Horrible customer service

Good day

I am writing this email still in shock of the service i have received from one of your branches... at Sandton opposite gautrain station... I have made a booking for a car via your website for a bakkie.. I have paid and the booking was confirmed.

I called your reservation line and i spoke to a guy call Nathan because i wanted to change the bakkie to automatic...because we were going to drive a long distance to Eastern cape for funeral. Nathan confirmed that automatic was available but with steel canopy with no ventilation...and it will cost little bit more and he was willing to change it for me... I then refused because i wanted kids to lie at the back when they tired... Fine i then confirmed if all was in order.. He said yes...

I dropped my car and took uber with my husband to fetch the car.. Upon arrival we proceeded to the counter and we were told that one person was allowed okay... In few minutes lady behind the counter said sorry Sir we are unable to give you the car your credit score is not above 700...standing there shocked i jumped and asked what does that mean? We were told no thats what it is when you hire a car for first time credit score is checked and depending on that score they approve or decline the reservation.. Mmhhh

Standin there with huge dissapointed on my face.. I tried to seek options then our case was referred to the manager in the branch who came.. With just few words and said "sorry Sir we are unable to assit you due to your credit score and you did not read the terms and conditions when you were booking so sorry there is nothing i can do"

I have read terms and conditions on the website... What the manager said to us was not on the terms and conditions... I stood therr and took her through the terms and conditions i have read because i initially tried to book with the company i normally use but they requested 2 credit cards and we did not have.. So when i booked with Thrifty i checked all these... So i showed the lady the only terms and conditions mentioning credit and ******** record is under general point 11...and it says when need arises but it does not confim that on the point of renting the car you will be declined based on this also what credit score is expected when renting what class of vehicle.

Th manager said oh well i will them to reword it? So that it is clear... Mhh i have never seen such bad service in my entire life... We were devastated because the next morning we were supposed to be travelling.. It was now after 18h00... Manager told us that we paid on our own risk... Mhh your website will not continue with booking if no payment made... It was not the first time booking a car Hertz works totally different you can make a booking and only pay when fetching the car...

Now after being ignored by all ladies behind the counter one claimed to be a supervisor... I kept on asking is there anyone hire that they can talk too who can assit? They said no... Mhh we insisted... Then manager (Charlene) if i remember her name correctly said she spoke to the regional manager who also refused... I then said why was the booking confirmed if they know that there are some investigations needed to be than? Why do you take my money then refuse to give me the service i paid for?

We said we don't have any where to go firstly all other rentals are closed which are nearby, also manager refused to refund us... We left our car because we were fetching a car... I even asked the manager to put her self on our shoes.. We were not travelling for holiday but going to the funeral... Please what will it take to get a car she said, Pay 100 000 to secure the value if the car? This was a shocker to me because really... I then said fine we will leave our own car as a security... If thats okay?.. We were at this brach until 20h00 being laughed at all consultant minding their own business... Later a supervisor came and said they have children to attend too so they dont have the whole day?.. Good people i felt like i was in a dream or something... Me and my husband we left our kids they don't know what is going 20h00 we not at home..

Eventuall i was given a contact number to call the risk manager.. Whom was not helpful either and told me there is nothing he can do... With my own airtime until it was finished... I then said please refund us so that we can go home and see what we can do... All refused... Even earlier i said please refund but we were told about 7 to 14 days...how do you do that if you took someones money and not provided the service fhey paid for?

The manager had guts to call the security to remove us from their premises... We were humilated and embarrassed... We had to find our own way how do we get home not even providing assistance to say we can take you home.. For such inconvenience.... Worst of all this was my mothers funeral arrangements... What a trauma...

I even made an example with another rental company i normally use... Once i booked a car it was public holiday but that branch closes on public holiday... So we went to fetch the car and they were closed we called everyone....we left without the car because this was an error on their websites that does not indicate that brach is closed on public holidays.. 2 hours later after we left ghe branch... A manager called us and apologized for such inconvenience caused.. And humble asked that we fetch the car at airport and they offered us their latest model at the same rate we were going to pay for the car we booked... It was Ford ranger latest with 1 credit card and no higher deposit... Like i said we paid for lower class they upgraded us.. And not because we have paid no we did not pay this was just unconfirmed reservation....

Was it too hard to do the same or assist by refunding us? We hire cars most of the time because we have important things to do not for show off or leisure... I hope this teaches a lesson one or two people who delas with people... When you run a service you meet or exceed customer expectations not leave a bitter taste on them that they will never forget...

After all the drama we had to still travel we took uber abd went to the Airport... We were assisted by Hertz with no issues a guy we met there calmed us made our journey a memorable one we got a bigger car he gave us options as a client.

Till today Thrifty has not reimbursed us... We had to spend more thatn we budgeted for... There was no apology or anything... I will ensure this complaint goes far than this... The ceo of the company deserves to know about the bunch of people you have at Sandton wont even try other branches of thrifty... They dont have a heart and neither customer service including stephanie who is regional manager...

I will not recommend this company ti anyone i know... Thank you for such horrible service.