Then, when it came time for Alamo to bring us our vehicle, we could see the agent circling the lot t

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Despite finding much better pricing through other rental agencies, we decided to go with Alamo since the were a well-known company that we had rented from for 20 years. BIG MISTAKE. What a disaster on so many levels. DO NOT RENT FROM THEM IN COSTA RICA!
(1) They were dishonest about coverage options, (2) They sent us on our way in a an unsafe vehicle (the braking system completely failed), and (3) overcharged my credit card at the conclusion of the rental.
Before our trip to Costa Rica, I thoroughly researched insurance/coverage options and requirements in Costa Rica. Property Liability Insurance (PLI) was mandatory, and Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) was an optional upgrade, and if purchased, it included the PLI. I printed holiday travel trailer the policies from the Alamo reservation and called holiday travel trailer Alamo's international travel service center who confirmed that if CDW was purchased, it included PLI. I brought the printouts holiday travel trailer with me to Costa Rica just in case. Sure enough, when it came time to rent the car, the agent did a hard-sell on the CDW... I was ready to buy it since it was only a small amount more. But then the agent tried to tell me that if you purchase CDW, you also have to buy PLI. I knew this was not true, and I had printed copies from my reservation with Alamo which stated that CDW did, in fact, include the PLI. He continued to argue with me and tried to talk in circles, but I knew better and ultimately did not buy the CDW (I was covered with my credit card)... a less informed traveler would have been bullied into an additional $200 in charges for no reason.
Then, when it came time for Alamo to bring us our vehicle, we could see the agent circling the lot trying to find our 7-seater SUV. Clearly they did not have the car. After about 10 minutes, he returned from the back of the building with the vehicle. We inspected the car and pointed out that there was not much tread on the tires but knew that a reputable company like Alamo would not send us off in an unsafe car. So we set off on our 3-hour journey holiday travel trailer from San Jose to Quepos in pouring rain. About an hour into our journey we noticed that the brakes made a continual scraping sound whenever the car was in motion. The brakes worked fine though, so we continued on. We used the car without incident for several days, until the time when we were driving down a mountain, in a downpour with our 3 children in the car. The car started beeping as we approached town and as I tried to brake, the braking system COMPLETELY FAILED. Somehow, I was able to glide through a busy intersection with no brakes and no wrecks. I ultimately had to use the emergency brake to stop the car and avoid a collision. Luckily there was an Alamo in Quepos and they drove us back to our accommodations while they assessed the car. In the meantime, we lost 4 hours of our car rental use. The Alamo in Quepos was staffed holiday travel trailer by nice people, but they didn't seem overly concerned about what had happened. holiday travel trailer Ultimately they brought us a new vehicle for the remainder of our rental period. During the remainder of our stay, we passed their lot several times and saw that the original car we had rented was red-flagged holiday travel trailer on their lot! We are pretty certain that the staff in San Jose did not have the car we reserved and so gave us one from their repair shop.
At the conclusion of our trip, we returned the car to Alamo and let them know what had happened. The agent was apologetic and revised our bill with a $40 credit for our trouble. But when I returned to the US and reviewed my credit card statement, they charged my card $20 MORE than the invoice and credit slip I had signed. Luckily Capitol One dealt with the overcharge and issued me the credit.
I do plan on returning to Costa Rica next year and learned a very good lesson... just because a company has a good reputation and a history of good business ethics in the US, does not assure the same outside of the US.
Coogles916, we're listening and would like to address your billing concerns and overall experience with you directly. Please email care@Alamo.com with your contact information, any rental agreement or reservation numbers, the exact rental location, and the details of your rental holiday travel trailer so we can look into this further. When emailing please put reference #141205-001880 in the subject line, so that we can better assist you. Thank you! - Maggie