Dollar - Dont Rent From Dollar $

I rented from Dollar at ATL airport July 6-8..got a great rate and then just noticed on my American Express statement they charged me and additional $300..thier explanation is that they had a computer failure on July 7 and had to hand write charge slips..On the charge slip they hand wrote they used my credit card number for someone elses charge..Now im disputing it whith Dollar and Amex..Dollar is trying to keep the money aslong as possible saying they need 21 days to research it and they didnt post the charge..I have been warned by friends not to rent from Dollar as they have been known to claim you damaged the car after you return it..I would be scared to ever rent from Dollar again,as you dont know what kind of Fradulent charges they will put on your credit card..Dollar may have better rates than some others..but BEWARE..you dont know what your getting into..Stay away from Dollar at all cost!!! :mad:

I will keep you updated..its been a week since i disputed the charge and they claim they will need a few more weeks to research this..Dollar says thier customer service department is understaffed and thats just how it is..:mad:

Similar issues have happened with me. Mistakes happen - you should be fine.

Dude, wow. Calm down. Should I never fill up with gas at Tesoro again because they once posted a mistaken $10 charge to my card? It must be intentional--it's one of those big evil oil companies.

Mistakes happen, and when the computers go down, things get very insane. I know this from experience. When entering information into the computers once they come back up, it's easy to get caught up in the chaos and type the wrong thing in, especially since you're not used to doing it (fortunately, it's a rarity that the systems do go down, but when they do...).

Individual franchises (of any brand, not just Dollar) may be evil and greedy, but on the whole (and especially at corporate HQ), there is nobody who is "out to get you" and steal your money because they can (especially in customer care--actually, their internal reputation is that they're too quick to side with the customer and hand out undeserved discounts). As far as damage goes, Dollar may be a little less lenient than some of the other (higher rate) companies that may just decide to eat the cost of the damage themselves, but ultimately, it's your responsibility to find and notate damage on the vehicle before you take the car so that you're not charged for it after returning, and when returning, to ensure that the agent notes that the vehicle was inspected and no damage was found so that you can use that information in the event they find damage later. It's not reasonable to expect Dollar to eat thousands of dollars of damage to a car just because someone tries to hide it.

How could it possibly take 21 days for them to see what happened? How hard is it to simply look at your reservation and see what went wrong?

Sounds like a bunch of BS to me too..

You've convinced me, I won't use Dollar..

I suggest disputing wrong amount charges and duplicate charges and superfluous charges and apparently bogus charges immediately with the credit card company without going to the merchant first.

My worst car rental experience all these years was with Dollar, that was in Hilo Hawaii at the airport counter. Horrendously long line to get the car, not enough agents. I didn't realize that, while everyone had to eventually take a shuttle to the offsite location I could very well have taken that shuttle first and checked out a car at the offsite location, probagly more quickly.

Once a gas station put an oversized charge for an actual purchase on my credit card account. I disputed it only with the credit card company, including this: "although I have patronized this station in the past, my car doesn't hold that much gas". The credit card company removed the entire charge and I never heard any more about the incident.

Travel tips: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Thanks for the heads up. I will AVOID.

Thanks for the heads up. I will AVOID.

This is an isolated instance and not representative of a pattern. I think you and the OP are over-reacting. It is not as if Dollar denied responsibility for the incident. I have been overcharged by Avis, Budget, and Hertz all in the past. All of them re-credited my account without an issue just like what is occurring with the OP. Credit card credits can take up to 4 weeks to post back to one's account.

If you see repeated posts of Dollar/Thrifty overcharging customers, then you have cause to AVOID. In the meanwhile, monitor what unfolds in this thread.

