jackal

Well, you may be glad to know that the SEA franchise (actually, both SEA and PDX--they were both owned by the same guy) just got bought by corporate.

I see a lot of people here complaining about franchises, and I understand the principle (a corporate location is more likely to be strict about following proper procedures, because they are driven to care more about the company's nationwide image, whereas a franchise probably only cares about making as much money as it can and doesn't care what people think of the brand), but in my experience, corporate-owned locations (of all companies) equal standardized mediocrity. At corporate locations, you get people who can't speak English and can't think logically--basically, little more than burger-flippers. While franchises can be hit-or-miss, some (like mine!) are better than corporate locations, because we have more control over the entire process and can make sure every person leaves happy.

As far as the charge and credit, I know that at our location, we have a minimum $250 authorization requirement. It's a simple single mouse click in our software (and I know that the SEA location prior to its corporate buyout used the same software) that distinguishes an authorization from a charge. The agent probably accidentally charged your card the $250 instead of just authorizing it. (At our location, if you have a debit card, we actually do charge a deposit and refund at the return, because debit cards don't hold authorizations as long as credit cards do, and people tend to run their checking accounts out of money before returning the car. Did you use a debit card?)

As long as you got your refund, what's your complaint?

mitchell

Thrifty SEA should have TOLD ME it was going to charge $250. I could have given them a different card, or just given cash.

Unexpectedly charging $250 for a $25.87 for a week after the rental almost caused me to go overlimit - which could have generated $39 overlimit fees for a whole series of small charges! If I hadn't checked my limit and switched to a different card...the fees could have been a few hundred dollars.

And I was in London right after Seattle, it wasn't as easy as just calling my credit card 800-number. I don't take many credit cards with me overseas...
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In 20 years of renting cars, I have never gotten billed in-advance with a refund for the difference (and I've rented 80 days at Thrifty this past year). I was worried that Thrifty had charged me for some damage on the car. It was annoying to call the US from England to check & see what was happening.

Sucks when one outlet does something different than the others, ESPECIALLY whenever a business does something different than what it tells you!

E.g. Thrifty Las Vegas incorrectly computes the state/local taxes. It's something I've .....ed about before, but I gave up after my first rental (when they did adjust the price for me). It's not worth one hour of hassle every time I rent there. Las Vegas is the only Thrifty place I rent where the price does NOT match the website quote.

I have had cases where hotels have billed $500 8-months later because accounting thought I hadn't paid, etc...

My credit card companies have always covered me 100% for any fraudulent charges, but my brother had his wallet stolen by a professional credit card thief last year. His cards were maxed out within 15 min!

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Thus I always use low-limit credit cards for hotels, cars, and other risky tranasctions whenever possible. Stores should realize that we aren't always using $20,000-100,000 limit cards. Sometimes we are using $500-1,000 limit cards and unexpectedly charging items (rather than just placing a hold) can seriously screw someone up.

jackal

Knowing the TSD software as I do, truthfully, the rental agent may not have even realized he/she was charging the $250, unless he/she paid extra careful attention to the screen before printing, and I confess that I don't because I'm so fast and it's all such a habit for me). Unless it was a debit card (which it doesn't sound like), it was probably an honest mistake. But I realize the hassle it caused you, and I don't dispute that.

That's why we place holds and why some locations don't accept debit cards--because a lot of people max their cards out while on vacation and then come back owing money for an extra day, a tank of gas or even damage. Without that hold, we're out in the cold.

Anyway, I'm sorry that happened to you and hope things go easier in the future. I've seen two or three complaints around here about the SEA location--which is funny, because our franchise owner knows the [former] owner personally and says he's a nice guy and that they run a good operatio there. Oh well, it's all water under the bridge now...

brendog

RDU: Decent location, but it's in a trailer. Service is slow but friendly. The shuttle is extremely sketchy after 8pm.

DTW: Horrible customer service and nearly nonexistent shuttle service. Not the best neighbourhood, but not bad for DTW.

GRR: Located in the middle of nowhere and severly understaffed. Granted, it's GRR, so I wasn't expecting much.

Cargojon

Have to say that after a recent trip to the Hawaiin Islands, the Thrifties there did an admirable job. I rented from OGG and HNL and both got me in and out quickly and gave us decent cars despite our reservation of the "rock bottom" compact. In Maui, we were given a 2 door PT Cruiser convertible when reserving a Kia Rio.

Beat the crap out of the Alamo in HNL. The GPS stank and was overpriced and it took them 40 minutes to process my $10 off Entertainment book coupon.

AussieNomad

Thrifty in BDL is brilliant. Better customer service than the big brands. The other week, It was icy and freezing, so the agent actually started my car for me whilst I was on the shuttle (I am blue chip), so it would be warmed up by the time I got there. I am a regular, but still that service is great.

DEN has a very slow shuttle, it probably only goes from the airport every half hour. Denver staff are poorly presented, and extremely unmotivated.

LAS always charges me incorrectly. The fix it when i complain, but shouldn't there be some government authority to crack down on a scam like that? Clearly they are just scamming people who do not track their bill very closely. I think they probably catch more than 50% of their customers.

I have never found Thrifty checks their cars very carefully upon returning them. Now, I hardly check for damage when getting into the car, as I have returned many cars with scratches (not caused by me), and nobody has ever questioned them.

