Don't rent a car from Discount
Jan 2nd, 2008, 11:48 AM
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Don't rent a car from Discount
Just got back from BC last night after spending Christmas in Chilliwack with my father. Travel these days is never fun, but I didn't expect to have such a lousy experience renting a car!
We were flying on points, so made our flight reservations back in July. I reserved the rental car in October. I decided to use carrentals.com to see what kind of deal I could get.
The cheapest deal was with Discount and it was considerably lower than the other agencies. I booked a car to be picked up at the Vancouver airport on Christmas Day at 12 PM and return to the airport on New Year’s Day.
On December 24, I received an email from Carrentals.com confirming the reservation. Because my flight was actually scheduled to arrive in Vancouver around 10 AM, I was concerned that possibly the car might not be ready, so I tried to change the reservation online. I wasn’t able to make the change myself, so I called Discount's 1-800 number in Vancouver to tell them that I would be picking up the car at 10:30 AM. I was very clear that I was picking the car up on Christmas Day, and the rep that I spoke with apparently changed the reservation.
When I arrived in Vancouver on Christmas morning, I called the phone number for pickup. No answer. I tried numerous times over the next ½ hour and finally I looked up the phone number for Discount in Vancouver and called that number. Their outgoing message advised that they were closed on Christmas Day.
We checked a couple of other car rental agencies at the airport, but no one had any cars available. At that point, I started to panic. We were finally able to get a Yaris through Enterprise (located just outside the airport) at a cost of $600 (not including taxes) for the 7 days. That rate was considerably more expensive than the rate I was given with Ace / Discount, but I was hardly in a position to shop around. Chilliwack is 100 km away. If we hadn’t been able to rent a car, we would have been taking a taxi to the bus terminal and then a bus to Chilliwack.
On December 26, I spoke to a manager in the Richmond branch. After a number of calls back and forth, he told me that their reps claimed to have contacted me sometime in October to advise me that they were closed on Christmas Day and I had changed my reservation to pick up the car on December 26. The rep also said that when I called on December 24, I had again changed the reservation to pick up the car on December 27.
None of that is true! If I had been told in October that Discount was closed on Christmas Day, I would have cancelled that reservation and booked with another agency. Secondly, when I called on December 24, the rep did not mention that the reservation had been changed to a pickup on December 26. Again, if I had known that ahead of time, I would have booked with another agency. (Really, who would possibly pick up a car at the airport 2 days after they arrive at the airport, especially when they are staying 100 km away?)
The manager did suggest that we return the car to Enterprise and pick up a car from Discount. That really wasn’t possible with our schedule and besides, there was a snow warning for the Fraser Valley that day.
The staff clearly mishandled the reservation, both when they first realized that they were closed on Christmas Day and when I called to change the pickup time. Given that the so called confirmation was incorrect, I honestly don’t know whether the staff even changed the reservation when they knew they were going to be closed.
While I can’t really complain about the manager’s response – he did call me back several times – I am totally fed up with Discount. I'm now in the process of sending another email to their management. I honestly don't expect anything from them, but I'd like some admission that they were at fault.
I also don’t think I would use Carrentals.com again – I would rather deal directly with an agency.
We were flying on points, so made our flight reservations back in July. I reserved the rental car in October. I decided to use carrentals.com to see what kind of deal I could get.
The cheapest deal was with Discount and it was considerably lower than the other agencies. I booked a car to be picked up at the Vancouver airport on Christmas Day at 12 PM and return to the airport on New Year’s Day.
On December 24, I received an email from Carrentals.com confirming the reservation. Because my flight was actually scheduled to arrive in Vancouver around 10 AM, I was concerned that possibly the car might not be ready, so I tried to change the reservation online. I wasn’t able to make the change myself, so I called Discount's 1-800 number in Vancouver to tell them that I would be picking up the car at 10:30 AM. I was very clear that I was picking the car up on Christmas Day, and the rep that I spoke with apparently changed the reservation.
When I arrived in Vancouver on Christmas morning, I called the phone number for pickup. No answer. I tried numerous times over the next ½ hour and finally I looked up the phone number for Discount in Vancouver and called that number. Their outgoing message advised that they were closed on Christmas Day.
We checked a couple of other car rental agencies at the airport, but no one had any cars available. At that point, I started to panic. We were finally able to get a Yaris through Enterprise (located just outside the airport) at a cost of $600 (not including taxes) for the 7 days. That rate was considerably more expensive than the rate I was given with Ace / Discount, but I was hardly in a position to shop around. Chilliwack is 100 km away. If we hadn’t been able to rent a car, we would have been taking a taxi to the bus terminal and then a bus to Chilliwack.
On December 26, I spoke to a manager in the Richmond branch. After a number of calls back and forth, he told me that their reps claimed to have contacted me sometime in October to advise me that they were closed on Christmas Day and I had changed my reservation to pick up the car on December 26. The rep also said that when I called on December 24, I had again changed the reservation to pick up the car on December 27.
None of that is true! If I had been told in October that Discount was closed on Christmas Day, I would have cancelled that reservation and booked with another agency. Secondly, when I called on December 24, the rep did not mention that the reservation had been changed to a pickup on December 26. Again, if I had known that ahead of time, I would have booked with another agency. (Really, who would possibly pick up a car at the airport 2 days after they arrive at the airport, especially when they are staying 100 km away?)
The manager did suggest that we return the car to Enterprise and pick up a car from Discount. That really wasn’t possible with our schedule and besides, there was a snow warning for the Fraser Valley that day.
