rental car warning - payless rentals

[chans formers]

this post is aimed towards those from out of town and looking at renting a car at the next upcoming tfcons....do not....I repeat..do not... rent a car from "payless" rentals at 6465,airport road Mississauga.
the people there are essentially running a scam.
I've looked at their yelp reviews and other reviews and sad to say,we got taken to in the exact same way.
their way of taking you=

1. when you book online,they don't mention that they charge usd,even though they're operating in Canada.so your 200+dollar rental for 6 days ends up being just under 5004 Canadian.you don't find that out until they give you the bill in the end.
2. when you get to Toronto,unlike what they advertise on their website,they are not located in the airport as they claim.
3. to get to them,you have to go to the other opposite side of pearson,take the train past three stops,go back down stairs,find the hidden non maked phone,tell them you're there,then in about half an hour(if you.re lucky)a non English speaking driver who thinks he's Mario andredi pulls up and just stands there with his door open.before you even load up your own bags,if you have a child,buckle them in first as he just plain doesn't care if youre child is secured or not and hammers down on the gas.
4. once you get there,you are treated to a line up in front of a dilapidated strip mall with atleast 6-8 other families waiting there...outside,not inside as they don't have the room necessary to accommodate their orders.after talking to some of the families,some have been wasting valuable vacation time,some up to an hour and a half.
5. they do not have the fleet to fulfill the orders they take.my family and I waited just over two hours to finally get ours.
6. once you get the vehicle keys,the worker will actually yell at you that you are taking too long and you have go if you dare to try to report damages or take pictures of it all.by that point of loosing just over three hours of your life since landing,you really do want to just get the hell out of there.(their main goal so you don't notice smaller dings/etc)I actually had to go back in 3 times to report other damages,this is after going back in the first time as he didn't even give us a copy of the initial report.after the third time of finding hidden damage,the fourth time I went to go back in and get him yet again and by that point,wifey and my daughter were baking in the sun and I didn't feel like getting an assault charge while out of town,we said screw it and left.we weren't even given a copy of the rental agreement(ra)
7. we rented a tomtom from them and it was supposed to take us from Mississauga to Brantford and back.because they essentially and literally just opened the box and didn't update it,it took us 20 minutes outside of London Ontario.so picture this,out of towners,quarter tank of gas,in the middle of no where in a small town called mount bridges,130 in the morning trying to find a open gas station.we didn't get back on sunday night till 330 in the morning,thus I missed a lot of time with friends on the best day of the con where everyone can finally relax.
8. then when we finally returned the car yesterday,it all hit the fan.both myself and wifey lost it.
9. now those of you who know me more than most,you know there's times when wifey and I don't quite get along.now imagine both of us with unchecked rage but on the same side,all directed against this group of people ruining this company's name. when we arrived to return the vehicle,we went in and watching the shouting match going on between two other families and their "servers" should have been our first clue. so when you pick up the car,they don't have a car for you,and when you get one,they don't have a worker to go over the cars damages with you before you leave. but when you return it,then there's two of them and they go over the whole vehicle with essentially a fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass.when they know you're in a rush to catch a flight,watch how they literally slow down everything they do,even talking or arguing with you.then when it's time to pay,they hit you.
10. they ended up charging an additional 500$,for a tiny paint scrape no bigger than 1/8",which we tried to mention before we even initially left with the damn thing.im a journeyman body man,and there is no way it's that much.that's enough to buy a brand new door.then,when I brought up the fact of the tomtom not being updated,then apparently it was "our" fault,because we were supposed to choose bvetween "the long way" or "the short way",neither of which are options when it clearly says "please connect to computer to update". when I told him that to prove him wrong and just plug the damn thing in and see what it says,he right away said that he doesn't know how to use it....wtf???then why is he telling us it was our fault if he doesn't even know how the damn thing works??
11. then when I asked for the manager,this is when wifey literally pulled me back and reminded me of my little girl. this man had the audacity to blame us for everything.he asked for the original damage report,which we weren't give,he asked for the renatl agreement copy,again,we weren't given,and when we mentioned that he should have the other two copies plus ours,he said those were his.then when I asked for his head office/franchiser's number,he just said call payless,which is the number you call to book a car,not the customer service.
12. when asked for his name or business card,he flat out refused both.i asked the clerk upfront what the manager's name was and he said "ahmed",which I already know is a flat out lie.
13. I went back into his office and stated that since you don't want to provide me with either a card or your name,i'm taking a picture of you.after 3 pics,he said "he's had enough" and stood up and motioned to physically intimidate me.that when I told him to sit the f##k back down before he gets knocked down.he then sat back down and started pretending to use the phone.
14. while all of this was going on,my wife was being suckered into signing something,which I don't know what it was,i'm guessing the additional 500$. when I went back upfront and asked to see what she signed,they flat out said that once it's signed it gets filed and once it's filed they cannont give it back.i then asked them for atleast a copy of whatever it was and again,they flat out refused.
15. all of this going on was about an hour worth of time,and during that time,not a single shuttle for them showed up,even though their website claims a shuttle arrives every 10-15 minutes.

