I rented a car from this San Francisco location in June 2019. Most difficult part of experience was navigating the street where the business is located and then navigating the garage where the cars are kept. The street is very busy, not very safe and the instructions on how to get from the Alamo office to the pick up area in the garage could be explained better. Employees in garage were very kind and helpful. Drop off was very easy compared to the pick up.The SUV we got was very clean and worked perfectly for our 8 day road trip around California. Had great gas mileage and very spacious and comfortable.However we incurred 2 parking tickets on the last day of the rental and it was extremely frustrating to work out and figure out to pay them. Alamo never contacted us about the tickets which they should have. They took out $20 from my bank account and didnt say why, I had to call and ask. I had to make a number of calls to Alamo and the city of San Francisco and work out to pay the tickets.Overall experience wasnt horrible but definitely couldve of have been better. I am not sure I will rent from them again. They could improve their customer service via phone and in person at this location.
Quite helpfull the staff, good deals! totaly recomend!
Really great customer service, nice staff behind the counter and in the parking garage! We went at the end of the busy time (9am-11ish am) and the wait was only 15 minutes, plus you can use wifi of hotels nearby when you are waiting.We got given a free upgrade which was amazing. Will definitely use Alamo again!
They got expensive.
Drove over 4000 kilometers with our rental car and it worked fine. The pick up was fast and easy and the drop off even faster and easier! Highly recommending their services. -Couple from Finland
Ive rented here 3 times so far and every time has been a smooth process! The people are always very friendly and helpful, even when busy. Note, I always make the reservation online ahead of time.First time renting here was because they were the only place I could still find open at night on a Sunday and needed a car for a business trip the next day. Got there maybe 15 minutes before closing (sorry about that!) and they were very quick and I got the car out right before closing.Most recent time, I asked them about how much itd be to switch to a car with AWD and they easily told me how much itd be to switch.Thanks for the friendly and quick service!Sorry about always coming in near closing...
Super efficient! We came to return the car - you need to go inside the parking garage, and up to the third floor. There, a few Alamo agents were waiting for us, answered questions about toll roads and ensured us that everything was good with our car.
Good value and service. George the manager is always cool and helpful.The location can be difficult to navigate out of during rush hour. Plan to spend some time in traffic getting away from union square area.
The best experience I’ve had so far at an Alamo location. The people are very friendly and their service goes beyond the scope of what I believe Alamo expects them to provide. I am very sure that I’ll be back here sometime soon!
Carefully check your car before accepting it! The first car they gave us was dirty inside and after checking the engine I discovered that the cooling fluid was way below minimum (which could result in mechanical damage!!). I guess they were just testing what a young couple would accept - this was exactly the same situation that happened to my friend last year with Alamo in NY. However, they were able to resolve this situation promptly, giving us another, clean car in good condition. I would not be afraid to rent a car there again, the second car was very good, for a good price, the staff was very friendly and check in very quick!
I scheduled a pick up at this location back in July 2016 when I traveled from DC, because I wanted to make the famous trip to Los Angeles across Pacific Highway 1. So it happened that I only had my debit card with me and I had a credit card with only about $300. The lady that helped me told me that unfortunately I would be able to rent the car because I need it a credit card to cover all expenses. I understood but was so disappointed. I asked to talk to the manager, and the guy was so helpful he told me that it was fine for this time to pay with my debit card. I was so happy and I thank them for been flexible and to help me realize my dream of making this long drive to LA, which my partner and I enjoy greatly!! Recommend this place 100%!!
Our experience with Alamo was good to average. We reserved a car months in advance for our family vacation. When we arrived Alamo did not have the car we requested. The customer service representative George asked us to wait for 10-15 minutes for a car to arrive. After 35 plus minutes of waiting with kids 4 and 5 years old in tow, I inquired with George about the status of our rental. George informed us that they were having problems locating a car for us? George did upgrade us to a crossover SUV for no additional charge. Our only request would be that this decision would have been made earlier by Alamo and not have to be negotiated by me. An Alamo rental office is not a preferred environment for families traveling with young children. Otherwise, the car operated as designed and our vacation was enjoyable.
