I have been a loyal Thrifty customer but recently had a horrible rental experience. On July 21st, I picked up a car at the Tampa airport and could not believe what happened. As a Blue Chip member, I am accustomed to quickly picking up my rental agreement and being on my way. However, “Jose,” an extremely cold and incredibly rude employee, made sure that would not happen. (Jose is definitely NOT a people person, and I am surprised he is a “front line” employee.)

Jose informed me of Thrifty’s new policy of thoroughly scrutinizing any Florida resident who wishes to rent a car. He demanded to see my “return” plane ticket as proof that I was coming back to the airport and not planning on stealing the car. In addition, Jose had to “phone in” my drivers license number just to make sure there were no warrants out for my arrest. I have been renting cars for over thirty years. Never, has anyone at Avis, Alamo, National or Hertz ever asked for my “return” plane ticket nor had to call the state to find out if I was a “wanted” criminal. Jose wasted even more of my time by pressing me to spend $10.00 to upgrade to a car I neither requested nor wanted. He proceeded to use scare tactics to sell me insurance, even though my profile clearly shows I always decline. In all, I was at the counter for almost ½ hour. As I was leaving, I told Jose, (very politely,) that Thrifty just lost me forever. He replied by saying, “Sir, don’t forget your map.”

But what really pisses me off is what happened afterwards. Within an hour of the incident, I called “customer service” and told “Sharri” the whole story. She promised I would receive a response from Thrifty in the mail. But over one month later and I still have not heard anything. So I called again two days ago. This time, I spoke with “Tanya,” who could not find any record of me ever calling or filing a complaint!!! Furthermore, she had no record of an email complaint, which I sent via the Thrifty web site. So this time, I sent a letter by “snail mail,” along with my “cut up” Blue Chip card and sent it directly to the CEO.

I resent being treated as a “security risk” rather than as a customer. My busy schedule does not allow time for me to show “return” plane tickets, proof of my local hotel reservations, social security cards, insurance cards, credit cards, license background checks and to listen to sales pitches for insurance, upgrades and gasoline. I always thought the idea behind Blue Chip was to eliminate this rigmarole. I’ve noticed before, that Thrifty’s employees seem to lack the professionalism of the bigger companies such as Avis and National. From now on, I’m going to stick with one of them.


[This message has been edited by Neal (edited 08-27-2003).]