rude emerald club agent

[mousey]

I called the National Emerald line to inquire about how long they hold your car if your late. My problem is my original reservation is for 4/6 to 4/13 in Orlando. We are now flying in on 4/7 but returning the car on the 13th. When I tried making a new reservation the price went up $300--The way I put it to the agent was what if we take a bump and instead of arriving at 10:00pm Tues night--we are delayed until Wed. night. She told me you must make a new reservation and pay the increased price. I asked if I could prepay the reservation from the Tues. date even though we wouldn't get the car until Wed. She was very rude and stated cars are at a premium that week and your lucky if they hold it 3 hours for you?? Any advice?? I made a backup reservation thru Hertz (never used them before) and it was $30 more than my original National reservation. I really like the convenience of National, but not for $500 for a intermediate car.

 

[DebbieB]

Did you try to modify your reservation online? I had a reservation for Dec 5 to 12 last year and we ended up changing to Dec 6 instead. I hated to give up the great rate I got in March, I went in and did a modify, changed it to Dec 6 and kept the great rate! I got a week for about $114 incl tax, intermediate EA.

Regarding late arrivals, I was told they hold the reservation through midnight of the date you reserved.

 

[inkkognito]

That is very rude! I would think they would make allowances for flight delays/cancellations, which can be a lot more than 3 hours.
We book via Priceline, and often I book for 8 p.m. even when we are arriving around midnight, simply because we sometimes fly standby on an earlier flight. The only problem I've ever had was last weekend, when the Avis computer kept saying "sold out," even though we were pre-paid. The agent suspected the time difference might have something to do with that, but she didn't blame it on us or complain to us, and she didn't even ask why we were so late. Cars were definitely at a premium that day. When we got ours, the lot was nearly empty. Seems to me that rental agencies love to blame customers and pull "scams," especially at busy times (on the cruise board, someone said that they tried to pass off a station wagon as an SUV!). At least Avis was really good about it...I ended up getting free collision coverage because of the way they had to code it in the computer!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[mousey]

Debbie B I did try to modify it. When I change the arrival date to 4/7 it says car class not available. When I try to change it to what was available--compact & standard, it jumped the price to $500 for 4/7-4/13. I was just surprised that the emerald club representative was so rude. We have rented about 15 times in various cities with national and never a problem. We have arrived late before, but never a day late. I just don't want to get charged the extra money. Do you think I should call back and ask to speak to a supervisor?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by mousey
Debbie B I did try to modify it. When I change the arrival date to 4/7 it says car class not available. When I try to change it to what was available--compact & standard, it jumped the price to $500 for 4/7-4/13. I was just surprised that the emerald club representative was so rude. We have rented about 15 times in various cities with national and never a problem. We have arrived late before, but never a day late. I just don't want to get charged the extra money. Do you think I should call back and ask to speak to a supervisor?

they will hold it 24 hours after your anticipated arrival, but, no longer. I would call and just ask " how long do you hold a car". That should get you on your way to figuring out an angle. You can always change the arrival time on your original reservation to a couple of hours later on the 6th. That should give you a buffer if they do, indeed, hold it for 24 hours. You can call to speak to a supervisor, but, I really don't think that will help. In realiity, you are changing your reservation to a day later. Obviously a sold out day for your class of car. In reality, you are not taking a bump, you are changing your reservation by one day.
As to rudeness, I won't comment as I did not hear both sides of the conversation.
I wish you good luck.

 

[safetymom]

I think unless a major travel event(like snow, thunderstorms) happens you are out of luck saying you were delayed 24 hours.

Hertz is very easy to use. We use them all the time and we are driving away in less than 10 mins.

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

I had big problems with National in Orlando last year and will never use them again!!

 

[DebbieB]

Originally posted by SAWYERMAW1
I had big problems with National in Orlando last year and will never use them again!!

What happened?

 

[CarolA]

While she may have been rude we are NOT talking about a standard delay here. I doubt calling anyone will help.

The OP was asking for a 24 hour delay. Nope, you are not going to get the same rate and even if you prepay it will be assumed that you are not coming for the car, they will NOT hold it for you. If the cars are sold out as it appears you will be out of luck. This is a holiday week and you could easily wind up without a car. I would just consider this a lesson learned and move to Hertz.

I have used National TONS of times and always had good or acceptable experiences. However, Hertz is the company my employer uses and I find them very good.

 

[mom_rules]

When I called to reserv National from the Dolphin, the customer service person gave me the Dolphin-National direct phone number to call just incase we ran into problems along the way-ie. delayed flights etc. She was awesome.

I have a different question-do they provide a grace period before charging for extra hours?

