Alamo Reviews and Complaints

I rented a silver 2016 Jeep Cherokee from Alamo Rent A Car on March 14, 2017, when I flew in to Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia. I returned the vehicle on March 28, 2017. When I returned the vehicle, the woman who checked it in pointed out a small scuff on the rear passenger door, measuring about 1.5 inches. It was only a scuff; I wiped it away with my fingers, and it was gone. She said she would need to "have it looked at." I asked why because nothing was there. There were no damages to the vehicle when I returned it. A couple of weeks later, I received a letter in the mail from Alamo stating that I had damaged their vehicle and that the damages totaled $3,192.02. They included pages and pages of fictitious damages to the vehicle, including structural damage, broken lights, etc. They even included some photos of a silver vehicle that was smashed in. I was dumbfounded! I couldn't figure out why they were sending that to me because I did not damage their vehicle. At first I thought it was a mistake. I was extremely upset for two days. So then I started thinking that maybe it wasn't a mistake at all; maybe it was a scam. So I Googled the phrase "Alamo damage scam," and bingo! I found many, many websites recounting hundreds of stories of consumers who had the exact same experience with Alamo and also Enterprise; evidently the two companies are owned by the same parent company. I sent a letter to the Alamo rep who was calling me, emailing me and sending letters to me in the mail. I told him I did not damage the vehicle, and I told him I didn't know which vehicle he was referring to and where he got those photos, but they were not of the vehicle I rented. He replied, saying they would review my dispute with the renting location and get back to me. Not surprisingly, he responded a few days later saying I am indeed responsible for the "damages." I didn't damage the vehicle, and I don't see why I or my insurance company should pay money to a company who is trying to get money out of us fraudulently. I don't know if they threatened him or bribed him or what. This damage scam is evidently the company's modus operandi. I refuse to pay for damage I did not cause. And I am aghast that this company is still in business after defrauding hundreds of consumers. This is unconscionable. They think people will just give in and pay them to make the problem go away, or have their insurance companies pay them.