I recently rented a car from the Dollar location in Tucson for 4 days. Normally, i wouldn't use Dollar, but the rate was too low to pass up - 11 bucks a day. My 4 day total with taxes should be around 65 bucks.
when i picked up the car, the girl at the counter was very pushy that i needed a bigger car, additional coverage, etc which i of course refused. She even went so far as to say she hoped i wouldn't regret it when i returned the car. At the time, i wrote it off as pushy commission-driven attitude.
When i returned my car at the agreed-upon time, The greeter met me at the car, did a very thorough walk-around inspection, asked to see my gas receipt weven though the car was well above "F", and then asked if i wanted it left on my credit card. I said yes, she printed my receipt, i stuffed it in my bag, and i was on my way. Once I arrived at my destination (about 4 hours later), i looked at the reciept and noticed a 6.00/day additional driver fee had been added for 4 days. I called the rental counter and they claimed that i had an unauthorized driver drop the car off and that was why i was charged the fee. This was not the case as i was travelling alone and I dropped off the car, but the manager said ti was my word against his staff, and he had to back up his staff. Nice. I called the dollar customer service number and they opened an investigation that will supposedly take 5-7 days.
What options do i have? It's apparently me against them, and I have a feeling i know how this is going to turn out. Did the girl at the counter when i rented the car put a note in the reservation to screw me on the return since i didn't buy any of her additional coverages or upgrades? I paid with Visa - can i dispute the charges for the rental until it is resolved?
robsawatsky
Jun 13, 07, 10:03 am
I called the rental counter and they claimed that i had an unauthorized driver drop the car off and that was why i was charged the fee. This was not the case as i was travelling alone and I dropped off the car, but the manager said ti was my word against his staff, and he had to back up his staff. Nice. I called the dollar customer service number and they opened an investigation that will supposedly take 5-7 days.
What options do i have? It's apparently me against them, and I have a feeling i know how this is going to turn out. Did the girl at the counter when i rented the car put a note in the reservation to screw me on the return since i didn't buy any of her additional coverages or upgrades? I paid with Visa - can i dispute the charges for the rental until it is resolved?
What you have to be is assertive. Don't just merely file a telephone dispute with Dollar Customer Service and the local agency. Write them a polite but very direct and factual letter with no extraneous verbiage of any type that states your case. Such as:
"I, <your name>, hereby declare that I was the only driver of car (quote rental details). The additional authorized driver charge was not requested by me nor required under the terms of the rental agreement. This charge must be removed immediately from my account and credited to the <card used to rent the vehicle>. This improper charge will also be disputed with <the issuing credit card institution>. Please respond within 10 days indicating your correction of this improper charge."
If they don't respond positively. Just send the letter again with an additional note indicating that you will be treating this matter as a "breach of contract and fraud and copying the state's attorney general".
I've used a similar method for a couple of disputes and you just don't offer any option or alternative other than responding as you demand. You've essentially provided a affidavit and unless their employee and local manager does the same thing , which assuming you are the honest one, puts them in a position to make a false statement and in civil or even criminal jeopardy.
jackal
Jun 13, 07, 9:42 pm
The national customer service desk is pretty generous (they are instructed by corporate headquarters to try to retain customers as much as possible), so I'm fairly certain that they will end up removing the charge from your bill--it's not worth it to them to lose one customer over a measly $24. In fact, if you tell them that you are still dissatisfied with the way this was handled, they may send you something like a couple of $25 vouchers good for future rentals just to try to keep them in your good graces.
If you called national customer service (800.800.5252), that's probably what will happen, since they look at the big picture. If you talked to someone at the location itself, things are less likely to turn out that way, because they tend to focus just on that location's profits and don't care as much about customer loyalty.
