ComplaintsforACE Rent A Car

• Initial Complaint

  08/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Monday, August 12 2024 we rented a car from ACE RENT A CAR - *********, **. We had reserved it on line and shuttled from the airport to pick it up. During the paperwork the service agent *******, told us insurance was required. We asked if it was needed because we have our own car insurance and he said yes. We didnt need it, our own insurance was sufficient we discovered when we returned home later in the week. He also never asked for our insurance. Ive been emailing the company asking for a refund for the portion ($87.80) or at least a credit for a future rental. The keep saying we signed off on it and its closed. I have the email thread of course. The agent didnt ask for insurance paperwork which I would have provided if asked and wasnt truthful about us needing the insurance.

  

  Business response

  08/20/2024

  Hello ***********, 

  Thank you for your feedback regarding your rental in *********. Per our policies, if proof of personal coverage is not presented you have to purchase insurance at the counter. It is not on our agents to ask for proof of insurance if it is not presented. Unfortunately, no refund will be awarded for the insurance. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  08/20/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/14/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/3 about 8am we went to the ace rental car counter and spoke to *****. We discussed rental options and needs. ***** gave us a quote for a week. Our credit line would not cover that amount so she reduced the amount by giving us a shorter term and stated that we could call and have an extension if we still needed the vehicle. She also provided us an email address to directly get in contact with her. We were pleased with ambers assistance. Two days later we called the number provided to do an extension and spoke to a representative. The lady on the phone was eager to assist so we asked for a rate for two more days the lady quoted us $76.80. Then after authorizing that amount to come off our card we continued our vacation. Two days later about 8am we called to do an additional extension. The lady on the phone stated that we were undercharged and in order to do a two day extension that we would have to pay over $700. We immediately told the lady that it was not acceptable, and asked what was the exact amount we were under charged, she put us on hold and then told us that it was over $100. And we asked why were we getting charged $700 for 2 more days. She couldnt answer so we returned the vehicle. We waited and did not receive our final statement or our deposit and an unauthorized charge was added to our credit card for $104.55. We called numerous representatives and received no help. Then a man named *** said that he would look into it because he claimed to be the supervisor of the Albuquerque region and gave us his personal cell phone number and stated he would call us back by close of business the next day after listening to the recorded conversation specifically looking for a $76.80 quote. When we called him on 8/14 he immediately stated that we signed a contract and we should have known and reducto entertain any of our needs. And then hung up. We know that it was his personal cell phone. We asked to speak to another supervisor but to no avail. We are asking for

  

  Business response

  08/15/2024

  Hello ****, 

  Thank you for your feedback regarding your rental in *********** and the charges that were billed to you. Reviewing your account and the information, the charges are correct as they stand. The vehicle was kept for the additional time and you also agreed to add prepaid fuel, CDW, PAI, Roadside assistance, and SLI which is why the extension was $181.35. No refund will be awarded as you were billed for the time you had the vehicle with the additional services added. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  08/15/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  We we quoted 76 dollars for the extention and was never informed that we were under charged. 2 days later when were were going to extend again we were THEN told there was a problem. We dont work for ace and rely on a professional response to requests for assistance in charges. We immediately returned the vehicle when we were correctly informed there was a rate issue. We did not apporove a 104 dollar charge to our card and we were not informed that our 300 deposit was going to be taken. We feel that was a bait and switch. It is not our fault that *** has either poorly trained representatives or representatives that intentionally bait and switch for personal gains. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Booked a car reservation on 4/3/24. Rental was for 7/20-7/25 for a 7 passenger vehicle (dodge durango or similar) for $548.69. When I arrived on 7/20 to pick up the vehicle, they said they had no 7 passenger vehicle (only a 5 seater pathfinder) and to go back to the airport and rent with someone else. I ended up having to scramble and book the cheapest option I could find. I ended up booking with Sixt but the cost was $747.03 which was almost $200 more than the service ACE promised but failed to provide.

  

  Business response

  08/14/2024

  Hello *********, 

  Thank you for your feedback regarding your rental in ********. A member of the customer care team is reviewing your case and will be in touch directly soon to assist you further with your case. I hope you will allow ACE to assist you in the future. 