Worst Car Rental Ever!They declined my credit card without even trying at San Diego Airport even though the car was already payed by a company.Therefore I had to take the train to Los Angeles, where I was able to pay the deposit in cash. At this point I want to thank the kind manager!They told us, that we will get the deposit ($400!) back at the returning station in San Francisco and gave us a receipt.When we finished our roadtrip through the south western USA and gave the car back in San Francisco, we were told, that they will send us a check via postal service, because they did not have any cash there.Since then more than two month passed and none of my requests to Alamo was answered except from Alamo Germany, which forwarded my question to the USA.So, for me this is the worst place to rent a car ever!
The worst experience in my life. We rented the car in LA for 16 days and our last stop was SF. After arriving to the city, we tried to park the car and all the parkings asked more than $50 per day. So, we returned the car 3 days earlier than expected. The company will not refund the money for these 3 days and the girl who was attending us did not give any relevant information on how we have to proceed after this issue.
Good drop-off experience. Very quick. Hard to find the parking entrance through the traffic.
Very very nice and kind. They helped me a lot after I experienced a busy traffic in San Francisco yesterday. Thanks!
Great customer service. I made a mistake on my reservation but the manager, Conor, resolved the situation promptly. Very happy with the outcome.
God awful service. The kiosks are worthless. There is one person working behind the on a Saturday morning - please explain to me how that makes sense. She is also very rude and yet extremely chatty when she should just be working. And one worker just walking around doing nothing. The National desk is in the same location and he has gone through 5 people for every one that Alamo has. I’d rent from there. Oh. And the people who have been helped - their cars aren’t ready.
Great experience. Nice car. Great service. Second time Ive used then. Steve and Jill. From uk
Terrible customer service experience. They just don t take the time to help you find your car. Will definitely pay a bit more and use enterprise from now on. Also it is impossible to get them on the phone.
Huge lines and a couple of barely moving clerks. We have spent an hour in a line here, which beats all the records so far. However it it is mostly their managements fault for organizing the whole process in this manner.
Rented from here a little over a year ago and had no issues. The woman at the front desk was nice and gave us some kind of a deal and we rented for cheaper than we thought we had to!
If you rent your car in the morning and return your car one minute after 7pm (even though your rental is good through the night until the next morning), you will have to pay to park at the parking garage where the car rental is located ($22). They have no key drop like most modern car rental centers. For this reason alone, I will never rent there again. Not worth stressing over getting back to SF before 7pm, which is virtually impossible in Cali traffic. Boo.
Hired a car for a trip up the west coast to Seattle from here. Read some bad reviews before hand but the price was better than all of the rest so decided to give it a go. Great service, excellent car, and no hidden costs. I think a lot of people who have trouble with Alamo bring it on themselves. If you plan well and confirm your booking and the details you wont have a problem.
My post is focused on the service in this agence (the rent at Alamo was easy and ok!)Georges welcomes us like he hates tourists and instead of selling us an additional insurance smartly, he threatens us like « if you have some troubles, don’t call me! » or « if you need some assistance I won’t help you »So, fine ! Let me give you an advice in return : change your job if it is too painful to be in contact with clients everyday ;)No need to mention that he did not even say « goodbye » to us when he gave us the keys ! Rude!!
Was a nightmare picking up & returning car - took over an hour to get the car and only one lazy girl working the counter - she didn’t give us the keys so we had to come all the way back from the garage to get them and she ignored us for 25 minutes until a manager from National came and helped. Our flight changed so we needed to return the car to the airport, but they wanted to charge $400 MORE to return it to the airport instead of this pickup location, so we had to drive 45 miles out of the way and take an Uber back 45 miles just to avoid their ridiculous price gauging! Called for 4 hours and couldn’t get this location on the phone. Never use Alamo! Also, their generic response of emailing care@alamo.com does absolutely nothing at all.