I would let the nationwide customer service desk deal play out before disputing charges. Credit card companies usually require that you at least try to resolve the issue with the merchant first, anyway. If Dollar's customer service desk comes back negative, then I might go ahead with robsawatsky's recommendation to write an affidavit (IANAL, so I don't know how this process works from a legal perspective). And if that, doesn't work, then try the credit card dispute process (you probably won't have wasted any opportunities for the credit card companies to fight the charge, anyway, since many cards won't take action until the statement the charge appears on is closed). Going that route should work, since credit card companies do hold the key that the merchant is looking for: your money, but be aware that not every dispute is resolved in the customer's favor.
Failing that (or in addition to the above if you are not satisfied with how it was handled), you can write to the corporate office and let them know your dissatisfaction. Try the following address:
Gary Paxton
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc.
5330 East 31st Street
Tulsa, OK 74135-5076
You might also want to try his email address, although I'm not sure if it works or if it goes to him, his executive assistant, or some generic high-level customer service person, but it's supposed to be gary.paxton@dtag.com. He also has a fax number listed: 918.669.3008.
Here are some other high-level contacts courtesy of Automotive Digest (none of this is inside information--I got it all courtesy of Google, although Automotive Digest's info is geared towards fleet people and not customer service issues, so I doubt the Staff Vice President of Fleet Operations will be able to help you):
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group
Thomas P. Capo, Chairman
thomas.capo@dtag.com
John Maus, Staff Vice President Fleet Operations
jmaus@dollar.com
PH: (918) 669-3313
FX: (918) 669-3359
Gary Paxton, President & CEO
gary.paxton@dtag.com
FX: (918) 669-3008
I always look at the total before I file the receipt away. I've had times that even at my preferred rental agency (Hertz), where they forgot to apply a coupon that the ticket was 10-20% more than it should have been.
Nip it in the bud, I say. (About 1 in 25 rentals do I have any problems with the bill. I hate to go through high pressure sales, and nickel and diming, so I don't mind paying a bit more sometimes to avoid that with Hertz.)
jackal
Jun 13, 07, 10:38 pm
Right, except in this case, that wouldn't have helped. The additional driver charge wasn't on his original contract, and he did notice it on the return receipt but didn't have time to dispute it then and there (although that would, of course, have been the best practice).
One thing to think of that I didn't mention: how do they intend to prove or even to say they identified the person who returned the car as not being you? Did the return agent ask you for identification? Did you sign a receipt at return that could prove you returned it? I'm curious to know how they did this.
Second, even if a different person returned the vehicle, it is not a valid practice to retroactively add on the additional driver surcharge without also obtaining the license information of the additional driver--otherwise there is no reason to charge the driver. The most the rental agency should possibly be able to do is to say that the other person driving violated your rental agreement and bill you for damages (even if you had purchased LDW) or told your insurance company that the agreement was violated (making them deny your claim). There is no reason to add the charge without obtaining the license, and there is no reason to obtain the license information after the fact.
I'm having trouble understanding why they did this. In any case, hopefully it will (eventually) be resolved to more than your satisfaction. If you so choose to take your business elsewhere, I would support you bypassing Dollar in Tucson, but I would encourage you that not every Dollar location is the same (and that other agencies have their bad locations, too).
flyingtool
Jun 18, 07, 7:11 pm
Thank you all for the recommendations. I called the customer service number this afternoon all ready to argue and plead my case. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, I finally spoke to an agent. I gave him my dispute tracking number and he took a minute to review it. I then explained in 2 sentences what happened and he said he was a supervisor (answering the calls?) and he would have the additional driver charge removed from my credit card. I asked him how and why this could have happened and he had no real answer, but as long as it is removed from my bill, I am happy enough to let it go.
I personally will never rent from Dollar in Tucson again because of this, but at least someone within Dollar saw the mistake and fixed it, so I won't write off ever renting at another Dollar location.
Thanks again for the replies.
Jaimito Cartero
Jun 18, 07, 7:22 pm
Right, except in this case, that wouldn't have helped. The additional driver charge wasn't on his original contract, and he did notice it on the return receipt but didn't have time to dispute it then and there (although that would, of course, have been the best practice).
I think you need to reread the original post again. The OP specifically said that s/he did not look at the receipt until 4 hours later.