Thrifty Car Rental

I rented from this location on Mothers Day weekend. The customer service is to be desired. After you spend a very long time in line to get the car, you go upstairs. Then you just go to the car. Other car rentals in Port Columbus bring the car to you. There’s no inspection of the outside of the vehicle or nothing. Also when you return it you just pull into the lot, there’s no way to get a receipt, especially if you are leaving on a 6am flight out. When I left the car, I left my receipt on the seat (I saw other cars do this), and now I check my credit card statement and I’ve been charged more than I was quoted. I will be calling to find out the hidden charges.
As mentioned already, they are less expensive than other rentals but I’d rather pay more and get a receipt upon return than experience this system again with Dollar/​Thrifty.

Worst customer sercive ever. They will bounce you around from counter to counter and automated phone system to automated phone system. DO NOT forget any of your belongings in one of theor vehicles!!! You will never be assisted in getting your items back. By far the worst experience Ive ever had with any customer service!!!

Stay Clear of Thrifty Car Rental at the Columbus Ohio Airport-​CMH!
I booked a rental in August of 2015. All in was to be approx. $ 238.00.
Once there they told me the car I would get would be a sub– compact, which didn’t sound too good. The lady at the counter told me she could offer an upgrade with a discount of only $ 11.00 more per day. It takes
Forever and there were people behind me. It was not until the 2^nd when I noticed that I had been OVER CHARGED. I went back to the airport to discuss and was told by a manager there was nothing I could do. The lady was there also and I asked if she remembered me but she did not tell me $ 11.00. Not only did she lie right to me and her manager in sight but when I asked her name she told me A.F. And that she would NOT give me her name. Pretty sure I can find that out when I contact Human Resources at Thrifty Corporates and the Attorney General of Ohio will be notified as well. Nothing against Thrifty Car Rental in general but STAY CLEAR OF Thrifty Car Rental in CMH — Columbus Ohio Airport Terminal.
Forever

CONSUMER ALERT. Never ever use the prepay option for your rental when reserving your rental through the Thrifty website. You will 100% regret trying to save some money because the headache the follows will not be worth it! I am a long time user of Thrifty because their rates simply are usually lower than the competitors. Their customer service sucks but I go into realizing I won’t be getting royal treatment but I sacrifice that for the affordable car.
So when I booked a car for an upcoming trip I expected business as usual except this time when I was looking at quotes for the rental on Thrifty’s website there was an option to prepay the rental upfront and doing so would save us $ 75 to $ 100. I have prepaid hotels and other travel related things through Hotwire and Priceline and never had any issue. And in this case I was going through the Thrifty website and given the option by Thrifty to prepay and being a long time customer I trusted the process 100%. So I went ahead and prepaid the rental.
A few minutes later I got a confirmation email from «Thrifty USA» everything seemed fine. The first inkling that something weird was going on was I looked at my bank transaction history the next day and noticed an international service charge in my account. This transaction from Thrifty originated in Dublin Ireland. I immediately contacted my bank and informed them I was in the U.S. and purchased a rental car from an American company I did not understand the international service charge. They explained that possibly Thrifty online payment service was based out of Ireland although they had never seen a Thrifty charge come through that way. The charge was only 4 $ so I accepted this explanation and thought I was all set.
The next indication something fishy was going on came two weeks prior to when I was going to pick up the car. I went to the Thrifty website to when asked to put in my confirmation number I entered the one I received from the email and it said «reservation not found!» I immediately called Thrifty and explained I wanted to confirm a reservation for a car I had prepaid. This time when I gave them the same confirmation number they found it. I told them that being my first time ever prepaying a rental through Thrifty I wanted to call and make sure what additional charges or fees I may expect to pay at the actual rental counter although I had already prepaid the rental. The representative put me on hold for 5 minutes then came back saying they could not access the payment information or inform how much I could expect to pay when I went to pick up my car. What?! I asked her why not. She said I would have to contact the company whom I booked my reservation through to get that information. I sternly explained to her that I booked the reservation through THRIFTY and Thrifty’s website this wasn’t making any sense to me. She put me on hold again then came back and said I’ll have to transfer you to the department that handles our online reservation however they are closed now but I will give you their number and you can call them at 8am.
The suspicion was now extremely high. I asked if this was a number to Thrifty or a different company. I asked her several times and she would not give me a straight answer. She said just call them when they open and she ended the call. I immediately called the number she gave me I did not wait until the morning and low and behold they were open. But even more shocking is that it was not Thrifty. It was some company out of Ireland called CarTrawler. I gave them my confirmation number and they had all my reservation information. I immediately told them to refund my prepaid rental 100% and. If I didn’t get a prompt refund I would report the transaction as fraudulent to my bank. They canceled my reservation. A few minutes later I get a confirmation email from «Thrifty USA» saying my rental has been canceled.
I then googled CarTrawler and have read endless horror stories from people who can not get their money back for rentals they prepaid. I got lucky in the fact that I found out two weeks before my trip that I was dealing with a 3^rd party and not Thrifty. However other unsuspecting consumers are not finding out until the day they go to pick up their rental car and Thrifty tells them they can’t find their reservation, that they prepaid through a 3^rd party even though they began their reservation on the Thrifty website and Thrifty sends you to the 3^rd party site with the same design and color scheme as their site. If they «can’t find your reservation» they make people make a new reservation on the spot which will be far more expensive than a reservation made in advance. At the same time CarTrawler will not give a full refund if you cancel less than 48 hours in advance and also if you don’t pick up the car at all they will charge you at least 3 days of your rental period even if you never got the car or if Thrifty turns you away or makes you get a new reservation. Google CarTrawler