Never, ever rent from Alamo.Our 10:30am reservation was not ready until 11:40am.How much of your vacation do you want to spend waiting in a dirty car rental office? Dont risk it.Also, there is no restroom here for waiting customers. The staff directs everyone to the restroom at the Hilton accross the street.
Excellent contact with the staff, easy to find central location and easy to drop the car after rental.
Staff is nice. Location central. Car was clean.3 stars, cause you only can bring back the car within their buisness hours, so only till 6pm, not really customer friendly. They make you park on the street or in a parking garage, which are pretty expensive in SF.So if you want to bring back your car over night, which is not possible, I cannot recommend this location.
Second time in a few months we rented from Alamo using the Costco travel rate, this time for a Ford Edge, rented for a week to visit and explore Mammoth Mt, lakes and the eastern Sierra. This was another amazing experience from this Union Square, downtown SF location!! Great fast friendly service from start to finish!! Thank YOU!!
The signs directing you to the returns are point in all directions. Right now the fifth floor is the location and you have to push the button to get as ticket to go up and leave that ticket in there car but the prices are the great in SF as far as I can tell.
I had the single most best car rental experience at this location. Dmitry, who was working the counter went well and above providing good customer care. I just wish in my travels I could always encounter a car rental that at least comes close to this one. If Im ever back in San Francisco, I will not hesitate to make sure this is where I go to get a rental.
I got an uncleaned car full of trash including food from the previous customer. The cloth at the ground had a hole. Locking the car was challenging due to issues with the key card, even after replacing batterie. They asked for feedback if everything is fine. I gave that feedback, but there was no further reaction.
Always friendly and no fuzz rental. Even adressed by name when delivering the car.
I just want to write a little review because on Christmas Day we had some problems with another rental car company. The woman at Alamo and her manager helped us out to make sure that we will find a car. They were very nice to us and they really try to find a solution to our problem. Thanks to them we finally arrive on time at Santa Barbara! So thank you again!!!
Friendly helpful female agent at counter made me want to go back and give them business again. Only problem is its located in downtown SF where parking and traffic is never easy.
Had corporate reservation but manager wouldnt allow me to rent a car with just my debit card...company policy of credit card only repeated unsympathetically over and over like a parrot. Walked over to Dollar and got a car immediately with better customer service and a 130- cheaper rate. Walk over to Dollar two doors down, they are more human.
Best prices for young drivers! the staff was very friendly, pickup and dropoff was very quick and without any problems! will be back for sure.
Great service - quick and easy. Only issue was the car provided was missing its radio aerial, but this was only really a prob driving through the mountains from LA to Nevada where radio signal was weak
Although there were issues with our booking the staff member we were dealing with sorted the booking quickly and had us on our way add quickly as possible. We were able to rent a satnav for our trip and got the car of our choice which was in excellent condition. Will use this firm again.
We rented the car in las vegas. They told us we could return it in san francisco anytime even if the office was close. It was a lie. We went to 19.00 to the office and it was closed and it was impossible to return the car leaving the keys in a box or something similar. We had to leave the car all night in a parking and to go back to the office next day in the morning. Why do you say things that are not true and confuse customers?
I had booked a car for a 9:30 pickup but ended up waiting just over an hour for the car. They told me that it was on its way from the Airport, which kind of defeats the purpose of scheduling a specific time for pick-up. May be a good idea to add an hour to the pickup time you want so that it is picked up at the time you needed. I also noticed that the full gauge was right a the F and after driving a few miles it was below the F mark which is telling me that it was not completely filled with gas.
Friendly staff. Helpful and quick service.
We arrived at 9:30am... we pick the car at 12:00pm... this is unacceptable. We had to ask the counter man to know where was our car... after 2 hours of waiting !!!No sense of service. Poor quality service. No apologies for the late. No smile. No nothing. Do not choose this Alamo’s office, unless you have a lot of time to spend.
We waited there for 3 hours. No restroom, tried to sell us an unnessacary insurance and very little information. Best thing: the car is superb!
