Automobile, Puerto Vallarta

Hello, to whom it May Concern,

We recently rented a car from Thrifty in Puerto Vallarta, which was by far the worst car rental experience I've ever had.  We said we would only buy additional liability insurance, as our credit card covered collision insurance.  This was after a very hard sell, but we held our ground.

Upon inspecting the car before leaving, I walked around with the inspector and pointed out every dent, scratch, etc. and watched to see he made some sort of mark on the drawing.  I especially pointed out a long scratch on the passenger door.  I remember this because I had to point to it twice.  We then drove to Sayulita, where we parked the car in a gated spot where we were the only car for the entire week.

When we returned the car, they informed us that we were liable for damage to the car, which included a long scratch on the passenger door.  I said, no, that was there when we left, and that I saw the guy mark the drawing showing this.  Well, there were some sort of mark made on the drawing, but they claimed it wasn't the right mark to indicate a long scratch, therefore this had to be new.  We repeatedly said it wasn't, and refused to pay for damages we did not inflict.  The rep said, fine, then you cannot leave to go home, smirking the whole time.  At this point, we asked to speak to a manager which was denied, saying they had no way to call him. Then the rep also said they had photos that showed the scratch was not previously there, but when we insisted on seeing these photos, well, they were "buried in the computer system somewhere" and couldn't be found at this time.  Again, I was there during the entire inspection, and never saw any photos taken, at any time.  These supposed photos are so obviously completely fictional.

I will be honest and admit that at this point, I was beyond angry at this completely criminal behaviour.  I told them I have rented cars all over the world and never had an experience like this before.  They didn't care and basically said if you keep arguing you'll only miss you flight.  I walked inside and began warning every single person there to take there own photos and guard themselves against this company.  It was then that the rep said we could leave without the charges being put on our credit card, and they would instead email us a bill, which we could then take up with Thrifty upon our return home.  It was suspicious, because he obviously just wanted us out of there, so we repeatedly asked if this was going to be put on our card.  He insisted, no, you will just get an email bill for now.

Of course when we got home, they had put all charges plus damages on the card.  When we called to say this shouldn't have happened, they claimed again that the supposed photos showed no previous scratches.  However, we still did not get to see these.

Now we are left with trying to figure out how to locate Thrifty corporate car rental offices, and get these charges off our card.  The worst part is, it has left a sour taste in our mouth not only about Thrifty, but about traveling through Mexico.