National Car Rental Car Rental Company

Price Paid:  $0.00

Weaknesses:
NEVER USE NATIONAL - they have still have not returned a $200 deposit to me which I was due to pick up when I returned (a pretty badly serviced) car in NYC. This was nearly 3 months ago - DO NOT GIVE THEM CASH OR YOU CARD DETAILS......

Summary:
NEVER USE NATIONAL - they have still have not returned a $200 deposit to me which I was due to pick up when I returned (a pretty badly serviced) car in NYC. This was nearly 3 months ago - DO NOT GIVE THEM CASH OR YOU CARD DETAILS......

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Kings Cross branch

Strengths:
None. AWFUL. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Weaknesses:
Staff, lack of customer service skills and complete lack of interest in improving this!

Summary:
I chose National as they offered the best online deal when I was looking for car rental for a short UK break.
Collecting the car was no problem and I was happy with the car I was given.
On returning the car however (to the Pentonville Road branch, Kings Cross) I was shocked to find that I physically could not turn into the forecourt to return the car! There were so many people trying to return cars that they were backed right out over the path and spilling out onto a major London road, blocking buses and other traffic. The police were even there issuing parking tickets to all of the rental cars that had not been able to pull onto the forecourt! I then witnessed those customers being told they would have to pay the parking tickets, which is unbelievable.
Due to the one way system of the road I was on and the fact I could not pull onto the forecourt, I had no choice but to turn left and to come around to try again. I tried 3 times and each time was unable to get onto the forecourt. The left turn I had to take to get back around to the garage took me very briefly through a congestion charging zone, which was unavoidable.
I eventually managed to park the car in a side street near the garage and had to beg an employee to come and take the car back from me there, which after 10 minutes they did.
I went into the office to finalise the paperwork and explained to the guy behind the counter what had happened. I was assured that I would not be charged, settled by bill and left.
2 weeks later £91.05 was taken from my bank account with no notification or authorisation. I have called the head office several times and either had no answer or been put back and left on hold. I have also emailed the head office (through 2 different channels) 6 times and have still, after a further 2 weeks received no response.
I have finally had an invoice through the post to say the £91.05 is for the congestion charge zone that I was forced to go into as I could not pull the car onto the forecourt!
I would NEVER rent from this company again. They have zero customer service skills and they do not care about this in the slighest. They do not even respond to a complaint through the complaints section of their website.
What appeared to be a very good deal has resulted in me paying a small fortune for 5 days of car hire and the experience has been extremely stressful.
I have rented from many different car hire companies, including Sixt, Hertz and Practical and found them all to be very helpful in comparison.
I WOULD AVOID RENTING FROM NATIONAL AT ALL COSTS.

Similar Products Used:
I've hired from many major and smaller car hire companies and always had a pretty good experience.

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I rented a car with National one month in advance. I had to pick it up at their Union Square premises in San Francisco. I arrived punctually on the agreed time and date and had to wait for almost 5 hours to pick up the car.

All clients from National and Alamo (both companies share the same premises) were made to wait in line, first in the street under the burning sun and afterwards in an unhealthy garage.

No explanation was given by National or Alamo employees and they did not seem surprised by such unacceptable situation, so I guess it must be usual.

Price Paid:  $50.00 from derby

Year / Model Reviewed:
2007 hatchback

Strengths:
Car

Weaknesses:
staff and customer service

Summary:
I hired a car and it was decent enough, returning it was an absolute nightmare.

The memeber of staff I dealt with kep tme waiting for ages, coming out every so often to try to charge me some kind of extra. I explained why I shouldn't, she accepted and went away, then returned with another complaint. This went on for hours, eventually I walked out and was billed 2 pounds extra!! thats right she charged me 2 pounds extra after all that b*llsh*t.

The complaints procedure went equally well and after months of repeated emails and calls I got a poor excuse for an apology.

Like I said, decent car but they're out to get every penny from you and are not afraid to waste hours of your time to get a couple of pounds of you.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Enterprise Rent a ca

Year / Model Reviewed:
2006 Pontiac Grand Prix GT-P

Strengths:
pick up and go, availability and selection of cars, decent prices, unlimited milage

Weaknesses:
none!

Summary:
an excellent car, going through their emerald row program, you get to pick whatever car you want! an suv, wagon, economy car, luxury, it doesnt matter! you pick it up and go, and pay for it when you come back! an excellent way to do business.

the car itself was excellent. Turbocharged V6, Leather interior, very comfortable ride, all around good car to rent, and fairly affordable, but the company paid for it (:

Similar Products Used:
Dollar rent a car, enterprise, Toyota Rent A Car (a very good one)