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I had reserved a sedan (prepaid) and upon arriving at the office, they informed me that they did not have the car I reserved and my only options were to wait for a car to return (the agent could not tell me when one would be back) or pay an additional $280 to upgrade to a SUV. We had been traveling for 30 hours with a 10 month old and could not sit around waiting any longer. Therefore we took the upgrade. I talked to several people at the company about getting a refund, but to no avail. In my opinion, *** did not honor their side of the reserveration and should have covered the cost of the upgrade.

  Customer response

  08/12/2024

  I was able to speak to another supervisor at the ACE rental car location and she did end up refunding me.  Therefore, I would like to withdraw my complaint.  However, I am still concerned about the ethics of that office since they did not automatically waive the upgrade fee and it took me speaking with 4 different people to get refunded. 

  

  Business response

  08/12/2024

  Hello *****, 

  Thank you for your feedback regarding your rental in ******. Reviewing your account I see that the upgrade fee was credited back to you before the close of your rental. 

  Thank you, 
  ACE Customer Care

• Initial Complaint

  08/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 8, 2024 my wife and I went to the Ace counter at ********************* airport to pick up our car reserved (Confirmation number PLS16053943) in advance. Even though the Priceline website only pictured cars the ACE Agent "******" said for the $66.65 he would only give us a truck. He claimed it was Supplier's Choice. Choice should be cars not Trucks. Next week you might just be offered a mule, so watch out . Clearly Ace is misrepresenting what they are offering! This has class action lawsuit written all over it ...Florida Attorneys! When I said I can't put my 93 year old mother in a truck he said sorry that is all we have but for extra money we can find something. When my wife spoke up, he said I am not talking to you and if you say another word I will cancel the entire reservation. She was the one who made the original reservation. When I asked to speak to a manager all of a sudden someone appeared with keys to a car. That car was filthy and clearly not cleaned. It had massive stains all over. We saw at least 5 other of the same model parked nearby but the person in the garage refused to let us have any of them. We were already very late to see my elderly mother so we left with the disgusting car and experience dealing with ****** the Agent at the counter.

  

  Business response

  08/06/2024

  Hello ******, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding your rental in ***************. The dealer's choice is any vehicle the location has set aside for your rental that day, this can include a sedan, truck, minivan, etc. If the offered vehicle is declined, any other option would be an upgrade and would have a fee associated with it. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  08/06/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 25 I booked a standard vehicle (defined as VW Jetta or similar) from Ace. When I arrived in ***** on July 3rd, the agent stated he was upgrading me because they ran out of standard vehicles. This would include a $500 hold on my card instead of $200. When I located the vehicle (Dodge Charger), I saw scratches and dents and what appeared to be a windshield scratch in the shape of the wiper motion. I documented all of this on the paper that I was given and attempted to give it to the Ace garage worker. He refused to accept it and became angry with me. I had no choice but to leave. I was raining on our drive and became an extremely dangerous situation on the freeway with little visibility out of the driver-side. On July 7th, I returned the car and showed the Ace worker the broken windshield wiper. He apologized and then grabbed another worker to show it to her. She inspected it but refused to acknowledge me. I showed both of them the paper where I had marked everything when I originally got the car. I asked multiples times if there was anything I needed to do and he repeated, No, its not fault. The workers spoke to each other in Spanish, took my paper with the markups, and told me I could leave. On July 15th, I was shocked to receive an email from Rockport Claims asking how I planned to pay for the $1319.95 window repair. They kept my $500 deposit and were now attempting to collect the balance. I was given a vehicle that I didn't request that had a defective windshield wiper and windshield scratch, charged a 2.5x deposit for this car, and then reported to the claims department for pre-existing damages that they refused to acknowledge. Upon further inspection of the claim attachments, I found evidence of forged and embellished documents and withheld information in an attempt to support this erroneous claim. Witnesses have volunteered to support the incidents that occurred at Ace as well as the vehicles damaged condition upon exiting the facility.

