jadee

Do not use National Car Rental. I had a confirmed confirmation booked over the internet on their site at a really good price. Thought the price was too good, so called National and talked to two of their representatives and was assured that this price was good and was an internet special. Week and a half later, I get an email saying there was a technical difficulity and they added another $1,000 on my confirmation. Shouldn't they have to honor what was confirmed, this is false advertising. Airlines honor their mistakes, how do they get away with this?

writerhenn

I've never had a car rental company not honor a reservation -- and am very curious about this one. I have a reservation with National, through Travelocity, at the Anchorage airport in August ($460 plus taxes and fees for total of $627.58 for full sized car for a week) that isn't cheap by my standards, but is way better than anything else I have seen. Was your reservation at ANC? And do you mind giving the rate? The other rates I'd gotten were so ridiculously high (around $1,000 total for the week)that I booked this one the minute I saw it -- and haven't been able to come close to it since.

jadee

I booked Memorial Day weekend through National's site on the internet. We got 17 days in a BMW for $212. We thought it was too good to be true, but called and got confirmation from two of their employees immediately after we booked and they said it was an internet special. We thought it was like the $9 flights the airlines offer and were estatic we were on the time of the special. Apparently they made a mistake and want their customers to pay for it. I have talked to 4 people at National and said I would work with them to come to an understanding, all they offered was the normal 20% off and they upped the price to $1,022. Avis is alot cheaper with a 25% off code. Did you check with www.bookingbuddy.com or www.kayak.com?

toedtoes

No they don't HAVE to honor it. If the price advertised is a rate that you would reasonably expect to pay for a rental, then they are better off honoring it.

In this case, $212 for 17 days ($12.47/day) for a BMW is not a reasonable rate, so there's just no way they're going to let it slide - even if their staff "confirmed it".

The confirmations don't mean anything because the employees did NOT confirm the rate - they just made a blind statement without verifying any of the details. I'm betting they've been reprimanded.

Personally, I would drop them and go with Avis.

jadee

Why don't they have to honor a confirmed confirmation number with all the particulars filled out? I downloaded from the original booking and they sent me an email with the same confirmation number confirmed. I also have the time, date and two people's names that also confirmed that this confirmation was valid. A week and a half went by, then the deal with the techinical thing. I did cancel the $1,022 they offered me - 20% off big deal, and booked with Avis with my 25% off with RCI. I will not do business with that company again, their integrity is nonexistent.

toedtoes

<<Why don't they have to honor a confirmed confirmation number with all the particulars filled out?>>

Because there's no law that requires them to do so. Legally, false advertising is only taking place if the advertised price is purposely misrepresented AND it is reasonable to believe that the item would be available at that price.

In your case, $212 for 17 days of a car rental is NOT reasonable to believe, even less for a non-economy vehicle like a BMW. They offered you a reasonable discount to compensate for the computer error, but they aren't going to honor a $900 loss. The law agrees with them.