Kip Powick Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 BUDGET...............In October I made a reservation and paid in advance for a rental car for my daughter for her trip on the 23rd Dec from South central Ontario to Dotland.. I also rented a car for my son who would be arriving in YYZ on the 24th for his drive to our residence. (Early Christmas presents) These were guaranteed reservations, fully paid for with specific models of cars, I had hard copies of the reservations and as did the two kids. My daughter went to pick her car on the 23rd at noon as stated on the reservation. She arrived at noon on the 23rd.They had no cars…said it was the Holiday season and all their cars were out. The kid on duty saw her reservation in the computer that morning and was wondering what they were going to do but was emphatic that they were out of cars.(Did you see the Seinfeld episode where this also happened?) The agent said that even YYZ was 300 cars short which was not relevant to the issue for my daughter. She was told to come back on the 24th when the manager would be in. She went back on the 24th and they found her a “vehicle”…it was a rental Jeep that he, the manager was using for his personal transport, it was filthy on the outside as well as the inside, his CD was still in the player as was a couple of empty pop bottles and two empty bags of Dorito chips. With no choice, she took the gas guzzler and a vehicle she was not comfortable driving. I called the rental agency…the manager said she could have an extra day “free”. I told him that was not acceptable, as she had to work the day after her original contract terminated. “Tough”, he said, “That is all I can do”. I’m in the process of sending a letter to the Rental Firm’s head office in USA. (NATIONAL)Because of the screw-up with my daughter’s reservation, I called the YYZ rental agency, about 8 hours before my son was to arrive…..”No problem sir, we hold your reservation until midnight”. Relieved. We waited for “junior” to call that he was in YYZ. He called at 6:00pm….no car available. An hour later they found him a ½ ton pick-up. Not the "Car" I paid for but with no choice, he took it. Car Rental firms in Ontario suck. Strong letters to follow. Other than that...it was a blast to have all three and the baby here. As the say in WalMart...Season's Greetings and within 1000 meters of this "dothouse"...Merry Christmas !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yul07 Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Kip, Budget has fallen through the bottom of the shitter. We have a corporate deal with them so they have to be our first choice. In the last month I have rented in ORD, JFK, TPA and last week in YUL. In all cases they tried to pass off high mileage cars, some so filthy and beat up that it was a disgrace. None of the cars was in the class specified on the reservation. When I returned the car in RSW they tacked on a 3% service fee for the convience of converting my bill from USD to CDN. They did not do this at JFK or ORD. So I called cust service and investigated. Cuz I have "fast break" I supposedly agreed. That was news to me. I told them Visa would do the conversition and this was a b.S. service charge, and I would take it up with the Attorney gen of Fla. At that point they told me they would refund the money. But in future I had to decline this conversition service and opt for payment in USD at the time of rental. So if renting in the States be forwarned. In YUL last Thurs. they gave me a Yaris that had pieces of the front end missing cuz the car had been in an accident. The dash rattled, and the front tires were bald. ( Mtl had been walloped with the snow storm so the car slid rather than drove ) When I told them I am returning the car they said I was lucky to get one and they had nothing to replace it. A quick call to Cust Service in NJ found me a car if I would drive downtown to Central Station. They guy there was rather pleasent and put me into a Kia Rio with 4oookm, and good tires. Lastly, I rented in YUL a month ago for the same length of time and paid 80.00, this last weekend I was charged 150.00 Renting cars sucks.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steam Driven Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Recently in Orlando with the kids we rented from Enterprise. We used the "company" deal and were very pleased. It was a good rate, the vehicle was clean, new and in good condition. They treated us well, pleasant and cheerful, I'd rent from Enterprise again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yul07 Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 S.D I rented from Enterprise here in the fall when my car was in for reg planned service. No probs. Very easy to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kip Powick Posted December 25, 2007 Author Share Posted December 25, 2007 I agree with you about Enterprise as my daughter always uses them....but......Air Miles only uses NATIONAL and BUDGET in this area of the country so it was a matter of "no choice" ....but never again ................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaEH Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 I thought National was purchased by Enterprise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues deville Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 I am not sure why but "Customer Service" seems to have died. I have used several brands with National being the most recent regular.....until a Nascar race showed up in PHX one weekend and mid-sized cars went from $30 a day to over $100. I really liked their Emerald Aisle system but they lost me as a frequent customer that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steam Driven Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 "I thought National was purchased by Enterprise?" Enterprise bought National and Alamo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handyman Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Kip, first of all...Merry Christmas! As for the rental car blues...I totally hear your pain and frustration. But seriously, is it any different than booking and paying for an airline ticket in advance and they load some other sucker in your seat? Companies should not be able to take paid reservations and then renege on those transactions. When will this change...probably never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rattler Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 Kip: sorry to hear of your woes. I have used Hertz for several years and have yet to experience a "service failure". (touching wood as I type ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super 80 Posted December 25, 2007 Share Posted December 25, 2007 My bitching is reserved for Alamo and Dollar, Alamo for cars that were disgustingly filthy and Dollar for trying to rip my parents off over a scratch on the bumper your could barely see under the grime and trying to charge them for a bumper replacement and three days of lost rental revenue! I have had some unwelcome upgrades from Budget to massive SUV's that I hate driving, but that is not the same realm as a car that smelled like urine and trying to defraud my parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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