We received a letter from Alamo's Damage Recovery Unit 10 days after our trip to California in April 2014. The letter stated that we caused damages to our rental minivan and asked for either our insurance or credit card information, but mentioned nothing about location, cost etc. When we called on Monday, April 21, the agent told us the location of the alleged damage we caused, but would not tell us the cost, simply that "we've already billed you and it will get to you shortly". My husband told the agent that we were denied a walk-around upon returning our car, and she said "we don't do them at the airport". In the same conversation she told him that the report indicated the agent "confronted" him about the damage. I'm wondering how we would have been confronted if they wouldn't do a walk-through? Also, would they not have a signature acknowledging the damages? We received a second letter roughly a week later, dated the day AFTER our April 21st phone call, with black/white photos of a scratched bumper and a damage total of ~ $600. The email address [protected]@ehi.com was listed in the bottom, so we sent them a polite email asking for, among other things, date stamped copies of the damage as well as any signed paperwork acknowledging the damage. We got an immediate auto-response that acknowledged receipt of the email, and informed is they would forward it to the correct department. Then...nothing until May 13, 2014. Another letter (postal mail) with all the same info but the name Dionne signed at the bottom. I emailed her the same day, again requesting date stamped photos along with other things. I have yet to hear back. As an honest, hard-working person, this whole experience is very disheartening. My brother worked for Enterprise (Alamo's parent company) for almost 10 years, and always portrayed them as an honest, fair company. I feel like I did a deal with the devil - there's no way to go back in time, and I'm stuck dealing with an issue from over a month ago two states away and can't even get anyone to send me a personal response. I have lost faith, trust and respect in Alamo/Enterprise/National, and will NEVER do business with them again. On another note, I do have an inquiry in to the Insurance Commissioner for the State of California, and plan to file a complaint with the Attorney General as well. Good luck to anyone else in my situation
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.
Geraldine M Van Ness [protected] Astor Commons Pl Apt 102 Brandon, Fl. 33511 MY ACCIDENT REPORT
Enterprise Mc Arthur Isl;p Airport Bohemia
RA # z2829161874
Ref# [protected] Tatiana
WAS STOPPING TO MAKE LEFT TURN NO SOONER STOPPED AND WAS REAR ENDED ON SUFFOLD AVENUE CENTRAL ISLIP NY
To whom it may concern.
Jose Valdovinos
8215 Sugar Cane dr. Baytown TX 77523
My accident report. # 15-12826 (attached)
I rented a auto at LAX location Friday September 18 2015.
I had a minor accident; see report attached.
I was backing up slowly from a parking spot when suddenly a pick up t truck passing by driving about 25 to 30 miles per hour on a 15 mph zone and hit me on my rear bumper. The driver did not have a valid driver license, and he did not want cooperate exchanging information; he said he lives in the next street and he left the accident scene. I took pictures of the driver and the truck plates plus damage areas of the cars. I called the cops to make an accident report, when they arrived; cops went to get the driver of the pickup truck to fill out the report. The pickup driver had insurance but no valid driver silence.
Please send me updates on this matter. at josevaldovinos8@mns.com or text or call [protected]
I received similar letter, as mentioned in above post from 2014, from Alamo Damage Recovery unit about damage or loss to rental vehicle 10 days after my trip. There was absolutely no damage, caused by me. Alamo staff checked the car thoroughly and everything was found to be good; she was quite satisfied. Email address on the letter I got is DRU1@ERAC.com which is different than what's mentioned in above post from 2014. I am wondering if the letter is really from Alamo or from some fake company. I travel so often usually rent from other companies. I rented from Alamo for the first time after many years to try them out, and the experience was great until I see this letter about damage to the car out of the blue. I have emailed care@alamo.com and also reported on Alamo's web site. I hope Alamo will respond soon and I can stop worrying about this thing. I certainly was looking forward to such harassment.
@kumarrajes, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please send us a detailed email to Care@Alamo.com with complete details including: Renter’s full name, current phone number, location rented, rental agreement (RA) number, “DX” or claim number and reference # [protected]. As customer service is of the utmost importance, we would like to look further into this situation for you. Thanks for posting and we look forward to hearing from you soon. -Tatiana
Jose, please see the email I just sent you. -Tatiana
Thanks Tatiana. I had emailed care@alamo.com with all the details last evening. I received a reply along with reference # this morning from one of the Social Monitoring Coordinators at Alamo. Hope this gets resolved soon.
Echoing what others have mentioned here re Alamo claims unit. I received a voice mail from Alamo after 2-3 days of my trip, asking if I had seen any damage. I called them the same night, but there was no one to receive my call. Then a month and a half (today) I receive a mail stating that I owe $810.39 with a photo of the damage. The car was thoroughly checked for damages and fuel, during our drop off at the airport. This is frustrating that we had to deal with issues that we didn't cause in the first place. Never going to rent again from Alamo, not sure how to go with this.
I am now face with the same situation. I rented a car at Alamo in NYC (332 W 44th) through Priceline on Thu July 31. The service was great. We returned the car - DAMAGE FREE - to the airport in Albany NY on August 4. The confirmation was 1012172451COUNT. I received a “Dear Sir/Madam” letter from the Damage Recovery Unit of Enterprise Holdings on Monday 8/15. The letter wasn’t dated and it showed no reference to me or to my recent rental. It was in a FedEx overnight envelope and return address was from Gainesville FL. It was shipped on August 12 and received on August 15. I immediately emailed DRU1@ehi.com and have not received a response. Today, 8/18, I receive a letter from Alamo that read basically the same - addressing claim number [protected]. Like the Fedex letter, i was told to fill out an Incident Report and return it to the Alamo office at PO 801770 in Kansas City. I can be contacted at mfisher@entmerch.org.
Same story here but mine is better! (Or perhaps I should say MORE upsetting!) I rented a minivan from Alamo at LAX airport. Before leaving the lot, I noticed damage on the car (I took the car anyway since I liked the model) but took a picture (attached). Since they do not conduct walk-around inspections before rental, as I pulled out of the lot I told the woman in the kiosk about the damage. She said she'll take a note of it. When I asked her for proof of the notation, she looked at me incredulously and replied, "I have already marked it on your contract in our system". Nine days later, I return the car and the Alamo guy sees the damage and asks if I'm aware of it. I told him that I already told the woman at the kiosk upon starting the rental! He says that there is no record of it and that I should sign a waiver stating that the damage was there already. Today I received a letter from the Damage Recovery Unit! VERY unhappy with Alamo! I've rented dozens of times from Enterprise and NEVER had such an issue!
Thank you Chris. I have just emailed all the details and look forward to this issue being promptly dealt with. I will update this forum with my experience as soon as this is resolved.
I received a similar letter asking to report the incident to DRU1@ehi.com and provide insurance details when the car was returned damage free and thoroughly checked by the Alamo executive at the rental location. I sent an email asking for the proof of damage, car mileage etc. and have not received any response. However, someone called the emergency contact number that I had shared. Going by this thread, it looks like a long running scam. Wish I had read this blog before renting the car from Alamo.
Just as a follow-up to my previous post- Alamo finally contacted me and removed the claim. Although I am glad they removed the claim, I have to say that I am annoyed and surprised that I received no apology for such a blatant 'oversight' and carelessness. This is not to mention that I'm sure there where no changes of procedure implemented to avoid something like my scenario repeating itself again...
Received another letter, this time on Alamo letterhead, with same content as the first letter. No response received yet from Alamo on my mail sent to DRU1@ehi.com.