ELLIOTT: Not Getting My Dollar's Worth

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Not Getting My Dollar's Worth
The Travel Troubleshooter · March 20, 2002

Q: Last September I reserved a luxury car from Dollar Rent A Car in Detroit. But I got a Chrysler 300M that was too small for two weeks of travel for four adults, a trunk too small for four suitcases plus a cooler, a leaky tire which required filling daily, a broken cup holder, and a bizarre mirror that would change positions when gears were changed.

I complained after returning the vehicle and asked that the charge be reduced from a luxury to a full-size car. After going round and round, the desk agent agreed to adjust my bill. I didn't look at the bill until I was back inside the airport with time to kill. He had not changed anything!

I complained to Dollar and received a standard "thank you for notifying us of your experience" letter stating, "there is nothing we can do, short of a sincere apology" and "as a gesture of goodwill I have enclosed a certificate..." There was no certificate enclosed.

I wrote the agent back thinking perhaps the certificate was for a free rental, perhaps something of value. A few weeks later, I received the exact same form letter, but from a different agent, and a certificate good for $25 off with an expiration date of 200 (the last digit is missing).

- Stephanie Chong

A: I contacted Dollar about your rental experience. Alicia Andrews, a customer service manager, explained what happened.

Something did indeed go wrong when you rented your car. Andrews says the condition of the 300M was "not acceptable" and notified the Dollar fleet manager in Detroit of your complaint. "Dollar has a strict policy of presenting only clean, properly maintained, late model vehicles," she added.

Dollar also admitted that it sent you two form letters. Apparently, a customer service agent noticed that the first form letter was sent sans coupon and decided to fix it by resending the same letter, this time with a coupon. Nonetheless, says Andrews, "the fact that you received the same letter twice is intolerable."

It appears that the refund wasn't noted on your first bill. However, Dollar's records show that the agent who closed your contract issued the credit as promised. The $60.07 credit should have been reflected on your credit card statement.

As to the odd expiration date on your coupon, Dollar had nothing to say.

I think you can avoid this kind of trouble by taking a few simple steps when renting your next car. First, if the car isn't to your satisfaction, take it back. If you knew that the space in a Chrysler 300M would be insufficient for you and your passengers, you should have informed Dollar before you drove the car off the lot.

My second tip is to always look at the bill before boarding the shuttle bus to the airport. It only takes a few seconds to find out if you've gotten the credit you asked for. If you'd said something to the agent then, he would have been able to clarify the terms of the refund.

There's no excuse for what Dollar did - and didn't - do. But as I'm sure you're aware, your rental experience happened around September 11, which is a time when many of us didn't know "up" from "down." It shouldn't have offered you a dirty, broken rental, and it completely mishandled your complaint. But in fairness to Dollar, your grievance couldn't have come at a worse time.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. ChrisCrossings appears weekly on this site.