Natraj rushed through the contract signing process when renting a car from Dollar, and his failure to confirm the car return time on the paperwork ended up costing him an extra day’s rental fee.

He writes:

I just wanted to share my experience with Dollar Rental here in Raleigh. I had taken a rental for 5 days last week . I went to the Dollar rental at 8 am and asked for my car.

Unfortunately the car given to me didnt have a few things which i wanted , so I asked them to change the car. At first the lady at the counter was not even interested in my request. After around half an hour they gave me a new car. When I asked for a new contract (as my car was changed) , the lady simply scribbled in my papers and told me that everything is all set and I need not worry about it , she will upload the new info later as the system was down. By the time I got out it was 9 am.

When I came back after 5 days, I reached the rental agency at around 8:40 am. They charged me for the extra day , since according to them I got my car at 8 am and I was 40 minutes late. I tried to reason with them that it took me almost an hour to get a new car and since the system was “down” (according to the lady at the desk) i could not get the new contract for 9 am. They told me that somebody from customer care will contact me and i will get my money back for the extra day. Even after a week when nobody contacted me, i called up the customer care. They told me that original contract was for 8 am and they cannot do anything. Apparently I think that it was my mistake that I changed the car and not got a new papers.

My fault in this whole episode is that I believed the lady at the desk. I am never going to rent from an Dollar rental ever again in my life.

Natraj accepts responsibility, which is refreshing, but if his story is true, Dollar definitely could have been cooler about handling his situation.

What’s your worst or best experience with a rental car company?

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.