I had these worst rental car experience I've ever had with Thrifty Car Rental at International Gateway. I first booked the car rental booking through carrentals.com and everything was going smoothly. I had decided to go with Thrifty Car Rental for my road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC for my 30th bday trip with my girls, because they had the cheapest rate compared to the other car rental places. We were going down for Memorial Day weekend which was also Black Bike Week. A week before we were scheduled to go, I called into Thrifty Customer Service, and I was inquiring about changing the pick up time of the car rental. I was able to get the pick up time changed to a earlier pick up time.
While on the phone with the Customer Service Rep, I asked them if it was possible for me to pay with a debit card. The rep stated that I could, and that I need to provide 2 forms of id when picking up the rental. I asked her what the 2 forms of id were that they accepted, and she stated a birth certificate, passport, ss card, and or another debit card with my name on it. Also need to provide my driver's license. I asked her if there was anything else that I needed to know, and she said no that I was good to go.
The day comes to pick up the rental. Me and my best friend go to the airport to pick up the rental. I provide my driver's license, and my debit card along with my other debit card to pay. It wasn't until I get to the counter that I find out that they have to run a soft credit check in order for me to use the debit card! It wouldn't have been a big deal if that was stated to me over the phone when I spoke with the Customer Service Rep. That was never stated to me over the phone. So that completely blindsided me. Luckily the credit check went through, but then everything goes down hill from there.
Going through the process to get the rental and then the representative at the counter tells me that my total is 191.69, and that it will be $350 to get the rental!! That completely shocked me! She stated that they have to put a hold of $350 on my debit card for me to get the rental! I didn't have that in my account, because I was told the total was $191.69 over the phone, and that is what I was prepared for. The other money I had in my account was spending money for my trip and was not allocated for this rental hold. I was very disappointed that I was not told this over the phone. So me and my best friend found an atm in the airport where she took money out of her account to give to me to put in my account to cover this hold.
The atm that she took the money out was the same bank that was linked to the debit card that I was using for the rental. Once she took the money out, I was going to deposit right back into my account through the atm machine. Come to find out that this atm didn't have a deposit feature! So had to completely leave the airport, and find my bank nearby. Went to my bank that was inside of a grocery store, had to stand in a long line and then finally was able to deposit the money into my account. Then me and my best friend headed back to the airport. We make it back and stand in line to be waited on. Get back to the counter, we are now 1 1/2 into it. Get through the process again. The rep stated that we would be getting a Kia Sportage. When I booked online it stated that we would get something equivalent to a Jeep Grand Cherokee, so that was another surprise. Went back upstairs and the attendant pointed out the vehicle that we were getting.
The vehicle he pointed out was a Hyundai suv and not a Kia Sportage. That was ok, and I checked and saw the gas tank was on full, but as I was walking around the vehicle I saw that there was a huge poop stain on the trunk of the vehicle. I asked the attendant if the vehicle has been cleaned. He stated that it had been cleaned. I pointed out the huge poop stain on the trunk. The attendant had an attitude once I had pointed out to him that it wasn't clean. He stated that he could go get it cleaned, but I told him that I was out of time. We had to go pick up my other friends, so we did not have time to get the vehicle cleaned when it should have already been cleaned and we had already wasted too much time by not being told about the $350 hold in the first place.
Go and return the vehicle without any problems. Was told the money would be released back to my card within 48 hours. It actually showed back up on my card in 24 hours. The full amount of $350. I had actually called back into customer service before I had return the vehicle, and they weren't even able to state my dismay, but at first they were not even able to find my reservation! They eventually found it after I got hung up on and called back. I saw the full $350 back in my account and not the deduction of the $191.69, I was taking that as Thrifty's gesture to make up for my bad experience. That was not the case, because 2 days later the $191.69 was taken out of my account. I will never rent from Thrifty again! read more