If you use Thrifty for personal rentals because they are cheap. Use Priceline or Hotwire. They will give you one of the majors, for significantly less than Thrifty prices.

ColoBill1

BOS: Had reserved a mid-size for a late arrival (11:15 PM) on UA. Got on the Thrifty shuttle and the driver, whom I could not even understand the first time around, repeated, after I asked him to do so, that they had no car available for me.

First said he was going to take me to Alamo, then later changed that to Hertz. Of course Hertz charged me more, so had to spend extra time from home writing a letter to Thrifty to get paid back the difference.

After leaving the Hertz on-airport lot at BOS, drove right by the Thrifty off-airport lot, and saw several dozens of cars sitting on the fenced lot. All of them "down for service'? Yeah.

zachary

Just to give a different perspective, I have rented from Thrifty and Dollar (they use a combined shuttle) at DEN at least 3 times without any problems. I never had to wait too long for a shuttle. As a Blue Chip, I have been upgraded without asking from a compact to an SUV and/or a minivan (which I acutally preferred because it saved me from having to rent a ski rack).

Maybe I've just been lucky.

bbison

I've rented 15 times from LAX this year. My Blue Chip rez has always been ready, and I've never taken more than 10 minutes to get out the door on pickup or 5 to return. Economy car or Wild car has gotten me SUV's, convertibles, PTs, and a loaded 300.

Their shuttles are less frequent then the other majors. The trick is if you see a FOX shuttle first, hop on that. They're right next door. Works the other way too, though don't use Fox unless you have time to waste.

ptpinit

Great to hear ^ We're looking to do a one-way rental BDL to PVD and the other majors are almost double Thrifty. I think I've only rented from them once in SAN, it was fine, not too memorable (probably a good thing). I usually stick with Hertz since I know what to expect, but like other threads have said, Thrifty can be less than half the others sometimes!

Jeeves

LAX: I use to tolerate their less than stellar service but now they are heading towards the avoid list. The pick up shuttle is real hit or miss. 5 minutes one day, 20 minutes the next.

The Blue Chip line is kind of a joke. There are usually a couple of people ahead of you and when you get to the counter they seem to end up doing all the same reservation stuff that you encounter in the regular line. All of the counter people are worn down. Never a smile or greeting. Reminds you of the DMV. The last time I was there they had shut down the Blue Chip line. Lots of unhappy people that day.

If they didn't offer such low rates, I wouldn't be tempted.

OAK is my favorite. SNA is okay.

oewdanny

SRQ: I got in relatively late at night and I booked a "Wild Car". It took quite some time to get processed and there was a long line but they said "you've got a mystery car" and then ran into the back office for about 10 minutes. Then I was stuck with a Jeep Compass with no power windows or locks. ugh! When I returned my car at RSW I was treated with the utmost arrogance when I was asked if I liked my car. I explained to the man my dislikes about the vehicle and all he wanted to do was tell me I was wrong and tough luck. Well, that's my last time with the wild car or Thrifty.

HereAndThereSC

That's still better than getting a smoked-in minivan like I got in MOB...

HTSC

ptpinit

Just wanted to report back on my experiences at BDL and PVD.

BDL: the location was fine, except for the fact they close at 1 AM and my delayed ORD-BDL flight didn't land until 1 AM. No answer on the phone, just kept ringing and ringing. Finally had to call Thrifty 800 number and have them tell me "you're past your scheduled rental time". Gee, thanks.

Next morning, showed up to get my Wild Car (late model Dodge Charger with 5,600 miles) but no GPS navigation units available. Closest location that had 'em was PVD, and we were heading to Newport anyhow, so no biggie. Except for the fact the unit was brand new, and either the charge cord or battery was faulty, as the unit couldn't hold a charge and kept switching off.

PVD: returning was fine, the agent there was kind enough to take the GPS charges off my bill since the unit was defective.

All in all, I think I will avoid Thrifty from now on, and stick to Hertz that is at least more predictable with hours, Neverlost, etc.

jackal

I've never dealt with Hertz, but I'm not sure what exactly is unpredictable about Thrifty's hours policy. I see multiple customers daily get ticked off at Enterprise, which has supposedly excellent service and wins all kinds of J.D. Power and Associates awards, because they close at 11pm (several hours earlier than the rest of the competition). The Enterprise guys are literally like, "Oops! It's 11pm! I'm gone!" even if they see customers walking down the hall in their direction. The same thing happens at Avis (which supposedly "tries harder,") Budget (which...er, no slogan comes to mind), and Alamo National--even though everyone else closes later (1:30-2:30am), if I'm in the lobby after that, there are invariably a couple latecomers who ask me, "Is such-and-such open?" When I tell them that no, they closed at such-and-such a time, they get incensed.

Every company ends the day with anywhere from 10-25% no-shows, and none of them stays open for late people who very likely won't ever show up anyway. So I'm not sure what's different about Thrifty. (And actually, the T&C for Thrifty in OGG state that they will actually stay open for up to one hour past closing for confirmed reservations with flight information entered for flights that are delayed, so they go above and beyond most other companies and locations!)

A tip for next time: if you call the location directly (as opposed to the 800-number, or at least have the 800-number transfer you) before your flight takes off (after you know it will be delayed--most delays happen on the ground before takeoff, not in the air) and ask the shift lead or manager on duty if they can stay open a few extra minutes because your flight will be late, most of the time, you'll get an answer in the positive (it's a lot harder to say no to someone directly!).