Tl;DR: rented a truck with mechanical problems. Was stranded for 6 hours on the freeway and was not able to return it due to issues beyond my control that were the fault of the originating dealer. I was charged for an additional day of rental ($225) and would prefer not to pay that.
Recently I rented a truck from a well known national moving truck company in the US. As soon as I entered the truck, I noted a message on the dash that it had low tire pressure on one of the rear tires. I obviously should have noted this to the dealer in person immediately, but due to schedules and enthusiasm, I did not. I filled it with air and it seemed alright.
2 days later when I had loaded the truck and was set to travel, I once more filled the tire. Unfortunately, as I drove with the loaded truck, it started slowly and steadily losing air. I stopped to fill it about every 60 miles before I noted, at 1 am at a remote outpost dozens of miles from civilization, air coming from the section of the tire near the fill valve. I decided further travel was ill advised. I made it to a nearby interstate rest stop and called the trucking company’s roadside assistance people.
They determined that there was nobody within 60 miles available to come and change the tire. The representative suggested I should just drive on the leaky tire and see what happened. I felt that wasn’t a very good idea. We ended up deciding that I would sleep at the rest stop and help would come in the morning. I was fine with that. However, I was due to return the truck in the morning, so I called them back. I was then told someone was arranging to have the entire truck towed to my destination, over 100 miles away. This seemed somewhat unnecessary, but sure. So next, that did occur. The truck was towed to where I was going, on a flatbed, at 6 am.
We still had to unload the truck, and wait for someone else to come change the tire before it could be driven to the local dealer to be returned. I called customer service to let them know we were returning the truck later than scheduled due to these problems. Somehow it turned out to be a Kafkaesque customer service archipelago- I talked to 18 different people and I still have no idea why since I wasn’t even asking for anything. Someone came and replaced the tire about 2 hours after I was originally scheduled to return the truck.
The local dealer closed at noon that day, 30 minutes after the tire was finally replaced, so we took it back the next day. We were told by some very stoned young man that he had no control over charging us $225 for the additional day of rental, and I’d have to talk to national customer service. I probably at that point should have just left, but instead I actually gave them my debit card. It was unclear whether I’d ever be charged, but finally 4 days later, they processed the payment.
I called the national customer service and they told me how sorry they were for my traumatizing experience, which was not why I was calling. They offered to refund 80 out of the 225, and I said I didn’t consider that sufficient. I was told someone would call me in 1-3 days. So, I called my bank and reported that wished to start the process of disputing the charge.
Any suggestions? The original payment was $575 and I haven’t even complained about that.
While I don’t think this is your fault, I do think it is akin to a lesson to report issues right away, like the leaking tire.
But beyond that, there isn’t much to do but speak to customer service on as many outlets as possible, Twitter, Facebook, phone call, etc., and hope for a resolution. You could try getting your bank to reverse the charge, but that would most likely lead to the company refusing you rentals in the future.
I have this kind of problem again and again and again!
I see an issue, don’t want to be a pain so I let it go, and it bites me in the ass later.
I definitely should have walked in and asked them to fix the tire immediately. There is no way the person who gave it to me could have not noticed, since he drove it to the front of the store and it had a warning light and text on the console. I assumed it was merely low and not damaged, though.
Contact them one last time, and try to get them to refund the extra day, and personally, I’d be going for the original rental fee as well (everything you paid to them) for the headache of the whole deal. It’s their truck and they are required to maintain it/inspect it BEFORE the customer takes it.
If they refuse to meet you where you are ok with it all, then do a chargeback with your bank. Give the bank every single detail you can, including EVERYTHING you listed here, and any other info you can remember/have. Chargebacks almost always go in the customers favor. I personally would have been LIVID if I was forced to sleep in a moving truck in a isolated, unsafe rest area (I’m a woman though, so these things can be scary for me).
Also, not to pile insult to injury, but next time, make sure to go back inside, and make them give you a whole new truck, to avoid anything like this in the future.
I did initiate a chargeback/dispute because the card I was using only has 1 day after a charge to do so, unlike most which allow 30 days.
That’s what I wondered - I think that most people would be asking for some of the original fee back as well. Sleeping at a rest stop in the truck isn’t great, and the suggestions that I should drive at 1 am in the middle of nowhere with the flat tire was perhaps even worse. The truck was also missing all four valve caps in the first place. And yeah, I should have brought it to their attention immediately when I stepped in the truck and saw the low pressure warning.
Not sure what crazy bank you deal with, but I’ve never heard of a 30 day rule, let alone a 1 day one. Maybe look at replacing that while you’re at it. Hell, I’ve filed chargeback with like amex and or wells after multiple months.
Yep, it’s a business account and has different rules than their consumer accounts. No joke, you have one day to report disputes. They do 30 for consumer cards. I have had other accounts in the past which said 45, 60 and 90 days.
I think I’d start by looking at the rental agreement to get a better understanding of your and the company’s responsibilities under it. Then, if the terms were in my favor, I’d call them back and wave their terms of service in their face until they fix the problem. If the terms weren’t in my favor I’d remind myself that contract is written by the company and may or may not be enforceable. The I’d call them and politely ask to speak with a manager. Tell them the story, say “I know this isn’t your fault but it is fmvery frustrating” and hope they’ll actually do something. Finally, if they won’t do anything, I’d email corporate, write bad reviews on Google, yelp, and anywhere else I can think of as well as file a complaint with the BBB for both the local business and the large national business.
If that doesn’t get their attention I don’t know what will without spending more than you’ve lost.
One problem is I’m dealing with several different entities - the originating dealer, the return dealer, and national customer service. It’s not clear who to call. The local dealer told me I could only get a refund from the national service and the national service told me to call the originating dealer and the local dealer.
I’ve read the contract and it doesn’t seem to cover this circumstance, where equipment is faulty and roadside assistance takes 11 hours to fix the problem. Mainly I’m trying to figure out how perturbed to be… I think many people would ask for a refund on the original payment as well as the additional one.
A letter to the state attorney general can also be extremely effective at escalating disputes with a company. Typically the AG will forward the dispute to a contact higher up in the company and expect a summary from the company of the resolution
Did you pay with a credit card? You can always work on a chargeback with the credit card company.
Obviously, you can’t go back in time and change what was done, but the rental company has your money, so they don’t have any incentive to expedite the matter.
I did file to dispute the charge with my bank. A debit card is a credit card that works with cash in your bank account vs. a credit account, which is unfortunate since it’s easier to reverse credit vs debit charges.
Don’t pay them a fucking cent and don’t rent vehicles. It has always been a grift.
Kind of too late for both of those. It is not clear how else I’d transport my possessions 500 miles. Having it all shipped by freight would have cost a lot more.
Lesson learned.
I have never once had a truck rental that didn’t do something like this to me. If I ever move again I am starting fresh.
