Dollar nightmare

Hi,

Our Dollar rental car broke down last week, a week into the rental. Long story short is that we were stranded at a restaurant (only popped in for a take out!) for 5 hours. During that time, I called their emergency services 3 times and was given differing arrival times for a replacement car. Each time, I asked about updated paperwork for the replacement car and was told I didn't need it/it would be take care of/not to worry.

Eventually, the replacement did arrive, we asked the guy driving the flat bed truck about paperwork, but all he had was a replacement receipt....

Following morning, it noticed an e receipt from Dollar, for drop off charges! When I finally got through to customer services, I was passed to several people, one of whom seemed to have the first clue, until finally I spoke to a guy who told me our rental had finished!!!!! He couldn't trace there details of the new car either, but did agree that we shouldn't have been charged....

We then spent the following two days chasing things up with customer services, who eventually realised that yes, we should have been given new paperwork (!), but that we now needed to go to the location which provided the new car - lovely, this was Fort Myers, about 50 miles away, but it seemed we had no choice.

I do realise cars break down sometimes, but the 5 hour wait for a replacement, followed by the three days of us doing all the chasing to sort, was a nightmare. I'm wondering how to approach a complaint about this, should I contact the agent I used to buy the rental? I've already also emailed Dollars customer services ( now there's an oxymoron), as well as the phone calls, but they have not responded at all.

I hate to think what could have happened if we had returned the car (to Orlando) with a different car, from a different location and with the wrong paperwork....

Anyone else had rental cars break down on them? if so, what was your experience????

That sounds like rather poor service; is there anything in your documentation regarding the speed with which Dollar will replace a car / get you on your way?

The real issue is that you were sorting out their errors for two days and then had to make a round trip to Fort Myers, lovely as it might be, as well. So, there is impact on your trip/ holiday, additional fuel costs and the loss of, at least, half a day to get to Fort Myers.

I think Dollar was acquired by Hertz a couple of years ago but, in the first instance, I would fire a letter (signature required) to:

Gary L Paxton
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc.
5330 E. 31st Street
Tulsa
OK 74135

Nothing gets the attention more than a 'Without Prejudice' in the centre of the page, below the address information and above the salutation.

If they are 'Dollar Rent A Car' they are active on both Facebook and Twitter.

Social Media is a good way of grabbing their attention to investigate, particularly Twitter which always seems more customer services focused.

Dollar Rent A Car
@dollarcars

NV,

Thanks for your input. I did look at the rental agreement and couldn't see anything about breakdowns or time frames. Thanks also for the info about the chief exec, although I will have to wait until I get home to write. Which makes me wonder - I'd send it registered post or recorded delivery if within the UK, but not sure if I can post from UK to US requesting a receipt in the he same way???

Marshy,

I thought about that route to, but inputting Dollar on facebook only came up with ads! Maybe that's my error though, I'll have another look.....

What a nightmare. :0

Got to say, we've used Dollar every time, bar once and they have been great, but it's always been one of the questions that you ponder on holiday.

"What if my car breaks down" "What if I have an accident" etc etc

Hope everything gets sorted out for you

David

Marshy,

I thought about that route to, but inputting Dollar on facebook only came up with ads! Maybe that's my error though, I'll have another look.....

Yes they are as I posted above:

Facebook - Dollar Rent A Car
Twitter - @dollarcars

What a nightmare. :0

Got to say, we've used Dollar every time, bar once and they have been great, but it's always been one of the questions that you ponder on holiday.

"What if my car breaks down" "What if I have an accident" etc etc

Hope everything gets sorted out for you

David

We've also used them countless times before, and not had any problems. This is the first breakdown we've had with them, I guess you can never know how well or quickly they will respond until it does...

Royal Mail has International Signed, International Tracked and International Tracked and Signed services.

Whilst, I'm sure, social media sites have their uses, I get the impression that they will be like the DT and TTimes comments section; populated by people who have access to the internet but, really, shouldn't.

State the facts and avoid emotion; if you do write to El Pesidento, you might add in that you have, deliberately, not complained through public fora.

Thanks NV, I was thinking about looking that up. We only got home this morning and at the moment I'm undecided whether to write or to just let it drop. I know though that I tend not to let things drop, I can be a like a dog with a bone lol. It's more about the injustice and the casual attitude there was, it's just not right.

I very much agree with you; of course social media has its place, but I feel a letter would come over as being more measured and considered.

Writing letter right now...it's been waiting to get out of my head all week....

This is why I always rent from one of the 'prime' rental companies, such as Avis. Sure they're a bit more expensive - but they have their act together.

I hadn't before had any reason to doubt Dollar. You know what they say though - get a good experience and you tell 2 people, get a bad one and you tell 9 (or something). Or, in this case, an entire community

Letter is written and printed, will mail it today. Can't say I'm holding my breath, but was in any case something I needed to do....

Be good to hear how you get on CSW. As I've said before, we've nearly always used Dollar out of MCO (over 40 times now) but the one time we didn't we got the car from hell.

I really like their dollar "express" which seems to get quicker every time we use it

Thanks

David.

If they are 'Dollar Rent A Car' they are active on both Facebook and Twitter.

Social Media is a good way of grabbing their attention to investigate, particularly Twitter which always seems more customer services focused.

Dollar Rent A Car
@dollarcars

An article on the tv this morning puts Twitter as the quickest way to get a result on a complaint.
I'd suggest belt and braces: send the letter but also tweet.

I actually have no idea what to Tweet means, I'm just repeating what I saw on TV this morning.

Dick D

I've never tweeted either dicky lol. I did sign up once, but the constant stream of short messages drove me to unsubscribe!

Will let you all know if and when I get a reply....

Radio 4's Money Box contained a segment, on Saturday, on the use of Twitter for complaining about customer service:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjnv (on demand)

Maybe it is the way ahead but I can't really see how you can make a complaint with only 140 characters?

Hate to say it had similar issues with Hertz, with a record 3 dead cars on one corporate trip in 2013, well one flat tyre, one dead engine! - and a flat tyre again on rental in another city a week later. Dealing with any hire car firm when you have a fault is a right pain, taking hours of time in my personal experience. The good thing is at least I have a personal contact at Hertz corporate to escalate bad charges and mistakes to - so I don't have to touch the phone.

Thankfully the corporate deal we have includes tyres/glass I hate to think the costs of it otherwise.

Radio 4's Money Box contained a segment, on Saturday, on the use of Twitter for complaining about customer service:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjnv (on demand)

Maybe it is the way ahead but I can't really see how you can make a complaint with only 140 characters?

That thought also occurred to me....

So, today I got an email from Dollar. It rather looks a though the letter I sent to the CEO has been passed down the tracks, as the email I got is from the guy I was dealing with - that is, after I got passed from pillar to post. Offering a $90 refund, which I have to claim through the company I booked with. Hmmmmm.....

Radio 4's Money Box contained a segment, on Saturday, on the use of Twitter for complaining about customer service:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjnv (on demand)

Maybe it is the way ahead but I can't really see how you can make a complaint with only 140 characters?

That thought also occurred to me....

The 140 characters is a headline. Make that count and be seen. The person you are tweeting follows you and you them, giving you both direct access to private messages. This is where the complaint is dealt with. The result is then tweeted as a closure, ie thanking for the resolution and customer service.

Try it.