John O.
Do not rent a car from Thrifty Albuquerque Airport
My wife and I recently rented a car from the Albuquerque Airport Thrifty Rent A Car. I explicitly told the rental agent that we did NOT accept the Loss Waiver Damage option (with my wife as a witness), but when we were already on the road (it was well after dark after a long flight) to our ultimate destination 2.5 hours away, we noticed on our receipt that the agent added the option anyway for an extra $167.96. We tried several times to call him at Thrifty, but only got a nationwide Thrifty number with options that did not apply to our issue and instead sent us in circles and ultimately kept dropping the call. Since we initially made the reservation through Expedia, I then entered into an online chat with Expedia. Expedia told me that they were able to speak with someone at Thrifty who told them that nothing could be done now but that I could discuss reimbursement with Thrifty when I returned the car. When we returned the car to Thrifty at the Albuquerque Airport, the same agent who rented the car to us was at the desk there, and I explained the situation to him. He said that it was too late to do anything to correct the situation; that we had only 30 minutes after initially renting the car to make any changes in the rental agreement. His tone of voice was extremely rude and arrogant when he stated this, so I walked away very, very angry. I wish I had taken this Thrifty employee's name because, when initially renting the car, he talked a mile a minute like someone high on drugs and seemed to pay little attention to anything I said. It made me wonder if his pay was based in part on a commission, especially after I read a review on the Expedia website by another car renter at this same Thrifty location who had the exact same experience (not surprisingly, the overall rating of this Thrifty location on Expedia was 2.7/5, and even lower on other websites, with many giving it a 1 rating having had similarly terrible customer service). I explained our experience on a customer form to Hertz, of which Thrifty is a subsidiary, requesting them to do the right thing by refunding the $167.96 for services we explicitly declined. Their response was basically, 'tough luck--you should have read the contract before signing it.' I will never rent from Hertz or its subsidiaries Thrifty or Dollar again, as their employees are untrustworthy at best and con-men liars and cheats out to maximize their commissions by any means at worst.