Dollar Car Rental — Local services in San Francisco

Reservation: (Easy) I booked one of the cheapest options through Priceline (~"manager's choice"), just to visit a friend while my car was being serviced. It was my first time rent a car. Base cost was $38, subtotal without the $18 collision insurance came to $50. I ended up adding collusion insurance just in case, bringing me to $68 thus far.

Pickup: (Got lost but got great help) Initial representative was well dressed and professional. I was assigned with a Chevy Bolt (battery electric). The liability insurance package is about $13. There's also a licensing fee and tax that added $5. This brought my total rental cost to about $86 for 1 day, before charging costs. Unfortunately, I had trouble following the verbal pickup instructions (I mistook the instructions for the Dropoff area for the Pickup area and got lost)... Oops.) However, Eric (a different front desk representative) was able to walk me to my car in person. (Eric even locked up the front lobby to guide me to the pickup area (he was the only one there at that moment; the other representative probably went on his break). Eric had a great personality and forthcoming willingness to help, going up and down a few flight of stairs to check exactly where my rental was parked before guiding me directly to it. I truly felt like a respected and valued customer because of his candor.)

Recharging: (Bit pricy and slow but makes sense; could be worse.) It was recommended by the initial Dollar representative during pickup to use the Electrify America charging station on Harrison. It was a good recommendation; was clean, not too busy in the morning, and was able to recharge the Chevy Volt at around 25 KW/hr. For this Chevy Volt, it took a little under an hour to recharge the ~30% of the battery I used. No problem if you're not in a rush and had things to do on your phone (my case), but bad if you're in a rush and none of your destinations has a charger. Would consider a newer car if concerned about charge time. (It is also pricier than Tesla charging at $0.64/kwh (my Model 3 costs $0.28$0.58/kwh), but still cheaper than the charging fees that Dollar would charge if you returned the car without recharging ($1.44/kwh; yikes).)

Dropoff: (Got lost again, but got more help lol) I also went to the wrong garage floor (because Dollar basically shares the same building as Hertz, Thrifty, etc) because I confused the "Dollar" sign directing me to take a left went I should have taken a right (for "Hertz" rentals). However, one of the Hispanic (?) workers walking around the lot entrance was able to help me correlate the instructions I was provided. He didn't have to, but he showed incredible friendliness and professionalism - more than many valets.

Overall/TL;DR: (A little rough, but felt good) The first time car rental experience wasn't perfect, but luckily I was not in a rush, and the human interactions I made me feel like it might as well been perfect (great vibes, and I'll know by heart now where to go the next time I...

HORRIBLE!!! Our family vacation was supposed to start with picking up our SUV rental at Dollar/Thrifty in San Francisco. I reserved and paid for six weeks in advance. I arrived at my scheduled pick up time to find a relatively small line of approximately 12 people, but it became apparent in a short amount of time that operations weren’t functional. There was a lot of confusion about who was there to pick up a car who was there to return a car and people that had already been helped but were apparently still waiting on their car. After 2 1/2 hours of waiting in line I overheard someone mention they were out of gas powered cars. I had specifically stated I required a gas powered car in two conversations with customer service prior to my pickup date as electric wasn’t conducive for my travels to Yosemite. (Customer service is nearly impossible to get through to and seem to just agree to whatever you’re asking to get you off the phone). An hour later, when I reached the counter, the gentleman acknowledged my reservation, took my credit card and some other information and proceeded with having me sign some acknowledgments. I expressed to him that I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth this was going after I had seen several people walk away in frustration and heard there were no gas powered cars. He then informed me they were no gas or electric cars and that he was simply taking my information and I would get a call later when management released more cars. At this point, they were closing in 10 minutes. I told him my two young kids have been waiting in the heat for five hours. I made and paid for this reservation well over a month in advance and needed a gas powered car to get to Yosemite and would have to get another hotel in San Francisco at this point if I am waitlisted and likely miss my first night in Yosemite. He shared this with his manager beside him and the manager said give him somethig inaudible. I ended up with a small sedan. It was a nice car but I had to leave behind a nice cooler filled with snacks and groceries for Yosemite. It’s unfortunate when you make such efforts to plan so many things in advance and do your due diligence but a national company like this doesn’t honor their obligation. I got a survey from dollar at the conclusion of my rental and asked if I would like to be be reached by customer service. I stated yes and was told I would get a call within 72 hours but of course that call never happened. I am confident a sedan rents for less than an SUV, but I am also confident that there is absolutely no recourse for me to get any type of discount even though they did not provide my...

Take your business elsewhere. Arranged a standard sedan rental directly through Dollar's website, thinking that would mean I would have a standard sedan on site when I arrived. This was not the case.

The attendant Dmitry couldn't care less about customer service, first he tells me there are no gas sedans on site and that I have to take an EV. I explain that I am driving to a location where I cannot use an EV and he is more than ready to just dismiss my reservation and send me away. That is, unless I want to upgrade my rental and get a premium sedan that they actually do have. Forcing drivers to take EV's can be extremely dangerous, their range and recharge limitations can leave drivers in desolate areas with no means to get back. Even after saying this, the guy is completely disinterested and keeps chewing his gum.

After nearly doubling my rental fee with this choice (I needed the car), he can't get the chip in my card to work on his machine so he for the second time tells me I am out of luck and should leave. I finally ask for a manager (trust me I don't want to be a Karen) and he gets my card to work on the first try. At this point the whole rental process feels cooked and I wished I hadn't gone with Dollar at all.

No callbacks from Dollar customer service after I reached out, and I can see quite a few others have had similar issues. Beware and look for...