in my case the return of the car to Budget occus via a 3rd party at a parking garage, and the man that receives the car is not in a budget uniform  so I assume this is a great way for them to fill up their own vehicles – its childs play to remove the fuel and fill their own car. Free gas paid for by unsuspecting tourists.

Before you might read my complaints letter, be aware of the following FACTS that augment this reality: around the airport of Rome, most (if not ALL) gasstations do NOT accept ANY credit/debit cards at all… Some are simply closed, ALL have a ‘out of order’ paper on the card slot and ALL pump attendends say ‘CASH only!’… well, as I said, try to get a receipt!
I took pictures of all places where I fuelled, and next time will even make movies where I film myself filling the tank and SPILLING it… I recommend everyone to do so! Ok, rediculous, but hopefully safer!

And here is the letter!!

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

As a returning Dollar client and a Dollar Express Member
(0100642524) I’m sorry to inform you that I’m very disappointed with the
services delivered by the rental office at the airport of Rome Ciampino on May
22nd between 1700 and 1800. Apart from previous good and very good experiences
I inform you about this issue because (imho) what happened today does not
represent your company well.

I would like to know what the follow-up of this issue
will be, so I can decide if I would like to stay a Dollar Member and client or
not.

I’m talking about the Car Rental xrf 610692 / RA
n.2526570 at the Airport of Roma Ciampino, which we rented for one day.

When we returned the car to the rental office for the
first time, the desk manager (Ciara) told us the car was not filled up and the
additional charge would be 27euro.

Having driven not even 120km with a small car (final
milage 17538km – starting milage 17419km), and having filled up 7liters
ourselves (10euro at about 1.5euro/liter) I found the additional charge way to
much. The amount would be about half a days rent with full insurrence – 57euro
for the initial contract for a day with full coverage. On top of that, the type
of car (peugeot 206+) would probably not need more than 10-12liters for the
trip in total. I estimate the average full cost at about 6-8liter/100km. Having
checked several reviews online, most tests have about 1:16.9 or better, scoring
between 5.8liters/100km up to 8.5liters/100km in a city.

So I decided to go and fill the car up myself, knowing
that for another additional 10euro, I could add about 7 more liter to the tank
and have it full.

Please note that we visited about 12-14 gasstations
around the airport, NONE of them would accept any credit or debit cards. About
six stations were out of order, the others accepting cash ONLY, not giving any
return money. An obvious trick to disappoint people when filling up their car
imho, thus forcing them into buying the gasoline at the rental place at about
1,8x the regular price (+ an additional fee).

So we went and got cash, and did exactly as described
above: filled the car up with another 10euro (7liter) and drove back. The fuel
meter did NOT show any difference however, the car being fuelled for little
more than 14liters now, good for a trip of about 150km so to speak.

When we returned to the desk, your employee (Ciara) told
us again: the car is not full. I asked how many more liters were needed. She
answered first six, later five. That would mean the car needed a fillup of
about 20 liters for a trip of about 120km. From this point on, I realised
something was wrong with the meter and/or the way we were being handled. A
small car as the peugeot 206+ does not use about 17liter/100km. I told this but
your employee would not listen, claiming her English was not good. She said she
was going to charge the 27euro additional cost. I did not (and do not) approve
any of this this.

Finally an Avis employee explained there was a fee for
filling up and the petrol charged at a higher price, but as explained before,
this did not cover the 17liter/km story. So I drove out for a third time,
filling up the car with another 10euro untill the tank literally spilled! This
time, I could only add 3,93liter, so not the 6 or 5 your employee told me. The
meter AGAIN had not changed its position at all.

When I drove back with a spilled tank, your employee told
me again: the car is not filled up, I’m going to charge you 27euro. At that
time I had to leave to catch my flight, tired of not being heard and not
wanting to go into the discussing that the initial 27euro had to be revised
since I had added more gasoline since the first measurement.

So I left and while doing so told Ciara that I was going
to contact you about this issue and unfair business, so I do.

To summarize: I’ve paid 30euro for a 18liter fill up, for
a 120km trip (with a car that would milage about 6-8liter/100km) AND will be
charged an additional 27euro?

I guess not! Therefor I decline all of these extra
charges and do not accept any additional charges on top of the initial contract
of 57euro. I’ll pay the cost of the initial contract without any questions, as
I find this only natural for using your service.

I hope to have informed you of a bad experience that I
trust is only an exception and not the usual way Dollar Car Rental works. I
hope you will correct the additional charges made and judge this way of handling
as incorrect too. As stated in my prologue, I would like to know what follow-up
you’ll give to this complaint so I can decide whether or not I want to do
further business with Dollar Car Rental. It would give me great pleasure if
indeed I could do so, because I was a happy customer before and would like to
know if I could trust your service again in the future.

Rgds,

Evert Vandenberghe

Dollar Expres Member: 0100642524

Now I was in town for an interview and only needed the car for a day and I was not going very far, plus the company I was interviewing with was paying for the rental, but I digress. I stopped to fill up the tank when I was on my way back to the airport and I put in 5 gallons, 5 gallons! My drive from the airport to the interview site was maybe a 30 mile round trip, and I was driving a compact car. I know if I had returned the car with the 1/8 missing from the tank I would have (well the company) payed through the nose to fill it up. I was very irritated, and I will not rent from National if I need to rent it for personal use.

I did e-mail HR of the company I was interviewing with to know what happened, and they seemed quite apathetic, but thanked me for my concern.

I was traveling to NM, and I forget wich of the big 3 I rented from, but I had reserved one class of car, and about 2 weeks before the trip realized ‘I really need the next size up’ – they wanted a fairly large fee to change my reservation

I get to the airport, planning on asking for the larger size, and seeing what I could get, when I got the usual “upsell” sales speach – offering me the next size up at less than 1/2 the daily rate the web site had wanted, plus no ‘change fee’ – I looked at the guy, smiled, and said, “Sure, I’ll let you get the upsell” – and he gave me a discounted refuel (to keep it on topic) option.

Sometimes, YOU can game the system

By so doing, there wouldn’t be any question of idiocyncratic fuel guages or whether or not the top-off charges imposed later were kept as profit rather than used to actually ensure each renter gets a full tank. A receipt could be produced on the spot showing how much gas had been required for each vehicle making disputes unsupportable.

The scam is not in the price gauging but in how they have programmed the pay at the pump. I was there enroute returning to Las Vegas and did the usual swipe and fill up. The price came to $22.30. A day later I was at home posting the receipt and noticed a “prepaid” amount of $25 – “see cahsier for refund”.

Altho’ I only consumed $22.30, and had driven off, I was not able to drive all the way back for the $2.70 refund…they had charged me $25! NO WHERE HAVE I EVER BEEN charged an automatioc PREPAID at the pump …this is done for cash payers inside!

Someone is skimming the difference. PLEASE INVESTIGATE AND GO TO THE PRESS.

Tim

I guess it did not count that I refilled the tank down the street from the rental center, putting in 4.776 gallons at $4.099/gal – and had the receipt to prove it.

I drove a total of 71 miles, so I do not know if this is a common practice for National.

Not only did I complain, but I reported this to our corporate travel department, which forced us to switch to National from Hertz because “we will save money”. Hertz never screwed me like that.

The whole travel industry (hotel, airline, car rental, etc…) seem to be controlled by a bunch of former telephone company executives considering how my bills are filled up with extra fees etc… This whole idea of fees for everything as a way of tailoring the product to the customer needs is only annoying the customer and is borderline immoral business.