Alamo car hire surprise extra charge in Sanford.

[Dollychris]

Hi everyone,

Just back from a lovely holiday in Orlando having stayed at a gorgeous villa in Formosa Gardens.

Thought it may help others to mention an extra unexpected charge that was made against our credit card by Alamo, without our prior knowledge. Fortunately my husband checked the receipt handed to him when we returned our car, having experienced no car problems during the holiday.
The receipt showed an extra charge upon return of the car of almost 74 US dollars. When my husband enquired of the staff he was told it was for 'Roadside assistance' should the car have broken down! He argued that we had purchased the top insurance package through Thomas Cook when we booked and had been assured no further charges would be incurred. The staff at the Alamo desk had the attitude of "so what and live with it!" They refused to return the receipt to my husband.
Upon enquiring of fellow travellers no others that we spoke to had encountered this charge.
We have, at last got in touch with Thomas Cook Customer Relations (A nightmare to contact)who have asked to be sent the information as they have not encountered this before.
A swipe of your credit card is automatically taken when you collect your car, so you do not have an option once the payment has been taken.
It appears that another person has encountered a similar problem with Alamo but for a much larger amount of money and this has been posted on the Answerbank question and answer forum. Ours is a relevantly small amount but his is much more and he has allegedly been charged 2 further amounts.
We have informed the unfortunate person of our similar problem but fortunately we paid by credit card (one we only use on holiday that incurs no interest charges - Nationwide card) but he has paid by debit card so cannot claim back any money if it has been taken mistakenly.
Just wanted to let other know of our encounter with Alamo and to advise everyone to ask if will there be any further charges upon the safe return of their rental cars.
Will keep you informed of the outcome and want to reassure everyone that we had a wonderful time and our friends who travelled with us for the first time, are now well an truly smitten - already asking if we'll go again with them next year. Have a great holiday anyone who is travelling soon and safe journey...............

[ShirleyD]

Well I'm glad you had a great holiday, Florida is a great place. :D When you go back again, think about renting your car through this site. If you have any problems, then Roger is easy to contact and will do everything he can to help

[roger]

Yes, it's the case that our pre-paid vouchers include roadside assistance. We do also stress this on our site, and make a point of highlighting the fact that if you sign for enhanced road side assistance then there is no way to get this money back.

I think you will find the same with the car you booked through your travel agent. Any extras you are signing for with Alamo are very clearly marked on the paperwork when you collect the car. Alamo make this clear, in large print, so it should be obvious.

If in your case you did not sign for any extras then you have a good case for Alamo to refund as they must have made an admin error, and I'm sure it will be an easy process.

[DaveH]

I am just about to book an 8 seater mini van with Alamo through this site. It is coming up at £595 for 3 weeks with Alamo at Sandford and is the cheapest. Having read thorugh this forum there isn't much said about Alamo.

Having read this article if I book through this site with Alamo I take it that I won't pay any charges once i get there. Is the service Ok with Alamo?

Thanks in advance

David

[trupial]

Got back this morning from a great holiday in Orlando. We booked a Full Size car from this site with Alamo. The wait at the desk
was not bad, about 15 mins, then went out to the car park to choose our car, the attendant was with another family so asked if
I just pick my own, he said "give me a min and I'll give you a very nice car," after he was finish with the other family he went to the nearest car and threw our cases in the boot and then hung about waiting for a tip which sort of took me by surprise but gave him $10. By this time more people were coming for their cars so without telling us anything about the car made off for the next person, I was under the impression he was just interested in the tips. After looking around the car none of us liked it, so now in a bit of a mood, took the cases back out of the boot and put them into a car that I liked which was a very nice white Pontiac Grand Prix.
So apart from the attendant I would recommend Alamo and the Pontiac.

[jue]

hi

we came back on the 12th october renting from alamo, we had money taken out of our back account upon return, we had apparently signed for roadside assistance and personel protection,, no way was these extra's mentioned or the charges that would go out of my account,,, they were signed by my husband and brother in law but took if from my bank,,, now i have read articles on two other consumer sites based in america and this has happened to many many people, there were six people at the desk all were amazed that this happened,, so i know you should always check what you are signing for but you really just want to go you dont expect this sort of behaviour from a company like this..

i am disputing this with thomas cook and will update when i hear from them
jue

[roger]

Yes, we can't stress enough that you should always check what you are signing. Any charges are very clearly shown and have to be initialled, so if there is anything on there you should question it since al required charges are included in your voucher.

The rental companies are very keen to stop their reps from trying to sell anything that is not required and are quick to take action against particular reps that add items without giving the option.

[Nina A]

We returned just over a week ago. Car as usual booked through this site. We used Alamo this time and had no problems whatsoever. No wait at the desk and a great choice of vehicles. Thanks Roger for the usual excellent service.

[ellie]

We picked up our car from Alamo on Thursday - booked through this site, of course. No waiting, and no pressure to add in any extra roadside insurance - we declined it and that was that.

We picked a great car from a row of dozens of vehicles and are very pleased with it.

It is always worth booking via Roger and the uscarhire.co.uk site as not only are the prices excellent, the service is second to none.