find out what their decision was. She did say I was not responsible for the tire, but I still had a $400 hold on my credit card.
Payless called me on April 28 in the afternoon to ask me for the keys to the car. I explained that I had turned in the keys when I turned in the piece of crap they had rented. She said "well the car needs to be moved and we can't find the keys. Who did you give them to?"
I explained again that I had given the keys to the same person who rented me the car.
I called Chase Visa today, May 4 and the hold had just been lifted. So far there are no charges on my account, but you can be sure if they do try to put any on, I will be disputing them.
As far as I am concerned, they owe me for the tolls that I had to pay twice on the Florida turnpike due to their negligence, not mine.
I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone. Their shady dealings and uncaring attitudes make them the worst company I have ever dealt with.
I travel twice a year, and rent vehicles all the time. For them not to give even a courtesy call for one of their vehicles is a rip off!
I want everyone who reads this report to heed my warning about them. Before you leave the lot. Check the tire pressure, check for a tire iron, a jack and make sure there is air in the "donut tire". And most of all don't rent with Payless in Orlando. Their staff is rude and obnoxious.
0 comments