I have to say that Alamo is not exactly the ripest apple in the tree out there. Used to be a good company providing fair treatment to its customers and I even considered it to be the best car rental company in US. Not anymore! I don't know if Enterprise has a hand in since they made changes in the management it or if it's just the location (LAX airport) that doesn't know what it takes to help a customer in need but recently they nailed it real bad. Didn't expect such a kick from a company I favored over others.
Recently rented a car at LAX for a week and due to unforeseen circumstances the car was dropped off by one of its staff at San Diego airport in time before it was due back. According to the original contract the amount due was a little over $100 but Alamo altered the contract without my knowledge and the new amount was well over $600. Very smart, Alamo.
Went to the original (LAX) location in person and requested a copy of the invoice and was hit with a bill of more than $500 after having deducted the amount on the original invoice. So now I still owe money and was put on the 'DO-NOT-RENT' list. What kind of business is this? This is not how you treat a loyal customer.
Talked to the fat lady manager at LAX and she said it was because the car was returned to San Diego airport instead of LAX. Tried to explain to her it was not me who had returned the car, I would've brought it back to LAX. It was one of their lazy employees who took it to San Diego since, well, supposedly was closer. I had an incident while on my trip in California, things happen and we are humans. Why punish a customer for not being able to return the car himself to the original airport? Wasn't that hard for that person to drive the car farther north and drop it at LAX. After all it could have been done as courtesy and I would've paid the gas.
I travel frequently and only rented vehicles from Alamo but now they blocked me and force me to pay over $500 on an altered contract/invoice. I should care less about that but still wanted to clear my name and keep a good reputation with the company. Never returned a car late, never had accidents and always paid my invoices prompt. Now I'm gonna have to rent from their competitors and spread the word around that Alamo does not qualify as a trustworthy rental company. Not unless they waive the new charges and remove my name from the 'black list.' Cause there is now way in the whole world I am gonna pay that money. Because of greed and indifference many successful businesses in US went bankrupt when they started losing clientele. Alamo may be following the same path.
My verdict: the management at the LAX location is a joke. They need to learn manners from the guys at SLC, Washington-Dulles and HNL airports. Because of my good experience at these airports I may be inclined to think it's not the company, it's the location. Very unprofessional management at LAX. But not before this issue is resolved. As a reference, this was the incident involving the silver Hybrid, contract *314. I hope somebody will take responsibility to mediate a peace settlement.
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