Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - Unroadworthy Car Rented to me

Last week I rented a car in Frankfurt to drive to Amsterdam and I was just getting on the highway and to my horror I realized that the speedomoter did NOT work!!
I had no idea how to get back to the alamo location so i decided to continue by keeping up with teh other cars but not going faster. I arrived in Amsterdam and reported it immediately and they said they'd report the problem and they offered me a 1/2 tank of gas but said there was nothing else they could do there. Head office in the Netherlands was meant to contact me regarding this as I want a refund but no one has contacted me yet (it's been 4 days). The US office told me "it's ok the speedomoter didn't work there is no speed limit in Germany!". Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do about this, how to get a refund from them?
Thanks!

Please explain to us how an inoperative speedometer renders a vehicle "unroadworthy". Thanks.

An inoperative speedomoter renders the car illegal and unroadworthy. If the car is not fit to be on the road then it is therefore defined as unroadworthy.

It would fail the very strict TUV inspection in Germany. Many areas in Germany have speed limits so you dealt with a idiot that stated that Germany have no speed limits. Just certain areas of the autobahns. (freeways)

Thank you for the explanation.

The vehicle may technically have been unroadworthy, and you may have been inconvenienced by having to "go with the flow" of the other traffic, but I don't see how this caused a disruption of your trip to the extent that you deserve a full refund. Now if you had been pulled over and arrested or ticketed, or otherwise delayed or put in danger, then I could see the logic...

PS: I agree that the answers you received from them were rather ridiculous, but lack of wisdom or even common sense, or the dishing of b.s., doesn't justify getting money back. If it did, I would be wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.

[This message has been edited by obsessed (edited 06-05-2003).]