Fox Rent A Car San Diego — Local services in San Diego

I had a horrendous experience here. I'm sure if you asked the clerk what happened this day, she'll tell you I'm a Karen or something. I'm not. What happened was atrociously unprofessional behavior. When I got to the counter, the woman said I'm going to need to see your government travel card. I held it up, not knowing if she needed to physically hold it or if she wanted me to put it in the card reader. She says in a stern and loud voice, "I said I need to see your government travel card." Like whoa lady, it's right here, and also I don't need you yelling my business to the whole lobby. I'm a small female traveling by myself, I don't need randos knowing that I'm in the military. I handed her my card, she verifies it, then she asked me to put it in the card reader, and the card reader asks for my PIN. This happens a lot with the gtcc, and I don't remember ever setting up a PIN for this card; usually merchants tell me to press the x button and everything is fine. I've never had it be a problem. I try and tell her that; she cuts me off. She told me I don't know what I'm talking about, and I need to know my PIN and if I don't know my PIN then I need to get out of line so somebody else can get their car. I state I've been in the military 18 years, I've never used a pin on this card. Then her and the other clerk were saying really loudly: well my last customer knew his pin, my customer knows his pin, & so on. I don't know what point there was to that interaction, other than to make me feel like s*. At that point, I told her that what she was doing was unnecessary, and I needed her to treat me with respect. She told me that I wasn't treating her with respect, so why would she treat me with respect. I don't know where she got that from, she was the one talking over me, cutting me off, yelling at me in the lobby, shaming me... At one point, I said I'm just asking you to treat your customers with respect, is that too much to ask? And this woman literally responded: Yes. Wow. So, I'm trying to get my car and leave-- I know I'm going to be on the phone with this government travel card company for literally hours If I try and set up this nebulous pin number on a Sunday night. It's not going to happen. I've been in the military long enough to know, that's going to waste my entire Sunday evening. As a matter of fact, I was watching a young gentleman do the exact same thing. he had been there for what looked like a long time before I got there, and he was there for the entire interaction I was having with this clerk. So I asked her, can't I just use another card? While I'm trying to ask this, she's threatening to call my company and tell them how rude I am, how unprofessional I am, and she's threatening to cancel my car rental. Honestly, I'm so confused at this point, I'm just trying to get my car, and set some boundaries with this woman to not publicly shame me for not knowing a PIN number. Eventually, she lets me use my personal card. I see the QR code to leave a Google review, and I go to scan it. The clerk, says it's not going to help. What the hell? I ask her why not? She tells me it's not going to help because she's going to call my company to tell them how rude I am, before I have an opportunity to leave a scathing review about her. It was the wildest situation I have ever experienced in customer service in my entire life. How does that woman still have a job?! So I go upstairs, and the man with the keys asked me how I'm doing, and I said not good, Donna downstairs at the front desk just yelled at me in front of everyone & I'd really like to talk to a manager right now. I spoke to the manager, and he upgraded my vehicle. I didn't ask for that, I didn't necessarily want that, but it was very kind of him to do so. The manager did not look surprised at my complaint. However, the best part, was the man with the keys told me to leave the Google review. He said he wasn't not surprised by the behavior that I described, that those girls are mean, and that the review...

I will itemize the horrible experience I had at Fox Rent A Car San Diego:

Date: August 9, 2024 @ 7:00 pm Pacific time

There was a huge line and 1 person working.

Fox staff threatened to call security on someone after they refused to give him his prepaid rental if he didn't leave (they said he was past the grace period, which makes no sense if it is prepaid for at least a day.)The guy was so upset I was expecting him to get violent, but the staff just brushed him off like it was a normal occurrence to have upset and potentially violent customers. Everyone in the line witnessed this. I am sure they will remember that experience just like I did.

Another lady arrived to work the counter and I was the first person she called up. After I gave her my ID and credit card she angrily looked at me and asked if I made this reservation today. When I told her yes she raised her voice so everyone could hear it and told me they were not accepting same-day reservations. She continued to loudly scold me by telling me I waited in line all that time for nothing. I told her I already paid for the reservation and I do same-day booking all the time. She said if I had booked through Fox she might help me but since I booked through Priceline I had to get my refund from them and then she looked past me and called the next customer.