  

  Business response

  08/02/2024

  Hello *******, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding your rental in *****. Unfortunately, with damage claims there is nothing ACE is able to do and it will need to be handled through insurance and Rockport Auto Claims. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  08/02/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  The claim Ace refers to is erroneous. Evidence proves they negligently rented me a damaged and inadequately maintained vehicle that put me and my childrens lives at risk. *** is now attempting to collect claims money on that hazardous vehicle. Their claim against me resulted from fraudulent and unethical practices including falsified and forged documents. Their response too this BBB complaint demonstrates their refusal to make it right and their attack on customers, which is consistent with online reports from hundreds of other customers. Unfortunately, I am now forced to pursue both civil and criminal legal remedies. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/31/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We rented a car from Ace rental car ****** May 14th 2023. I had asked for a compact car but was given a white dodge charger which I thought was weird but I didn't complain. When we picked up the car it was raining really hard so we couldn't get a good look at the car. Once the rain stopped I noticed hail damage on the hood of the car. I took a photo of the car with damage once we got to our location and mentioned it to my wife. We went about the rest of our trip with no weather issues. We dropped off the car May 18th and the person checking the car in mentioned the hail damage. I showed him the time stamped photo and stated that it was already there when we picked up the car but didn't notice because of the rain. He said OK and we got on a plane and came home. A few days later I received an email from them about the hail damage. I told them the same thing I told the attendant at the lot. I never heard back so i assumed it was all taken care of and deleted the photos. Fast forward a year and I start getting emails from a collection agency demanding i pay over $8000 in damages for the car. I reach out to my insurance agent and they start a claim. After multiple conversations between the 2 my insurance company says they will not back down and claim i am at fault. They suggest we pay the claim to get it over with which I finally agree to do. Fast forward another 2 months and now they are asking for $500 more for admin fees, lose of use, and damage. A quick ****** search show that there was no hail storm during my 4 days in the ****** area. In fact the biggest hail storm ****** had all year happened a few days before we arrived. Now they are saying my insurance doesn't cover this new fee and I need to pay it. I have been getting non stop emails and phone calls from ***************************** asking for more money and it is getting borderline harrassment.

  

  Business response

  08/01/2024

  Hello *******, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding your rental in ******. Unfortunately, regarding damage claims there is nothing ACE can do and this does need to be handled through insurance and Alternative Claims. The initial bill is only for the damage whereas the second bill is for the loss of use from when the vehicle could not be rented out. 

  Thank you

  ACE Customer Care

  

  Business response

  08/01/2024

  Hello team, 

  The customer rented over a year ago and as this is in regards to a damage claim ACE no longer handles the issue. 

  Please close the complaint. 

  Customer response

  08/01/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

  When I agreed to have my insurance company cover the damages I was under the impression from the collections agency that this year plus long saga and frustration was finally over. That is why we have insurance in the first place, so I was told by my agent to just settle and move on. Only to get another bill a month later. My insurance will not pay the bill for the exact same reason and the claims agency will not back down. Any damages, Issues, or fees should all have been included in the first bill. It can't be a coincidence that  they sent out a second bill only after we finally agreed to pay the first. It's not like this issue just happened. We are almost a year and a half out from when I rented the car. If this second bill is really about time lost while the car was getting fixed it would not have taken this long to come to me. It's just a way to squeeze more money out of the situation. We paid the over ***** for damage even though it was already there when we picked up the vehicle, but I am not continuing to pay for fees that just happen to appear after we finally caved and paid to try and move on with my life. 

  Regards,
  
  *****************************

  
  

  Customer response

  08/02/2024

  The issue was over a year ago, but I was not made light of the situation until a year after the trip. They reached out a few days after I rented the car and I explained to them the damage was already on the car and I had photos from after the rain stopped to prove it. Then I heard nothing until May 2024, when they sent a bill for over $8000. So yes while the issue stems from something that was over a year ago, my complaint is for something that was much more recent. Again, why did they wait a over a year to reach out to me to settle the dispute. I assumed it was all taken care of and deleted the photos that I told them I had to prove the damage was not done during the time I had the car. My insurance company recommended I settle to get them off my back and then they come at with with new charges. If the issue was over a year old why would there be new charges? wouldn't they all be in the original bill that my insurance paid? They are trying to extort more money out of this situation that was not mine to deal with in the first place. 