I've rented from Dollar at SFO, CLT, PHX, PIT, and had good experiences (fast service, courteous staff). However, I had a really terrible experience at Logan using my free days. The customer service person at the desk didn't know what to do with them (even though I had made my reservation using the code for the certificates and reminded them when I checked in that I was using the certificates). He went in the back and got his manager who insisted that they were only worth $25 not a free day even though the certificate clearly stated a day (and I had used them other times in three different cities with no problem). When I told the manager that it was not okay to only give me a $25 credit she handed the certificates back to me and said "I'm not taking these -- you'll have to pay full price." At that point, I got Dollar customer service on the line, the manager got someone on her telephone and told me that they would credit my account for the two days. When I returned home, I found that they hadn't credited my account -- called Dollar customer service back -- the person that I talked to there was very nice, apologized, called Boston -- apparently they have a big issue with this franchise because Dollar ended up sending a check to me for the value of the free days. (it took about 10 days to reach me). However, Dollar customer service also said they would send me another free day certificate along with the check for all of the aggravation -- and of course didn't.

None of these companies is perfect and the problem with Dollar seems to be their franchisees rather than the company.

I've rented from Dollar at SFO, CLT, PHX, PIT, and had good experiences (fast service, courteous staff). However, I had a really terrible experience at Logan using my free days. The customer service person at the desk didn't know what to do with them (even though I had made my reservation using the code for the certificates and reminded them when I checked in that I was using the certificates). He went in the back and got his manager who insisted that they were only worth $25 not a free day even though the certificate clearly stated a day (and I had used them other times in three different cities with no problem). When I told the manager that it was not okay to only give me a $25 credit she handed the certificates back to me and said "I'm not taking these -- you'll have to pay full price." At that point, I got Dollar customer service on the line, the manager got someone on her telephone and told me that they would credit my account for the two days. When I returned home, I found that they hadn't credited my account -- called Dollar customer service back -- the person that I talked to there was very nice, apologized, called Boston -- apparently they have a big issue with this franchise because Dollar ended up sending a check to me for the value of the free days. (it took about 10 days to reach me). However, Dollar customer service also said they would send me another free day certificate along with the check for all of the aggravation -- and of course didn't.

None of these companies is perfect and the problem with Dollar seems to be their franchisees rather than the company.

Thanks for comments. I better stick with avis or hertz just to avoid troubles

Thanks for comments. I better stick with avis or hertz just to avoid troubles

You get what you pay for, they may have low rates, but then when stuff like that happens.......you know why!

I finally got my money back a month later..Money they should have never billed me for..Dollar Rent A Car is a SCAM..I would not reccomend it to anyone!..They had my money tired up on someone elses car and the office systems did now know hwo to communicate with each ther..This was a big pain in the .rear....NO DOLLARR $$$ EVER AGAIN!

I finally got my money back a month later..Money they should have never billed me for..Dollar Rent A Car is a SCAM..I would not reccomend it to anyone!..They had my money tired up on someone elses car and the office systems did now know hwo to communicate with each ther..This was a big pain in the .rear....NO DOLLARR $$$ EVER AGAIN!
:rolleyes: I guess you should never, ever, ever fly Alaska Airlines, either, since they're apparently a scam (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=863484), too.

You got your money back. They didn't give you a hassle about it and argue that you didn't deserve it. Sure, it could have been a little more prompt, but you got the result you wanted, and you got it back pretty quickly compared to what many other merchants in the travel industry promise (the above-linked AS thread says that AS tells people it may take up to two full months for the credit to post to your account).

I fail to see a valid complaint in this thread. Everybody's human: a human being made a mistake because of a computer failure, and the mistake was corrected without hassle.

