Wacky happenings with rental car reservation

[Missyrose]

I got an e-mail from Budget saying my rental car reservation had been modified and my confirmed rental total rate was USD 0.40. Yes, you read that right, 40 cents.

All of my original info appears to be intact (pickup/drop-off times, type of rental car). The only thing that seemed to fall off the reservation was my original offer code.

My question is, if they sent me this rate as my "confirmed rental rate," mistake or not, do they have to honor it?

My biggest fear is that when we go to pick up the car, they'll notice the glitch and then charge us FULL RACK RATE instead of the original price we were quoted with our offer code.

What would you do?

 

[Goofypop]

Take the confirmation sheet from your original quote. Then act as if everything is normal. Then if they notice it make sure they only charge what they agreed upon originally.

Unfortunately a lot of companies have learned to cover their respective butts on things like this. They no doubt have a line in the fine print that says any mistakes due to computer errors are not their responsibility.... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Sears just got hit with this one recently. They had iPads on sale on their website for $69. They sold out in minutes then the next day they came along and canceled all of the orders saying "Oops. We reserve the right to cancel and not honor the price since it was a computer generated mistake. Sorry folks."

 

[maciec]

that would be wonderful if they would honor that price, but unfortunately we all know that ain't gonna happen ... lol! I agree with the pp about taking the original confirmation with you. The smarty pants in me would go to the counter just to see the expression on the clerks face when they see the .40

 

[seashoreCM]

Bring a printout showing the original price (not the 40 cents). Pretend that the 40 cents never existed.

Even wityhout the 40 cents error, sometimes the rental agent might try to dishonor your reserved rate.

 

[n2mm]

Have you logged onto the website to check the confirmation there? I would do that too and print whatever it says. Keep us posted. I am one of those folks who got in on a deal that was honored last year. I happened to see a post where a full size (15 person) van was available for 99.00 a week. So I booked it. I went and while in line to checkin (Alamo) the manager directed us to the kiosk. I told him about my reservation and he said he knew about the error, and I was lucky. I did indeed get the van for that price, but it wasn't worth it, as it was a huge pain in the butt. Yes the price was great, but driving something that big was a pain. My DH is use to driving a vehicle that large, so not a big deal for him, but the luggage space in a 15 person van does not exist, so it was a pain packing it. But, bottom line, Alamo did honor their error.

 

[seashoreCM]

I did indeed get the van for that price, but it wasn't worth it, as it was a huge pain in the butt. Yes the price was great, but driving something that big was a pain. My DH is use to driving a vehicle that large, so not a big deal for him, but the luggage space in a 15 person van does not exist, so it was a pain packing it. .

Forty cents has to be a mistake but $99. could well be an official special deal.

Perhaps they had a number of big vans unspoken for during that time period and were dying to get some of them out on the road. Ever notice that some discount stores have these huge suitcases at bargain prices but you end up returning it because no airline will accept it without a big oversized luggage fee.

They could discreetly* ask you upon arrival whether the van is too big and offer you something smaller. Meanwhile if a 15 person van doesn't have enough space for your luggage then for anything smaller it would be even harder (or impossible) to get your luggage in.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

* OT: Once in an earlier lifetime I was invited to choose any prize from the display of whoozits and whatzits and gadgets and gizmos. (This was a time share, not a carnival.) I chose the pocket TV. The attendant, perhaps wishing I had chosen the dinglehopper or the snarfblatt instead, started making all kinds of disparaging remarks such as "It eats up batteries fast". But I stuck with my choice.

 

[n2mm]

Forty cents has to be a mistake but $99. could well be an official special deal.

Perhaps they had a number of big vans unspoken for during that time period and were dying to get some of them out on the road. Ever notice that some discount stores have these huge suitcases at bargain prices but you end up returning it because no airline will accept it without a big oversized luggage fee.

They could discreetly* ask you upon arrival whether the van is too big and offer you something smaller. Meanwhile if a 15 person van doesn't have enough space for your luggage then for anything smaller it would be even harder (or impossible) to get your luggage in.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

* OT: Once in an earlier lifetime I was invited to choose any prize from the display of whoozits and whatzits and gadgets and gizmos. (This was a time share, not a carnival.) I chose the pocket TV. The attendant, perhaps wishing I had chosen the dinglehopper or the snarfblatt instead, started making all kinds of disparaging remarks such as "It eats up batteries fast". But I stuck with my choice.

No it was a mistake. The manager even mentioned it. The van actually was listed for $999.00 a week because it did get fixed later....like anyone would ever pay that...Yea, several of us on the boards took advantage of it and I was hoping they would offer us a "downgrade". The manager actually told us we could ask once we got outside to the aisle, which we did, but there were no more minivans available. As for the luggage, if you've never rented one of these, let me explain. There are several rows of seats (maybe 4) with the last seat right against the back door. The seats don't fold down and you can not remove them. So someone would have to sit on the back seat and someone else would have to hand the suitcases up to the other person who would bring them in. We were actually only 4 adults and 2 kids in carseats. So only 5 suitcases and a stroller. While it was financially a great steal, we would never do it again.

OP, hope you get it sorted out.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

No, they will not honor that .40 rate. Keep all of your paperwork to prove your original rate. Or rebook if you can get the same original rate.

 

[Missyrose]

Thanks everyone for your help!

I ended up calling Budget to get it sorted out and as of right now, they're not really sure what's causing the glitch in their system. They can see the e-mail they sent out to me that said my rate was $0.40 (and it included all of my reservation info) but when they pull up my reservation in their system there's no info in it whatsoever.

They opened up a case and will get back to me when they figure everything out. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks Dis'ers!