Dollar - Dollar IS Evil, and Stupid Too

:mad: :mad: Dollar just sent me a nasty letter saying I had a toll violation while renting a car in Chicago. They said if I didn’t pay them a $25.00 administrative fee, they would turn me over to a collection agency. They also said that they had turned my contact information over to the I Pass people. I will pay the I Pass $20.80 if they contact me.
There are 2 additional violations on the paperwork. I was not in Chicago during the other 2 violations.

What a bunch of jerks. They said I signed something authorizing the $25.00 charge when I rented in Chicago. I didn’t sign anything except when I checked the car out. I am an Express member.
Don’t they understand that these tactics have just lost them a customer. By reading this on the Flyer Talk, I hope other readers will not rent from Dollar.
I can’t imagine Avis trying these heavy handed tactics. I will pay the fine. I won’t pay Dollar. So for $25.00 they won’t get, they give up all future revenue from me.
I have an upcoming reservation for a week with Dollar. I will not show up.

In the matter of the 2 violations that you said were charged against you when you were not in the city involved, do be sure to make them check the records thoroughly. It's possible that the violations were committed by the renter just prior to you!

Personally, I would pay them the $25 and continue disputing the charge.

My good credit worth more than the negative report from the collection agency.

Ok .. I was bored and was reading my rental agreement I have with "Thrifty" so I'm not sure if it'll helps.

On one part of the agreement it says:
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR PARKING VIOLATIONS. IF YOU FAIL TO PAY YOUR TICKET(S), ANY UNPAID TICKET(S), PENALTIES, PLUS A $25.00 FEE PER CITATION, WILL BE BILLED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD. X____ (INITIAL HERE)

Perhaps the $25 administration fee they claimed you signed is for this?

I had something semi-similar happen with a local Enterprise, where I had rented a car at some point in the previous year while my car was in a next-door body shop.

Someone at Enterprise's regional office (not the local rental office I had rented from) had identified me as the renter of that vehicle on all dates that year to the City of Santa Monica, which made SM send me two unpaid parking ticket bills!

That was fun (not) to figure out (because they used some other name, it took me a while to figure out that Enterprise was the party who had identified me) and straighten out (I drove all the way to that regional office, only to find out I had to go back to that local office to get it straightened out).

Personally, I would pay them the $25 and continue disputing the charge.

My good credit worth more than the negative report from the collection agency.


In the end, you are correct. Good credit is worth much more than $25.00. I thought this was a poor way to handle then matter on the first contact. A nice letter explaining the situation and the agreement would have been much more effective than the initial contact threating collection.

I'm not disputing the violation during MY rental period. I ended up in automatic lanes without enough change to pay.

I just think it is really stupid for Dollar to handle the matter in a threatning way with the first contact.

I will ask to see all paperwork involved.

I will not rent from Dollar again.

Cld Flyer

I am also an Express member. I seem to recall Dollar contracts having similar verbage to what was cited on the Thrifty contract. It's one of the 6-8 items you quickly initial and never read. I believe Alamo also follows this practice. We have freeways out west so tolls are virtually nonexistent outside LA, but I do even recall Hertz having something in my Gold contract when I rented in PVD earlier this year.

Of course, if you didn't have the vehicle on the dates in question, that's another story altogether!

Personally, I would pay them the $25 and continue disputing the charge.

My good credit worth more than the negative report from the collection agency.

Yes, cldflyer, pay Dollar the $25, and get clear with I-Pass ... I guess the $25 is buried in the fine prints of the contract, as posted above.
Why did you rent from Dollar? Was it cheaper?
I rented from Dollar only once, a Cadillac at SFO. They gave me a hard time: "Where do you live ... where do you work..?" They almost asked for a birth certificate :D

I rented from Dollar only once, a Cadillac at SFO. They gave me a hard time: "Where do you live ... where do you work..?" They almost asked for a birth certificate :D

Sometimes I feel like a broken record, but when you join Dollar Express (or any frequent renter program), you don't get the 20 obnoxious questions that some newly-hired clerk is mandated to ask as they try to figure out whether you will disappear with their vehicle or dump it in a lake somewhere. It's not an absolute guarantee, but if all the info a rental company has on you is your name, email address, a (potentially stolen) credit card, and an out-of-state license that may or may not look legit, I don't think it's wrong for them to "size you up" with lots of questions.

When you are a member of their "frequent renter" program, as silly as it sounds, they presume you aren't going to disappear with their property. Plus, you generally get processed by an experienced "senior" agent who knows how to get you on your way quickly.

You remind me an experience with Dollar.... once I got a call from their security department asking me to return their vehicle or else they will call police. I didn't rent with Dollar for months and it turns out my info was used on other people's rental (probably the agent brought up my fast track rental record) and that guy didn't return his vehicle ontime. It took me couple phone calls to figure out.. no apology given... nothing. Imagine all my personal info (DL#, DOB, Addr, phone #) ends up on a stranger's hand.

