No cars available after waiting in line 3hrs (Richmond RIC) Cancelled my reservation and they charged me $50. Lesson Learned

Terrible service when I picked up the car at Newark airport. Agent spoke to us like she was doing us a huge favor. Didn't give us any details on the car she was giving us, and wanted to just get it over with. The car (GMC SUV) had already done about 35K miles but made a really loud sound and speeds higher than 40mph. We had to blast the music in the car to drown out the sound. Agent at return (Richmond airport) was courteous but turned out to be a crook. He was all smiles and handed the receipt saying I would not be charged anything additional. When I got home I realized he charged an additional $3.99 for fuel even though I had filled up to full just before i returned the car at the airport (the gas station is at the airport). The fuel charge was calculated on the basis of a difference between 15.6 - 15.2!!! It is quite unbelievable the lengths this company will go to make an extra buck. Since it's $4 I will not be fighting this out. But rest assured I will never rent a car from you again and will make sure I spread the word about your terrible service. read more

Booked my rental car a month in advance for pickup at 10:15pm, arrived to the counter at 10pm and nobody is there. I look them up and see they are supposed to be open until 11pm. Someone at a nearby rental desk told us the cars were sold out, so the agents just left! Wtf! Not even a courtesy call or someone at the desk to explain the situation. Just what we needed at 10pm. Will never use again. read more

Big issues. Avoid. For me: Long, drawn-out checkout process; Lousy (seriously lousy) car, hiccups at checkin. The checkout process took too long because there was an issue verifying that Payless was honoring the terms of a standard rental agreement with my employer; I needed to have a travel agent intervene and the checkout wound up taking an hour. The Payless employee helping me was nice enough, but they way he explained the terms was different than with any other (e.g., Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, Alamo, Enterprise, Thrifty, Dollar... I've rented for business from all of them with the same employer). PS: My travel agent also told me that she didn't recommend going with Payless, and they usually advise all of their clients to avoid. The car was awful. It was appropriate size for its class, but it very clearly had a past life as a Zipcar. How do I know this? They peeled off the Zipcar decals and all the paint underneath without bothering to repaint or touch up. It also still had the Zipcar's name tag - something like Whitecaps McMulligan or something from DC. In addition to looking bad, the wiper blades were in dire need of replacement, and how did I know this? I had to drive, practically blind, through severe weather. I have never had such a worn and unsafe car, and I have rented vehicles for business and pleasure alike, hundreds of times. This was worst car I've ever gotten. Checking in. I was honestly glad that the individual checking me in didn't care enough to ask how the rental was, because I'm not sure I could have held my tongue. What was the hiccup? They recorded the wrong mileage for the car at checkout, so when I checked in, the odometer reading was less than what was on their paperwork. This hiccup cost me another 15 minutes. Reflecting on the whole experience, I feel like Payless grabbed my money and held me captive in a penal, burned out, Honda Fit (again, happy to drive a Fit in proper condition, as I may have even driven this particular Fit in its past life... Just this Fit wasn't, uhh... "fit" to drive safely and had paint peeling off in a revealing "Z" Zipcar logo pattern). And did I Pay Less? About a dollar or two per day less than three competitive vendors (among those listed above) for a car in the same class. read more

The worst. Had a reservation for a Ford Explorer "or equivalent" for 5:00 PM at RIC. Show up at 5, no car. "We're out of cars. There's a 2 hour wait." What? I was finally given, at 8:30, a POS Dodge something or other crossover which which stunk and was filthy. Never again. Employees could not have cared less. Terrible customer service. Stay away. I called to complain, and they offered me a paltry 15% discount off of the base rate. read more

Very disappointed in this rental agency. Had I seen the yelp reviews prior to renting I would not have done so. I rented a Mid size vehicle which is really a compact car with a higher price, it was not in the best condition and looked old, I picked it up at 9:30 am on a Wednesday and returned it at noon on Thursday and was charged an entire extra day because they don't do an hourly rate when you only a few hours over, nope a whole extra day. The kicker is I left my leather notebook on the back seat, which is totally my fault for that... I called the local agency and started sending emails right away to recover my notebook. Payless has been completely uncooperative, non responsive until I started getting angry and all they said was they couldn't find it. So what do they do with items left behind??? I would never rent from them again, and they need to change the name, it is paymore and get less car rental agency read more

Terrible: Richmond airport...I went to the terminal near baggage claim to find Payless Counter IS GONE. A lady from Avis told me Payless is gone. And Avis would be handle any Payless car rental reservations. No notification about this change was my first issue. My second issue was Avis gave me a car with the driver side outside door handle broken. No one around to help me. So back to the second Avis counter where I picked up the keys from. I had Attitude by the time I got back to the counter. I explain to the lady about the car driven door handle is broken/I don't want the car. Her attitude was like she don't believe me. I said, if you do not believe me feel free to walk down and check for yourself. Because I'm not walk back down there with you. I had a long day flying to get Richmond. Plus ,with all the money I paid for this rental. I want one in perfect condition. To top it off the second rental car I received was dirty. To many issues that I loses my count!!!! I WOULD NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH PAYLESS OR AVIS AGAIN!!! read more

