National Price Increase from Original Quote

[lsayd]

I rented a minivan from National for 9/18 - 9/23 a few weeks ago. The final total for the reservation came to 210.96 (using Disney Club discounts/coupons). I do have the reservation e-mail printed out to take with me. When I checked the reservation today the total was changed to 248.06! How much of a hassle is this going to be to get the first quoted price? I was hoping to bypass the counter as the reservation is with Emerald Choice. Any suggestions/words of wisdom from those experienced with National would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Padre Disney]

We had the same thing happen with National. We reserved a compact car for December for a rate we are happy with. At that time we could have upgraded to a full size for about 20 bucks more. After we had thought about it for a week we decided that the bigger car would be nice. When I called them back the rate had went up 30 bucks for the comapact and 50 bucks for the full size. I had printed out our reservation sheet with the rate we had beed quoted. I hope we don't have any problems.

Also:
When I was checking on rates I put in all our information and put in my coupon codes. When I checked the rate again with out adding the coupons the weekly & daily rate was less. Is it just me our does that sound wrong. They are charging me more because I have a coupon????

That would be the same as a store saying that if you bring in a coupon for an item the price will be more because you have a coupon.

 

[BrianBWV]

Hi,

We rented from the Aisle last week, and had a printed confirmation from the National site of $113.90 for the week. When I called two days prior to departure to confirm, I was quoted $122 and change.

The most irritating part of this confirmation call (the operator was very cooperative, by the way) was that the National operator admitted that she had no idea how to replicate my rate on her screen (DC contract + free weekend day code), even after I informed her of the codes I used in order to obtain it.

After ten minutes of playing with combinations, she got the $113.90 confirmed. It is unfortunate that the National operators apparently don't have access on their screens to the discount information we input when making our reservations. This certainly seemed to be the case in my experience.

When I returned the car off at the Aisle on Sunday, the receipt thankfully read $113.90, but it's annoying that I had to keep on top of them to secure a rate that they had already confirmed in the first place.

This aside, a great trip!

BrianBWV

 

[pbhunt]

I'm going to say it again for Isayd, AVOID USING THE VIEW/CHANGE RESERVATIONS OPTION ON THE NATIONAL WEBSITE. You have your printed confirmation and e-mail (hopefully). If you have to confirm the rate it's IMHO, better to call them and have them do the fixing and confirming over the phone. At the view reservations screen, your only option at the end is submit changes/cancel, even if you haven't changed anything, it will seldom replicate your original quote. The easiest way to have them verify/confirm your rate is at the booth before you leave with the car. Stop worrying

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

pbhunt,
At last, the voice of reason!!!! Tis true, if you have your confirmation number and print out and email, you are good to go.
The agents do not have access to the rates on the net, so, don't ask. The reason the rates are internet only are because we are the only ones with access. The same usually applies to the airlines. The screens agents view are limited to what the company or airline want them to see.
As to a higher rate, that did happen to me, and I did call and they immediately issued a credit.
It is unfortunate, but, mistakes happen.

 

[Sandi]

If it would make you feel better, you could e-mail them the information (including your confirmation number and rate) and explain that when you went to reconfirm your reservation the price changed. This happened to me a week or so ago. I e-mailed and received a response within a few hours with the original quoted rate. They have been having lots of trouble with the coupon codes and view option. I printed out my response e-mail and that was reassurance for me.

 

[GoldenPrincess]

You have the original price in writing, correct? As long as you have it in writing National (or any other company) should honor it. Aren't there laws about this sort of thing?

To be perfectly honest, I never worry about the rate changing for anything I purchase as long as I have an agreement in writing. And, just try to charge me more than I've agreed to pay--it won't happen!

I honestly have more important things to worry about--where we'll spend our first day, which restaurants we want to try, which rides do we like best, etc. IMHO that's much more fun!

Or am I missing something?

 

[gjohnson]

My reservation on the National web-site also showed an increase from what I was originally quoted. I called National and their system showed the same rate that was in my e-mail. It showed both the DC and the free day discount. The web-site only had the free day showing. It appears their web-site is not showing all of the discounts when viewing a reservation. The phone rep said she would forward my comments to their web administrator.