Payless Car Rental Reviews 409

Absolutely horrible experience.

I rented a car for a few hours and returned it in perfect condition. Then they charged me $250 for a “cleaning fee” even though they said everything looked good when I returned the car

The staff at the front desk was also very rude

We ended up paying twice as the original said price cause our credit card didn't have the numbers physically written in it.... In 2024... They did that just cause they can, since you are turist there in a schedule and can't say no... Scam

This company is very unprofessional and service is terrible. Dropped calls, additional charges and the people at the airport are subject to corporate controls and manipulation! I would never rent from them again! Strongly recommend NOT using them. Also be careful with other affiliate rentals.

***I would not have even given them 1 star but, I had to so I could write the post!! #SMH....I rented a car from Payless Car Rental, had a emergency and had to return the car to another location which was 4 hours away which I explained to managment and several Customer Service Representatives. A rental that should have been 241.75 ended up being 2674.05 of which they forced out of my checking account severly overdrawing it!! My bank ended up closing the account due to it being overdrawn for so long and now I still have to pay the debt. I tried countless times to speak with a manager in Customer Service countless voice messages, I finally gave up!! ***never*** rent from Payless Car Rental!! There is no accountability for price gouging!! It appears this is how they make their money!! Very unethical, not the way to do business!! Solid way to ruin your company reputation!!

I rented a car in Oct 2024 from Atlanta Hartsfield airport, the experience was horrible from atart to finish! Waited over 1 hour for them to bring me a car only to be told the all the vehicles in the size that I paid for were being cleaned..Waited 45 minutes more and agreed to take another vehicle instead. Later I found out that they charged me for insurance that I did not agree to take. I filed a complaint to no avail, sucked it up as a lesson learned and made a note to never use them again! Fast forward to Feb 2025 and they have now contacted me to say the vehicle I rented was in an accident, absolutely untrue and to add insult to injury they want my insurance company to cover the false accident as their fake insurance only kicks in if you don't have enough coverage through your private insurance. Very hard to believe that they are under the same umbrella company as Avis. I have had nothing but positive experiences with Avis but this has left a very poor taste in my mouth and feel like I should alert my corporate travel team since Avis is one of our preferred rental carriers and while I hate to penalize them unfortunately they are in the same family...

A scam through and through!!! A basic example of something too good to be true. Charges: Rented prepaid directly on their website a mid-sized SUV for $199 total for 6 days. At the counter was told that they require mandatory insurance purchased from them before I can have the car although I did have proof of full-coverage insurance that covers rentals (like most insurances do - mine is State Farm). They said that I need to show them the whole policy (all pages including the declarations page) or otherwise the total would be $642 and if I don't rent from them the original prepaid $199 is not refundable within 48 hours of the pick up time. Their definition of a mid-size SUV is something that other rental companies normally classify as an economy hatchback. A Chevy Trax with 67K miles on it in my case. Lesson learned. My advice to myself for the future - stick with Hertz and don't get scammed. If something looks too good to be true - it's most likely a scam.

I had to pay 3 times the price you mentioned for the car rental because they charged me with a mandatory insurance that you didn't mention! More expensive than Hertz at the end...and with a very bad service. At least Hertz you pay and you are served well!

Terrible. Bait and switch extra charges for “minimum insurance” even though I told them I don’t need insurance!!!
HORRIBLE

On January 8th,2025 , I had the worst customer experience of my life.

After waiting 3–4 hours for a 9 PM flight on January 7th, which was eventually canceled by Flair Airlines (which I will write a separate review for), I had to find a hotel for my 82-year-old father, my mother, and myself. My father has multiple health issues, including incontinence, Parkinson’s, and thyroid problems. All his clothes were dirty, and he had no access to his more medication, because we were supposed to fly home that night.

We later received an email from the airline informing us that the flight had been rescheduled four days later, on January 11th. With all this uncertainty, I thought the best course of action was to rent a car so that I could go to a nearby laundromat, buy diapers and food for my father, and ensure we had what we needed for the next few days.

The Rental Car Nightmare

I woke up early on January 8th, 2025, and left the hotel at 8:30 AM to pick up the rental car I had already paid for.

The staff and management were the most incompetent and disrespectful people I have ever encountered.

I waited over an hour for their machine to accept my Visa card after they refused to manually enter the information for the deposit—despite the fact that I had already prepaid the rental with the same credit card. (I found this extremely suspicious because, instead of trying again, they seemed to assume the card wouldn’t work and expected me to use another credit card. If I had done so, my rental car insurance would not have been valid.)

