- Report: #818122
Complaint Review: 123 Auto Rental - Miami Florida
Reported By:
DaveH -
Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
123 Auto Rental
4019 NW 28th St Miami, 33142 Florida, United States of America
Phone:
305-871-0776
Web:
autorental123.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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123 Auto Rental 123 Auto & Truck Rental Poor Service, Poor Cars, Forced Purchase of CDW Insurance, Advertised Discounts Not Given, Non-existent pick-up phone number; Miami, Florida
Our experience with 123 Auto from the beginning was the worst we have had by far with any car rental company anywhere, and we STRONGLY recommend against using them!!
Airport pickup: There was no answer to the number we were given for pick-up, so that we had to search for a way to reach them. Once we did, it emerged that despite their advertised minutes away from the Ft. Lauderdale airport, they are
located, in fact, in Miami. It took over to two hours to obtain our car, by the time we got a usable phone number and their driver came out to the airport from Miami to get us, and then brought us back to Miami to get our car.
They insisted that we buy their CDW $22/day insurance or they wouldnt give us the car, despite our having insurance of our own and our wanting to decline their CDW. This has never happened to us previously; all other rental services, international and domestic ones, have accepted our insurance and our refusal of their CDW. (They claim that their rental contract states that renters must have full insurance coverage before a car can be rented, but they define full ONLY as buying their own insurance despite words in their contract indicating that a renter can refuse their CDW).
They charged us more per day than the website stated for the car rental, because their website stated they were supposed to give us a 15% AAA membership discount, but they said no it was only 5%. They were reluctant to provide us an itemized set of charges, perhaps because they actually gave NO discount at all from the rate listed on the rental agreement. When
confronted about this, they went through mumbo-jumbo about how they had given us 5% off--what it really meant was that they double-charged us extra fees, so that effectively no discount was given.
Also, it turns out that they had 2 tires on the car that were in very bad shapealmost no tread and cracking in the sidewalls. One of them went flat halfway through our rental when the sidewall cracks went all the way through, and the other one appeared to be on the verge of going bad (it was losing inflation). We called AAA to replace the blown tire, and the mechanic said the tire had cracked simply from use and that another tire was on the verge of going too. When we called 123 Auto Rental, they told us to swing by their office and get the one bad tire replaced. We, of course, insisted that they come to our address (we had already driven 30 miles on the doughnut spare that isnt supposed to go much beyond 50 miles and had taken care of the flat tire without
help from them). Furthermore, they seemed amazed that we would also expect them to replace the second cracked tire that appeared about to go flat or blow. After much argument they finally agreed to bring us a somewhat equivalent car and take back the one we had.
The replacement car we got turned out to lack a functioning horn, to be missing the hatchback
cover, so that any items in the trunk would be exposed to view, and to have a glove compartment that wouldnt fully close.
The car had clearly been used by someone who smoked, and the solution was apparently to spray and spray with an air freshener, leading to a nauseating smell in the car.
When getting our ride back to the airport, they tried to take us to the wrong airport.
When we tried to reach a settlement with them at the time we returned the car, they refused completely.
SUMMARY: Misrepresenting themselves, violating their own contract in forcing renters to purchase their CDW, not giving promised discounts, providing poor vehicles and poor customer service!
Airport pickup: There was no answer to the number we were given for pick-up, so that we had to search for a way to reach them. Once we did, it emerged that despite their advertised minutes away from the Ft. Lauderdale airport, they are
located, in fact, in Miami. It took over to two hours to obtain our car, by the time we got a usable phone number and their driver came out to the airport from Miami to get us, and then brought us back to Miami to get our car.
They insisted that we buy their CDW $22/day insurance or they wouldnt give us the car, despite our having insurance of our own and our wanting to decline their CDW. This has never happened to us previously; all other rental services, international and domestic ones, have accepted our insurance and our refusal of their CDW. (They claim that their rental contract states that renters must have full insurance coverage before a car can be rented, but they define full ONLY as buying their own insurance despite words in their contract indicating that a renter can refuse their CDW).
They charged us more per day than the website stated for the car rental, because their website stated they were supposed to give us a 15% AAA membership discount, but they said no it was only 5%. They were reluctant to provide us an itemized set of charges, perhaps because they actually gave NO discount at all from the rate listed on the rental agreement. When
confronted about this, they went through mumbo-jumbo about how they had given us 5% off--what it really meant was that they double-charged us extra fees, so that effectively no discount was given.
Also, it turns out that they had 2 tires on the car that were in very bad shapealmost no tread and cracking in the sidewalls. One of them went flat halfway through our rental when the sidewall cracks went all the way through, and the other one appeared to be on the verge of going bad (it was losing inflation). We called AAA to replace the blown tire, and the mechanic said the tire had cracked simply from use and that another tire was on the verge of going too. When we called 123 Auto Rental, they told us to swing by their office and get the one bad tire replaced. We, of course, insisted that they come to our address (we had already driven 30 miles on the doughnut spare that isnt supposed to go much beyond 50 miles and had taken care of the flat tire without
help from them). Furthermore, they seemed amazed that we would also expect them to replace the second cracked tire that appeared about to go flat or blow. After much argument they finally agreed to bring us a somewhat equivalent car and take back the one we had.
The replacement car we got turned out to lack a functioning horn, to be missing the hatchback
cover, so that any items in the trunk would be exposed to view, and to have a glove compartment that wouldnt fully close.
The car had clearly been used by someone who smoked, and the solution was apparently to spray and spray with an air freshener, leading to a nauseating smell in the car.
When getting our ride back to the airport, they tried to take us to the wrong airport.
When we tried to reach a settlement with them at the time we returned the car, they refused completely.
SUMMARY: Misrepresenting themselves, violating their own contract in forcing renters to purchase their CDW, not giving promised discounts, providing poor vehicles and poor customer service!
