Thrifty Car Rental

Waited 45 minutes in line before being able to see someone to rent a vehicle. The vehicle itself was great, until towards the end a tire cap somehow fell off despite never touching it, which led to almost having a flat tire on the highway. Upon returning the vehicle I had forgotten an item by mistake and didn't realize until arriving home. I know for sure it was in the middle of the vehicle towards the front before returning the car to them, but despite me submitting an online lost item report and a police report, it was never found. This means it was stolen as it couldn't have fallen out due to where it was placed, and again it was in the car when the car was returned to them. I phoned them and told them exactly where it would be, and the person I spoke with, Manu, told me he would search the car again when he could and phone me back whether he found it or not. However, I never received any follow-up call from him or anyone else from Thrifty.

Edit: Thank you for your response, Kim. Do you happen to have any update regarding my lost item?

Dear Thrifty,

I want to buy your services. Why are you making it so very difficult for me?

I have already booked via Expedia two rental cars out of Calgary airport for 7 adults visiting from Australia later this month. I have some very basic but specific questions about insurance charges and also potential drivers who are aged 24 and 22. The Thrifty websites don't answer my questions (". Charges MAY apply. " tells me absolutely nothing!) ; the websites' interactive panels don't seem to recognize my Expedia-issued booking confirmation numbers and none of the Thrifty websites disclose any email addresses for customer inquiries.

I am in a very different time zone to you and don't want to phone North America. But it seems that Thrifty can't or won't deal with emails in the internet age.

Does Thrifty have an email address for customer inquiries? If so, what is it? If not, shouldn't I simply give up on Thrifty already?

Regards,

PD

Rented a car to take across the border to the states, made a reservation 2 hours before picking up the car and everything went incredibly smoothly with the help of Frank.

Frank is the best. He was incredibly patient, understanding, accommodating, and flexible with us; made us feel like extremely valued customers.

The one woman working the counter has a terrible case of “I hate my job”.
I had a rental that came way over the expected price when I booked online. The agent at the counter (woman, mid 30’s long black hair) gave no alternatives or options and was immediately combative at any of the inquiries or questions I had.

I would suggest avoiding thrifty rental at YYC solely based on the counter agents terrible disposition, she really was the worst.

Fantastic experience dealing with Nav, who was very nice, professional, attentive and friendly. She made an excellent recommendation for an upgrade and found me an excellent deal for my family.

Thank you Nav!

It is the slowest rental i have not moved for the past 30 mins in a line, this unacceptable customer service. If i had a chance to give it 0 stars i would

Thrifty at the airport was easy to find. My booking was 1pm and when I arrived, a car was not available.
Winter tyres is an additional cost of nearly $20/day +taxes extra. I went in March and you defs need winter tyres if you're planning to explore more than just Banff national park.
I had to wait an additional 1 hour for my car to be ready and cleaned. When picking up the car, the floor mats were clean but all wet
I had to ask for winter tyres as well and cannot be booked in advance
When I asked for compensation about the delay, they only offered me a voucher with an expiry of 12 months but being an international traveller, it was useless.
So dont plan any activities on the day of pickup of car rental as there may not be no available cars

Other than that, drop off car was quite quick and customer service was great! Expect to pay airport surcharge and other additional charges if you booked through a 3rd party

Was at first disappointed as our car had bald tires, but spoke to Howard at the office and he changed our whole experience. Every thrifty car rental needs a Howard.

Rented a van from Thrifty Car Rentals at Calgary Airport. Whole experience was awesome. Thelma at front desk tries her best to find the best vehicle for us. Gave us helpful hints about what to visit in Calgary and nearby areas. Then Zahir explained basic functions of Van for our ease. Van was very comfortable and full of options for our family of seven. Overall one of the best car renting experience for us. Will definitely recommend Thrifty Car Rentals. Easy 10/10.

Price was good.until when i returned my vehicle they charged me twice for prepaid recharge battery fee. I asked to get me a refund. Then they still charged me 5 dollars more than what i was quoted. So i asked to fix that to original estimated fee. They gave me an attitude through the whole process. They are the one made the mistake and they had the attitude.wth.

Customer service agents are quite horrible, lack any skill and cannot help in any way. Go elsewhere.

We git Tesla model 3, guy told me the battery should be good enough for around 480km but it died at 282km, had to charge at various stops.

I wish they should have told us about it’s battery health.