The staff clearly mishandled the reservation, both when they first realized that they were closed on Christmas Day and when I called to change the pickup time. Given that the so called confirmation was incorrect, I honestly don’t know whether the staff even changed the reservation when they knew they were going to be closed.
While I can’t really complain about the manager’s response – he did call me back several times – I am totally fed up with Discount. I'm now in the process of sending another email to their management. I honestly don't expect anything from them, but I'd like some admission that they were at fault.
I also don’t think I would use Carrentals.com again – I would rather deal directly with an agency.
Jan 2nd, 2008, 08:39 PM
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Is it possible that because you went through carrentals.com that they were the ones who failed? If Discount was closed on Christmas Day, then how did carrentals confirm your reservation in the first place?
My second question is did you say Christmas Day or December 25th? Unfortunately, there are many people who don't know which date Christmas falls on, but rather just the day of the week. It's possible when you called to say you wanted to pick it up at 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, that the operator plugged it in for the wrong date unknowingly.
Rather than going after Discount, I would go after carrentals for confirming a reservation for a pick up date that Discount wasn't able to meet. If you received the confirmation on the 24th for the original reservation, then they should be held responsible for the mistake not Discount.
My second question is did you say Christmas Day or December 25th? Unfortunately, there are many people who don't know which date Christmas falls on, but rather just the day of the week. It's possible when you called to say you wanted to pick it up at 10:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, that the operator plugged it in for the wrong date unknowingly.
Rather than going after Discount, I would go after carrentals for confirming a reservation for a pick up date that Discount wasn't able to meet. If you received the confirmation on the 24th for the original reservation, then they should be held responsible for the mistake not Discount.
Jan 3rd, 2008, 06:52 AM
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The reservation number was for Discount. The manager at Discount also confirmed that their system (at Discount) would allow a reservation to be made on a day they were closed, but they would catch it eventually. (I'm in IT - seems like they need a new system.)
My complaint is with Discount. The Discount reps claim they called me in October to change the reservation - they didn't! Then when I called on the 24th to say that I was picking up the car at 10:30 AM, not noon, the rep claims that I changed the reservation from the 26th to the 27th! Again, not true.
Discount is not a small outfit - their website said that they are privately owned and have over 300 outlets in Canada, as well as some in Australia.
My complaint is with Discount. The Discount reps claim they called me in October to change the reservation - they didn't! Then when I called on the 24th to say that I was picking up the car at 10:30 AM, not noon, the rep claims that I changed the reservation from the 26th to the 27th! Again, not true.
Discount is not a small outfit - their website said that they are privately owned and have over 300 outlets in Canada, as well as some in Australia.
Jan 5th, 2008, 07:32 AM
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Susan, what a nightmare! I would have been panicked as well. I am sorry this happened to you. Thank you for sharing your unfortunate experience; it is a reminder to me to be cautious and very specific when booking reservations for a holiday in particular, not to assume anything, and to have a backup plan "just in case." Like yourself, I've had generally better expreiences booking directly.
Jan 18th, 2008, 05:02 AM
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I thought I should post an update on this.
Let me start by saying that all's well that ends well. Discount has come through for me.
I sent an email to them on January 2, and didn't hear anything for a few days. I re-sent it, and got a reply from the guy I had spoken to while we were out in BC. He had referred the email to his manager. A few more days, and I still didn't hear anything. So I sent another email to the branch and also a complaint to the corporate website, and finally the manager called me. He gave me the same story - that they had had contacted me in October, etc. but after a couple more calls (and more investigation on his part), he called me last night to tell me that they are going to provide me with a free rental next time I'm out in Vancouver. (Apparently the rep who was supposed to call me no longer works with the company, so they really can't say they called us.)
He also thought that I had been 'gouged' by Enterprise (the agency we ended up getting a car from). He got the details from me, contacted Enterprise, and negotiated a price reduction for me. Apparently Enterprise has agreed to giving me a $320 credit on my Visa!
I have to say that I'm thrilled with the way this turned out - I didn't expect this type of response!
Let me start by saying that all's well that ends well. Discount has come through for me.
I sent an email to them on January 2, and didn't hear anything for a few days. I re-sent it, and got a reply from the guy I had spoken to while we were out in BC. He had referred the email to his manager. A few more days, and I still didn't hear anything. So I sent another email to the branch and also a complaint to the corporate website, and finally the manager called me. He gave me the same story - that they had had contacted me in October, etc. but after a couple more calls (and more investigation on his part), he called me last night to tell me that they are going to provide me with a free rental next time I'm out in Vancouver. (Apparently the rep who was supposed to call me no longer works with the company, so they really can't say they called us.)
He also thought that I had been 'gouged' by Enterprise (the agency we ended up getting a car from). He got the details from me, contacted Enterprise, and negotiated a price reduction for me. Apparently Enterprise has agreed to giving me a $320 credit on my Visa!
I have to say that I'm thrilled with the way this turned out - I didn't expect this type of response!
Jan 18th, 2008, 07:20 AM
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I have no ties to Discount, but given the title of the original posting and the fact that folks often DON'T read to the end of the story, maybe you should post again with a 'Happy Ending for Discount Rental' title! LOL...glad it all ended well...it is so upsetting to have carefully made arrangements screwed up and then get blamed for it. BTW, that reference to not knowing when Christmas Day is: forgiveable in a multi-cultural society and increasingly a likelihood.