Good cars Good people good prices
Busy, but worth the wait. Price was perfect! Michael was very helpful and guided us to our next destination.
Easy rental return procedure. Drive to 3rd floor of car park on the corner and turn the key into helpful staff. In and out in 5mins. Well done Alamo!
If you can figure out how to return your car, this place can be great. Took me three attempts to figure out that the return involves taking a ticket to get to third floor to reach Alamos crew, who are very friendly by the way. I left item in my car and the staff next day quickly solved my problem.
Recommend getting a car from this place although the lines are pretty long and things can move pretty slow so plan accordingly.
Good service but heavy on price.
Just go next door to Dollar. Terrible service. I reserved a car for 1 PM. I was there at 1205pm and was told to wait 55 min. I go next door to Dollar w no reservation. They put me in a full size for the same price as an Alamo mid size and Im in the car in 5 min. Ill NEVER rent w Alamo again
Super car super service . No marks to the clown who wanted to charge my pick up $8 To exit the car return park . Alamo need to sort this . Bernard
Slowest service ever. Waited in a queue for 2 hrs. Would have been better to catch an uber to another location. Avoid this alamo.
It took so long to get a car..more than 1 hour and a half after they had said give you right a wayAnd the service was terrible. While I explained the situation, the woman at the desk told me shut the front door maybe its the normal way to deal with their customer in alamo but not in my country. There was no instruction about the car. Use another rentacar company.
Unfortunately our experience with the two cars we picked up in O’Farrell was not good at all. Both cars were in a terrible condition, it appeared that they had not been cleaned at all. There was pieces of food on the steering wheel on one, and the interior of both was dusty and filthy. Both cars were dirty outside, one in particular looked like it had gone through a thousands miles with flies and bugs all over the front, headlights and hood. One of the cars had no windscreen wiper liquid. The other one is constantly coming up with a warning about oil replacement in the dashboard. Altogether this is definitely the worst car rental experience I’ve had. Contacted the manager at Alamo OFarrell, who finally responded after my second email. He had nothing to offer other than a warm apology.
Easy to use car hire - booked using Expedia app is much cheaper than a walk in!!!!!!!
We had a really bad experience with Alamo. They told us to return the car at 6pm when they close at 6pm. We couldn’t return the car and they made us pay for one parking day. When talking with the manager Tauqir Syed, he was rude and unprofessional.I will not recommend rent any car with this company.
Great experience, originally I had reserved a compact car but there wasnt any available, so they gave a sport car without cost. The attention was supreme.
Fast flexibel and inexpensive. Just the way i like it!
Great service, good staff, very accommodating. Helpful all across the board.
Good and fast car rental service in the heart of San Francisco. Nice car selection.
We had a voucher and an online check-in confirmation but we had to wait a half an hour to get our car, a fullsize SUV. Unfortunately without the chance to take a choice between different cars. The staff on the counter was friendly but not helpfull to get our favorised car. So we had no choice and we had to get what was present. Sorry, but Avis is much better in cases like this.
Kind and nice.u will get what u have expected to get
Terrible experience. Hours and hours in late. There were no cars for everyone who rented before!! I advice against it!
Very good and very relaxed Service at any time I was in San Francisco. Thanks to Dave and his colleagues. I will return and renting my next car here again.
When I returned a rental car, It was a bit late (just 10mins) for 19:00( original return time) due to congestion. Hence their office already closed, so I called their customer center . I said to their stuff, Actually I have to go back to the hotel and the airport because my departure time(mid night) is closing. So I will not be able to return tomorrow. Their stuff said to me, If you park near the office or our parking lot, you wont need to pay any penalty . So I parked a rental car at just in front of their parking lot . I fully convinced their stuff. However a couple of days later they billed me extra 3 days fee. How could I return a rental car after departure to outside US? Furthermore I asked many times through credit card agency and rent a car agency to return extra fee, but they insist they are correct without no additional evidence.