This Thrifty location in Calgary airport is very accommodating. The agent named Agnes helped me through my reservations and went through the details of how Alberta driving in the winter is a bit different than Ontario. She gave me a decent upgrade with my car reservation and with winter tires! That's a win! She was so easy and pleasant to talk to as well. I wish there's more agents like Agnes! I go Snowboarding every winter in Alberta and will definitely use thrifty IF she's still with them. 10/10!

When we arrived at the Thrifty counter an hour after our expected time, there wasn't a line-up (great!), but our reserved car wasn't available. Agnes at the front desk was very nice and waited in the parking lot to grab the first available car (it seems they share cars with other rental companies). We were surprised that insurance wasn't included in the cost (we paid for the car on credit card points) and there was an extra charge for two drivers. Agnes kindly didn't charge us for two drivers to make up for the wait. Return was fast and easy. Note to travelers - car rental in Calgary is WAY more expensive than Europe!

I specifically wanted to rent a Rav4 and instead, was led on by the Thrifty employee at the pick up desk. Had to wait over an hour for the keys because they "forgot about it", gave us a different car, tried to upsell several times and told they did not have the booked car even when the booking was done months prior to the visit. No, I do not want to pay an extra $20/day for the winter tires because that's all you have on the lot. No, I do not want to "upgrade" to a Tesla when going to the mountains with limited charging stations. The service was garbage because of that one employee. Do not go there if you can avoid it.

Nice and friendly service at the Vancouver Airport. Quick and easy access to rent my vehicle and it was waiting for me right out the front door.

A big thank you to the lovely Lana who was so kind and patient whilst we were picking up our car on Monday 4th July. We were made to feel v special. Thank you Lana. Ann and Alan Jones x

We had a terrible experience with Thrifty while on vacation. When we picked up the car there was a cap missing off one of the tires, the staff seemed annoyed when we asked them to find us one before we left.
We did not think we would need to check the oil of the car when picking up but turns out we should have. We were given the car at 55,000km when the oil service was due around 43,000km. The car gave us a warning to change the oil a few days into our trip (my fiancee checked the oil at this point and it was extremely low and black) - as we were hiking in back country territory this ruined a whole day of our vacation - none of the local auto shops had time until the next week for an oil change and so we had to try to the nearest large city for a quick lube service. We had called Thrifty first and they did not tell us we had the option of roadside assistance coming to switch out the car. She also GUARANTEED that we would be reimbursed if we paid for an oil change. I asked her if she could send a written document by email to ensure we would be reimbursed and she assured me she had created a case file and documented everything so not to worry. When we returned the car, the front desk manager told us there was nothing he could do because we had prepaid in full so he could not refund us. We pushed further as we did not feel we should be responsible for this cost. Once he mentioned he could call a senior manager but wanted a few days to do this, we told him no, we would wait around for this as we were leaving the province and wanted it dealt with. He came back to say that they could fill out a refund form but that it could take 4-6 weeks to receive a check in the mail.
Absolutely unbelievable, we are extremely disappointed, out of pocket $100 AND a whole day of our trip ruined by this. I will be letting all of my friends and family know to NOT book with Thrifty and am considering contacting the Better Business Bureau as we were lied to and cheated for more money.

Nous avons récupéré la voiture à Abbotsford et le retour à l'aéroport de Calgary.

Le service reçu aux deux endroits a été très courtois et rapide, et je ne peux que recommander.

En plus nous avons eu le plaisir d'avoir eu une Nissan Murano en location qui a été exceptionnel sur sa consommation avec une excellente tenue de route!

SCAM ALERT. Please refrain from using Thrifty car rental at Calgary Airport. I would give zero rating if I had a choice. Totally gut wrenching car rental experience.

Absolutely disgusting car rental place.
Georges at the front desk was rude and condescending. Tanveer at the time of the car rental return was unscrupulous and demeaning. They have zero customer service skills.

Please AVOID Thrifty car rental location at Calgary airport or else be well prepared for agony.

At the time of picking up the car, be careful of what the total charges of the car rental will be and also note down all the scratches and dents in detail.

I had the most horrible rental car experience here and I was with my 2 young kids. My flight was rescheduled to arrive 4 hours early in Calgary. I called their 403 (location specific) number 14 days ahead to ask if I will be charged more. I was told flight changes caused by airlines have no charge at all.
I walked there on the day of pick up and they first told me there is no car available which was clearly a lie. They had that car and suvs too which I was told later.
I was told I have to pay 31.99 per hour for early pick up and all together they charged me 600$ extra on top of what I already paid expedia. I asked for manager and that was a total waste of time. She said our customer service call centre is located in Philippines and we have no idea what they tell people. You pay what we ask you to pay here. I was so tired and did not have energy to fight so I gave them ok to go ahead even though they clearly lied to me.

