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Post by slacker 🐨 on Dec 13, 2023 11:13:06 GMT -5
Seems like the check-in process is all about getting you to spend more. We get a corporate discount that's pretty significant. When they offered me an upgrade last time, they implied they were "giving" me an upgrade when, in fact, they were essentially negating my corporate discount and charging me full price for the upgraded rental.
It put me in an awkward situation because I didn't feel like I could push back given that I'd agreed to the upgrade. Lesson learned. I have a trip to Florida in January and got a rental car for the week for a total of $168 and unlimited mileage.
When they say "upgrade", I say "No thank you".
Anyone else run into this?
Oh, and they also push hard on the insurance thing, but my car insurance covers us. I just carry my insurance card and I'm good to go. My old credit card company used to insure rentals too. My new one is really wishy washy about it. Reading the card features, it says it does, but then later says "...on some cards" or words to that effect. Essentially, the text is boiler plate and I couldn't find anywhere that explicitly said I was or was not covered. It's a moot point, but annoying nonetheless.
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Post by gato on Dec 13, 2023 11:37:38 GMT -5
Seems like the check-in process is all about getting you to spend more. We get a corporate discount that's pretty significant. When they offered me an upgrade last time, they implied they were "giving" me an upgrade when, in fact, they were essentially negating my corporate discount and charging me full price for the upgraded rental. It put me in an awkward situation because I didn't feel like I could push back given that I'd agreed to the upgrade. Lesson learned. I have a trip to Florida in January and got a rental car for the week for a total of $168 and unlimited mileage. When they say "upgrade", I say "No thank you". Anyone else run into this? Oh, and they also push hard on the insurance thing, but my car insurance covers us. I just carry my insurance card and I'm good to go. My old credit card company used to insure rentals too. My new one is really wishy washy about it. Reading the card features, it says it does, but then later says "...on some cards" or words to that effect. Essentially, the text is boiler plate and I couldn't find anywhere that explicitly said I was or was not covered. It's a moot point, but annoying nonetheless. On my son's visit over the weekend (flew down from Oregon), he was told that the car he had reserved was unavailable, but that he "qualified" for an upgrade, which he assumed would be at the same price, since the rental agency messed up. But no. |
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Post by RufusTeleStrat on Dec 13, 2023 11:42:53 GMT -5
Its been a few since I did a car rental, but as I recall it used to be standard practice that if the class of vehicle rented was not available that they had to give you the next level if on hand. This lead to several times where I received a much larger vehicle than I either wanted or needed. They may have changed this, but that was my understanding.
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Post by rickyguitar on Dec 13, 2023 12:51:03 GMT -5
Sounds a bit like a Seinfeld episode.
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Post by Leftee on Dec 13, 2023 18:00:42 GMT -5
Which rental company?
We have a National corporate account. I’ve not seen this. They tell me what row to pick from and I do. No surprises on the bill. I’ve had upgrades because of availability issues. Never been charged for those.
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Post by rickyguitar on Dec 13, 2023 18:28:07 GMT -5
We always use Enterprise, insurance co gets us a discount. I have not seen this.
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Post by slacker 🐨 on Dec 14, 2023 10:13:20 GMT -5
Which rental company? We have a National corporate account. I’ve not seen this. They tell me what row to pick from and I do. No surprises on the bill. I’ve had upgrades because of availability issues. Never been charged for those. I don't remember for sure. We have at least three that we can get deals with. They did send me out to pick one from an aisle, but that was after the check-in and "Upgrade". I used to work for another company that had a deal with....can't remember the company. They had "Emerald Aisle" status, so when you got there, you just walked through the Emerald Aisle lot and picked any car. Pull up to the station/exit hand them you're paperwork and you were on the road in like 5 minutes. My last couple rentals were in Denver...two different companies, but still a long check-in process with the upgrade sales pitch. My rental in Florida is dirt cheap....absolutely not gonna take any upgrade offers on that one. |
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Post by RufusTeleStrat on Dec 14, 2023 11:11:11 GMT -5
My experience is the airport locations are much more cutthroat that say the local offices. They seem to operate like pirates playing fast and loose with the rules.
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Post by Leftee on Dec 14, 2023 11:11:54 GMT -5
Emerald Aisle is National
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Post by Mfitz804 on Dec 16, 2023 0:37:40 GMT -5
I’ve been offered an upgraded car at the same price as the one I booked because they “ran out”. I always accept that, assuming I like the new alternative.
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Post by LTB on Dec 16, 2023 1:16:04 GMT -5
I’ve been offered an upgraded car at the same price as the one I booked because they “ran out”. I always accept that, assuming I like the new alternative. That is what I have also experienced the 3 times I rented a car at Denver International and other places when I had to have body work done on my vehicle. Also, For about 2 years I worked a part time second job Budget Rental Car at DFW Airport after I got off at my job at DFW Airport and never saw that there either. |
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Post by Leftee on Dec 16, 2023 8:13:12 GMT -5
I wonder if slacker’s experience was just deceitful local practice. I say that because I don’t recall ever experiencing this. Whenever I’ve been offered a bump up in class, it’s been made clear that it would be for the same price as my reservation. There have been occasions, over the years, where they did try to upsell. That was also made plain at the time.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Dec 16, 2023 13:31:43 GMT -5
I never allow service providers to strip me of my power as a customer.
Have been a business owner and / or manager for my entire life.
I can say you, as a customer, should never need to give up your power when you have been high pressured or hood-winked in some way by a business.
Take the issue up the chain of command.
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Post by Lesterstrat on Dec 16, 2023 13:36:33 GMT -5
I’ve been out of the corporate world for awhile (retired 2011), but when I traveled, my OA had it arranged to where I just walked to the rental car, got in, and headed to the exit booth (airport), they’d hand me my paperwork and off I went.
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