Complaint Review: Thrifty Car Rental

Thrifty Car Rental

I am writing to dispute charges incurred during the renting of a vehicle from Thrifty Car Rental. I am a 68 year old male that works for a small engineering firm in Quincy, Florida. I have worked for this firm for over 13 years and have traveled extensively throughout the United States providing engineering services to many state Department of Transportations. Most recently I was traveling to Topeka, Kansas on Sept. 3, 2013 . My office had made reservations for a rental vehicle at the Kansas City Airport for 10 days beginning on Sept. 3 and returning Sept. 13, 2013.

Our office had made reservations for a mid-sized SUV (see attached) During the transaction the agent behind the desk said that I qualified for a upgrade to a larger vehicle and mentioned two different vehicles of which the only one I recognized was a Yukon. When I asked what would the charges be she stated that the upgrade would only cost $30 per day instead of the normal $50 per day that is usually charged for a Yukon. She then turned her computer screen around so that I could see a table showing that $50 per day was the standard charge for this vehicle.

I asked her what was the rate I was currently paying she said that it was $28.79 per day and that to upgrade would only cost $30 per day. I was traveling with two other engineers and was scheduled to be working with a total of 5-7 engineers throughout the 10 day period. Field trips to project sites in Topeka and Kansas City, Ks were also scheduled which made the larger vehicle desirable. As I have often run into this situation where the rental car agency offers a larger vehicle for the same or slightly increased rate I agreed to the upgrade

The agent then continued with the contract preparation but then said that there was a problem with her printer and she would have to transfer to the adjacent printer. She then retrieved the rental printout from the adjacent printer and asked that I sign the contract documents. During this entire time period I believed that I was renting a SUV for $30 per day and that it was only a small increase over the rate contained in my original reservation. After driving to Topeka and working with my fellow engineers the next day I was advised to review my rental printout very carefully

In reviewing the printout stub I noticed that the standard cost per day for this vehicle was not $30 per day but appeared to be $51.46 per day and the upgrade cost of $30 per day would be then added to this rate to total $81.46 per day. I immediately called the Thrifty Car Rental Customer Support number and explained my predicament to the agent. I was told that I could return the vehicle and that I would have to pay for all charges incurred to that point.  Fortunately I was only a 1 1/2 hour drive from the airport and was able to return the vehicle without impacting my work schedule.

Upon arriving at the Thirfty Car Rental I asked to speak with a supervisor The agent made a call on his radio and in a few minutes Ms. Demika Black arrived and asked what was the problem. I offered to show her my original reservation but she only leaned back, crossed her arms, and glared at me. I could immediately tell from the body language that I was not welcome at this counter. Ms. Black told me my only choice would be to turn in the Yukon pay all charges incurred up to that point and to rent another  vehicle. Ms Black told me that it was impossible for the agent to rent me the vehicle without me being aware of the total charges. She said that a screen showing the total charges is displayed on the small screen mounted on top of the counter. She then showed me what should have been displayed on the screen.

For some reason I never saw that screen and after reviewing the events that happened during the rental I believe that causing the printout to be transferred to a adjacent printer short circuited that process deliberately   Ms Black then asked for my contract and the fuel receipt. After examing the attached fuel receipt she said that it could not be honored because it did not have the address of the service station where I filled the gas tank.  As I have never had this happen to me before we immediately began to argue I was told that I could not rent another vehicle from Thrifty Car Rental would have to go elsewhere for another vehicle.

I left her counter and went across the lobby to Dollar Car Rental and asked if they had any cars available. It was then that a young lady came out of the office behind the counter and told me that she had been instructed to not rent a car to me. She explained that all the larger car rental agencies in that facility were under the same management company and she had received a telephone call giving her those instructions. Fortuneatly for me a small locally owned company was next door and I was able to rent a vehicle for the remainder of  my trip.

I am attaching copies of the receipts from my original reservation, the contract for rental of the Yukon, the gas receipt and the receipt for the charges from the Yukon. Due the illegibility of the printouts I am showing the revelant charges below.

                                                      Rental Contract                                              Actual Charges for 2 Days

Hourly Rate                                       $10.30                                                               NA

Daily Rate                                          $51.48                                                               $102.96

Weekly Rate                                     $205.92                                                            NA

Early Return                                      $20.00                                                               $20.00

Upgrade                             10@ $30 per day                                                           $60.00

Customer Fac.                   10@ $3.00 per day                                                        $6.00

Veh. Lis. Fee                      10@ $1.90 per day                                                        $3.80

Arena Rec. Fee                  10@ $4.00 per day                                                        $8.00

Tran. Fac. Fee                    10@ 2.36 per day                                                          $4.72

Energy Rec. Fee                10@ $0.45 per day                                                        $0.90

Concession Rec. Fee        11.11%                                                                             $20.85

State Tax                            8.47%                                                                               $19.26

Total Charges                                                                                                              $246.49