Rental Car Experience

Old Aug 27th, 2007, 03:55 PM
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Rental Car Experience

My daughter-in-law recently had a horrible rental car experience at Budget. I’m posting this here partly because I think the company deserves some bad PR, but also to ask for thoughts on whether there is anything she could or should do to pursue this, or should she just write it off and never deal with Budget Rent a Car (or its parent company Avis) again.

She arrived at Logan Airport in Boston around 11 pm, and because Budget was so slow with its bus service (much less frequent than all the other companies) she didn’t get to the desk until almost midnight. She was traveling alone from California with 3 young children, so it had been a long and tiring day for her.

The man on duty was apparently angry at having to work an extra shift and was taking it out on the customers by being extremely rude to everyone in line. When her turn came, my DIL tried to be pleasant by commiserating with him about his double shift, and then (just making conversation) asked him if he was “Sashay James,” whose name appeared on the wall as the manager on duty. At that point he became very abusive, yelling at her and asking if he looked like a woman. She of course had no idea that “Sashay” was a woman’s name.

Then when she tried to ask him a question about the rate, he continued yelling angrily at her. She said, “You can’t talk to me like that,” and he continued yelling at her, frightening her and the 3 children. He said “I don’t even have to rent you a car,” at which point she decided she did NOT want to deal any more with this out-of-control person.

She had been planning to spend the night at an airport hotel anyway, and some other very nice people in line gave her and the kids a ride. From the hotel she called the Budget main office. The manager was sympathetic and told her the employee had been out of line and would probably be fired. However, he wouldn’t help her get a car, telling her that the computers were down, and that she might have to pay more if Budget couldn’t find a car at the rate she had originally booked.

Since by this time it was after 2 am in Boston, she asked the Budget rep to call her husband in California to let him know when he was able to find a car. This was the last they ever heard from Budget, and she ended up renting from Hertz for more money but no hassles. She said she has tried to follow up with Budget after the fact and just gets the runaround from them.

To me, the worst part of this story is the way that Budget would not accept responsibility for a bad experience and refused to try to do something to make it right with the customer. You might say it wasn’t necessarily the company’s fault for having one bad employee, but once things went so wrong, they should have promised her that she would have a car the next morning and she would not have to pay anything additional.

Obviously no one in our family is ever going to rent from Budget again, but for future reference I wonder if anyone has had GOOD experiences with a rental car company when things went wrong, and the company did their best to set it right. To me, that is the test of good customer service. Any company can have a bad day, or problems beyond their initial control, but if I feel that they really don’t care about making it right, that is a company I will never trust again.

For example, we had a good experience once with Enterprise: when they could not supply us with the van that we had requested, they found another one at Avis and paid the difference in the price. I have also always found Hertz to be reliable, even if they sometimes cost a bit more.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 04:12 PM
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I would definitely pursue this with the corporate management of Budget. The treatment your dil received was unprofessional and she deserves redress.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 04:33 PM
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my first question to the agent would've been, "why do you have to be so unpleasant?" wait patiently for an answer. then ask the agent’s first and last name, have them write it down and read it back slowly to understand. Smile, say thank you and leave. take note of time, place and any other details she has of the place. if you’re dedicated, follow through until you hear a response from headquarters. otherwise, it's pointless to rant about it here.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 06:15 PM
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So sorry to hear about your daughter-in-laws bad experience. There's nothing worst than being treated so poorly when you are tired in a strange city.

We had a good experience with National.

We were to fly out of Orlando, FL the day after Hurricane Charlie blew through the area. We figured the vacation was off, but the Delta rep on the phone (who was obviously not in the U.S.) insisted our 12:30 p.m. flight was flying.

It's a very strange feeling to drive into a large airport and not see a single plane. Trees were down everywhere, and the airport was running on emergency power only. Thousands of stranded passengers and no air conditioning and very few lights. Delta is swamped and basically saying "It's due to weather, so you're on your own" We got out of there! Turns out my son still had power at his apartment, so we started working like mad to redeem our vacation. Instead of flying from Orlando to Detroit via Atlanta, we ended up flying from Melbourne to Lansing via Cincinnati.

My husband kept in touch with National the entire time, and they assured us we would have a car when and where ever we landed. Sure enough, when we landed in Lansing at 1:00 a.m. (instead of Detroit at 3:00 p.m.) the National rep was waiting for us, her only customers at that time (they closed at midnight). We couldn't thank her enough for helping put our vacation back on track!

