Atwest Rent A Car

They will steal your money and lie about it! I rented as car for my 20 year old and paid on my card. When he arrived, they required he place the REFUNDABLE deposit on his personal card. $ 350 dollars and it has been FOUR MONTHS of constant calls to them, emails, etc. The LA office refuses to assist. The San Diego office keeps saying «We issued the refund». They processed it as a POS transaction and we could not even dispute with the bank because there was a signed contract. They claimed at first they needed 4 weeks to confirm no speeding tickets. then they started saying they issued the refund to the wrong account. One story after another and ultimately we are out an extra $ 350.

RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! THESE GUYS ARE SCAMMERS!
They’re all a**holes and lie like its their job. They lied and said I did not pay when it was in my bank statements and left me at the airport crying trying to figure out how I was gonna pick up my boyfriend from his homecoming from deployment. They’re heartless and will steal your money then get sarcastic with you on the phone and act like 15 year old girls… RUN!!!
I really suggest Travcar/​Ace rental car. Amazing service and even though I didn’t have enough money they worked something out with me and were very sweet.

This happened to my wife, not myself:
On the receipt information it states to call a number for free pick-​up, one option for LAX another for San Diego. NOWHERE on the receipt, OR information given on the site on the prior to making a reservation, does it state (1) they do not provide pick-​up/​dropoff at the San Diego airport, nor (2) that no-​one is in the office to provide a vehicle reserved unless one makes at advance appointment with them to be there. The reservation info given indicates there IS free pickup, just dial a number, hit option 5; even at the top of their ‘Policies’ in the bigger print it states «free pickup service», and on the home page it says in very large letters «free pickup and dropoff». Unless a customer specifically clicks the ‘Policies’ tab at the top of the page & actually scrolls down through the specific policies would one know. How many people do that when renting a car? In addition, it states on their site: «San Diego Hours of Operation 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Mondays-​Fridays and 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Saturday.» That would lead one to believe that someone is at the office after 9am; NOWHERE on their site is it stated about an advance appt. needed to pickup a vehicle. That is really poor, and misleading on both counts. The person who did finally answer her calls from the airport (first went to voicemail) was very curt & rude. Then when you get to their office, after paying $ 20 for a taxi (which means an extra $ 40 RT), there’s no-​one there. A sign on the door advises one to make an advance appt. for picking up the car. Really? Who knew? The rude/​curt guy then said he’d be down in about 25 minutes. Although he was nicer in person, when finally getting the vehicle, it was quite dirty, inside & out; she was going to go to a car wash, but went to a gas station instead & just cleaned the windshield. That is when she found a significant ding in the windshield! Then proceeded to lock the keys in the car, & although close to the agency, the owner said when she called asking for help, «Sorry, can’t help, I don’t have extra keys» (although it was her fault for somehow locking the keys in).
Not a car rental agency to ever be used.
Update: The car ended up shaking so bad on the freeway she did not feel safe and took it back. She had to leave it of course, as no-​one was in the office. She then paid for a taxi to take her to another agency to rent a vehicle. When she spoke to the owner about it, he yelled at her for quite awhile, complaining she was a «bad person» trying to «steal» from him apparently because she asked him to pro-​rate the charges to one day’s use and refund the rest. Or it may be because I contacted the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and they contacted him & asked him to refund her money (she did not ask the Chamber or him for a full refund, only asked him to refund the money for the unused days). I believe she was being fair. When she told him she was told he had no good reviews listed on
at the San Diego location (the LAX office has some good reviews), he said «I know it, I don’t care». I am sure this is not over with, but thought I would update now so anyone thinking of renting from the San Diego office would think again.

Avoid, avoid, avoid!!! I got a call at 6 PM the night before I was supposed to pick up the car to leave on a road trip telling me my reservation was cancelled because they did not have the vehicle. I questioned why they called me so late and the man proceeded to tell me the vehicle was in an accident and they had no other vehicles to accomidate me. Don’t bother, pay the extra money to go with someone reputable.

I would suggest –DO NOT rent from this place. I should have turned around when I saw the piece of paper on the apartment door confirming their location. GHETTO! The car was dirty, smelly, and the low tire pressure gauge light was on. «Don’t worry, that’s light’s on all the time, the tires are fine»…what was I thinking. Come to find out, at night — NONE of the interior lights work! I promply took the car back the next day to get another car but there was no one in the office. I called and the guy said no other cars were available so I had to drop the key in a box, and hope I’m not charged the remaining 3 days of the original reservation. I went to a reputable car rental company, WITH an airport shuttle, and saved my vacation.
*Update-​I did get charged the unused days, tried calling, no answer. two words– RIP-​OFF!!!

I was on a family vacation mid-​July 2012 for 7 days. We had 12 people altogether, flying from New York to San Diego. We booked the car rental at Atwest for a 15-​seat passenger van after seeing good reviews on Google. We found out that Google Reviews were not so reliable after we’ve been through so many issues with Atwest, beginning on the first day at pick-​up.
The rental value was $ 752 for 7 days.
The day before leaving to go to California, the owner of Atwest emailed to confirm our reservation for the 15-​seater. We confirmed for pick-​up at 12pm (noon) the next day. Our flight arrival was set at 10:50am. We agreed to wait the extra hour at the airport. Upon arrival, I went to their location to pick up the van, and found out that the car wasn’t going to be returned until 1pm. Decided to wait even longer… Until the owner says he can lend me a 4-​seater until the van gets returned at 6pm. 6PM!!! A 4-​SEATER for 12 PEOPLES!!!
Ok, so I decided to take the 4-​door sedan (which belongs to him personally, and not for business rental). I had to take 3 separate trips to drop off my family members at the hotel.
At 6pm, I drove up to the car rental business address to trade in the 4-​passenger car for the 15-​passenger van. I finally got the crappy van by evening. We got the 2007 Ford E350. It was filthy inside.
Later this evening, we drove to Las Vegas from San Diego. During the drive, we kept hearing beeping noises, which had 5 beeps, repetitively.
We got to Las Vegas and parked the car overnight at the hotel. The next morning, we got into the car and everybody, including the kids, were all ready to go explore Vegas. However, we couldn’t get the engine started. The battery died out. Ok, we initially blamed it on me for not turning off the lights. So we called our own AAA to get jumpstart.
We continued to our next attraction. Parked the van and made sure the lights were off. We came back out 2 hours later, and the van wouldn’t start (AGAIN). Called AAA again, and they did an engine check. They said the alternator and battery needs replacement.
So I called Atwest, and they said to show proof that it needed to be replaced, and replace it myself. They will reimburse.
Ok, we replaced it all and finished our trip. On the last day, I went to return the van at 9am (which was stated as their normal business hours). They were not open yet. No one was there. My plane leaves at 10:35am. I ended up delaying my flight so I can return the rental and get my reimbursement for the repairs.
When they finally open at 3:00PM, he gave me a hard time about the reimbursement for repairs. He tried to cancel out the 7 days of rental with the amount for repairs. The repair cost me a total of $ 812.
This is how this business runs. Do not waste your time and money with these peoples. It will ruin your entire trip. There is a reason why their company remained small.
I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ATWEST AND WILL NEVER USE THEM IN THE FUTURE.