So, I arrived at the airport and they notified me that there were no cars available. Wow. Instead, they had me move to the next counter (Hertz) and rent a car of the equivalent class. They said they would reimburse me the difference and gave me an «offsell certificate.» Since my reservation was prepaid, they owed me the full amount for my Hertz rental (over $ 300). The attendant took a copy of my receipt and the certificate and said that the office would submit the paperwork. I skeptically requested a copy of the certificate because I don’t trust anyone when it comes to money and reimbursements, I’ve been through it before. Guess what? After three weeks (which is how long the certificate said to wait for a check), I call Thrifty and they have no record of the paperwork. I had to resubmit everything. Thanks a lot, Columbus Airport Thrifty.

We arrived at Columbus Airport on time from California, 6:30 PM, and went straight to the Thrifty counter to pick up the car I had reserved weeks ago. They didn’t have it. Not only did they not have it, they didn’t have ANY car. It was myself, my husband and our adult daughter. We planned to drive through 9 states to visit friends and family and return the car in Virginia. They offered us a flatbed pickup or a panel van. What? Oh wait. They said they would throw in a GPS for free. Uhhh? What? I explained I had reserved a mid size car, a Nissan Altima, and a pickup or van didn’t work obviously. She said they didn’t have any cars. What? After much disbelief conversation on my part, she offered to go to the «other» car rental places in the same counter space. Surprise! Only Hertz had cars and wow! Did they have cars! Eight or nine rows of them. But no other rental place had them. Hmmmmm… She came back to say that yes! They had a car they could rent but it would be 400 more than we were going to pay for Thrifty. Well, we took it because we had no choice, but after driving away I thought about how convenient it was that Hertz had sooooo many cars and Thrifty, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise… had none. I’m thinking there might be a little scamming going on??? Either way. Worse introduction to Columbus Airport and I will NEVER use Thrifty again.

Very bad customer service. I was overcharged on insurance after I already purchased insurance through
. Cleaning fee of $ 38 a day?! Unbelievable! I was visiting my mother out of town and brought flowers to the hospital, a few petals (literally 4) were on the carpet in the backseat. I was definitely intrigued by the very low ($ 12 a day) rate for the weekend, but if I would have known it was going to be a hassle and waste of my time and money I would’ve gone elsewhere. I will never purchase a rental with them again. I wish I would have read up on the previous reviews, waste of money for sure!

Sketchy uneducated degenerate losers work here. They snuck in an upgrade and rental cost me double. Screw these losers. I would hate having to be one of those poor assholes who are too stupid to find any better way to make a living. They also tried to steal my damn iPhone car charger! Enjoy the extra $ 5 you earned from the sketchy upgrade, you definitely need it more than I do loser!!!

Update: After replacing my car mats, I discovered that they had actually stuck two together when putting them back in my car. Now I have 6 mats when I only need 4. I am just peeved that they would lie and tell me I only came in with 3 when clearly there were 4. This business is full of shady people and lacks any sort of integrity. Word of advice, do not deal with Joanne when contacting this business.

I would never rent a car from Thrifty again. The guy who was helping me with the rental was trying extremely hard to sell me insurance. I kept telling him that I decline insurance, but kept insisting that the mergence between Hertz and Thrifty requires me to buy insurance, which was nonsense. I kept telling the sales person I have AX which covers for the rental and he was telling me in OH AX is for secondary insurance. Then he switched to how icy the roads are and how lot of people are getting into car accidents and how he got into a car accident because of the icy roads. A COMPLETE RIP OFF