Since then, I never rented with Dollar.. That was 4 yrs ago.

... once I got a call from their security department asking me to return their vehicle or else they will call police. Since then, I never rented with Dollar. That kind of thing can happen with any of 'em. Once I got a registered letter from Avis threatening legal action unless I paid $2300 to repair a car I'd wrecked.

The wreck occurred three time zones away from me. They'd rented a car to someone else -- a woman! -- using my profile, then held me responsible when she hit something. That one took weeks to straighten out;

I learned that Avis is great as long as nothing goes wrong, but the moment something does, or you have to try to communicate with them, you're completely doomed. They have people working there who I think fit the clinical, medical-textbook version of moron.

I agree that any rental car agency can screw up, but FWIW I've encountered more hassles with Dollar than any other company. Like the OP, I now steer clear of Dollar.

I agree that any rental car agency can screw up, but FWIW I've encountered more hassles with Dollar than any other company. Like the OP, I now steer clear of Dollar.

I rented from Dollar only once....and never will again even at a rate of $0/day.

I rented from Dollar only once....and never will again even at a rate of $0/day.

Nothing would ever get me to go back to a company for whom brash cunning and outright dishonesty are standard operational procedures, I guess the people inspired by Enron had to go somewhere though..........

I didn’t sign anything except when I checked the car out. I am an Express member.



Ah, but here you are wrong. When you signed up for the Express service, they made you either, electronically sign, or actually sign a master contract that applies to ALL rentals when booked under your express number. It helps to read before you sign up for things...

convinced me to switch to Hertz...

I rented from Dollar only once, a Cadillac at SFO. They gave me a hard time: "Where do you live ... where do you work..?" They almost asked for a birth certificate :D Don't give them any ideas -- Dollar is the rental car company that used to demand fingerprints from its customers.

convinced me to switch to Hertz...

Interestingly enough, they had the same effect on me!!! ^ ^

---- They gave me a hard time: "Where do you live ... where do you work..?" They almost asked for a birth certificate :D
Then there's the 'you MUST have at least two phone numbers' routine. I don't have two phone numbers. Finally said to the rocket scientist at the counter "I'm staying at the Hilton... here's their number." That seemed to placate him. Skip ahead 18 months or so to the next time I wanted to try them. Same deal. "Do you have a 2nd phone number" "No". "It shows you (in their equivalent of a PNR) as having xxx-xxx-xxxx". They still had me listed with that random Hilton, in some far off city not even close to my home, as my secondary phone number. And to make matters even sillier "why are you here? Are you going to visit friends or work or what?" It's none of their business what I intend to do in a city. Sometimes it's just more cost efficient to get a rent car and park it at the hotel if they don't have an airport shuttle or to avoid cabs on a day trip.

I have a vaild driver license and a valid credit card from a respected bank. With that particular card, I could have BOUGHT the darn car. Reservation was made via a partnered airline website at the time I booked my flight. Not via one of the 'blind' discounters.

Without two phone numbers (what do you mean 'self employed' and don't have a 'work' number'?) they think you must be some sort of neanderthal who will abscond with their car. No, I'm NOT about to give them a 'friend or a relative' number, either. :td:

Then they stuck a mandatory 'refueling charge' on the bill. I had to argue to get it removed. Filled up about 2 blocks away and within 5 minutes of returning the car, and had the receipt in hand.

To me, any cost savings is far and away diminished by their attitudes and policies. As a previous poster stated 'I wouldn't rent from them if it were $0.00/week'

:mad: :mad: Dollar just sent me a nasty letter saying I had a toll violation while renting a car in Chicago. They said if I didn’t pay them a $25.00 administrative fee, they would turn me over to a collection agency. They also said that they had turned my contact information over to the I Pass people. I will pay the I Pass $20.80 if they contact me.
There are 2 additional violations on the paperwork. I was not in Chicago during the other 2 violations.

What a bunch of jerks. They said I signed something authorizing the $25.00 charge when I rented in Chicago. I didn’t sign anything except when I checked the car out. I am an Express member.
Don’t they understand that these tactics have just lost them a customer. By reading this on the Flyer Talk, I hope other readers will not rent from Dollar.
I can’t imagine Avis trying these heavy handed tactics. I will pay the fine. I won’t pay Dollar. So for $25.00 they won’t get, they give up all future revenue from me.
I have an upcoming reservation for a week with Dollar. I will not show up.



I am suprised this does not happen all the time in Chicago. The toll close to the airport has a few lanes that use through tolling and can be missed very easily. The rental companies need to point this out better.