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Stay Away From Discount Car RentL

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Stay Away From Discount Car RentL

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(@tiffanybiros)
Posts: 1
New Member
Topic starter
 

Steer clear! We have visited St. Thomas 7-8 times and have used Discount Car Rental for several of these trips. Most recently, we rented a car from them for 5 weeks in January 2015. To start it took them an hour to come pick us up at the airport upon our arrival. About 3-4 weeks into our trip we woke one morning to a flat tire. We asked the maintenance man at our resort to put some air in the tire so that we could take it back to Discount to get it fixed. So that afternoon that is precisely what we did. We arrived at Discount, told them that the tire has been losing air and asked them to fix it. We waited outside on the deck as the mechanics inspected the tire. About 15 minutes later they pulled the car up and said "you're good to go". I was surprised because I knew they hadn't fixed the tire, as mentioned, I had been out on the deck so I could visually see what they were doing, so I told them I was concerned that it was a safety hazard to be driving around with our two children on these mountain roads with a tire in that condition. The mechanic politely agreed and said he would take it down to the shop and replace it. I continued to wait on the deck. About 10 minutes later a white male in his 60s, who I would later learn is the owner, came storming out of the Discount office, got right in my face, pointed his finger at me and shouted "You're paying for that tire". I was in absolute shock. I had no idea who this person was and more importantly why he had just screamed at me in this manner. I responded that I am not paying for the tire and he will not yell at me like that again. The owner turned around and went back inside the Discount office slamming the door. I was in complete shock as up until this point all of the interactions with the other employees were very cordial. I immediately followed him back into the Discount office where he continued to yell and scream at me and then went into his personal office and again slammed the door.
Need less to say, it was the most awful experience I've ever had with a business. I cannot believe that a business owner would treat a recurring customer in that manner. Or any customer really. But I did mention that we book over a month and therefore he has made thousands of dollars from us. And might I add we have never had any issues with our rental cars in the past and therefore we were customers in good standing. In the end, he ended up replacing both of the front tires and charging us for one of them. So clearly the tires needed replaced and he was just looking to get one of them paid for. I will never do any business with Discount Car Rental again and I urge you to do the same. You might get lucky and have a non-issue with them but should you be the unlucky person that does have something go wrong with the car, you will have your entire day/trip ruined by having to deal with that owner. As I was leaving Discount that day the mechanic actually followed me to the gate and apologized for the owner's behavior. He told me that he treats all of his employees and customers like that. This actually meant a lot to me because I couldn't understand what I happened to cause that reaction from him. Was he mad that I pushed the issue of replacing the tire? Does he want his customers driving around on tires that are ready to blow? Regardless, I will never know, but I can help someone else from having to go through this awful experience that I had to go through. There are plenty of other rental car companies in St. Thomas to choose from where you won't get assaulted by the owner.

 
Posted : February 23, 2015 1:00 pm
(@lolly)
Posts: 165
Reputable Member
 

Thanks for the info....definitely won't use a hot head like this...I can't believe you had to pay for a tire . Was this at the airport ?

 
Posted : February 23, 2015 5:31 pm
(@docric)
Posts: 80
Estimable Member
 

How many times have I posted this in this forum? :

"My advice: Avoid Discount Car Rental on St Thomas unless you like buying new tires for their vehicles. Ask me how I know."

Horrible place to rent a car.

 
Posted : February 23, 2015 7:40 pm

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