Again: :rolleyes:

I have rented from Dollar about 20 times in the last five years. I never had any problem. Not once.:)

I would tend to agree with the OP.
I live in Dallas and rent cars from the airport dfw location occasionally.
I have tried to avoid this car company at all times after hearing what happened to my colleague. Dollar charged him a 9$ per day charge for Toll charges. He was told that if he did not cough it up, he would end up paying 25$ for each toll charge when he travelled on Route 121. For those who don't know Route 121 in Dallas, this is a road which has a Video Toll. i.e, a picture of your number plate is taken and then a toll charge (anywhere from 20 cents to 1.18$) is sent to your home. This is not a Toll Violation, but a simple way to collect Tolls.
Companies like AAdvantage and Dollar take undue advantage of this. They don't realize that they maybe making money in the short run, but regular renters are going to avoid them due to such tactics.
I rent from Avis, Budget or Alamo and nobody has charged me anything for this toll. I always make sure that I pay other tolls where there are toll booths and never missed one of those. Also, once I reach home, I register my Transponder to the rental car and then use the same.

I rented from Dollar in Chicago in 2006. I went through an automatic toll and was $0.05 short.

A month later I got a very nasty letter from them saying that I owed Dollar a $25.00 processing fee and if I didn't pay it, they would turn me over to a collection agency. They were also going to turn my DL and address over to the Illinois officials so they could collect the ticket. I contacted the Illinois officials and they had no record of me or a violation.

After the nasty letter, I have never rented from Dollar again. I was renting from them regularly up until then.

They lose a customer over a $25.00 processing fee. Not a company I want to do business with.:td::td:

I rented from Dollar in Chicago in 2006. I went through an automatic toll and was $0.05 short.

A month later I got a very nasty letter from them saying that I owed Dollar a $25.00 processing fee and if I didn't pay it, they would turn me over to a collection agency. They were also going to turn my DL and address over to the Illinois officials so they could collect the ticket. I contacted the Illinois officials and they had no record of me or a violation.

After the nasty letter, I have never rented from Dollar again. I was renting from them regularly up until then.

They lose a customer over a $25.00 processing fee. Not a company I want to do business with.:td::td:

Maybe I misunderstood here. You violated a toll and were charged the fee that Dollar charges for collecting toll violations and this is Dollar's fault? They clearly lay out that they (and every other rental company) charge a collection fee for unpaid tolls in their contracts and the FastLane program.

As you were $0.05 short and were then charged the processing fee, how is this Dollar's fault?

25$ Processing Fee for a 5 cent toll violation ???? That is outrageous. They should have just paid the same and be done with it.
If you want to do business with such companies, then you are free to do so, but I would definitely agree with the OP and not give them any of my business.
I rent from almost all car companies (except Dollar and Enterprise). The best I have found in terms of Processing Fee is AAdvantage (they charge a 5$ processing fee) and that is fair.
As for others, the fee vary.
I have never had any issues with Avis and Hertz in DFW where on one of the roads, the toll is a Video Toll and the toll charges are mailed to the Customer. Avis and Hertz have gladly absorbed those charges as the toll is hardly 20 cents to 90 cents.
Alamo charges 15$, but when I explained them the issue of Video Toll and that it was not a toll violation, the charges were removed (I had abt 16 such tolls)
The Rental Agents at the Dollar counter in DFW specifically threaten and scare u abt this 25$ charge and most of the newbies think that they really do not have any option and end up paying 9$ per day for the entire rental.

I recently rented from dollar on a trip to the USA. I had to pay for tank of fuel on pick-up (I knew in advance but not how much). When I got out on the road I saw the actual price of fuel and realised dollar had overcharged me by 42%.

Maybe the overall deal was still comparable to other rental companies, however, the point is they are running a scam to overcharge foreign visitors who don't know - and won't be able to acertain - the price of fuel at the collection desk.

It suggests this company's business model is to appear good value and then try and fleece the rest out of you after the booking is made.

For the sake of $25 - not much but not an amount I would freely give to a company for no apparant reason - they have given me reason not to trust them. And if I don't trust them I won't use them again.

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You did one of those international prepaid vouchers, didn't you?

