Alamo Rent A Car — Local services in Seattle

On Friday July 28 while working in Los Angeles, I received a frantic call that my sister in law suffered a massive stroke and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tacoma Washington. I was scheduled to fly home to Arizona the afternoon so quickly changed my reservations to catch the next flight out to SeaTac airport. After finally arriving at SeaTac at 11:00 PM, I arrived at the rental car lot only to find the Enterprise counter closed with a sign stating I could get my care from “Alliance”. I searched unsuccessfully for Alliance and finally made my way to the Enterprise car lot where I was told that I could pick up my car at Alamo. Here I am, an older woman out alone past midnight frantic with worry and fear trying to get my rental car. I went to Alamo where a young man named Josh was sitting in the booth. He wasn’t doing any computer work not was he on the phone. He was just sitting. He did not acknowledge me at all. I asked him for help and he said he was already helping someone. I looked around and the only other people I saw were a couple taking picture of themselves in front of a convertible sports car. I again asked Josh if he could help me and explained that I was trying to get to the hospital and was in a hurry. He again said he was busy helping someone else. I asked if he could please hurry. He stated “I’m going as fast as I can.” He slowly ambled out of the booth and approached the couple. He helped them put their luggage in the trunk of their car and they left. By this time 4 other people were in line behind me. Josh proceeded to help each of them, leaving me standing at the booth. When he finally returned to the booth and sat down I again asked him to help me. He said “I’m sitting over her.” I had no idea why it mattered where he was sitting, I just needed to get the car. I again asked him to help me now being totally frustrated and he refused. He said “No, I’m not going to help you.” I asked him to get someone who could help me and he again refused. I asked for the manager and he refused that as well. I didn’t know what to do. I was alone and frantic and there was no one else to help. I was trying to look for a number to call when woman came over and asked if she could help me. Josh went to the woman and told her “No, you won’t help her.” She tried again and again Josh told her to stop and leave, that she would not be helping me. He then called his manager Emily Van Hollebeke, who came over. I told Emily that I was trying to get to the hospital and was in a hurry. I needed to get my car and Josh was refusing to help me. She said Josh works for Alamo and is sitting in the chair to help Alamo customers. I rented a car from Enterprise and they were doing me a favor by helping me. I said if Alamo and Enterprise have an agreement that is between the two business’s not the customers. She then assisted me with the paperwork for the car but I still didn’t know what to do. I asked which car and she told me to go to a back row and just pick one. Thanks, Alamo for making a horrendous situation even more difficult!!! I will be sure to tell all of my friends and business associates about Josh and my experience with Alamo at...

I do not write reviews often, only when it is so excellent that I think everyone should know about them or when it is so unpleasant that I think everyone should know about them. If you think you have a happy trip maybe too happy you could choose to pick up a car here to add some frustration to your happiness. Just imagine to pickup a car eventually took 1.5 hours even with the reservation and was forced to switch car twice, the first time is because no car is available even when we have the reservation made for a mid size car previously so they said we could choose to wait 20-30 minutes to get another car size which is a full-size car instead of the mid size with the same price, so ok, then for a full-size with the same price, worth waiting for 20-30 minutes. Here comes the drama, after waiting for 30 minutes and went upstairs to pick up the car, this lady just say “Not Available” several times saying car was changed again and this time a mid size car, and the tone sounds like I made a big mistake and too greedy to even think about getting a full size car, as if I do not deserve a full size car. However, that is not my mistake ok, in fact that was the offer you guys offered downstairs and this is a trade off for a 30 minutes waiting time. Now after waiting for 30 minutes you just regret the deal. Since we already stayed for 1.5 hours at this point and I do not really want to stay anymore just took some additional pictures to prove that she switched the car. The car we got only has 1/2 gas not a full tank even though I initially said I need gas for a long trip. She figured I am not very happy and just said I could return the car with no gas. But as for now it just felt like not a good solution. Generally speaking people usually return car with some gas left, for me usually as least 1/2 gas. So the customer is angry and here is the review. Update: just change the star to 4 since even though the pick up experience is not that pleasant, the car is in good condition very clean and...

They do not verify vehicles as they leave the lot. They claim to do a "3 step inspection" of the vehicle which may be true. Who knows... But the fact is, when you leave the lot, nothing is recorded.

You pick up your vehicle at random based on which tier you get; we were expected to get one sedan and ended up with a completely different model. You take the keys, checkout at the kiosk and leave. They don't verify if anyone leaving said garage cause damages. I brought this up as they're claiming we had a scratch. Their employees can damage vehicles reverse parking them as they do, or even customers can damage vehicles while leaving. At this stage I'm mentioning, there is no verification of the vehicle. Whatever you leave with, whether it obtained a scratch in that parking garage or not, you are now responsible.

Now I'm not claiming we didn't caused this, anything could have happened; it was a 3 day trip. Although we did not drive much nor leave it in places people could accidentally swipe it. Stuff happens; sure. We have insurance through our credit card company. I'm only setting awareness; check each vehicle and extensively express each concern you have. Record your own data, video the car. We did just that but I should have been closer up. You can see the scratch that they claimed we caused in my video but what they're now referring to, is a dent that my video can't pick up straight on, I'll blame myself for that.

UPDATE IF YOU ARE IN A SIMILAR SITUATION. CALL YOUR LAWYER. THEY HAVE DIRECTED THAT WE ARE NOT RESPOSIBLE AS THIS COMPANY DOES NOT ACTUALLY VALIDATE VEHICLES LEAVING UPON RESERVATION. IN COURT, ALAMO HAS NO GROUNDS TO CONTINUE.

Alamo is such a trash company. They won't sue because its not worth it for them to fight back damages. We have decided to decline responsibility and that is that. We are not responsible and neither...