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

Originally posted by DebbieB
What happened?

I had reserved a minivan thru National over the phone using Emerald Isle. Apparetnly the agent missed the "minivan" part of our conversation and they had me in a regular car. Of course, we had 7 people traveling with us. When we arrived, we picked out our van, loaded, and tried to leave. We were told the price would be another $100. After about 2 hours in the airport, we left in a van thru Alamo. The crazy part is that we left in the same van we started out with thru National and at almost the same price we were quoted for the car. National was not willing to give one inch!! If you do use National, get your quote in writing before you leave home.

 

[CarolA]

I "think" the National Grace period on return is only one hour (At most it is two) after that you get charged for all extra hours and it is retroactive.

So if it is one hour and you return 1.5 hours late you are charged for 1.5 hours not just half an hour.

You can contact the rental car companies if you are in route and they will normally try to work with you. That is one of the reasons they ask for your flight number so they can look and see what happened. So if I said I was on SW Flight 274 and they know it is delayed they would hold the car.

As for Sawyermom, I think maybe there were tow misunderstandings here. Emerald Aisle is for midsize cars only. So if they told you, that you had an Emerald Aisle reservation then you had a car. My one suggestion would be to ask for either a fax or email confirmation or at least have the read everything back to you word for word. This is why I like doing travel on line. I then have a print of what the other party agreed to.
(Plus it is usually cheaper!)

 

[beattyfamily]

Regarding National's 'grace period'. They allow you to be up to 59 minutes late without charging you any additional charges. Then after 59 minutes they charge you the hourly rate and then eventually the daily rate.

I did this last year. I wanted to pick up my car early; at 7:30a but I wanted to keep my car for as long as possible so I dropped it off at 8:29a and I didn't incur any additional fees. I also had National change my drop off time to 8:29a as you cannot do that on the Internet.

So now when I make reservations I always add at least an extra half hour (Internet) or the extra 59 minutes (over the phone) to be safe!

 

[zurgswife]

Apparetnly the agent missed the "minivan" part of our conversation and they had me in a regular car.

You didn't get any kind of written confirmation....I always would get one just to double check these kinds of mistakes...

Glad you were able to work things out with Alamo

 

[Lewisc]

National will hold a reservation until midnight (I suspect they'll work with you if your plane is delayed past midnight). OP changed flights by 24 hours and didn't like the new rates. When National wouldn't budge OP lied to National and asked about being bumped. The airline reservation had already been changed.

Sorry but it sound like OP is as much to blame as the National rep. If you don't like the price go elsewhere.

OP asked for advice. I wouldn't pay that much of a premium to go with National. Use your Hetz reservation and don't sweat it.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by SAWYERMAW1
I had reserved a minivan thru National over the phone using Emerald Isle. Apparetnly the agent missed the "minivan" part of our conversation and they had me in a regular car. Of course, we had 7 people traveling with us. When we arrived, we picked out our van, loaded, and tried to leave. We were told the price would be another $100. After about 2 hours in the airport, we left in a van thru Alamo. The crazy part is that we left in the same van we started out with thru National and at almost the same price we were quoted for the car. National was not willing to give one inch!! If you do use National, get your quote in writing before you leave home.

Well, it is no surprise that you got a regular car since you booked Emerald Aisle. Even before they did the EA change they never have had mini vans to rent on the EA.
sometimes you get them as a bonus/surprise, but, it has always been at least intermediate. Anything over than was a bonus.

 

[mousey]

Just an update for you all--I called National today and talked to a supervisor. She was more than happy to put a note in my reservation and extended it 24 hours--no problem. She was very nice about the whole thing and I explained it to her the same way I did when I called the emerald club number. She told me she understood that it was a busy time to travel and bumps do occur which affect your reservations. My original reservation was made in January before I even got my airfare. A lot happened in between including the death of my 46 year old sister in law. The last thing on my mind was the car rental--but I didn't expect the rates to triple. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[safetymom]

I think you made out well on that deal. I don't think others will be so lucky. Or should I say I am sure others will try now for that same sort of a deal.

 

[mousey]

Yes I was lucky. I don't know if the fact that we rented from National 9 times in 2003 in various cities had any effect on this case. I have never had a bad experience with National. I guess I was lucky that I didn't have to deal with the emerald club lady before. We would of definately switched our car rental business.

 

[CarolA]

Nine times is nothing for the rental car companies. They don't even start giving out "elevated status until you are WELL into double digits! LOL!

I would NOT cancel that Hertz reservation. I know what they told you, but you are going at a busy time of the year and..... better safe then sorry! Also, VERIFY the rate BEFORE you drive away.