Those are run by a completely separate company: Dollar UK. They are affiliated with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group in name only. Frankly, those are about the most confusing things I've ever seen: I could not wrap my mind around how they dealt with fuel. (For those who don't know, these prepaid tour vouchers basically include the rental rate, full coverage (LDW and SLI), and a tank of prepaid gas--go to dollar.co.uk to read up on them. They're handled completely different to how normal US rentals are handled, though---there is no way to not prepay for gas, and the various tiers of vouchers all force you to pay for prepaid gas in different forms--some charge you up-front, some tell you the rental location will charge you, and I think some even tell you you'll get a car with an empty tank (!? No idea how that happens--I think the Dollar UK people need to come over and visit the US to see how things are done!), and the confusing list goes on.)

Anyway, my guess at what probably happened is that your prepaid voucher included fuel at whatever price it was when you prepaid. Gas prices have been dropping rapidly in the US lately, and so the gas available on the road was cheaper than what you'd paid for with your voucher.

I'm not 100% sure this is what happened, but still, honestly, those vouchers are a dang good deal. The coverage package alone without the rental rate runs up to (depending on where you pick the car up) $50 per day. So to get a car plus insurance (which is not normally included in US rental rates) plus a tank if gas for £25 per day or so is really a bargain. I know one franchise that stopped participating because they actually lost money on those rentals.

Even if the prepaid gas price was not set ahead of time with the voucher, I highly doubt it was a scam for foreign visitors. The prepaid gas price displayed on the sign is what anyone who prepays for gas pays (including me--I always prepay), and no one at that location is setting the gas prices for foreign visitors--even a huge location might only see all of one of those prepaid international vouchers per week.

I also knew a Hertz location whose prepaid fuel prices were constantly pegged at 10c *more* than local pump price (most other companies, including Dollar, set the prepaid price at or below local pump price), so high prepaid fuel prices aren't unique to any one company.

I recently rented from dollar on a trip to the USA. I had to pay for tank of fuel on pick-up (I knew in advance but not how much). When I got out on the road I saw the actual price of fuel and realised dollar had overcharged me by 42%.

Maybe the overall deal was still comparable to other rental companies, however, the point is they are running a scam to overcharge foreign visitors who don't know - and won't be able to acertain - the price of fuel at the collection desk.

It suggests this company's business model is to appear good value and then try and fleece the rest out of you after the booking is made.




Pre-paying for gasoline or the fillup charges for not returning with a full tank is a scam :(

Pre-paying for gasoline or the fillup charges for not returning with a full tank is a scam :(

Well, you do have the right to decline the fuel thing.
I emailed DOllar both in the UK and in the US re paying for the first tank of fuel.
Even though the pre-apid voucher says you must buy the first tank from Dollar, it is not so. If you tell them you will return it full the same way you got it, then Dollar has to accept that.
Yes, I have it in writing from both the US and UK customer service.

I recommend the broker deals. They save lot of money. In addition, with the gold/platinum packages you get the extra drivers and the first tank of fuel for a potentially decent price. The reason why these broker packages (pre-paid couchers) exist is that insurances etc work completely different on the two continents. For example, in the US the insurance follow the driver, while in Europe the insurance (often) follows the car. In US credit cars often provide ins., but in Europe they don't. Etc etc.

Jackal:
"there is no way to not prepay for gas, and the various tiers of vouchers all force you to pay for prepaid gas in different forms--some charge you up-front, some tell you the rental location will charge you, and I think some even tell you you'll get a car with an empty tank (!? No idea how that happens--I think the Dollar UK people need to come over and visit the US to see how things are done!), and the confusing list goes on.)"
Surely a few errors here.
Vouchers come in two flavours, often called "silver and gold" or "gold and platinum", depending on which broker you book through.
The basic package includes all insurances (Liability, UMP, LDW/CDW). The extended packages includes the same but also the first tank of fuel and extra drivers. With some brokers the basic package also includes ONE extra driver. The issue discussed above relates to the basic package, where the renter was asked to pay for a tank of fuel upfront, which was accepted. The rate was apparently ridiculously high, too bad, it should have been declined, lesson learnt.
There is no broker who sells packages that include a car without gas in the tank.