Use the self-service machines! There was a queue of European Luddites coming out the door, we (Brits) walked in and got our car in 5 minutes. Car park entrance is just around the corner on Jones st
The easiest rental in my life. Dave was extremely helpful. Thank you!
Debit card is available here! And nice and kind staffs :)
In general we made good experiences with Alamo but this shop didnt have our car ready at the agreed time + the trunk was full of dog hair
Super nice service. Good car. New.
Ok car rental place. Paid extra for a navigation system which was not working to start. Might have had dead battery. Plugged it in afterwards and it worked, but only after driving round San Francisco not knowing where to go. Also, Alamo didnt show us round the car. 4 stars seems right.
Very friendly guy at the counter, which gave us all the right information, and offered a choice between three possible similar vehicles. Had a nice chat too!
I’ve rented a midsize car at SFO airport last week and I did self serve checkout, as the line up was way too long. Surprisingly it’s super easy, I was out with a car under 30mins. Return was a easy ordeal too, but I will recommend to budget extra 30mins as you have to wait for the train to take you back to the airport terminal.
I have planned a road trip with my daughter to California for a long time and made a reservation for a car through Alamo to use the car going from San Francisco to 4 other places. When we arrived to pick up the car there was a very long line, so we had to wait an hour. Unfortunately I could only present my international drivers license phisically. So the manager refused to let me have the car. I have never met such an unfriendly person like Owen, I was so devastetated literally in tears, and he just told his coworker to serve the next client and he would be done with me. He didnt even accept a picture of my national drivers license which I forgot in Germany, and there was no way I could get the license within the next day. Owen didnt try to solve the problem at all, which should be his job, he just sent me on my way. Finally we got a car with sixt rental car where there were very friendly and did everything to make it possible fot me to go on my trip. Since I had this encounter with Owen I would never ever go with Alamo again and since I m a travel agent in Germany and book a lot of trips for my clients to the US, I will never recommed Alamo again. I understand that they have there rules and everything, but there always shoul be politeness involved dealing with a customer.
Booked through a broker, so the checkin was a real breeze. They didn’t try to upsell us anything, we were in and out in about 10 minutes. As an avid hater of rental companies; this was a great experience!
Good friendly and fast service,, The best of the rental car in town..I had good time,,,, so Ill be back.
Upgraded at the Alamo OFarrel Station from Economy to Executive SUV Luxury Car. Quite expensive but nice Car.Left my white Dress Shirt on a Hangar in the Car when i returned it. Did send Alamo instantly an Email but never heard back whatsoever!Very dissappointing, bad Service for such a big Station!Im also an AVIS Preferred Customer, will stay with Avis, was not a good Idea to Test Alamo.RCB
Booked online last minute. Alamos Webservices good. Great service. Quick pickup.
We have a reservation for 7 am. We have been waiting in line for 40 minutes and there is only one person working the counter (George) and he is extremely slow. Customers shouldnt have to wait 40 minutes over their reservation slot to get their car. Why cant more people work the counter? There is a line with 10 people waiting here!! Unacceptable!
Unfortunately we forgot our camera inside our rental car. When we came back to alamo with our request to check the car again, they told us there was no camera inside the carVery very unsatisfying :((No more Alamo EVER .
Worst car rental company I have dealt with, booked the car 3 months in advance when I get there they have no car for me or no cars available. Car was booked for 10am did not get a car (which was not the one I booked) until 3pm. We lost out in a day of our vacation and we were one of 5 families in the same situation at this location. Would advise people to avoid this location.
We booked a car online for january 2nd, we arrived at 9:30 am in the office for a reservation at 10am, after 45 mins to reach the counter, we had to wait until 12:00 to have our car reservation, its unacceptable to wait that long, they didnt even apologise... 0 customer service..
Service very bad. The lady didnt listen to me what I wanted. Unfriendly. Not helpful. Dont get the right children seat for my child as reserved - this is really bad for driving on the highway and there is no security.
