by the Wanz

            (Never thought I’d do a blog cars, did ya?!)

            HAPPY SUNNY SUNDAY FROM SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry if it’s cloudy in Washington… that sucks… but it’s expected… right?)

            Today we are moving away from the list-format to discuss a specific Car Rental incident I witnessed with my friend. I don’t drive, so I don’t find myself dealing with shit like this, however, I was there for the whole ordeal and wanted to give the incident some justice. So, today, I blog. And dammit, I blog for justice… and also because I couldn’t think of anything else to write about.

            So my friend, her boyfriend, and I begin on a journey to go to some Car Rental Place. She’s heading up the coast for the weekend to help her sister move and her car wouldn’t make the journey, so she needs to rent a car. (A similar and familiar concept I’m sure.) As we’re driving there, she mentions the name of the place a few times and her boyfriend and I seem a little confused, cause she keeps saying “Payless.” I make a few Payless shoes joke I think until we actually get there and we’re like “Right, it’s actually called Payless Car Rentals… hmmm….” She explains that it is the cheapest car rental place and that her sister set her up with a good deal…

            First warning sign: It is away from the other Car Rental Places. We’re out by Oakland Airport, and so there a number of rental agencies and when we pull up to the main one, the guy outside the door shakes his head and is like “Turn around and go that way.” The place is pretty small, a little odd and sketchy, but that can be anywhere in Oakland. My friend goes in and her boyfriend and I just shoot the breeze for a bit in her car. It’s a good 45 minutes later and we’re both like “Does it normally take this long to rent a car?”

            Then we see our friend storming out, on the phone with her sister, near to tears. We bros just carefully watch her from the mirror until she makes her way back to her car. Apparently, they require mail in order to prove that you live in Oakland and she had just moved. She was then yelled at and berated by the customer service guy for a good 20-30 minutes because she didn’t have any mail and he refused any other type of verification. Plus, they were unsure of if her car was even ready/there yet.

            As she’s explaining this in the car, the couple in front of us approaches the car and informs us of a similar situation/problem that they were having. They were also refused a car and yelled at by the same man. There’s apparently a woman who works there who is more considerate, but she wasn’t available that day. Our friend’s sister calls her back, unable to get any better news for her, so while we wait, her boyfriend whips out his phone and goes to the yelp reviews of this place. And this is what we found…. (Ignore any of the 4-5 star comments, those were written by someone who works there.)

            With reviews like “I've never had trouble with a car rental company before I went where” and “tires are so worn that they're not safe” and “The car has gross stains on the seats and 44,000 miles on the odometer” it becomes clear that this was not the best place to get a cheap car. As we pull away, we then notice the cars that they are renting out… One car looks legitly totaled, another’s bumper is hanging on by a thread, and the third has a gigantic dent in the passenger side’s door. We realized that the cost of they would charge us for in “damage” would out-weigh the “cheap and affordable price.”

            In the end, we end up going back to the Oakland airport, renting a car form the place where the rest of the awesome car rental places are, and my friend got to drive in her dream car. But the short of it is, if you find yourself in Oakland, needing to go to a car rental place, AVOID PAYLESS CAR RENTAL!!!!!!

Our life lessons for today: Just say no to Payless Car Rental; if it's really cheap and sounds too good to be true... check yelp. All answers reside there. And remember: sometimes you deserve an awesome car to rent, even if it's just for a few days to help your sister move. CHEERS!

Do you have your own Payless hell story? Or would you want to defend Payless? Well, prove it and leave us a comment! J Share your experience on our blog or our twitter account at http://twitter.com/LifeInTransitTJ or on our facebook at http://www.facebook.coom/lifeintransittj or send us an email at [email protected] and we may post your message / picture!!