By this time I am totally shocked and not wanting to do anything rash since I already saw the other guy get threatened with security (I have a wife, 6 kids, and a very good job to think about) I walked outside to consider my options. After a few minutes, I decided to go back in and get the names of the employees. Neither employee had name tags and neither of them would tell me their names. The male employee realized it was bad optics for me to be asking for their names and a manager in front of 25-30 people waiting in line. He also thought I was recording them ( I wasn't.) So he told the lady to help me out with a car. She refused to help so when he finished with his customer he offered to get me a car.

To add insult to injury the guy framed it like he was helping me out, even though I paid for this rental in advance in good faith. He was trying to make me think he was doing me a favor even though I waited in line to be rudely treated and humiliated by the other employee who obviously hates her job. So how is he doing me a favor by providing me the rental that I already paid for, waited in line for and was mistreated by the other employee over? WOW! By this time I don't trust his intentions and am wondering if some other shenanigans are going to take place.

The next day I was still bothered by the experience so I started looking up your most recent reviews on different platforms. I wasn't shocked when I read of some of the same horrible experiences I had just went through are being posted by multiple customers. Here it is 4 days later and I am still bothered by the experience I had at Fox rent a car in San Diego.

The sad thing is that I used to make this trip quite often a few years ago and I would always try to secure a Fox rental because it was always a seamless experience. Fox has changed alot since then for sure. I can only imagine how horrible it would have been if I would have had to wait 2-3 hours in line like some of those people most likely did and then experience that disaster.

Update: the feedback a I got from the company was just optics. They never replied to me even though I tried contacting them through various means. It just shows more ingenious...

Fox Rent-A-Car is an absolute disaster, and I would give ZERO STARS if I could. Not only did they fail to provide the service I paid for, but they also lied to my credit card company to avoid refunding $571.12. This company is a SCAM, and their shady practices are nothing short of theft.

I booked an 11-day car rental on May 4, 2024, for $571.12, to visit my blind, widowed, 75-year-old auntie with stage 4 cancer. When her health emergency forced me to change my travel dates, Fox Rent-A-Car refused to apply my credit—on THREE separate occasions: June 3rd, June 9th, and July 17th.

As a Lahaina wildfire survivor, I was adjusting to traffic disruptions from debris removal and road repairs. I pride myself on punctuality, yet on July 16th, I missed my flight for the first time in 50+ years due to road closures caused by wildfire debris removal, boulders, and guardrail repairs. I called Fox immediately to inform them I’d be 24 hours late and asked them to hold my reservation. Instead of helping, they forced me to cancel and charged $26 to rebook. After 36 minutes of waiting and multiple holds, they claimed "computer problems" prevented them from rebooking and told me to try online. I spent hours trying, but it didn’t work.

When I arrived at their rental location, they claimed I had no reservation, they were out of cars, and they refused to honor my credit with their sister company. They attempted to charge me over $750 for fewer days than I originally booked—$250 MORE than I already paid—and told me I’d need to return the next day to pick up a car. My destination was 40 minutes away without traffic, leaving me stranded.

When I asked for a supervisor, I was pressured to accept the inflated price. After I refused, they hung up on me again. Later that night, I saw the price had increased to $978.80, nearly double my original reservation cost.

The worst part? Fox Rent-A-Car lied to my credit card company (Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard). They falsely claimed they refunded $500 of my $571.12 on May 4th, 2024. This was a LIE—the $500 was a deposit charge unrelated to the $571.12 rental fee. Despite showing my Barclay statement proving this, my credit card company sided with Fox Rent-A-Car, claiming my dispute was only for $71.12 because "services were rendered."

Fox Rent-A-Car repeatedly promised I could use my credit, but they failed every single time. The final blow? Being abandoned at the airport during a family emergency without a car and with no help from their so-called customer service, which was rude, incompetent, and repeatedly hung up on me.

This company’s behavior is beyond unacceptable. They’ve kept over $500 of my money for MONTHS without providing any service. This is corporate greed at its worst—Fox Rent-A-Car feels entitled to keep my money while lying about refunds and failing to deliver the promised service.

Let’s not forget that Fox Rent-A-Car is now owned by Europcar Mobility Group, one of Europe’s largest car rental companies. If this is how Europcar operates in the U.S., customers should beware on both continents! It seems Europcar has brought its corporate greed and deceptive practices to the U.S., leaving customers stranded and out hundreds of dollars.

If you value your time, money, and sanity, STAY FAR AWAY from Fox Rent-A-Car and Europcar Mobility Group. They are a SCAM, and their predatory behavior should not...