Originally Posted by
Auto Enthusiast
Dollar and Thrifty in Austin are independent licensees. There is another thread in the Thrifty forum about another bad experience there.
Yes; Dollar corporate locations are virtually always much more like what you describe as the normal rental experience (certainly less pushy than most Enterprise locations).
Write a letter to Customer Care. Dollar corporate has only moderate oversight ability of the internal operation of its franchises, but if enough complaints are filed, they can take action up to and including revocation of the franchise license. They can, however, force the location to issue compensation to you for the poor quality of your rental car and your bad experience with the overly pushy sales.
And I'd suggest giving Dollar a try at one of its corporate locations before writing them off entirely. Most larger airports are; I'm actually surprised a city as large as Austin has a franchise. SLC and PDX are also franchises, as are possibly a couple of other airports around the South/Midwest, but the vast majority of cities/airports of that size are corporate.