help with rental car problem

[Brumeiser]

I won't mention names but I wonder if there is anything else I can do. We are leaving in 4 weeks to California for the d23 and some sightseeing. I booked a rental car back in January. Got a good rate for a minivan of 25 dollars a day starting June 4. Called 2 days to confirm hours (hotel counter for this company) and was told oh we are closed. They are open july 3 9-6 but I am on a tour bus in Los angeles. July 2 they close at 2pm and we don't arrive until 5pm. Dealt with customer service for 2 hours yesterday and basically they want to cancel my reservation of 400 dollars and now charge me 1900 dollars basically adding 2 days to pick up at airport and my current 13 days reservation on Sunday. Well I have been waiting for a call from the lax location to see if they will honor this reservation and they are not calling me. I think I will give them till tomorrow and will have to call and fight to get my money back since it was non-refundable. And book with another rental company. Any suggestion on what else I can do? Right now the rental prices are expensive but what else can I do to get a good rate? I feel that I made this reservation in good faith and it is not my fault they have a computer glitch. Thanks

 

[supersnoop]

Did you enter the pickup time when you made the reservation? It should have flagged them as closed at that time. Or did they change their hours since you made the reservation?

 

[Brumeiser]

yes it says 7:30 am on the reservation i was just call to see if they were going to be open at that time. You know how places changes the hours.

 

[Kaytie]

Is there some type of arrangement with the hotel allowing rental car pickup when the counter is closed?
What if you change the pickup to the 4th? Are they open until 2 that day as well as Sunday?
Pipeline? Hostile?
Pick up from a different location?
Advantage? Pay less?

 

[AquamarineSteph]

Call their corporate #? Have your facts ready and state your case sweetly. Complain as much as you like, but say it oh, so sweetly. Do not hang up until they have either resolved your issue or bumped you up to the next level of customer service. Do not hang up before you have a phone number/extension to reach the person who says they'll take care of it. Keep detailed notes of your call.

And as a poster above said, offer them an option. Picking up at another location? Changing anything about the time/date of pickup. They made this reservation, which means if you put down the correct time they should find a way to honor that promise.

 

[DebbieB]

We've been trying to get a rental car from LAX for D23 and the prices are high. We're arriving the Sunday before and returning Sunday night. My friend usually gets decent prices using Costco but not this time. We're planning to use Super Shuttle from the airport and just rent one day at Downtown Disney so that we can go offsite. We get free parking for the nights we are at Grand California (DVC) but then we move to Paradise Pier on cash for the weekend, so we would have to pay for parking there, another factor.

 

[bumbershoot]

Got a good rate for a minivan of 25 dollars a day starting June 4.

Do you mean July 4th? Your other dates state July.

You know how places changes the hours.

I don't, actually; not rental car agencies at least. So you made the reservation for the 4th, and now someone at the company is telling you they are totally closed that day? That seems...unlikely. Have you looked on their website?

Telling us who you're dealing with isn't a bad thing; we can look on their site etc and maybe help you out.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've picked up cars when the counter was closed, many times!!! Each company has some kind of alternate option.