Beware of American Car Rental

[MissCruiser]

We were just in Aruba on the HAL Westerdam on 12/31/08. I booked a jeep for the day with American Car Rental through their web site. It required payment (credit card) info., ship name, date and time of arrival plus contact info.

I received the following confirmation e-mail from them on 12/17/08:

 

Hereby I would like to confirm your reservation for a Jeep Wrangler Sport (regular not available) for 1 day on 31st of December 2008

Your rate is $ 85,00 + $ 4,00 ( AHATA & LICENCE FEE ) .

Including in the price is:

1. Free mileage

2. Free road map

3. Third partie insurance

For more information also visit our website http://www.american-car-rental.com at the FAQ section.

On the final bill there will be a 3 % government Tax.

Our office is right outside the Cruise Terminal, just before you exit the Port Authority.

For any questions, suggestions and or comments please feel free to email me.

Thanks for choosing American Car Rental.

Sincerely,

Akash Misier

Our ship was scheduled to arrive at 11 a.m. We docked at 11:15 and we walked off the ship and to the car rental booth (which was literally in the shadow of the ship) by 11:30. No one was there. I called the number given and when I reached the man named above he said to me:

"You were not here at 11 so I rented your jeep to someone else. I have no more vehicles. Good luck." He then hung up on me as I tried to tell him that he knew what ship I was arriving on and that at 11 o'clock he could see my ship approaching the port and that he already had been gauranteed payment by my credit card info.

 

To the best of my knowledge he did not actually try and charge my credit card. I will update this post if I find out otherwise, but I wanted to alert you to the poor business practices of this operator and his unreliability.

 

Tom