Alamo Rent A Car — Attraction in Boston

I recently rented a car from Alamo at Boston Logan airport and had the following experience, which should be of interest to you if you are at all thinking of renting from Alamo.

I elected the "skip the counter" option for this reservation, the first time I have tried this option. When it came time to leave the airport with my rental car, I stopped at the Alamo exit booth. The person who helped me had no idea how to process the "skip the counter" transaction. He fumbled for 15 minutes, then asked someone else to come help him. The other agent proceeded to give him an extended tutorial on the process for "skip the counter", which took another 15 minutes. Finally, he said I could go. I asked him to confirm the total estimated charges for my rental, and he didn't know how, and was not sure how to look it up. So he asked me to pull over after exiting the booth, and wait for him. He then proceeded to help a series of other customers while I waited another 15 minutes. Finally I left, having spent much longer due to the new "skip the counter" process than I would have spent with the old process.

Next, on the day when I was to return my rental, I elected to stay another two days because my flight was delayed due to weather. I called Alamo to say I would be keeping the car longer, and asked for a revised total expected charges. I was told it would be $453.88, and I said that was fine. But at the end of the call, the agent said the transaction could not be processed because my credit card was declined. I asked her to charge my other credit card, but she said she was unable, and asked me to call the Logan airport office if I needed to use a different credit card.

I called the credit card company (American Express), and they said that no one had attempted to charge the card, so they could not have declined the charges.

I then called the Logan airport Alamo office, and was told again that the total expected charges would be $453.88, which I ok'd. But again, the agent told me my card was declined. I said to charge my other credit card, and the agent said he was unable to switch the charge to a different card (even though the first agent told me that was why I had to call the Logan airport Alamo office). Finally he said I could just pay when I returned the car.

All of the above calls to extend the rental took me about an hour of my time.

Finally, when I returned the car, I was given a receipt that showed a total of $534, even though I had returned the car with a full tank of gas. When I went to the office to contest the overcharge of about $80, I had to wait another 15 minutes to talk to an agent. The agent asked me for an email showing the $453.88 estimated fee, and I couldn't show it to her because Alamo never sent me an email confirming the revised estimate per my extension of the rental. That's not my fault, that is Alamo's fault. When I told the agent that two different Alamo people had quoted my $453.88 over the phone, she didn't believe me. I asked to speak to the agent's manager and eventually persuaded them to eliminate the overcharge, which took another 15-20 minutes.

So, Alamo wasted about a few hours of my time, wrongly told me that my credit card was declined, overcharged me, then accused me of lying when I contested the overcharge.

This is the worst experience I've had with any company in the last few years.

I will definitely use a different company next time I rent a car. I've had great luck...

I would not recommend renting from this car company here at this location, unless you make sure you take video and photo proof of when you take possession of the vehicle, and when you return it. I rented a vehicle from them on October 21-25, 2024, they didn’t have the car we chose to rent but we were happy with the alternative they gave us, we aren’t picky. We took extreme care of the car, and when we returned it I was grateful I made sure to fill up the gas tank at the Shell Gas Station just outside the rental return. The guy who told us to park and leave the key said we were fine, and didn’t need to do anything further as I’d receive an email from them. I had returned it just before it was due. I also am glad I printed out my boarding pass at the airport terminal instead of using the digital one as that had a day, and timestamp on it as well, so I was able to use it to show proof that I did indeed board the plane, and thankfully also took pictures with timestamps and locations on them during our flight home and being back in our state. Alamo tried to charge me an extra $200+ on my card, and sent an email several days later claiming that I still had the car. I responded that I had returned it at the original day, time, and place we agreed to, and had flown home that day. This email exchange was extremely frustrating as they just kept requesting payment and kept trying to charge me, until I was able to send an email with my receipt from the gas station, my boarding pass, and timestamp/location pictures of my friend and I, THEN they finally agreed that I did indeed returned the car on time, but not until my debit card was canceled by my bank due to too many unauthorized charges which caused massive issues with my bills that were automatically withdrawn from the card. Soon after the toll pass center with Alamo also claimed I owed for toll passes (I never drove through any, but am just figuring that’s the way the freeway is set up in Boston, I guess?) and am being charged not only for a time I drove back to the airport, but am also being charged for the other renters toll passes. I’m STILL working that out as no one seems to be able to respond to me. I’m not one who gets irritated enough to post negative reviews, but this was the worst experience, and I wanted to warn people of my experience as I went with Alamo because of the positive reviews. Hopefully only my experience doesn’t happen to anyone else, but don’t think you’re paranoid or ridiculous to gather proof when picking up and returning your rental car, and yes it’s worth getting gas at the shell station outside of the rental return even though it was more money for the peace of mind of protecting yourself from this exact situation. I’m still upset they tried to get additional payments for the rental as that is very much against the law to do, and it has been like pulling teeth to get help. I’m no Karen, I’m super easy going, but this experience has lost me from being a future...

I arrived at Alamo to pick up my rental in Boston on time as scheduled, thankfully I had done the online check in and was able to skip the long counter line. I went right to the cars, a gentleman was not able to offer a vehicle right away as there were none available, a few minutes later a vehicle became available. The vehicle had not been washed, they filled the car up and made it available, I did not care that the outside of the car was dirty. What I did care about was the big dent in the passenger rear quarter panel, about 6" diameter. I mentioned it to the same man, he said he noticed it also but was sure it had already noted for that vehicle, but to make sure the person at the front station when checking out was aware. I took a picture of the dent, loaded the vehicle with our luggage and drove to the checkout station. The man there took my license and credit card, and I told him about the dent. He got out of his station walked around the vehicle to see the dent, he let me know he saw the dent and wrote a note about the dent.

The days we had the car were just fine, car was suitable for what we needed. I dropped the car back off at Alamo yesterday as scheduled, the check in person asked if email was sufficient for the receipt. Emailed receipt was received, all was fine. This morning, I received an email from Alamo indicating they had opened a claim against me for damage to the vehicle and that action would be taken, I would be responsible for paying for the damage repairs. I immediately called Alamo, the person who answered was less than helpful, had no record of the dent that TWO Alamo employees saw AND had conversation with me regarding. The email doesn't even provide details regarding the damage, so during the call I asked about what damage, she indicated the passenger rear quarter panel. I told her I have a picture of the dent that I saw prior to putting any of my personal belongings in the vehicle and the person who provided me with the car AND the person I checked out with both have record of the car being damaged prior to my driving it or leaving the Alamo rental facility. She said they don't make contact with the local locations and that I would need to provide my picture. I gladly emailed the time stamped picture; I then asked about how long it would take to remove this claim as I'm disputing any responsibility. She said it will take 30 days! 30 days, when two Alamo employees are aware the damage was done prior and I sent in an email with the picture less than an hour from me receiving the email about the claim. That's absurd! Maybe Alamo should wash their cars before turning them back over as a rental and the proper person who rented this vehicle before me could be held responsible for their damage rather than trying to make the person that pointed out the damage pay.

I'm curious of the outcome of this situation and how long it will take to...