Beware of Contract - Charge for Insurance despite denial

Complaint

0
DeDe
Country: United States
BEWARE THE SCAM - EZ Rent A Car

I made a car reservation through CheapOair & was booked with EZ Rent A Car in Orlando.  At the time of the reservation I declined the insurance & was charged for car rental & check-in fees only. Because I am HANDICAPPED & cannot drive I booked the car in my daughter’s name as well as mine.

Upon arriving in Orlando (Dec 16), since there was a large queue & I was in a wheelchair my daughter had to sign for the car. The counter was too tall & not designed for handicapped individuals. Additionally, my daughters each have a toddler less than 2 years. The car agent recommended a Minivan since I needed a mobile scooter & to accommodate the infant car seats. At this point the children were tired and crying after the plane trip & I had an assistant waiting with me to wheel me the car. I agreed at this point to the upgrade in cars – which was my mistake!!  My daughters declined the insurance – making it clear we did not want any insurance!!!!

BEWARE THE SCAM ARTISTS:  On Line 3 of the EZ Rent A Car contract you decline the Supplemental Rental Liability Insurance & write your insurance company.  

***IMPORTANT:  Hidden on line 4 the contract states that you agree to accept the Collision Damage Waver at $24.99 per day.

The Rental Agent circled the lines stating that my daughter needed to initial these lines – knowing we did not want insurance. They count on the fact that you are tired from the trip; the kids are cranky –etc.

At the end of our trip (Dec 21- after the huge snow storm), when we checked in the car we asked the EZ Rental attendant in the garage to call the airport for assistance -- since we had luggage, two screaming toddlers in strollers and me in a wheel chair! After 45 minutes we realized no one was coming & started struggling in the airport. Luckily a good distance later an attendant reentering the airport asked if we needed aid. He was shocked to find that the EZ Rental employee never called for help!

Additionally, I questioned the charges and was sent back to the main desk. When we protested the charges the EZ Rental attendant refused to assist us – stating we’d need to talk to the manager. It took the manager an hour to come to the desk and of course he refused to reverse the charges.  Because of EZ Rental’s lack of service and delays we almost missed our plane (over 1 ¾ hours total).  

****While we were waiting for the manager we tried to inform customers of the contract provisions & were told to shut-up since it was the way they made their money.

Bottom line: We were told that we would have to discuss the charges with corporate. I also contacted CheapOair and they confirmed I declined insurance.

Naturally, when I talked to the EZ Rental corporate service representative he refused to refund the money.

As stated previously by many others -- this company is only concerned with SCAMING their customers to increase their profit margin. Being retired military – I’ve rented cars all over the world from numerous reputable, honest, trustworthy, reliable car rental companies and have NEVER experienced this situation!  

I agree that there should be a class action law suit against them. No other business could get away with this appalling method of illegally taking customers money – especially when they know they are HANDICAPPED!!!!!!!!

