Alamo Rent A Car — Local services in Philadelphia

I rented a premium crossover vehicle from Alamo through Costco Travel from November 14th thru November 24th. The rental was at the Philadelphia airport location. I filled out the "skip the counter" info that was emailed to me before picking up the vehicle. The requested info was Driver license number, information for any drivers, and credit card info. The directions were skip the counter and go directly to where the cars are parked and pick any one you want that is parked in a spot marked premium, the keys will be in the vehicle and proceed to the exit. I went to the designated area and there was only one car parked in any of those five spaces, so I took the only car available. I went to the exit booth to leave the rental lot, was checked out by the attendant. She never said anything to me that I had the wrong car. The vehicle was picked up and returned on the dates and times of the rental agreement. I was charged $815.90 instead of the rental agreement charge of $446.30, an overcharge of $369.60. I called the location several times, and was told the facility manager would call me. I never received a call back. Then called again, and was told the District Manager would get in touch with me, that never happened either. I have disputed this additional charge with my c/c company and Alamo is stating that I chose a higher priced car. I chose the only car that was parked in the premium area. If I chose the wrong car then it is because Alamo parked it in the wrong space (I am now assuming they must not have had the class of car that I rented available). I do not work for Alamo and do not know the different cars available in each class. If I had the wrong car then the check out person that reviewed my paperwork should have addressed the issue. When I returned the car the person that checked me out also confirmed the pricing of 446.30.

This Alamo location is in the bait and switch business. DO NOT RENT FROM...

This is the first time I’ve rented from Alamo in ten year. They have done shady things in the past and lied which put me on the DNR list for 10 years. I had been renting will Alamo for years and had 10 free days of rental in which they took from me. The blk woman inside and I had words and they lied and said I switched the car in front of the gates with my dad who brought me to pick the car up, the front gate has cameras. I told them to roll the cameras back and they wouldn’t. I was an elite member so I could add people for free. Why would I need to switch cars for someone! In that time I fought tooth and nail because they treated blk people bad at that branch and it was majority blk people who worked there which is the Philly airport rental car. I’m not a racist by any means because I’m half white. The white people that came in they rolled the carpet out for them. I ask the manager so a staff can lie on a customer and they take their word and he said yes. I recorded the entire conversation as well. I rented a car from 7/18 12am to 7/25 12am. I turned the car in on 7/23 @ 11pm because I came in a day early from my trip. The manager Kyle was very nasty. He told me that he could email the receipt or print it and I took the option to email as I always do when I rent cars. I didn’t get the emailed receipt until 7/25 @ 8:50am. The emailed receipt stated that I brought the car back on 7/24 @ 4:40am in which they still charged me full price. But the manager Kyle seem really shady and if there are any issues with the car I’ll Be taking it up with Alamo directly.. I’m not comfortable and probably will not rent from them again. The inside staff was nice and the lot staff was pretty cool but Kyle who is a manager not really had a bad vibe and now I know why. I called Alamo costumer service and they resolved my bill right away but I do not like that they didn’t address the retuned...

I don't normally review car rentals, because everyone knows that renting cars is a purgatorial experience. I've tried most of the brands, and have never spent less than 30 minutes in line, plus 10 at the counter filling out papers straining to hear the worker. Naturally, I have no brand loyalty, as they are all equally bad, but I have never before tried Alamo because (this is silly but true), I dislike deserts. This time, though, they happened to have the best price, so, whatever, I made my reservation.

I was particularly dreading my experience this week, because I had a weird situation. The reservation was in my wife's name, but she got sick at the last minute and I renewed my expired driving license that very morning. I figured this would add another 20 minutes to my "rental experience", easy.

There was no line at all, and two people manning the counter -- this alone was an unthinkable dream. The man at the desk, whose name I have written down as "Calvin" and I hope that is right because he deserves credit, handled all my issues with aplomb. The newly renewed license did mean he had to talk with a manager, but even this took only a couple of minutes. He was personally friendly, charming, and attentive, noticing that I had kids and thoughtfully asking whether I needed an extra car seat (no, but only by a matter of days under New Jersey law). And then we loved our car!

It'll take a couple more good experiences before this turns into anything as permanent as brand loyalty, but I know that, for my next trip, Alamo will be my first choice! Thanks...