My son had a great experience with Avis. He was one of the many people stranded in Colorado during the blizzard last winter. Frontier said they wouldn't even talk to him for 2 days, and he wouldn't be flying out for at least a week-but-if he made his own arrangements, they would give him a refund. He contacted Avis to see if they would charge him an additional fee to drive his rental car to Florida. They said no, just the extra days. He and his friends drove for 36 hours straight, and got the car back with 2 extra days beyond his contract. When he told the Avis rep the situation, she waived all extra charges on the spot, and only charged him the amount of his orginal contract. When he thanked her, she told him "We're just glad you made it home safe." Now that's great customer service!

In both cases, we had the rental agency's preferred service. I'm not sure if it made the difference, but it seems to help.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:01 PM
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I would definitely follow up on this...it's unexceptable behavior. She had a bad experience with the original agent and the local manager. However, the manager most likely has a district manager to answer to who has a regional manager to answer to and so on. It's possible that she was just unlucky enough to get two bad people in one company. Go above both of their heads and most likely she will get what she wants (whether it's just an apology or a free car rental). My best advice though would be to be pleasant and polite, yet direct, to whoever she speaks to. As someone who works in customer service (though not in the car rental business), I'm always more likely to compromise and work with someone who is nice to me than someone who cops an attitude. Especially if their attitude is based on what someone other than myself did to them.

Good luck!
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:11 PM
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Also, I had a great experience with Enterprise recently. After a car accident, I was supposed to get a rental car from Enterprise delivered to my home at 1 PM since I didn't have a car of my own. A friend offered to drive me to their office at 9 AM. I called to arrange a pick up and they said they didn't have a car available until 1 PM (duh, obviously this is why they wanted to deliver it to me at 1). No problem. At 12:30, they called and said they wouldn't have a car by 1, it would probably be 2. By this point, I had borrowed another friend's car and gotten my errands done, so again, no problem. Well, 2 phone calls later at 4 PM, I was finally able to get my car, which again wasn't a problem for me. The agent said that since I had been so nice to her all day, even with all of the problems, she was upgrading me. I got a beautiful 2007 Nissan Altima instead of the 2006 Ford Echo (or whatever it was supposed to be) for the same price. I guess for some it still would've been a problem since I didn't have a car for 3 hours, but I thought it was a great experience overall. The moral of the story is to always be nice and treat people with respect.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:13 PM
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You'll find bad employees at any car rental company. The question is, how does the company deal with it? You'll find out with Budget. Probably the most you can expect from them is a discount coupon for your next Budget rental (ha!). I think you've done your bit, though, by posting your story here and if it dissuades even a few people from using Budget, you've perhaps punished them enough. The more stories one particular company like this has posted about them, the more they'll suffer.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:17 PM
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What a terrible story! I think it's worth following up with corporate--that kind of contact information should be easy to find on the Internet. And I'd copy airport management and the local Better Business Bureau, too, just to spread the embarassing story around.

I haven't had a notably great experience with a rental car company, but I have never had such an awful one, either, not even close.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:18 PM
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That was a horrible experience and there is no excuse for it.

But here's a slightly different take on it. The bottom line is that an actual rental with them never took place. It's kind of hard for them to "make amends" when all this bad behavior ended up not costing you anything (monetarily, that is). I mean what can they do? Refund the full price of the rental? Nope because there wasn't any rental to reimburse. Give you a free rental in the future? Kind of odd -- would a hotel you didn't stay at give you a future free night even though you never stayed there?

It's not unlike going into a restaurant and being rudely treated by the hostess and you decide not to eat there. How can they make amends later?

I guess you're just asking for an apology, but it sort of sounds like you already got that when they said the guy would probably be fired. They never called your husband to say they found a new car -- but probably because they never found a new car.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:18 PM
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Obviously this unfortunate incident had absolutely nothing to do with Budget.

One individual was the problem.

Yes, Budget should hear about it and fire the rude employee, but this has nothing to do with Budget the company.

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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:29 PM
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<this has nothing to do with Budget the company>
In what universe does a company not bear responsibility for the behavior of one of its on-duty employees? The actions were the employee's, but the failure to follow-up properly with the injured consumer was the company's.
And Neo, I diasgree with you: the harm was the inconveninece of having to cadge a ride from friendly strangers to the hotel -- she would have been out cab fare otherwise-- and then having to arrange, at the last minute, for a new car rental at a higher rate. I think Budget owes her a free rental in future for these inconveniences, plus the nightmare of being screamed at by a loony employee in the middle of the night in front of her three kids. She may not be out much money, but there are other measures.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:47 PM
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NewbE, I don't see where anything you say is in disagreement with me. I'm not saying there wasn't great inconvenience or even "harm" -- just that it's kind of hard for a rental car company to "rectify" a bad rental when there was NO rental.