i'm currently dealing with my insurance and seeing what can be done as there's no way in hell that tiny paint rub is 500$.after reading reviews,everything that's happened to us has happened to others,word for word,step by step.they are not in business for 'return" customers,they're essentially in it for the one time hits/scams.

rant over....i'm home,time to unpack,but again,don't let idiots like this ruin your tfcon experience.
payless on 6465 airport road should change their name to scrupleless.

(I also forgot to mention,they don't clean out their cars after each renter,otherwise we wouldn't have found a water bong in the glove box that still reeked of weed)

attached is the pics I took....even if I was drunk you couldn't tell me that tiny thing is 500$,but that's how they get you,stall you,rush you,threaten you,etc.
I do feel like a sucker as I didn't even know there was something called yelp reviews till we were back at pearson waiting for our flight...

[BoNKerS]

WOW that is HORRIBLE!

[elburrito]

That is horrible. Also if they don't have a pre-trip inspection report that shows no damage and that you have signed, then the $500 is absolutely not your problem, because they can't prove it was you whoever caused the damage.

[chans formers]

^believe me,we are going to totally fight this.we're just waiting on both our insurance to get back to us and visa to get back to us about whether or not they can do a stop payment pending investigation.

all in all combined,between the first arrival pick up,getting lost by their un-updated tomtom,then the fiasco of returning it,we probably lost about 8 hours of our vacation time dealing with them....doesn't seem like much until you had stuff planned for those eight hours like seeing friends you only get to see once a year...

[Sir Prime A Lot]

That damage would be more than $500, I had a similar scuff on a plastic bumper and it was $1200 to fix. On a metal surface I can imagine there may be an additional dent which will need to be pulled, everything lined up smooth again and then the repair. You got off easy on $500, it's at least double that.

I had a similar experience in Ottawa this weekend, we brought back our Hertz rental and were told the charges for 5 days were $590. I thought that was odd so I asked what a full week rental would be and he told me $475. It took about half an hour of arguing but I got my overage charges back, I'm lucky I returned it over 4 hours before my flight. I can see how people will agree to anything to get out of there and catch their flight.

[Sideswipe]

Wow.

[Dynamo.Dave]

That's awful.
Good luck with the post.

[dak]

I just gave them a bad Google review.

[chans formers]

@sir prime a lot.......ummm....no.
not to argue but the damage is nowhere near $500.
see that tiny white dot in the middle of the door?it's roughly 1/8" x 1/8",that's why we're so pissed.
I've been a journeyman bodyman since 2004 so I've done many insurance claims.
this is but a surface bump.
if you bring it to dent clinic,it's at best 10 minutes of your time and 26 dollars to slightly nudge it back out.
keep in mind,the pic doesn't show it as clear as it is,but the "damage" is surface.it's not even through the clearcoat,therefore it can be polished in about 2 minutes.
I know for a fact they're not going to get it repaired,it was nothing more than a scare tactic/money grab.
our insurance is going to request that they actually provide a quote from a reputable body shop,and a actual receipt before they proceed with payless.
if they couldn't even take the time to remove a water bong from the glove compartment,what makes you think they'll take the time to remove this tiny arse ding?
it's a scam,and we're not the first.
hopefully they get shut down......

[Cheers Ian]

Had a similar thing happen to me once with a hotel.

I wasn't charged anything other then the room rate, but it was an awful experience.

Ever since then I always either go with a trusted "Name" (Holiday Inn, etc) or read plenty of online reviews.

I had one of the bigger rental car companies screw me for not completely filling up the gas tank when I returned it, even though the gauge showed a full tank, I guess it's my fault for only topping it up, but charging me $60 for $5 worth of gas is f--king ridiculous. The agreement was something like having to pay double for not filling up the tank and then a re-filling fee. I figured it wasn't worth my time to spend hours on the phone arguing it to get my $60 back after we had gotten a nice free upgrade from a compact to an SUV.

I would fight these guys though. Total scam artists.