I rented the dodge caravan on April 20th at about 3pm. On Wednesday the 21st the van was pulled over and DPS took the van because they did not think it belonged to us. Advantage rent a car did not have in the vehicle the proper registration, so the police had no choice but to impound the vehicle. The police were only doing their job.
I called Advantage rent a car toll free number and explained what happened, they apologized and said, they would take care of getting back the vehicle, and would pay for any expense's I incurred because of the local Advantage branch failure to include the proper paperwork, and should have never let a vehicle go out with improper paperwork They also stated that they would not be charging me for the rental, and they offered me a free rental the next time along with any expenses I incurred for this mistake. I was truly amazed and appreciative of customer service But, that is NOT what happened at all...
Initially I used my credit card to rent the car, but when I was renting the car they also asked for my debit card for identification purposes only! I now realize that this was this was a scam from the very start!
I had asked in the beginning if I could just pay cash at the end of the rental and was told "YES".
On Thursday I was able to get a hold of the towing company in Tucson that had the rented van and they said they told Advantage rent a car that the towing bill was only $180, and the local Advantage Rent a Car place told me the bill was $500, I then said to him, why are you charging me for this! This was your fault, and customer service said I was NOT to be charged for anything, and that I was getting a free rental next time, and they would pay for any expenses I incurred.!!!
I called the rental Car Company and they said that they had to get this but that they had a team that would pick up the van on Friday and call me on Monday.
On Saturday I was balancing my accounts and found a charge on my debit account for 261.46. Plus, he demanded that I come there and pay $561 now, and that would be refunded back to me. Just so he can correctly balance his books on his rentals, I never rented a vehicle before and I had no idea I was being scammed!
When I finally got someone on the phone, I asked who I was speaking to and was told I was speaking to the manager of this location, his name being:, Chris (the guy I had been talking to the whole time and the guy they said was out of the office) I told him I did not want to pay for any extra days it took to get the car because it was not my fault that they had not picked up the car. He agreed and told me that his crew had gone and got a different car on Friday instead of my rental because they felt it was closer. He said that they were still not going to be able to get it for another day, which would make it Tuesday or Wednesday. I asked about the charge to my debit card and he said that he would apply that charge to the amount due. When I checked my accounts no other charges were applied and I asked that he not make anymore charges to my cards at all.
He said that that was his fault for not having the car and that I had nothing to worry about because I had a receipt saying the matter was closed, he said that he could still charge my cards. Besides that, customer service already told me there was NOT going to be any charge for the rental! And that they were paying all of my expenses...
I told him if he did charge my account, I would call the cops because I was not approving the charges.
Chris still would not give me the number. I told him to delete my card numbers from his system. He refused saying that they will stay until he is ready to take them out or the car back.
He also said that even then he might forget to take my credit and debit account numbers out his system.
By this point was to upset so I hung up and called my bank and told them to not let any charges go through from this company.
The total ripped off and charged to my account with-out permission is $ 948.72. Not to mention all the aggravation and time making these stressful phone calls dealing with Advantage, more like a disAdvantag car rental.
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