We just returned from a 9 day Florida trip, booked air (MHT - MCO) and rental on SWA vacations website. Our package included air for the 4 of us and full size rental, which we needed as we have a long legged preteen, and we planned on driving down towards Naples and wanted some comfort. I did not look for any deals on rental and air. I simply booked it.
When we arrived at MCO, we informed the Dollar agent that we had a reservation through SWA vacations, gave the name that the reservation was under and confirmed that we reserved and prepaid ($299. plus taxes) for a full size car. The agent then wanted to know when we were returning the car. I explained that we would have the car until 6pm or so on the day of departure, day 9 of our trip. We had already pre paid for 10 days because of the late return. The agent managed to double talk me (not hard to do when the speaker has a strong, hard to understand accent, the listener is tired and has 2 kids waiting and just wants to go) into charging $41.00 for an extra day because we were returning the car "late". We listened to the usual sales pitch and horror story about LWD insurance which we declined and were assigned our vehicle. I tried to get the agent (Jose) to tell me the kind of vehicle that we were getting and he first replied "It's like a blahblah. " (I forget what he said) I didn't understand why he would say "It's like a ....." so I asked "Well, I would like to know what it is, not what it is like." He said, "It's nice, you'll like it."
I thought that I was an aware consumer, I realize how different rental companies can be from each other as far as size classifications go and all.
Anyway, we went out to the garage to pick up our car and thought that it was smallish. It was a 2 door Dodge Stratus. We thought it must not be a full size but maybe I was mistaken, so off we went. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th day of our trip that I sat down to figure the whole Dollar mess out. I called the dollar customer service number and explained my concerns with the size of the car and the extra day charge. The agent gave me a phone number to call the next day, as the auditing dept. was closed. I then called SWA vacations customer service and explained our problem. She stated that she would call Dollar on our behalf when the auditing dept was open the next day.
Well, I also made a second call to Dollar and asked what would be considered a full size. The agent replied "a dodge intrepid" I asked "What would a Stratus be considered?" She replied "An intermediate." Ah ha! We had paid for a full size!
The next day the SWA rep. left a message on my cell phone that we were charged an extra $41. and that it would be credited back to us.
I decided to call Dollar on the free down grade. Guess what the agent said to me? She said that the Status is a better car because its a sports car! I explained that if I wanted a sports car I would have reserved one and that I didn't need the agent to decide what was better for me. She left me on hold several minutes while she "spoke to her supervisor" . When she came back she offered to credit us $15. WOW!! Then she said that she would also credit us $41.00 for the 10th day (that i had paid for twice) like she was doing me a huge favor. I explained that it was owed to me, I had already paid for the 10th day.
After several minutes of further discussion she asked, "what do you want from us at this point?" Thats a good question. A sincere apology would be nice. This agent couldn't have cared less about anything I had to say and it was obvious in her tone. So, I decided that I had wasted enough time and was going to not stress over it anymore.
We returned the vehicle and the man that came to check the car in made a comment about the size of the car as we all were climbing out. My husband explained the whole story and the fellow said, "Thats just not right..." He gave us a slip of paper that said that we needed to go to the reservation desk and have this straightened out. I explained that I had already tried that but he was insisting. They must want to redeem themselves, how nice. So in we went luggage in hand, hot and tired, to the dollar rental desk to wait in line...again. When it was our turn we handed the agent, Kevin, the slip of paper, he looked up our reservation, after several minutes he came back and asked us what we want. We stated that the fellow outside sent us in and we gave a brief explaination of what our situation was. Kevin stated that there were notes made on out reservation and asked what else do we want? He blew us off and didn't care at all. So there was more time just wasted on Dollar rental. What a rip off and then some. I think that car rental businesses should be more regulated. Consumers shouldn't have to fight to get what they have paid for.
