Alamo Rent A Car — Attraction in New York

I was greatly displeased with my experience at this Alamo location. When I arrived, my bf had initially made the reservation through priceline, the customer service representative, (Kerry- ann I believe her name was) told me that she did not see his reservation. We said fine that's okay can we go ahead and rent car at the standard rate, she told me 'No, we are all sold out of cars.' So we step out of line let her assist the following customer while I made a BRAND NEW RESERVATION through my phone while standing inside of alamo. (Ironic seeing as she told me they were ALL SOLD OUT)

I then rejoin the line to wait for the next customer service rep to assist me. When it was my turn, the employee stated, 'oh, she was helping you before, so you have to go back to her." I asked 'why? I have a brand new reservation, it has nothing to do-' she cut me off and rudely stated, 'well she's the one that started to help you so you have to go back to her.'

The employee then continued to scroll through her cell phone, refusing to assist the customers that were in line behind us. She eventually got up and went to the back. Even though there were other customers waiting to be assisted. An employee from National Rental came over to ask if anyone needed help regardless of who assisted them first. So it just proved to me that this employee just did NOT want to help US.

There was another employee (aside from Kerry and the rude employee) that watched the entire scene from the front desk and and said nothing.

My boyfriend and I asked for the employees name, she refused to tell us her name, she was also the only employee not wearing a name tag. When kerry finally finished with her customer, she called us back to the desk, we again asked for the employees name, she again refused to tell us. That's when the other employee, who turned out to be the MANAGER, Valencia, asked, "what's the problem?'. I said I want the employees name that was just sitting here, at that point the employee returns to the front, with a drink and a bag of chips in her hand. "They want my name, because I sent them back to Kerry.' Continuing her rude and unprofessional behavior. I stated, 'no, I want your name because of your rudeness and lack professionalism.'

She continued to be defensive and argumentative, and the manager, Valencia, not once corrected or apologized for the behavior. They also blatantly lied to my face that they had no cars available, but once I pushed for the rude employee's name, they hastily got my rental together.

If you refuse to help a customer, the last thing they want to do, is watch you sit at the front desk, chatting, on your phone and eating snacks. Bad for business.

I advise, if you need a rental car, go somewhere else, where ALL the customers are treated fairly and with the respect they deserve. There needs to be some serious customer service training in this establishment. A manager sat and witnessed the entire situation and did not interject; poor leadership, poor customer service. I will not be...

Rude and inefficient. Tried to work with them for almost an hour and ended up just going to the budget car rental nearby - just pay the extra $5 and save yourself the trouble.

Came in, gave them my license (I have a temp one from the DMV because I’m switching states, which they assured me would be a legal license I can use for any purpose a normal one would) and the first thing I’m told is that they can’t use it. They say I need a picture of my old one, I show them that. Still not enough. I give them my passport - not enough. Randomly another associate (a young man) passes by and says actually a passport and temp license would work. Now all of a sudden they can take it. Lightly annoyed at this point but I shrug it off as a genuine mistake/new associate getting used to the role.

Then we do all the information, fill out the form it’s time to pay the deposit. Mind you I booked this through my credit card company, the reservation is managed by Chase and my card (that I have my points and travel benefits on) is already on file and has been charged. I oblige though thinking it’s probably some kind of procedure and use Apple Pay (with that same chase card) because that’s how I pay for everything, and because my chip on my card is scratched. The woman there basically berates me for using Apple Pay saying she told me to use chip, which I must of missed in the long skew of information she quickly went through.

I told her about the faulty chip, and that the Apple Pay card I used is the same card on file, I even showed her the card and numbers that matched. She kept pressing that I used a debit card but I didn’t (Apple pay sometimes will show up as different four digit number on invoices regardless the card being used, any quick google search will show you this) - I started to explain this and she walked away from me mid sentence and rudely said “you think you’re being slick”. At this point I’m angry because it seemed like she was implying that I was dishonest or scamming or something and didn’t even have the decency to just say that.

She basically ghosted me, the manager came in and we tried to rectify the situation. It turns out that they can’t accept any form of payment but a chip credit card (which is fine if you mention it up front, no where is that stated) but if I booked a car ahead of time and we find out in the office the least you could do is be decent about it given the misunderstanding instead...

Extremely poor experience.

We took a rental out of Philly which gave us mechanical problems in Astoria. Due to the late evening, we were issued a replacement at this location's Enterprise.

When we came in, I shared my name with the representative at Enterprise - he found my name, told me to pick any vehicle from the Executive lot. There was some back and forth over a particular vehicle that caught my fancy - I hoped I could request that vehicle. At most they would refuse, which is ok.

Then they found that my reservation should be with Alamo. I shared my name again. The manager on duty for Alamo came, verified the vehicle I was requesting was Executive Elite so it wouldn't be available to me. I was like fine.. I will take what I get as I just need to drop it off at Philly anyway.

Before leaving, I still wanted to verify that they are good with me dropping the vehicle at Philly as this is a swap and not a new reservation to drop at their location. This is when they tell me they mistook me for someone with a different name with whom I was sharing part of my last name. And that they hadn't found my reservation at all. This is after 2 employees (including a manager) apparently looked me up. If I hadn't insisted on confirming return details, I would have been so screwed.

After learning I indeed needed a swap and would be dropping off at Philly, they refused me service. I called Alamo's emergency number. The manager was not interested in working with the CSR on the phone after getting details on where my broken down vehicle was being towed to, and left him waiting for an extended duration.. so much that he had to drop off as it was an emergency line which has a time limit.

Finally she issued me a vehicle which was a downgrade for me - gave me a run-down broken voyager instead of pacifica. This vehicle had something going on with its accelerator, the brakes were screeching, steering column was ticking on the whole way back. I had already hit njtp and was already so done with the incapability of the staff at this location that I just drove back slowly.

I did not expect this from the manager of a rental location. Maybe it was their politics on their inventory (1 way rental vs same drop off as pickup) but I was not supposed to be a victim to it. Or maybe it was racial, I can't say and am least interested.

I doubt I will be much in their vicinity but I will avoid this location...