Removed post

[Buckimion]

Alamo has been on my *hit list since 1994 when I was shafted out of a pre-paid rental two days after the Northridge quake in LA.

Budget had been good to me until this past July 4th when I was told my local branch that I've been dealing with for the past decade would no longer accept my debit card for payment. Luckily I had a backup reservation that I had never bothered to cancel at Enterprise which was honored.

Only Enterprise has stuck with me through all of the crud but I think that policy is changing as well as I got a notice for a planned rental for Feb that they too are restricting debit cards. At least they had the courtesy to advise me before I got to the counter with my bags in hand.

 

[tlens]

AS someone who works in a very large company with responsibility for corporate travel including car rental agencies, I find it difficult to believe they would or could just sever ties for such a scenario. First off, most corporate accounts are not with every agency out there but one, perhaps 2, rarely 3+.

Since you were renting for personal use, which is allowed, again I find if hard to believe a large company would sever ties for such a transaction.

Finally, these contracts are long term contracts. You cannot just cancel a contract without valid reasons and this would not be a valid reason. Plus, it wouldn't be done simply because the other 2 companies are affliated with Alamo. There would be penalties and possibly legal issues depending on the contract stipulations for arbitrarily cancelling a contract without cause. Not accepting a non-valid coupon is not cause. Leaving a staff member stranded on the side of the road and not sending a replacement car and the person being left there for 8 hours on a highway is cause, (yes it did happen here) and yet we didn't cancel the contract due to how the company decided to rectify the situation.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Done! When we told my husbands company about Alamo, they discontinued the other two firms too. I didn't know they were related. Looks like Budget is the way to go!!!!

Your DH's company REALLY did this??

OMG! Apparently at this rate you will all soon have to walk.

I won't rent from Alamo but YOU are the one who tried to use an invalid coupon and now it's Alamo's fault and your husband's company belives this line!

Just too funny! So after you have a bad experience with Budget (which will then take Avis out of the running) I guess that will leave you with Hertz/Advantage....and Dollar.

In just a few short trips your poor DH's company could be reduced to bike rentals!

Something tells me this "we won't use" is being reported out of context here LOL! Either that or this company has one traveler a year and does not really have a contract!

 

[soxfan11901]

I stopped using my local grocery store because they wouldn't let me use a Tide coupon for a loaf of bread

 

[sympatico]

My National 'horror' story... I joined the Emerald Club. I reserved a full size car. According to all the instructions, I skip the kiosk & counter, go to the Emerald line up of cars and pick the one I want (also stated by the lot attendant). We find a Ford Flex and pile into it. We go through checkout and the lady says "this isn't the size you reserved."

I tell her we were told to pick anything in the Emerald spaces and we did. She processes the paperwork and hands it back to me, we drive off. Once we get to our destination I look at the papers. They had charged me for the upgrade! I called customer service, politely explained the situation and they credited me back the cost difference so it was what I had booked at.

[sarcasm]I'll never rent from National again! How dare they make a mistake and correct it![/sarcasm]

For the Emerald Club you reserve a mid size car and can then take anything on the Emerald Aisle. If you reserve a full size car then you go to the full size row and pick from there. That's called Emerald Reserve.

 

[sam_gordon]

I agree.



Things that should have been included in the first post....

Though knowledge of what discount you thought you had, if you had your printed out form, and if the pre-payment statement was valid and relevant would also be good....



You went to Emerald *Reserve*, right? Not Emerald Aisle?

Yes. I can't remember right now, but I know at the time I had to ask between 'reserve' and 'aisle' and we went to the correct one (whichever we were supposed to do for the full size reservation).

 

[toesmom]

I love alamo, completely disagree with your rationale OP

 

[goofy4tink]

Done! When we told my husbands company about Alamo, they discontinued the other two firms too. I didn't know they were related. Looks like Budget is the way to go!!!!

Careful with Budget...thought they were doing so well, but found out quite the opposite when I got home and got their invoice email!!! I paid what I had expected. But when I got home and got the email that told me they had charged me an addtl $15, I checked to see why. Oh, we automatically charge that for gas when the milage is 75 miles or les...but I had driven from Sanford to US/IoA, to Cocoa Beach, to WDW/AKL, to Tampa, and back to Sanford.......waaaaaay over 75 miles. I complained, they said they would credit me. Never saw it. Won't rent from them again.

