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Conrad Sutton Car Rentals - St John - Don't Do it!

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Conrad Sutton Car Rentals - St John - Don't Do it!

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(@kjrbarnes)
Posts: 2
New Member
Topic starter
 

We just rented 2 vehicles from him last week (6/24/11-7/2/11), and NEVER AGAIN! First thing that happened was they gave me a Jeep Wrangler 4 door with about 7000 miles on it. Second day, I was on a switchback just after Trunk Bay and the transmission failed. Police helped, and discovered there was No (nada, none) transmission fluid in the vehicle. I called the number listed on the contract and told the woman who answered of the issue. Her response was "What did you do?". Really good customer service (NOT!). Conrad himself came with a replacement jeep (Liberty not 4dr wrangler) within 45 minutes. I'm thinking, that's pretty good. Then I go to return it and I get an attitude because THEY attached the replacement car paperwork to the wrong original contract.

On the second vehicle that my brother-in-law rented, when we returned it, they say to him there is a dent on the bumper that want there before. It was missed on the pre-inspection. I look at it and said, I followed him out of the lot when we picked it up and it was there already when we picked up the car. Then I get called a liar, multiple times. I ask to see the paperwork from the person that rented it before us to see if the dent was indicated on prior rentals... I was told they destroy all paperwork after the rental is complete... Yea Right! There was a pile 3-4" thick of prior rental forms on the desk. Now who is the liar?

NEVER AGAIN... Rude and in my opinion dishonest.

 
Posted : July 3, 2011 4:51 pm
 Ruby
(@ruby)
Posts: 111
Estimable Member
 

Thank you, that is excellent advice. I'm happy to hear that it's not that unsafe to drive yourself around. We have 6 of us going so taxi-ing it would be quite expensive in the long run.

 
Posted : July 16, 2011 10:03 pm
(@olderblue)
Posts: 2
New Member
 

Well goodness.... What are the chances then of me bringing in a nice car and doing the "Taxi" thing.. I want to go there to semi retire, but I must keep working till I drop. What do you think..?Do you think Conrad and Toes will make it difficult for me..?? Juss asking

 
Posted : July 16, 2011 11:17 pm
(@exit-zero)
Posts: 871
Prominent Member
 

Research the cost and availability of a "Taxi Medallion" before you make plans tto semi retire and bring a car here to use as a taxi.

 
Posted : July 17, 2011 12:27 am
(@cuppy)
Posts: 9
Active Member
 

Rented from Conrad several times and never had an issue. We always preferred an 'older' vehicle so scrapes, dents and more were already present and a few more wouldn't matter. However that can get you some slick tires, bad brakes, and slow transmissions but that just adds to the adventure!

 
Posted : July 23, 2011 7:33 pm
(@blujahz)
Posts: 129
Estimable Member
 

Data point(s) - I rented from Conrad Sutton in 2006 (we go to STJ every year) - I found their curtness part of the STJ 'charm' - I thought I had misplaced our keys and got scolded by the woman in charge. That was not a big deal, but decided to go to other places to rent because of the poor condition of their cars. Some may find having a vehicle in disrepair charming, but I want at least 1) good brakes, 2) good tires, 3) A/C and working windows, and 4) a compartment that can be closed/locked. It is a plus to be able to park on-lot in Cruz bay, but not a deal killer. And now I have a new #5 - mini RCA stereo plug for our iPod (music is important to us...)

Since then we have rented from O'Connor (twice), but never again after getting crappy cars and extremely poor attitude (and I know how to 'adapt', and understand they have a crappy job, but... even I have my limits).

Then rented on STT (and take car barge to STJ) from Dependable, but the vehicle did not meet my criteria (#4) above - although the 'attitude' was good. It sucked having to go to/from the airport to their shop. 1st car was unacceptable (front passenger seat was broken), and the next car that we took had mosquitoes ('no worries, they fly out when you are moving...' lol) - we decided to keep it , but sorry we did.

The best by far has been Amalie (on STT) - incredible in every catagory (even #5) except they are a bit more expensive (~$50/week), but that extra cost was well worth it. Brand new car (all of their cars are <1 yr old from what I understand), met us at airport with car and paperwork in hand ready to go, drop-off at airport was just as smooth - and the owners were both excellent when it came to 'attitude' - meaning... they had none - all smiles and pleasant).

Amalie has my business from now on - iirc - I got a tip about Amalie here on this board (Ruth?).

 
Posted : July 28, 2011 6:10 pm
(@shenn)
Posts: 1
New Member
 

Just returned from week in STJ (March7-14,2012 , and after all these years..20+, we were so disappointed with the way we were treated by Mrs. Carmen Sutton. We called about 2 weeks before and confirmed that we will be on the 6:00 ferry from Red Hook. Conrad himself said no problem, he will wait 20 minutes. He did many other years, we have rented from him before. The evening before I called to remind him and a hateful lady told us that it is not in the contract to wait until 6:20 and we should spend the night @ St Thomas in one of their hotels. I was shocked.. how was I suppose to get to our rental place in Coral Bay??. Lucky, the villa owner made arrangements to pick us up @ 6:20. We then had to find a way back the next day to pick up the car. We lost about half of a day of our vacation that we paid lots of $$$$ for. We were charged 75$ for the car too! I would never recommend this company to anyone who wants to have a no hassle vacation on STJ.

 
Posted : March 22, 2012 8:36 pm
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