When we arrived at MCO, we informed the Dollar agent that we had a reservation through SWA vacations, gave the name that the reservation was under and confirmed that we reserved and prepaid ($299. plus taxes) for a full size car. The agent then wanted to know when we were returning the car. I explained that we would have the car until 6pm or so on the day of departure, day 9 of our trip. We had already pre paid for 10 days because of the late return. The agent managed to double talk me (not hard to do when the speaker has a strong, hard to understand accent, the listener is tired and has 2 kids waiting and just wants to go) into charging $41.00 for an extra day because we were returning the car "late". We listened to the usual sales pitch and horror story about LWD insurance which we declined and were assigned our vehicle. I tried to get the agent (Jose) to tell me the kind of vehicle that we were getting and he first replied "It's like a blahblah. " (I forget what he said) I didn't understand why he would say "It's like a ....." so I asked "Well, I would like to know what it is, not what it is like." He said, "It's nice, you'll like it."
I thought that I was an aware consumer, I realize how different rental companies can be from each other as far as size classifications go and all.
Anyway, we went out to the garage to pick up our car and thought that it was smallish. It was a 2 door Dodge Stratus. We thought it must not be a full size but maybe I was mistaken, so off we went. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th day of our trip that I sat down to figure the whole Dollar mess out. I called the dollar customer service number and explained my concerns with the size of the car and the extra day charge. The agent gave me a phone number to call the next day, as the auditing dept. was closed. I then called SWA vacations customer service and explained our problem. She stated that she would call Dollar on our behalf when the auditing dept was open the next day.
Well, I also made a second call to Dollar and asked what would be considered a full size. The agent replied "a dodge intrepid" I asked "What would a Stratus be considered?" She replied "An intermediate." Ah ha! We had paid for a full size!
The next day the SWA rep. left a message on my cell phone that we were charged an extra $41. and that it would be credited back to us.
I decided to call Dollar on the free down grade. Guess what the agent said to me? She said that the Status is a better car because its a sports car! I explained that if I wanted a sports car I would have reserved one and that I didn't need the agent to decide what was better for me. She left me on hold several minutes while she "spoke to her supervisor" . When she came back she offered to credit us $15. WOW!! Then she said that she would also credit us $41.00 for the 10th day (that i had paid for twice) like she was doing me a huge favor. I explained that it was owed to me, I had already paid for the 10th day.
After several minutes of further discussion she asked, "what do you want from us at this point?" Thats a good question. A sincere apology would be nice. This agent couldn't have cared less about anything I had to say and it was obvious in her tone. So, I decided that I had wasted enough time and was going to not stress over it anymore.
We returned the vehicle and the man that came to check the car in made a comment about the size of the car as we all were climbing out. My husband explained the whole story and the fellow said, "Thats just not right..." He gave us a slip of paper that said that we needed to go to the reservation desk and have this straightened out. I explained that I had already tried that but he was insisting. They must want to redeem themselves, how nice. So in we went luggage in hand, hot and tired, to the dollar rental desk to wait in line...again. When it was our turn we handed the agent, Kevin, the slip of paper, he looked up our reservation, after several minutes he came back and asked us what we want. We stated that the fellow outside sent us in and we gave a brief explaination of what our situation was. Kevin stated that there were notes made on out reservation and asked what else do we want? He blew us off and didn't care at all. So there was more time just wasted on Dollar rental. What a rip off and then some. I think that car rental businesses should be more regulated. Consumers shouldn't have to fight to get what they have paid for.
) My wife and I went to Las Vegas a couple years back, it was our first trip alone since our son was born... We get to Vegas and go to Dollar's counter.. It was about 1:30AM.. (Gotta love those red-eyes to Vegas..) They did the paperwork and said pick a car out of the compact aisle. Went outside, nothing there, went back, they said take a car out of the next aisle.... Everything was minivans in that aisle. My wife and I laughed, our first trip alone and we have to drive a mini-van which we drive at home. I went back in because I saw they had some PT Cruisers on a different aisle and another couple had just got in one after looking at the minivans and saying "they wouldn't drive a minivan.." So after seeing that I went back to the checkout counter and asked if it would be OK if I took one of the PTs instead of the mini-van which they said no problem at all.