They eventually gave me a car, but when I went to the parking lot to find it, another customer was already getting into it because they had assigned it to him as well.

When I returned to the office, the female staff member refused to give me another vehicle. Instead, she wasted time on her phone, scrolled through the computer, and made calls on the radio.

When I finally lost my patience and asked if she was going to give me a car or not, she told me she was canceling my reservation. I told her she could not do that without my permission and that I needed to speak to a manager. She refused to call anyone.

Frustrated, I grabbed the wired mouse from the counter (which I acknowledge was wrong). She then started screaming and making a huge scene, falsely claiming that I had “touched” her. She exaggerated the situation, making others believe that I had physically done something to her.

When I asked another staff member to call a manager, she pretended to use the radio but never actually made the call.

The manager eventually arrived with two security guards and informed me that I was being removed from the building.

I peacefully left with my mother to take a shuttle and get a cab. However, the shuttle was stopped, and 2–6 police officers surrounded me. I was handcuffed and accused of throwing an object at her. But when they checked the security cameras and realized the entire accusation was false, they “apologized” and admitted it was a misunderstanding.

By the time I arrived back at the hotel, it was almost 2 PM. My 82-year-old father had been alone for hours, waiting for food, a clean diaper, and a shower.

This is the absolute worst company ever, and I recommend that no one ever deals with them. What an absolute shame.

The worst company that I have ever dealt with. I wonder how they allow them to work and scam people in that way. I rented car at Istanbul SAW airport. The have over charged me. Not returning my deposit. In addition they would like to charge me for things that I am not aware off. I returned the car as I received. No any damage at all. They also asked me to over pay for tolls that I never used. You communicate with them and you don’t get any response. They take credit card information and charge you from time to time. They are big scammers.

Nightmare From start to finish. When we arrived at the airport and walked out of arrivals a sign said car rental. We rang the company and I took four times of ringing the phone for someone to answer. They then told us they don’t pick up at arrivals. You have to walk all the way to departures to get picked up. We then walked across the airport and the driver hadn’t set off so after ringing and not being answered three times again we eventually got through and they sent the mini bus out. This in total was now an hour after we had Landed when they dropped us off at the garage. There was nobody there to help us. We sat around for 15 minutes unable to collect our car because there was nobody to help us. They then tried to give us the car we hadn’t ordered and we told them we had two big bags so near the estate and they told us to try and get the bags into a smaller car. Eventually I managed to tell them we couldn’t travel without our suitcases and they gave us the estate which we had ordered booked and paid . So from arriving into the airport to getting a higher car and driving off took almost 2 and a bit hours. The staff could not care less in the slightest that we were gonna be late and have a longer drive-through till midnight. When returning the car we followed the exact directions on the contract and they do not take you to where the place is. It’s 1 mile away so we had to drive around because nobody answered the phone in order to try and find the place. Eventually we WhatsApp the Mobile number we had called on arrival and got given a different address. When I showed them the address we had been given on the contract they couldn’t care less but it was incorrect and then blamed us for being late and the fact that we are driven around and used the tiniest amount of petrol. They wanted us to take the car back to a petrol station and fill it again with what would’ve been something like £2. The mileage meter said full but they were being adamant that it could go a tiny bit further. The The younger lady who dealt with us had absolutely no skills with customers and was rude and unhelpful. In the end I had to ring the company we booked through to get them to speak to them and we then threaten them that we would have to leave order a taxi ourselves and leave the car and everything behind because they would not take the keys for us. Eventually, somebody else with a common sense stepped in and told us to just leave and the mini bus dropped us at the airport. All in all I have never had such a terrible experience with the Hire car company of which I’ve probably used in Europe ever.

I had a terrible experience with Payless Slovakia. Despite a confirmed booking to pick up a car at 19:30, their office closed at 19:00 without informing me, leaving my family stranded at Bratislava Airport. The shuttle service they advertised until 21:00 was unavailable, and I made 18 unanswered calls trying to reach them. We were forced to change our travel plans with zero support or compensation offered.
To make matters worse, they charged us for a stain in the car we did not cause. My family did not eat, drink, or carry a baby in the vehicle, yet they ignored our explanation and took no responsibility. Their dismissive attitude toward the entire situation—acting as though failing to deliver a car as scheduled is perfectly normal—is unacceptable. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

Absolutely the worst car rental experience. Rented through Expedia for Phoenix airport. Waited 2 hours at the counter because they were short staffed only to be told that they didn’t have the car I rented available and that even though I bought insurance through Expedia when I rented they car that “it’s not valid because we don’t use them.” Was given a different car and then told to go downstairs to pick up where there was another 2 hour wait. Down there, met numerous people who said they waited only to be told no car. So we went back to counter and cancelled the rental because there were many other rental companies at the airport without these absurd lines. Clerk at counter said ok, cancelled and refunded only to discover that I was still charged. Tried to get rerun through Expedia only to be told that Payless said no. So in the end, I wasted so much time and money on a car I never even rented. Run away, do not rent from them ever.

