Complaint Review: Alamo Rental Car

 Count on Alamo to leave you stranded, broken down and helpless. On our short honeymoon, we rented an Alamo car from Bozeman, Montana Alamo to tour Yellowstone Park. On our way back to Bozeman, we were driving up a highway incline in the middle of nowhere, when the car slowly came to a stop. We were able to pull off the road just in the nick of time. I quickly reached for my phone because the Alamo brochure boasts about its new 24 hour emergency roadside assistance. Of course, because of our remote location there was no cell service. After trouble shooting, we decide to start walking to try to get within cell range. After a walking a mile and finding one particular spot, we could just manage to get the phone to dial Alamo in Bozeman. After explaining to the customer service agent our situation, our location, and the danger of our situation, I quickly explained how I might lose my cell signal at any moment and that they needed to get a tow truck on its way. Instead of having concern for us and the situation we were in, the agent began to question if we had run out of gas or if we had used diesel and so on, implying that we got ourselves into this situation and never once saying they will help and get a tow truck on the way. After repeatedly stressing I could lose my cell connection at any moment, the agent put me on hold for 5 minutes and then again for 10 minutes, which is when I lost my connection.

After again finding a cell hot spot, I tried calling the Alamo number for the next 20 minutes, only to get a busy signal. Since the lackadaisical Alamo agent was unconcerned about our situation and safety, our only hope was for a good Samaritan to pick us up before night set in. Luckily for us, a good Samaritan reluctantly stopped and agreed to give us a lift the 2.5 hours back into Bozeman. I called the agent once we were in cell range, to find out he had never sent a tow truck or anyone else to help us for that matter and he never once apologized for the situation, but instead said that once we dropped the keys off at the office they would send a tow truck to pick up the vehicle. And then to add insult to injury, he proceeded to threaten us with the $600 towing charge if it was found that it was our fault that the car stopped working. Unbelievable! Alamo customer service saying should be, "We have no concern for customer safety and the customer will always be assumed to be at fault, even if they end up stranded on the side of a remote highway.” This took up a day and half of our honeymoon. The next day we spoke with the manager who was useless and uncaring, the equivalent of the company robot. After calling everyday for over a week, leaving messages for the manager and waiting to hear when we would be, at the very least, refunded our rental fee, we finally heard from Alamo that it was a mechanical issue (no fault of ours) and we would be refunded. There was never an apology or gesture by the company for the poor customer service that put us in an unsafe and dangerous situation. Shameful!