19 hour road trip in a Smelly ,Dirty , broken Fortuner that guzzles 1/4 tank diesel on 45km

<p>Good day</p> <p>My husband and i have become regular customers of thrifty and other car rental companies.</p> <p>We are not people who easily complain but to expereience what we have by renting this Toyota Fortuner has become unaccepteable and the employees unwillingness to help a customer just shocking</p> <p>My Family and i were moving to the Eastern cape from Johannesburg and wanted a reliable car to get us there. We decided to rent a family car for a comfortable trip with good milliage as rental cars are always new cars. Our trouble in booking this Rental started a week and half prior to our trip. We had booked a Fortuner but threw a system error were booked under the wrong milleage plan of 200km a day. Obviosly this error would have to be corrected or i would be paying R5.45 per km we drive over the granted 1000 km for the trip. Port elizabeth is 1200 km from Johannesburg. The rental company was unwilling to help in the matter and forced us to cancel our booking and book the same car again. We did as we were told out of despiration for our time preasures, as we had only found out about this mix up 3 days prior to having to leave. This late cancellation resulted in us paying R6000 for 5 days instead of R3000. We sadly swallowed our pride and did what needed to get done because nothing was going to stop us from reaching our destination.</p> <p> </p> <p>Come Thursday, my husband collects the Toyota fortuner with our 3 year old little girl. At the counter while completing details before taking the car, a system error comes up saying 'THIS CAR MAY NOT BE TAKEN, IT IS DUE FOR SERVICE'. The gentleman then quickly called his manager who told my husband this car had just come back from a service and that the system just has not been updated. My husband emmediately red flagged and expressed his concern as this was a very far trip with pets and a baby and do not want to risk breaking down on road. They assured my husband that all is ok.</p> <p>As soon as they got in the car my husband was hit with the smell of cigarette smoke. Before driving out the airport my husband was finding broken parts inside the car that were not on his check list but could only be picked up after actually driving the vehicle.</p> <p>45 km from home, when my husband stopped at the house we had already used 1/4 tank of diesel and he found the ashtray full of ash. Our first thought, ' ow my gosh, how will we ever afford this trip at this rate. Maybe its a fluke or town driving is bad for this car. Diesel consumption will be better on the open road.</p> <p>Needless to say it was one of the most physically and emotionally traumatising road trips of our lives. As we had never travelled to the eastern cape before, we had no idea where we would find our next petrol station and the car was becoming more and more unpredictable between when it would decide its a 1/4 tank and then suddenly empty. Going threw the Karoo seemed like a death wish. At the end of the trip, we had used R3 500-00 in Diesel to get us 1200km.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now instead of the guys at Thrifty Port elizabeth showing us some compassion for our ordeal and help us, we were shrugged of and told that, that kind of Fuel consumption is normal for a Toyato Fortuner and i wanted to laugh at how much Bull**** on smilling faces we were being spun, instead of someone taking responsibility for this misfortune. </p> <p> </p> <p>We were supposed to rent a smaller car for the rest of the month after dropping the Fortuner but because we had almost R10 000 waiting in fees that needed to return to us and then an almost R4000 fuel bill, we could not afford to rent a car to take us home to St Francis bay. We ended up having to take a R700 uber from Port Elizabeth to St Francis bay and we are still waiting on fees to be returned to be able to book our next car.</p> <p> </p> <p>I think its very clear how badly we have been treated threw this experience with no care for our safety and wellbeing. I cannot say that it makes me in any way happy to send this message as we have always been Thifty's biggest fans and have brought many clients your way. </p> <p> </p> <p>Regards</p> <p>Raymond and Roxane Wood</p>