Run as fast as you can from this company!! They are a bunch of crooks. My weekly rental was suppose to be for $153.00. When I checked my bank statement they charged me 310.00 and again for 109.00. I spent 2 days trying to get someone on the phone when I finally did I called them out on the charges got belligerent and hung up on me. Part of the bill for the 310.00 was 125.00 for their fuel charge??? Who would agree to that?? I had to file a fraudulent claim with my bank and I only got a portion of my money back. How they are still in business is beyond me. Stealing from people seems to be the norm for this company. They think they have the right to charge anything to your credit card they feel like. This is fraud and this company should be put out of business. read more

0* review of this company! Booked a car and had a confirmation with total price due. The agent couldn't have been ruder and tried to charge double the price on the confirmation. Needless to say we cancelled the car! Do not recommend this company at all!!! read more

Do not rent a car from here. I booked online for $51 including all taxes, when I came here to pick it up I was given a $79 estimate, when I came to drop the car off after two days, my final bill was $97. They SCAM you mercilessly, WATCH OUT! read more

I really am not a fan of Payless Car Rental or the rental car services at the Richmond airport. My work forced me to book through Payless. When I got to the counter at the airport, there was nobody there to help me. Eventually someone from another company helped me. They then told me to go upstairs then to the end of the terminal where I would pick up the car. So I went there, only to find you can't get there from where I was. There is about a 6 inch gap between the walkway going away from the terminal and the parking garage where rental cars are kept, and there is no way to get from one to the other (there's a wall separating them). Incredibly poorly designed. So I had to go all the way back to the escalators next to the rental car companies, go back downstairs, go to the end of the terminal and then take another escalator up. At the top, I again found someone from another company who got me my car. I got a Nissan Sentra, which was good enough (great gas mileage), though I was never able to figure out the bluetooth, despite the fact I have a Nissan back home and am familiar with their system. Once you get the car, they dont make it clear where to go and at no point did I have an opportunity to inspect it to make note of any scratches or dents on the car and let them know. I looked it over anyway and took pictures of all the marks on my white rental car. Eventually I found my way out of the garage and went on my way, no thanks to anybody that works there. When I returned my car, I was told that it would only cost about $69 for 3 days. I was surprised, as I was initially told it would be around $200. Again, when I returned the car, I dealt with someone from another company. Maybe he just didnt care and only charged me for one day. Regardless, it turned out to my advantage, and in the end I never dealt with a single person from Payless. I really have nothing positive to say about Payless other than the car was fine, so between that and the guy probably undercharging me, I give them 2 stars. read more

This company is the WORST! NEVER RENT WITH THEM. I rented my car online at carrentals.com. The cost for my car for the weekend was $61.05. When I got to the counter they added additional fees for a total of $82.61. I told them I did not want anything additional and they said with Payless it is not optional but required that they add road side pick up. I asked for a manager and she said she was the manager. I showed her my rental agreement for $61.05 and she said it was Payless policy to add these charges and she had no choice. I got on my phone and tried to rent from a different company but now it was too late as it was the day I needed the rental. So I paid and left. I contacted the company. Here is their response: "I appreciate the opportunity to address your concern involving Road Service Protection. When renting a vehicle with Payless, you have the option to accept or decline coverage or optional services. Coverage is authorized by the renter, and that decision is noted on the rental agreement when the guest signs for the coverage. Once a rental agreement has been completed and services have been rendered we are unable to make any changes or issue refunds. Thank you again for renting with Payless and we look forward to meeting your rental needs in the future." I am told it is optional when the lady at the counter REFUSED to remove it. I explained this to Payless and they said it was my fault for signing. Then I went online and found MANY complaints: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/payless_car_rental.html Apparently they force these charges on people all the time! Clearly that is their policy. This company are scam artists. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM. read more

If there was a negative number, that is what I would have given this business. I had a reservation for a car from 4 weeks prior to my arrival in Richmond International Airport in Virginia. The person at the rental desk informed me that even though I had a reservation, there were NO cars in the lot for over one hour..... how can that be? I had a reservation!!! NO cars??? Needless to say, I was not going to wait. Front desk of no help. Thankfully I walked over to ENTERPRISE and they were able to get me a car. The check out person even brought the car up closer to the sidewalk so that my elderly handicapped mom can get into the car easier. Thank you ENTERPRISE read more

Payless is terrible. Only because when you return your car after hours with them you have to go to budget or Avis at the airport and the problem is that when you turn your car in you have to walk all the way from the turn in parking lot to the rental car area which means you have to walk through the woods and across the street just because they cannot process your return at the rental lot. I will definitely try to not use them if can. I wish management would use their process improvement and work on checking in cars better for the customers. You have to wait in two lines to return your car. Absolutely terrible they don't have this squared away or at least a kiosk check in within the airport. read more