S.

Surely a few errors here.
Vouchers come in two flavours, often called "silver and gold" or "gold and platinum", depending on which broker you book through.
The basic package includes all insurances (Liability, UMP, LDW/CDW). The extended packages includes the same but also the first tank of fuel and extra drivers. With some brokers the basic package also includes ONE extra driver. The issue discussed above relates to the basic package, where the renter was asked to pay for a tank of fuel upfront, which was accepted. The rate was apparently ridiculously high, too bad, it should have been declined, lesson learnt.
There is no broker who sells packages that include a car without gas in the tank.

S.
OK, thanks for clarifying. What you say is as I have read it elsewhere--it's just been such a long while that I'd forgotten the nuances. My point (regardless of the details) was that it was rather confusing compared to how normal, plain-jane rentals work in the US. But thanks for the clarification.

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Upon rereading scandi777's post, I remembered what was confusing about the fuel options for me: the verbiage "includes the first tank of fuel."

Don't all rentals include the first tank of fuel?

I think that verbiage is really just an alternate way of describing prepaid fuel (and arguably makes more sense, if you think of how prepaid fuel really works), but it's still confusing--if you don't pick the package that includes the first tank of fuel, then your other option is to be forced to pay for prepaid fuel at the counter. If you don't like prepaying for fuel, neither option is good. (Still, the verbiage "includes the first tank of fuel" on the higher-level packages gives the impression that the lesser packages don't include any fuel, hence my comment that some packages give you a car with no fuel--I knew there was a reason I remember thinking that!)

I finally got my money back a month later..Money they should have never billed me for..Dollar Rent A Car is a SCAM..I would not reccomend it to anyone!..They had my money tired up on someone elses car and the office systems did now know hwo to communicate with each ther..This was a big pain in the .rear....NO DOLLARR $$$ EVER AGAIN!

As others have said you are overreacting.

Dolar are franchised and all their systems do not interrelate. I recently booked Dollar in St. Louis and said my details should be on the system but they said they would not be able to access my previous booking made in Kansas City

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Don't all rentals include the first tank of fuel?

I think that verbiage is really just an alternate way of describing prepaid fuel (and arguably makes more sense, if you think of how prepaid fuel really works), but it's still confusing--if you don't pick the package that includes the first tank of fuel, then your other option is to be forced to pay for prepaid fuel at the counter. If you don't like prepaying for fuel, neither option is good. (Still, the verbiage "includes the first tank of fuel" on the higher-level packages gives the impression that the lesser packages don't include any fuel, hence my comment that some packages give you a car with no fuel--I knew there was a reason I remember thinking that!)


Hi Jackal,

please let me clarify. "First tank of fuel" in fact as you say is the same as pre-paid.

All rentals come with a full tank at pickup time. If the renter pays for "the first tank of fuel" then that is EXACTLY the same as pre-paid fuel. Return it as empty as possible.
If the renter does not have pre-paid fuel on the voucher (and declines at the counter to have the pre-pay option then and there, which is a right any renter has) then the tank will still be full at pickup time but the car should be returned full.

So, all rentals do not necessarily include the "first tank of fuel", but the tank will be full of gas at pickup regardless, and the renter has the option to deline bying the first tank of gas (pre-pay) at the counter. Yes, it is confusing. Let me add, the terms were invented by Dollar, not by the brokers.

S.

My point (regardless of the details) was that it was rather confusing compared to how normal, plain-jane rentals work in the US. But thanks for the clarification.

As others have pointed out, insurance is a very different beast in the UK. Even for those with coverage, the coverage rarely extends to rentals in the US. As a consequence, most UK rental packages include comprehensive insurance -- and dollar.co.uk is directed towards UK renters.

So while it may look confusing to an American, it is very much par-for-the-course for Brits.