Not feeling like a Blue Chip member
We reserved a Full Size car in Columbus, OH for 5 days. We have rented from Thrifty quite a few times before, mostly in Honolulu.
The sign in the airport instructed Blue Chip members to go directly upstairs to pick up a car. We went upstairs and saw my name on the board, went to the kiosk, and waited to be helped. The agent said that we needed to go downstairs to sign a contract for our car. I had thought that being a Blue Chip member meant that that had already been taken care of, as it had been in Honolulu in the past. He took my information and went downstairs himself, coming back about 10 minutes later, and said that I needed to go downstairs to begin the process.
I went downstairs, and that agent couldn’t find my reservation, even though my paperwork was in order and I had a confirmation number. He said that he could rent me a car for the price I had reserved online, but it would be a new rental. Just then, he found my initial reservation. I was relieved, but not inspired with confidence with this Thrifty branch. I was told to go upstairs and pick out a Full Size car over by the minivans.
I looked around for the minivans, and found the sign that said Full Size SUVs, which had some Ford Fusions and SUVs parked there. One car smelled strongly of cheap perfume. One smelled of body odor. One was a small SUV but we felt it would get terrible gas mileage, and we had a lot of driving to do. It felt like the Three Bears. We finally settled on a black Ford Fusion. I checked with the agent at the kiosk and he said that no, we couldn’t take that one, that we could only take a Full Size car. I pointed to the sign that said Full Size SUVs, and he said that that was SUVs that were Full Size, even though there were non-​SUVs parked there, implying that they were the Full Size cars that I was supposed to take. Very confusing. Very irritating. I was getting really irritated by not being able to just walk down a line of cars and pick one out and go. He pointed to the one car that I could take, a white Impala. Fine. We took it and left. I also left with the feeling that the entire process could have been streamlined by the initial agent finding my reservation and telling me which car, the one and only car, I could take. After flying all day, I thought that the rental car experience would be easier. I didn’t feel like I got the Blue Chip experience.
Probably the only things that would have been worse would have been if I had had an accident, they gave me a car that broke down, they didn’t have a car available for me, or they overcharged me.
The white Impala was fine. Return of the car was eventful, and the agent apologized for the problems I had when picking up the car.
Overall, everything was good except for the experience with the guy at the kiosk and figuring out which car I could take. I would highly recommend Thrifty, but maybe not the one in Columbus, OH.

I got a great rate and excellent customer service last week from Marcus at the Thrifty in the Columbus, OH airport. Thanks Thrifty and THANKS Marcus, great employee!

I read the other reviews on here after I reserved the car, so I wasn’t looking forward to picking it up. They did try the hard sell on insurance, even when I pointed out that I had talked to my agent and that I was fully covered by that and by the credit card I used. Then they tried to get me to upgrade by saying «it’ll be the same price.» Well, no, when I went to sign it was quite a bit more. When I pointed this out he acted confused.
The pickup and return staff were much more helpful and honest. Upon our return, there was a fuel charge even though I declined that expensive option and had just filled the car. This was removed.
The car itself was fine. Rates were maybe a little lower than Hertz, but next time I’ll pay a bit more for better service.

I read the other Unilocal reviews, and boy am I glad I am not the only one. Like others, I received a 20 – 30 minute spiel on how my insurance won’t cover me in a case of an accident (total lie — for TX drivers, insurance follows the driver, not the car), Ohio is different than Texas (like no duh), I needed to be protected against dings and scratches, and I needed to REALLY check the car so I wouldn’t be charged. We asked the guy, «Is this really necessary?» He responded, «I am obligated by law to go over this with you,» but an acquaintance who rented from Budget said she didn’t receive any sort of lecture at all.
I declined the extra stuff they wanted to charge, so maybe the blond haired guy felt offended — who knows. He also asked for my insurance’s collision coverage amount because «I HAVE to have this in the system.» Luckily I knew this information, but I have NEVER been asked this before, and I rent a car on average at least once a month (now it’s more like 7 – 8 times a month). The way he asked this was question was just plain rude, as if to say, «Well if you’re not going to covered by us, I’m going to ask you a question you won’t know the answer to.» Sorry, I knew the answer, so you failed to stump me.
I will say the rate for the car was the cheapest I could find, which is why I chose them. For two days, it was a total of $ 65 or so and some change. Other car rental companies, like Hertz, were asking for as much as $ 45/​day. We ended up with a Ford Focus as a compact car, which was a nice car. Checkout went smoothly, and I wasn’t suddenly charged for anything extra or dings/​scratches (not that I had any).
The blond haired guy working the desk around 9:45PM on 10-​Sep-​2012 really needs to change his attitude towards people. If you don’t like being nice, don’t have a job in customer service. It’s that simple.

Holy crap, what an awful welcome to Columbus! I was harangued for a good 15 minutes about insurance, with the clerk trying to make me feel like an idiot for waiving it (in spite of my being covered by my own policy and my credit card). His final words were «if you return my car with so much as a scratch on it, we *will* file a claim against you.» Whatever happened to «thank you for renting from Thrifty»?
I won’t be back.

4 star for price for the week, 1 star for service at the airport. Hassled for 20 minutes with insurance, prepaid gas, upgrades (which I initially accepted when told ‘just $ 8 more!’, then found out that was $ 8 more PER DAY, a vehicle I could have had online at booking for $ 6 for THE WEEK!). Check in employees were singing rap music between this and the adjoining rental car desk, and in general didn’t seem to want to help anyone. Will I rent here again, yes, I got a screaming deal for the week. Would I again if the price was comparable to others, not a chance. Budget has had nicer vehicles and better service everytime I have rented from them.

These guys try to sneak in extra charges like there’s no tomorrow! Use them if you want to be hassled about «free» upgrades, gas prices, and insurance.
There are plenty of alternatives right in the terminal.