I had the same issue as Cheryl D. Here was my booking from Orbitz: Total: $68.52 Base Price: $47.85 Taxes & Fees: $20.67 When I checked in, the total was $135. The person initially refused to remove the extra charges - or cancel my reservation - until I started dialing my attorney. Suddenly, they relented. No, Payless, you cannot cram charges onto the bill. That's not legal. And the car? Yikes. 40,000 miles, and it showed. It reeked of puke and tobacco. It was all dented and scraped up. The rear suspension was bad. So if you like consumer fraud and crappy cars, go ahead. Otherwise, go elsewhere. read more

I rented a car from Richmond Int' Airport. It was horrible experienced. It's not payless; it's pay more. They charged me more in taxes than price of car that I rented. What a shame! Everyone should be aware of Payless rental because they charged more money. No recommended. Awful.... read more

I'd vote no stars if I could. If they're the only available rental you should taxi (bc you may be saving yourself time). I had a reservation, showed up at 9:00PM with no cars. They said a shipment was arriving in an hour. By midnight no cars had arrived & they told 10 people to find other means & they would reimburse taxi rides. I've been reaching out for reimbursement for over a month now and haven't gotten a single dime or response. read more

Man this was my worst car rental experience, when I picked up the car it was dirty and we asked that it be detailed but they had no one to do it, the lady at the counter came an hand swept the car in front of us...SAY WHAT...no class. We took the car anyway but after driving for 30 sections the air pressure signal started going off, that did it, we took the car back an asked for another one. By the way this location is located in Norfolk, VA, an was just a bad experience from start to finish. So we got another car, after repeatedly asking the lady what is the total cost and if we kept the car for an extra day what will be the cost. She states it will be another $27... Added. The total that she had us believe would be around $165 ish but when we brought the car back a day later we paid around $240, emm I'm not good at math but I'm not that bad at it. When I got my bill there was a slew of fees including a $20 late fee that was not disclosed to us after asking more than once"what is our total charge" which was over $50 more. She state that she "didn't tell me about the fee because the fee changes all the time"what the H..K, so just take that option away from us...what if it was $100, girl please. We have contest it with no resolution, also there was a $30 road side fee that we never used and would never be wise to if we didn't look into it. FYI the car we return was just rented to another customer without being detailed, but what else can I expect that is what we got. So people be aware these cheaper car rentals Payless you will end up paying way more, just what you were trying to avoid. Be aware. They don't deserve not even 1 don't deserve to share the spot with deserving rentals. No for payless car rental in Norfolk, VA. But they won't let me post review without which is unfair. They don't deserve a . read more

Reserved a car in Early April for a trip in mid-June. Went to get the car I reserved and was told they had only one small economy car or a big truck. I was told to either take the truck and pay more money or take the small car. I asked if I would receive a credit on the smaller car and they said no. I could wait 30 minutes and the mid-size SUV I reserved might be in. I told them I would wait. After 30 minutes the young man assisting us would not come over and help but made the nice young lady from budget come and do our paperwork. All that time Payless had a car, SUV, for us and the young lady could not answer why they made us wait. I asked why they had the reservations since April why we did not get the car we ordered and why would I have to pay more for another vehicle, kiddos to budget, but sadly, payless you lost a customer. Very poor customer service in Richmond Virginia airport. Payless, I feel only wants your money for nothing. Plus the no smoking car , the previous renters smoked in it. Hopefully we don't get charged the $250.00 to clean it since we don't smoke. read more

If you are going to rent a car from this company. I would suggest walking to the Enterprise counter instead. This agent was extremely rude and did not know how to process using our debt card. It was 10:30pm I reserved this car online. All that agent had to do was process our payment. It did not say on their website that they didn't accept debt cards? As a matter of fact there was a sign in front of the agent that clearly stated they are now accepting debt cards as of March. My husband and I were there on May 3rd. This agent got frustrated and turned us away!!!! If I was the owner of this company this person would be let go. It was devastating being out of state late at night and being turned away. He should be ashamed of himself. I asked for his name but he refused to give it to me. Upset to the point of tears my husband walked over to the Enterprise car rental. Thank goodness they were still open. That agent welcomed us with open arms. He was extremely friendly and was happy to help us. He expedition the process and gave us a free upgrade because he felt bad that we were treated that way by Payless car rental. The Enterprise agent said that they hear that a lot about that company. I thank god for Enterprise. Those agents were fast efficient and respectful. The process was quick and easy and honestly we paid the same price as the other car rental and with a free upgrade. From now on I will rent from Enterprise. Thank you Enterprise Car Rental for saving the day!! Stay away from Payless you will regret renting from them. read more