Comments

  • 0
    Will
    How many times do you need to say you are handicapped? Does that mean it is any worse to rip off someone handicapped than non-disabled people? Sounds like your daughter isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer initialing things she didn't read, the insurance scam is the norm.
  • 0
    Doug
    Will, your right about that. You can never initial anything without reading it. Every rental car company does the same.. just make sure you know what your signing for. Alot of people will also purchase insurance at the counter so they dont have to go through their own insurance and by the time they bring the vehicle back with NO accidents, they will state that "they never purchased insurance from the beginning" to get their money back.
  • 0
    syd
    | 4 replies
    Have you guys rented from these sleaze bags?  I have and I understand his frustration....maybe he's making a point of his handicap so the ADA people will nail them since the BBB and the AG's office aren't doing anything.  And, try handling tired toddlers and think straight.  Aside from that, I had a horrible experience last week with these guys in Orlando.  We rented an intermediate from Alamo the the last week of June, kept it a week....it was a nice, clean car.....and decided that we needed a larger car for our drive to the Keys.  When we got back to the airport to drop off and exchange, Alamo didn't have any full size available due to the July 4th holiday.  As my husband was at another rental company standing in line, I was approached by a "barker" from EZ and told they had plenty of full size cars and the rates were still low.  So, we went staight to the counter and began the process figuring any rental company that was inside the airport must legit....WRONG!!  We went to the pick up area....not anywhere near the real companies....and a poor guy was alone trying to do paperwork and check out cars.  Finally we got our Nissan Maxima and I drove off to pick up my husband and our luggage near the Alamo return area.  I as turned the sharp turn to exit the EZ area I hear a terrible scraping and bumping noise.  Since I had to make a complete circle of the interior of the airport complex, I had many chances to hear that sound.  When I picked up my husband, we changed seats and before we got to the exit he said the wheel bearing was about to go out.  We took the car back to EZ, stood in line again, told the attendant about the problem and he gave us another car, a Camry with high miles.  He didn't seem at all surprised about the Maxima being unsafe, but he asked us to please not say it where the other renters could hear us.  After losing an hour or more, we loaded up the Camry...which was had what appeared to be lots of water and food stains....and departed.  When we stopped for gas and something to eat at a Turnpike plaza between Orlando and Ft. Pierce, we discovered that we had 3 bad tires, one of which, the front right, was so bald that the steel belts were showing! The back ones were just totally slick in places, but the front left was brand new.  We caustiously made out way to Key West and parked it.  We called EZ in Orlando and told them we were driving a very unsafe vehicle and were told to call the Miami office and they would exchange the car, but they couldn't come down and pick the Camry up....we would have to drive it back up there.  Yikes!!  So we drove the car to Miami ....very slowly.  When we arrived in Miami we called the office there and they very courteously told us they would be happy to exchange the car, but they couldn't pick it up.  We would have to drive it to the airport.  So, we drove to the airport....too forever to find their pick up site because it's not in the car pick up zone, it's in a hotel off site...and they said they didn't have a comparable full size.  We got a mini van, which was ok.  And, it was cleaner and had fewer miles. When we returned that van to the Orlando airport, we made sure that we checked every area of it....these guys are pretty slick and we feared a "surprise" later.  We told them we were going to make a formal complaint about the seriously dangerous cars they are putting people in....and then making them drive them back to get another one...and in our case 2 other ones.  I have been reading reviews and it's about the same on everyone of them.  occasionally i find somebody who has been ok with the rental...or maybe they didn't check the tires!  

    I am checking my AEx account online frequently just crossing my fingers that they aren't going to scam me with the insurance (I gave them my AEx auto rental coverage ref. # and showed proof of personal insurance) OR the good old Fla toll thing.  For 5 years, I have flown into either MCO or JAX about once a month and rented a car.  I use Alamo, Dollar, and Enterprise and when I fly into MCO, I have always been given the SunPass option when leaving the final rent car exit.  EZ didn't offer this.

    Some good tv-advertisin' lawyer ought to file a class action on these people and make them clean up their act or quit renting cars....AND, I wonder if they get some of these cars from the ragged out rejects of the legit companies??
    • 0
      Mama Lion replies to syd
      | 2 replies
      My daughter is going through BS with them as we speak. They sent her a bill for a new windshield. Luckily, they enclosed an invoice from Autolite. It was for a Nissan Van, she rented a Hundai. Of course, when you call, you get voicemail. I told her to start sending correspondance via registered mail.  It's hard for me to help her, as I am on the left coast and she is on the right coast. Luckily, I'm a Fed so if this is not soon resolved, I will be reaching out to my contacts.
      • 0
        Mark replies to Mama Lion
        They are doing the EXACT same thing to me. Did oyu resolve it?
      • 0
        Mark replies to Mama Lion
        They are doing the EXACT same thing to me. Did oyu resolve it?
    • 0
      AC renter replies to syd
      RULE # 1....inspect the car before you drive off. Read the total estimated cost before signing. Keep your copy and all recipts....
  • 0
    Traveling Family
    E-Z Rent-A-Car — After travelling for 9 hours across the country we arrived at the EZ Rent a Car in Atlanta to pick up up our car at 11 pm to find a very rude "manager" named Marcus, tell myself, wife and 2 and 4 year old that he proudly rented the last full size car (that we had reserved months earlier) and that all he had was compact cars.  He said good luck and continued to be rude.  So we were left to try and find a replacement rental car company very late at night.

    I would stay far away from this shady company in my opinion it is not worth saving the $10 or $20 to deal with a terrible company like that.
  • 0
    geo metro
    That's why you stick with the best,such as Alamo.I have always rented with these people and never encountered any problems,I guess we all learn from our mistakes.Good luck next time.By the way be careful with Enterprise,they are known for the same or even worst.
  • 0
    Steve
    I hope someone reads this before they rent from Ez rental.besides all of the above bad experiences ,I checked my car back in with the attendant checking the car and giving me my receipt. Years latter I get message from a collection/ lawyers office representing ez claiming that if I didn't pay for some hidden damages they would have my license suspended.I told them it was the first I heard about this and they said that previous messages and letters were not answered.I asked them what address they had and when they told me the address I hadn't lived there in 20 Yrs and the tel no hasn't changed for 10 yrs.The 1,700$ dollars they say I owed will be spent by me on lawyer fees suing them.

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