Service was good. No issues
We dropped our one-way rental car off at this San Fran office after driving up Highway 1 from LA. The guy in the carpark took the keys and charged my credit card (unbeknownst to me) more than $US350 more than I was supposed to be charged (a considerable amount since our quote was only $170). When I contested this price, he told me to go downstairs and sort it out at the office. On the way down, we worked out what had happened… the member of staff in LA had hidden some paperwork with much higher charges folded up inside my original paperwork when she handed it back to me as we drove out the carpark. There were two copies of the same paperwork, with an area where I was supposed to sign. As I hadn’t seen this, I certainly hadn’t signed it, so I was expecting an easy fix, and a full refund without much hassle. Boy, was I wrong. When I got down there, I spoke to a gentleman (Im being nice and calling him a gentleman, he was anything but) who told me that the Alamo offices weren’t connected, and I would have to call the LA office. I asked him how they managed to charge my credit card 5 minutes ago if they weren’t “connected”, to which he offered no answer. When I asked if they could put me through to the LA office on their phone, he said they didn’t have their phone number. That’s right, even in the age of the internet, he didn’t have their phone number. I asked to speak to the manager, who, after 10 minutes waiting, was apparently on her lunch break, and I was instructed again to call the LA office. At this point my blood pressure was rapidly climbing, so I left for our hotel with the intention of returning in the morning. When I did come back, I was greeted by the same guy I had spoken to the night before. Excellent. “You’re back!” he exclaimed. Yes, I am indeed back, and I’m sure I looked happy to be there. When I asked to speak to the manager, he replied, “Again?”. No, not again, she was on her lunch break last night. A lunch break at 6pm, remember? I was finally greeted by the manager, who, after some mild deliberation, gave me a refund on the $350 I was over charged. Delighted though I was to get a refund, the amount of time I spent to get it, and the attitude from the non-managerial staff was appalling. I can only imagine how many people either didn’t notice extra charges, spoke English as a second language and perhaps didn’t understand what was going on, or straight up gave up through sheer frustration earlier than I did.
Have rented here 5-6 times and always had a pretty smooth experience, w friendly staff.
Would give them a 5star only for women in the office! Tried to downgrade our car because she was to lazy to go upstairs to get the keys and was really rude a number of times!
I am giving 2 stars because I made a prepaid reservations yet when I got to the counter I had to give the rep all my information again. What is the point of entering all that info at booking? He was also hard of hearing and soft spoken and so I would have to yell across the counter all of my information. Everyone in the room now has my phone number and email address. Not only that, after he was finally done entering my info and asking me if I wanted, insurance, gas or gps and telling me what a good deal it was and how I didnt want to save money??? I already declined when booking online!!! When hes finally done he tells me it will take 30-45 minutes to get my car! ARE YOU SERIOUS?? I prebooked, prepaid, pre reserved at this time FOR A REASON. I was so upset but this is what they were telling EVERYONE and so I had to wait with everyone else. We were about to cancel our lunch plans but my husband wanted to give them 5 minutes first. Low and behold in 3 minutes my name is called! I jump for joy raising my hand and said MEEEEE like I just won the lottery. I believe I was called this quick only because I rented a mid SUV and everyone else was waiting for an economy. I dont understand why the rep just decided to automatically tell me 30-45 minutes. Had he had just checked, which would only take a few seconds to know what we booked and that they had it in the parking garage waiting for me. I am giving a 2 star because the car was decent/what I expected and returning it was quick and painless.
Long line. Probably due to the outdated computer systems. Management, get new booking systems! Experience was fine otherwise.
Received a brand new car with great customer service!
Great service, good prices
Rented a car for a drive to Yosemite. Had the keys and paperwork done in 10-15 minutes. Also accidentally left an iPad in the rented car, which was quickly returned to us after a couple of email exchanges with Michael, the manager.Customer service went above and beyond on this one.
The self serve check in is a waste of time and everything ends up being manual anyway so expect to queue. We were given a really dirty car. They offered to swap it but we didnt notice until after we left the city so it was too late. The staff were very friendly over email but less so at the location.