Next: I returned car and they inspected then gave me ok to go. Then they realized I bought damage insurance so sent me random mess pictures and now claiming that somehow I managed to burn their seat between carseat and cloth BUT "good news" is that this will cost me nothing as I had insurance so I need to fill claim form and send them. They clearly are going to commit fraud with insurance company here. So greedy and deceiving. Please do not book this company specifically calgary airport location. I saw 3 other people that came with me going through hard time with them too and it sucks to be stuck there with no other option but to pay whatever they ask for. Their manager told me that I am lucky that I am paying only 200 for 4 hours early pick up. Usually they charge 400 per day for this.oh boy.what a bad experience!

Arrived late and had a short wait to get our rental. The gentleman that helped us was very apologetic for the lineup and for us having to wait.

Bad service. Unprofessional and rude staff. I will never ever work with them again and I wouldn't recommend anyone to deal with them.

There is no listing for Dollar and my understanding is that they are the same company, so I’m posting here. Our experience with Dollar has ruined what was otherwise a lovely trip. It started with the initial pick up, where they told us that the car had been inspected and had no issues. We went to look at the car ourself and there were 12+ issues ranging from chips in the windshield, dents, scratches, etc. After getting things sorted out, we were finally on our way over an hour later. The person at the counter was rude and patronizing and insisted that I translate what he had said to my father (the primary driver/renter), even though he had already understood it all and we had discussed it between ourselves. We also had our dog with us the entire time and was never told about any potential cleaning fees. A couple of days into the trip, we noticed some mechanical issues with the car (a lot of noise coming from the rear wheels along with vibrations in the vehicle and steering wheel). We had to drive from our Airbnb in Canmore, back to Calgary, to exchange our vehicle. When we got there, we were told that we would be subject to a vehicle cleaning fee of $150+ for the vehicle we had just brought in AND the one we would be returning at the end of our trip, due to having had a pet onboard. We were later told by a manager that if we brought the second vehicle back without any fur on the seats, that there would be no second charge but that they would have to charge the $150+ fee for the vehicle we were returning due to mechanical issues, even though they had made no mention of this previously, and it was due to mechanical problems with their car that we were returning it. In any case, I suspect they would have found some excuse to charge the fee a second time, whether or not we cleaned the car before returning it. A different employee had suggested that any vehicles that had transported a pet would be subject to this cleaning fee. In the end, we ended up not exchanging the vehicle because we didn’t agree with the charge for the cleaning fee. They let us take the vehicle back and didn’t seem at all concerned about the mechanical state of the vehicle or any potential safety issues at all. They did offer a credit for a portion of the cleaning fee at one point, but there is no way I am ever using this company again.

Great experience and extremely helpful customer service and team at the drop off location. Two names to remember are Aiman (front desk) and Navdeep (return/drop off). They are the most helpful, sweet and kind people I have ever met. So we rented two cars from them, Aiman was able to help us with that and made the process seamless and also upgraded one of the cars for us at no extra cost. We had to return the other car unfortunately due to me not feeling well and I wasn't able to drive it. Aimon went above and beyond to help me with that and genuinely wanted to help us. And Navdeep was equally helpful at the drop off location. We were in and out within minutes and made sure we know what the next steps are.
Thanks for making our trip great with the best customer service.

Terrible customer service and long wait times. I have never had a bad experience like this one. They don’t bother to make any exceptions and don’t care about the client experience. If anyone is looking for a car rental at the Calgary airport GO TO ALAMO! They have exceptional customer service at Alamo and fixed a problem we had right away that thrifty didn’t even bother trying to fix! THRIFTY IS THE WORST CAR SERVICE AND WILL LEAVE YOU STRANDED WITHOUT A CAR.

Service was great, after you wait online for your turn to speak to a representative. Additional staff, better planning of incoming flights would assist this counter.

Waiting in a long queue of thrifty on a Monday noon. I was hoping not too many travels but there is a huge line. I guess better avoid it in the summer season. Other companies have almost no queue.

But the car is amazingly clean and well maintained. Very satisfied with the price and the car.

Waited 2 hours in a line to pick up a car we had pre-booked. The costs savings aren’t worth the wait.