On 10/28/04 I rented a car for a two-week period from Thrifty
Car Rental in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. The following statement describes what
occurred:
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Statement sent to Thrifty on 12/13/04 via their website
"Customer Feedback"
I had a very stressful and unsatisfactory car rental experience.
The
vehicle I received was in very poor and substandard condition.
The exterior
had numerous dents and scratches. The interior was soiled. I
did not
realize when I accepted the vehicle that the tires were bald and
the vehicle
registration had not been renewed. I was actually given an
unsafe vehicle
with a registration tag that would expire three days later. I
rented a car
for a two-week period, so I was actually driving around with an
unregistered
vehicle at risk of receiving a citation for both its
unregistered status, as
well as its unsafe condition. Two days before the expiration of
my rental
period, I was stopped by a local police officer who noticed the
expired date
on the registration tag. Fortunately, I did not receive a
citation, but I
was warned that I could not drive the vehicle. I called the
Thrifty office
the following morning and informed them of the situation. They
sent a tow
truck to pick up the vehicle on 11/9/04. I did not request
another vehicle
because I did not want a repeat of a similar experience. I had
to spend an
entire day of my vacation period dealing with police officers,
Thrifty and a
tow truck driver who was unable to find the address where the
car was
located. According to my contract, the estimated rental cost for
a two-week
period was $382.37, yet despite the circumstances and early
pick-up of the
vehicle, not to mention all my inconvenience, my credit card has
been
charged an unbelievable $378.95! I expect Thrifty to correct
the credit
card charge to reflect the actual period I was able to drive the
car. My
calculations indicate that the total car rental charge should
not exceed
$318.29 for a 12 day period. Please contact me as soon as
possible to
correct this billing error. I am contacting my credit card
company to
report this problem and request a payment hold on this
transaction. P.S. I
have a photo of the expired registration. If you wish, I can
email it to
you.
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I received my credit card bill from MBNA Visa and prompty
contacted them to
dispute the charge. They tried to discourage me and suggested
that I try to
resolve the issue directly with Thrifty. I opted to not pay the
charges and
let them handle it. Less than two weeks later, I receive a call
from MBNA
telling me that I violated the rental agreement by refusing to
accept a
replacement vehicle, therefore I was not entitled to a credit
for early
return of the vehicle.
I believe that Thrifty acted in bad faith by renting me a car
that was unfit
and unsafe. Therefore, they invalidated their own agreement.
What do you
think?
--
Mary Lou
Email: baylynx@world123.net
I agree that Thrifty acted in bad faith by lying about the
replacement vehicle. They probably breached the contract by
renting you a vehicle that was unsafe. But neither wrong makes
the contract invalid. It is still valid. If the credit card
company pays them the full amount, you can sue Thrifty for the
damages arising from their breach. That amount might, by
coincidence, equal the rental price for the days you didn't have
the car. The bad faith factor could result in a lot more.
McGyver