What specifically would you expect Budget to do?

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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:51 PM
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I'd ask for a free rental voucher.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 07:56 PM
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Why ask for a free rental voucher from a company that you've already decided you'd never ever try again?

The poster has said, "Obviously no one in our family is ever going to rent from Budget again."

But you're suggesting so long as it's free they should do it?
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 08:09 PM
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I am suggesting they deserve it, and the company should offer it. Whether they actually use it is beside the point.
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Old Aug 27th, 2007, 08:23 PM
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I always rent through Priceline or Hotwire, so the reservation is prepaid. I totally agree that you can get a difficult agent anywhere, or worse.

I've learned to keep my mouth shut. That tired, cranky, rental agents, who've had a difficult day simply do not appreciate any comments whatseover.

Since my reservation is always prepaid, I'm not about to leave without a car. Hopefully, what I've reserved.

Keep your cool and your voice low.

One of my favorite experiences, after the "pleasantries":

RA: Okay, it's a Toyota Corolla...

Me: I reserved a mid-size.

RA: A Toyota Corolla IS a mid-size.

Me: Well, not according to my confirmation (listing the possible models).

RA: That's all we have for you.

Me: Will you please keep checking?

RA: (After staring at his screen...) Nope, all I have is a Toyota Corolla.

Me: I would really appreciate it if you could find something better, and mid-size.

RA: (More staring...) It's either that or a Ford Focus.

Me: I'm really sure those are both sub-compacts and not mid-size, so could you please keep checking?

RA: (More staring...then in a whisper) Well, how about a Ford Mustang for the same rate or a Lincoln MKX for $10 more a day?

(We don't care for Mustangs...so took the Lincoln.)

For the ridiculously low rate I got, I didn't mind the extra $10.
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Old Aug 28th, 2007, 04:39 AM
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Travel experts often advise people to join the "loyalty" or "frequent user" programs for hotels and car rental companies even if they only plan to stay at a property once or rent cars infrequently. I have found this to be good advice because we've gotten perks such as a fruit basket at a hotel on our first (and only) visit as well as free upgrades on car rentals. Also, with many car rental loyalty programs, you can bypass the office (and their employees) completely and go straight to your rental car.
While this does not help now in your DIL's situation, it may be helpful to her (and others) in the future.
As for her response? I always believe in writing companies to complain of bad service and to praise excellent service. I never expect anything in return, so I am pleased when I do receive a written reply or even some sort of coupon as thanks or compensation. However, as the experts will tell you, if you tell a company that you never intend to patronize them again, they have no incentive to compensate you. Rather, they are interested in compensating those that are loyal customers that have been treated in an unprofessional manner in order to maintain their loyalty.
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Old Aug 28th, 2007, 07:29 AM
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djbooks, I'm curious why you (and so many others) say they always use prepaid plans from priceline or hotwire. I have yet to find a rate from either that will match or beat the rates I seem to invariably get direct with Dollar -- and I've looked and tried many times. Why prepay for something that costs more than a reservation with NO obligation?

In addition, who wants a prepaid rate that "obligates" you when you get there and they don't have what you reserved or they want to give you a hard time about something? One reason I don't like prepaying car rentals.

Or can you find me a rate for a week in Phoenix in October that beats $150 all inclusive? Compact (not the smaller economy car?)
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Old Aug 28th, 2007, 07:53 AM
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Awful story but bottom line, if you've decided you don't want to deal with them again, what more could they offer you if you pursue it? Money back? You didn't pay them anything. If it will make you/dil feel better, write to the President and/or customer relations. Post your experience on the Boston forum at tripadvisor.
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Old Aug 28th, 2007, 08:06 AM
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NeoPatrick, every rental car market is different. While I too have many times failed with a Priceline bid lower than a Dollar or Thrifty reservation, more than once I have won a Priceline car at a much cheaper price than Dollar's best price.

Some people consider Dollar in a different tier of service than, say, Hertz (or Budget - maybe not after this thread!), and Priceline/Hotwire use only those first-tier services. My experience with the "lower tier" car rental companies like Dollar and Thrifty is mixed. My last experience with Thrifty in Oahu was excellent, a great bargain. But a Dollar rental a couple of years ago was not so good. It took them a very long time at the airport just to find my reservation (and they were not busy with other customers - just me), then they car they gave me turned out to have expired registration!

The point I think is that some people won't rent from a "second tier" company at any price and would rather book with Priceline/Hotwire - even if locked in to a reservation - because they know they'll get one of the "first tier" rental companies.
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