I have used Alamo with very good results...doesn't mean everyone is going to have the same experience though. BUT....you tried to use a coupon that wasn't valid. Every agent I have done business with has tried to get me to upgrade and buy addlt insurance...I politely decline and my price is what I expected it to be. I can see why you were disappointed and possibly angry since you had already been told the coupon was able to be used, but, for whatever reason, it wasn't applicable when push came to shove.

 

[sam_gordon]

Removed post because I got a nasty message from Alamo! Confirms my thoughts about them in the first place.

Really? Alamo monitors the Dis boards? I'm curious what they threatened that prompted you to remove the post.

 

[dudspizza]

Removed post because I got a nasty message from Alamo! Confirms my thoughts about them in the first place.

Really? Alamo monitors the Dis boards? I'm curious what they threatened that prompted you to remove the post.

I am very curious too. Makes no sense!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Removed post because I got a nasty message from Alamo! Confirms my thoughts about them in the first place.

So they KNEW your real name to contact you?

Wonder why I have never gotten a message? Trust me, my trashing of them made this "horror" story look mild. So far DH's comapny has voided a contract with one of the major rental cat companies in the US and that same rental car company has gone to the trouble of somehow digging out WHO this person really is and contacting them. Funny... I have "trashed" National on my Facebook page and never heard from them


Really???????

 

[DebbieB]

Too bad someone quoted it....... so what's the point?

 

[Ed J]

I think somebody's pants are on fire

 

[robinb]

Too bad someone quoted it....... so what's the point?

Has anyone ever told the OP the best way to get a thread read is to change the title to something like "Removed post"?

 

[gmeh1]

I don't know why you are complaining. You got a discount. I have a feeling the additional non-valid coupon was not denied because this woman was trying to "get back at you" for not agreeing to the upgrades which all car rental companies try to get customers to accept.

Not renting from Alamo personally is not going to hurt their bottom line. I can't believe a business would remove Alamo from their list of approved vendors if they were getting a good deal just because an employee couldn't get them to accept an invalid coupon. All car rental agencies are similar; I'm sure the same thing would have happened at Budget if you tried to use your coupon.

I have to agree with you on this one.

 

[gmeh1]

Alamo has been on my *hit list since 1994 when I was shafted out of a pre-paid rental two days after the Northridge quake in LA.

Budget had been good to me until this past July 4th when I was told my local branch that I've been dealing with for the past decade would no longer accept my debit card for payment. Luckily I had a backup reservation that I had never bothered to cancel at Enterprise which was honored.

Only Enterprise has stuck with me through all of the crud but I think that policy is changing as well as I got a notice for a planned rental for Feb that they too are restricting debit cards. At least they had the courtesy to advise me before I got to the counter with my bags in hand.

Just a FYI, Enterprise now owns Alamo and National and have since 2007.

 

[momto2inKC]

Really? Alamo monitors the Dis boards? I'm curious what they threatened that prompted you to remove the post.

I am very curious too. Makes no sense!

Add me to the list! I'm *very curious of what they said when they contacted you. Weird that it was obviously bad enough for you to attempt to remove your posting about what happened.

 

[gmeh1]

Really? Alamo monitors the Dis boards? I'm curious what they threatened that prompted you to remove the post.

LOL, sure they do and Publix, Goodings, Winn Dixie do too!!!!

 

[Allison]

Interesting story.

 

[crashbb]

Okay, let's for a moment believe that the OP's story is true. That her husband's huge company is no longer using Alamo and that Alamo contacted her about her DIS posts.

Why would that lead her to remove her post? If she and her husband's company are no longer using Alamo, what could Alamo threaten her with?

If the story posted is true, again, what could Alamo threaten her with? If the story is true, there is no libel (actually, since the story doesn't actually make Alamo look bad, even if it is false there isn't really libel).

I'm actually (sort of) willing to believe that Alamo monitors the board. There have been a few cases where someone has complained about an airline/hotel/Sears, and someone from said airline/hotel/Sears, has posted a message in the thread (I use Sears, only because it is the only company I actually remember by name, but there have been a couple). Of course, I have no idea if said posts were actually from the company. However, in order to actually contact the OP by means other than posting in the thread, Alamo had to either figure out the OP's email address or have posted enough (10 posts) to be able to PM. I don't see either happening.