Well, just another one of them "got screwed" DR stories I just had to share. I flew into Santiago late one evening with my 70+ year old mother a few months ago. We had a car reserved at Budget months in advance but when I get there the guy at the Europcar counter told me the Budget car guy told him he didn't have a car for us so he left. Only in the DR, right? But that's a whole nother story. Anyway the Europcar guy was happy to offer a car for us, at a higher price, of course, but we were just happy to get a car at 10:00 p.m. with a two hour drive ahead. Well, all is well and then Hurricane Irene decides to swing by. Our flights are all cancelled and they tell me we can't get out for two weeks, but low and behold, we luck into a "special" flight leaving out of Santo Domingo. My mother was running out of heart medication. I called Europcar, and called and called, no answer, ever. Finally the day before we leave I get someone on who tells me no problems taking it to Santo Domingo, a small charge for delivering to the other airport. Well, we leave out extra early for Santo Domingo and all goes fairly smooth except for a flat tire at 4:30 a.m. in the pitch black. We arrive at the airport and of course they have no paperwork or any clue about the rental agreement in Santiago because we all know computers in the DR don't talk to each other. The guy looks over the car and points out a black scuff mark where the flat tire hit the car, which I wipe off, and then says everything looks ok. So, where do I sign? Uh, there's no paperwork so we can't give you the bill, we'll have to send it to you. Yeah, yeah, I know, and those little alarms were going off but at that point my mom was just so relieved that we were getting out. I said OK and went on my way. After getting back to the states I emailed and emailed for a month trying to get a receipt that they didn't want to send me, for some reason. Well, I finally got one and my $240 quote turned into a $478 charge. I know none of you who have lived in the DR are surprised by this but, they tacked on every extra tax, airport charge, drop off fee tax along with a surprise damage fee of $125 and then even a tax on the damage fee of $20. Well, I can take the general shafting, after all, living in the DR for years you have to be able to, but a fraudulent damage fee when the guy looks right at me and says everything looks good. So I dispute the damage claim with my Credit Card company. Well, I just got off the phone with them and they informed me that Europcar had paperwork showing proof of damage. Now that made me laugh, I told her in the DR you can any piece of paperwork you need. Anyway, I found it funny that they believe paperwork received from the DR. OK, there's my rant, it's over, and I'll take my shafting and move on to fight another day. I just hope Budget doesn't shaft me again next time and force me to rent from Europcar!