Saturday, I picked up a rental car at MCO. (I'll leave the agency nameless, but it is a name-brand - e.g., not Payless or anything like that.)

When I reached the security exit, I noticed that it was 3/4 full. No problem, the guard said, he wrote the gas level on my contract and entered it into the computer. "Bring it back 3/4th's full" he said and I was on my way...

So I brought it back 3/4th's full - maybe a bit above that as I overestimated by a gallon or so on my last fill. Whatever... When I pulled in to return and the guy approached to print my receipt, I fully explained the situation to him. I showed him the contract with the note from the guard and the guard's initials. I explained that the car had as much as if not more fuel than required. He got in, checked, keyed in the mileage, and printed the receipt.

I probably wouldn't have even looked, except he did something strange. After printing, he took the full contract out of my hand, stuffed the little receipt deep inside the ticket-jacket-thing, handed it back to me, and quickly darted off to another part of the lot instead of simply working the next car in the line.

In Kansas City or Chicago, I still wouldn't have thought twice about it. But I'm always acutely suspicious of every transaction with a Florida car or hotel company, so I looked. (Sorry, don't want to turn this into an anti-FL thread, but I've had too many problems in MCO and MIA to not be suspicious.) Sure enough: 4 gallons, $5.35 (!) per gallon! I chased the guy down, and he played dumb. Said he didn't know what I was talking about, said he wouldn't reverse the charges, and said to "go find a manager if you have a problem". So I corralled a manager, and he still refused to listen to me. Told me to call the 1-800 number if I had a problem.

At that point, I became aware that this was completely intentional and a well-calculated operation. There was zero misunderstanding about what was going on on the part of either me or the agency employees involved. I've been involved with mistakes in the past where a coupon or a FF number didn't post right. No malice involved there - just a mistake - and a manager willing to simply reprint the receipt for me. This was different.

My guess is that they know they can do this easily to international travelers who might be hesitant to get up in somebody's grill to get their money back, or for that matter anyone who doesn't look closely at their receipt on the spot. When you are traveling on business, do you QA your receipt closely as you stand next to the car, or do you stuff it away and look at it later?

I left the area and went to the counter inside the airport where I found another agent - she instantly took the charges off and printed me a new receipt. That was nice - we had a pleasant, non-confrontational exchange - but my guess is that she was used to irate customers showing up with bogus gas charges.

The worst thing about it is, with the computers involved, this must be an agency-endorsed process. It's not like the kid with the mobile printer can skim a few bucks off the top by himself. My guess is that this technique is tested, incented among the staff, continuously measured, and improved as necessary. My wife says to write them a formal complaint, but what good will that do? "Yeah, you caught us. <snicker, snicker> Good for you! We gave you your money back, didn't we?"

Has common is this? Have you ever had it happen to you? This isn't about the fairness of the published rental-car fuel policies and prices: it's about a systematic effort to steal from the customer.

Is there any avenue of complaint that would impact the agency's ability to do this to folks in the future? I'm not worried about myself: I look at the bill, and I'm willing to make a little noise to get it right. I think about the thousands of people going through MCO every day who simply don't want to make a scene in a foreign country or who simply trust that the agency got it right. My guess is that this one agency must be clearing thousands of dollars a week in completely stolen money at this one location.