I rented a car for 28 days from Paphos airport Cyprus, Within the first 24 hours of the rental after only having driven from the airport to the hotel, (20km) the electrics failed which made the car unusable. I called the assist line and was told to wait in my hotel for a technician to call. They called and came to the hotel a few hours later. They said they'd need to exchange the car, so made all the checks and switched vehicles.
When I arrived home 29 days later I saw a new charge of 15.80 on my credit card, I enquired and was told it was for petrol consumed on my original car, (That I'd had only driven to the hotel - which malfunctioned and was un-drive-able.)
When the original car was collected from my hotel the petrol gauge was still on full.
I wrote and complained. The car was un-usable and still had a full tank - so obviously whoever collected it drove it somewhere to be fixed then back to the airport - which all used petrol, then the gauge was read.
So claiming that 15.80 of petroleum was used in one short trip is outrageous.

I can’t accept being penalised for a vehicle we couldn’t use within 24 hours of the rental. Especially as even if I'd wanted to I couldn't drive it to a petrol station.

I have always followed the contract details on every vehicle hire.

Payless should be apologising for my wasting a 1/2 day of my vacation waiting for their faulty car to be exchanged- Not making a money-grab for a few euros from a customer who over the past 14 months has spent more than 1300 euros on car hire from their company. It’s totally outrageous, and I'd highly recommend any future customers beware - as it seems they can simply go into your bank account and take whatever they want.

They are SCAMMER to the general people. 3 days rental was $101 Through Expedia. When got to the service desk, it came out to be $297 because the car we booked is not such a car online???? so they had to switch a smaller car and said it's a midsize SUV ???. Rented RAV4 but they gave me Nissan Kicks ( My A$$). Its a Bait and Switch Tactics Scammer car Rentals are playing. Report to your Attorney General and the BBB (Beter Business Bureau). However, Expedia refunded me $75 back credit and Expedia will take care of Payless at their end. NO MORE rental from PAYLESS & NU Car rental EVER. NU was even worst. They wanted 2 forms of ID with pictures, 2 Major credit cards, 2 current UTILITY bills???? and only 250 miles/day even I was a local renter in the area (San Diego-CA)!!!!. NO other car rental has ever asked me that. They even stated on the rental as UNLIMETTED miles. Liar!!!. No such car we booked online also and they were doing the Bait and Switch again so I demanded they cancel my reservation and walked out there with all of my personal IDs and credit cards. I have requested Expedia to remove them from online rental listings. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEDED.

we rented a car for the day at Bratislava airport. we paid a deposit of 900 euros. Before giving the car, he filled out a protocol in which the damages were noted. We returned the car at night, at the hotel, so he could not inspect it. After a few days, we received a letter that the damage glass scratch was recorded and they charged almost 700 euros for it. we wrote a complaint, but the answer after 30 days was that it was as if another new damage had already been indicated in the protocol. We asked to send before and after photos, but we didn't get anything. avoid this company as far as possible and don't rent, because they are scammers, trying to make a profit. worst experience ever.

Pre booked a hire car at Tivat Airport for 3 to 7 Oct 2024. Long discussion on completing the paperwork ref insurance and it has cost me an extra £120 - on geeting initial car lots of scratches etc on the Hyundai I20 but this was rectified with a clean Dacia Sandero (*which is what I had pre booked !)

Poor customer service and whilst car rental is cheap, be wary and avoid the insurance bit - this is a scam and shocking to receive in otherwise a beautiful and friendly part of the world

We had all the documentation, we have payed assurance extra when we reserved the car .
When we want to do the security deposit the operation was strangely cancelled 2 times (it was the same issue with the other french).
We had 2 others visa card that he didn’t accept or try.
The answer was directly, if you take our assurance 30€/day,you don t need the deposit, so pay more and you can have the car.
To be honest it feels like a trap.

Bad customer services at JFK airport. Wait for 45 minutes to get car. Long line and only one employee to help customers.

as all other complaints...wont return $250 deposit.
recorded message says wait 10 days
Not redeposited. customer service has no records using DL#. CC #, ref #. she says deposit is only pending and never comes out of account.
WRONG!!!
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