Alamo Rent A Car — Local services in Erlanger

I traveled from Oregon to Cincinnati on my way to Berea, KY. When I first arrived at the Alamo car rental location at the airport it was around 4:30pm. There seemed to be only 3 cars in the lot directly in front of the rental counter. The gentleman helping me was very nice and friendly but obviously did not pay attention to how many cars were in the lot. Maybe he was new?? Anyway I reserved a Full size SVU and told that I could take the only SVU in the lot, which was a Nissan Rouge. When I first got in the Rouge I noticed it was really dirty.. I mean DIRTY! I was thinking "What the Heck" but because it seemed there were not any other cars available and i was in a hurry to get to a meeting in Berea I decided I would just deal with it. I drove about 10 miles noticed the Rouge was driving funny and stopped to get something to drink at a gas station. That is when I noticed that passage side mirror was totally broken and there were scratches on the passenger side of the car. I immediately called the Alamo lot and stated my worries and concerns to the agent I spoke with. The agent said he could give me a credit on my account ($10) or I could drive back and exchange it. I asked if there was a different SVU available and he said it didn't look like but he would check when I returned the car. I said well I really don't have time for this and said I would just deal with it. I drove off from gas station feeling disappointed in renting a car from Alamo and would maybe rethink my next car rental. About 5 minutes on drive I received a call from the Manager at the Alamo counter and he told me to bring the car back since it should NOT have been rented out in the first place. He told me it was on the damaged list and should of been pulled from the fleet. I returned to the SUV to the lot and the manager rented a different SVU a Ford Edge. I was pleased with the new rental. There was not additional charge and the $10 credit was still on my account. I was pleased that the manager took care of me and made sure I was happy when I left the counter. However, I was still disappointing that they let me leave the lot in the first place with a unsafe car. What if I did not call to complain about the damage, would the manger of called to tell me the car was unsafe?? probably not. This experience made the start of my trip very stressful and it took a few hours to calm down. There needs to be a system when the agent walks you to the car you are renting and double checking to make sure it is clean and damage free. I will still rent with Alamo next time, but will be looking over the rental car very thoroughly. If this was to happen again, I will be looking for a new rental car facility to use on...

We had a rather unlucky rental experience that was saved by the very helpful and friendly customer service of Marissa at the Cincinnati Airport location. We had rented a 3 row SUV for a week and a half over Christmas through New Years. This is a busy time of year, so we picked up a day ahead to try and avoid the rush and were fortunate to get a nicely equipped Explorer. Everything was fine until we loaded up the day after Christmas to go to Grandma's house. On 275 the vehicle started shaking really badly (worse than my diesel). Concerned about the vehicle, we stopped for fuel and then headed back to the airport to see what Alamo could do about it. On the way between the gas station and rental location, the shaking started again but then stopped and the Ford went back to driving well the rest of the way. Once back at Alamo, I explained what happened and they offered to exchange it for another ride. Marissa worked very had to find us something that would work despite the shortage of inventory due to the holiday. The first vehicle they brought around was very nice but did not have the three rows we needed with 3 kids. Marissa then brought a minivan around for us. Now I was not excited about a mini van but it was very good on storage and well equipped. We loaded our bags in and were getting ready to go when the check engine light came on! Ok, so that's unfortunate. Back to the hunt went Marissa and she came back with another mini van awhile later. This one was older and not as nice but the check engine light was not on, so that is a plus. Marissa was very apologetic for the issues and gave us a bit of a discount, which helped but not as much as her general attentiveness helped ease the situation. So 2 hours after arriving back at Alamo, we loaded up in this one and got on our way. Everything was fine until the next morning. We got to the car after it had been closed up all night and it had a skunky smell. It aired out quickly but always came back after being closed up all night. There was also mail from a previous renter in the center console, which leads me to believe the vehicle wasn't fully cleaned in their hurry to find us another one. A couple days with the van and it got an error light. The auto start/stop function had stopped working. This fuel saving feature wasn't a game changer for us but having an error light on is never a pleasant experience. I made sure to let the operator receiving the vehicle on our return know about the issues so hopefully it will be taken care of before anyone else...

Excellent service in terms of the shuttle drivers and parking lot staff. The car I rented was clean and excellent as well. But I had an unusual experience with the customer service rep, Yasmine. She kept referring to me as "guy" as in "here you go guy", "ok guy" etc. I'm pretty sure no customer service guideline recommends calling a customer "guy." Even on the paperwork jacket, she wrote my Alamo customer ID number rather than my name in the field that states customer name. She gave me a patronizing lecture on what credit card rental collision covers v. what my personal car insurance covers...when all I really needed was to decline the coverage Alamo offers. I am very familiar with extra coverages that are offered as I have utilized Alamo for over 5 years now (yes, I do have rental coverage through my car insurance and the credit card I'm using has rental car collision coverage as well so having extra coverage from Alamo is redundant and an unnecessary cost). She also insisted that I need to get the silver car and kept harping on it; even though, Alamo like most rental agencies, allow customers to drive any car in your assigned car class. At the lot, I asked another staff, if I can pick any of the compact cars that are available and he, of course, confirmed and was very courteous. All the other staff was awesome and rest of the experience was up to...