• Initial Complaint

  07/31/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I arrived on Wednesday July 24th to pick up my rental from the ************************************************ Ace Rent a Car location. I brought my valid drivers license which was recently renewed as required prior to my birth date along with the official state printout of renewal proof. I was told on check in to receive my rental that both of these documents would not be accepted and that I would need to make a new reservation under my wifes name and add me as a driver. They would not change my reservation to my wifes name and charged me more than 200 dollars more than my original reservation. My kids were hungry and the manager was out to lunch and I had no choice but to accept making a new reservation. I feel that if I had the appropriate and official state documents that police or any government would accept until I received my renewed license that Ace ********************** should have accepted it as well. If I had any doubts on this I would have reserved under my wifes name initially. The rep on check in told me the policy is on their website but I never felt I should check for this or even call to ask the question because my license according to the state of MN is valid and should have been accepted. I am very frustrated by what happened and the large extra expense and was also given a different vehicle, as apparently a full size sedan was unavailable even though I had one reserved. We had to cram our luggage into a small suv trunk and get worse gas mileage than the sedan. All in all , a very bad experience when I should have been allowed by law to get the rental under my original reservation.

  

  Business response

  08/01/2024

  Hello ********, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding your rental in LA. Unfortunately, we can not change names on reservations and in order for your wife to be the primary a new one does need to be made. Per our policies, we require a valid license and do not accept temporary or paper licenses. While I understand the frustration with the change in cost, the new rental did need to be made as the policies were not met. Unfortunately, no refund will be awarded. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  08/01/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  I provided legally acceptable driver's license documentation that is accepted Nationwide by law enforcement and therefore should be acceptable for my reservation and rental car or should at least be refunded the difference in cost for having to rebook
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  While renting a car from ACE, I was told by the desk clerk when picking up the car that I had the option of pre-paying for gas at $3.25/gallon (a fair price for the area). He represented this option as a convenience, so we could drop off the car and they would charge me for whatever car I had used. We had just finished talking about tollways and that I would *not* be driving very far during my 2 day stay. After returning the car, having driven a small amount, I was charged for a full tank of gas. When I called ACE, they apologized that I had been misinformed but refused to issue me any kind of refund. They stated that the policy was in the agreement that I signed. The paper agreement was presented to me AFTER I had paidnot that I would have read it at midnight, I relied on the desk person giving me accurate information. I was clearly misled, whether on purpose or not.

  

  Business response

  07/30/2024

  Hello *******, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding your rental in ******. As you signed the rental agreement and agreed to a prepaid full tank of gas, it is stated that there is no refund for unused fuel. 

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  07/24/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I rented a car with this company from July 15 to July 19 at ****** ******. The price of the car was 189 dollars, i got my invoice and the price was right. A few days later i get charged 693 dollars and I keep seeking for answers with no one able to tell me where are the additional 500 dollars coming from!! One rep told me ohh it might be a deposit and then another one said it was the final bill!! I need answers about what is going on now!!!! Next you wont hear about me, it will be from my lawyer!

  

  Business response

  07/29/2024

  Hello, 

  Thank you for reaching out regarding the charges for your rental in ******. I see that a case is open for you and is being looked into. Once more information is available you will be contacted directly by email. 

  Thank you

  Customer response

  07/29/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  I have been trying to solve this issue for two weeks now! Receiving multiple emails saying that that invoice is my final charge. I need an explanation!
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************
  

  

  Business response

  08/01/2024

  Hello *********, 

  Our team is looking into your account to verify the charges and ensure all billing is correct. You will receive an email once all information is collected and reviewed. 

  Thank you

  

  Business response

  08/01/2024

  Hello team,

  We are in direct contact with the customer and there is nothing further regarding this complaint we are able to do here. 

  Please close this case. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