dmlove, that's my strategy exactly and it has never failed. I carry a copy of my confirmed reservation, and when they try to upsell I politely decline. When they try to say they have nothing and must substitute, I politely decline if what they offer is not acceptable. Occasionally - actually, rarely - an agent will get a bit pissy and I just ask for the manager, display my reservation and sympathize with their problem but make it clear that it is not my problem. Sounds pretty narcissistic but when I turned 50 I announced that I was embracing my inner old fart and so far it has worked pretty well.

<i>when I turned 50 I announced that I was embracing my inner old fart</i>

LOL!!

dmlove,

Yes, in the rental car industry, Salt Lake City, Tucson, and many other cities of their size AND relatively remote locations are backwoods.

The main rental car brands often sell franchises in small-market, low-demand areas, and that is the reason why one-way rentals of just a few hundred miles at times, come with astronomical cost quotes.

In these small, backwoods franchisee locations, the fleets are in service for longer periods than in their bigger-city counterparts, AND, of course, they have fewer cars.

So when you go there and tell them you have a reservation for a vehicle that simply does not exist, period, let alone one that wouldn't be in their fleet even if it did, there is only one possible outcome for you.

Now, the guy comes on a travel website hoping to do some sort of damage to the reputation of the company. It's just wrong.

Back fifteen years ago, when auto rental costs were more volatile, Alamo was a good option because costs were typically lower than those advertised by industry leaders. Now that average base rental costs haven't increased significantly since then, Alamo is just another name in the running for auto rental revenue.

Nobody cares whether the OP uses Alamo or not, but before he starts bashing some company in print, he should at least have a reasonable case against them.

NorthwestMale, the point where your logic escapes me is that Alamo allowed the customer to make a reservation for a particular class of car in that backwoods location. If they offer the car, they should at least be prepared to supply what they promised. If not, a similar car is promised. This guy got neither the car he reserved nor a similar car.

I've used Alamo and not had any issues. Here are a couple of coupon codes if you decide to use them:

AD3829MRB - $25 off weekly
AD395OL2VN - $15 off weekend

Northwestmale, please read all the posts. We've all pretty well agreed that the original poster meant a Pontiac G6 (or similar) was reserved. It is pretty easy to assume that since Alamo on their website shows the Pontiac G6 as the midsize car that IS the classification that the poster reserved. It is not important that the actual model number or name is wrong. That is classified as a &quot;midsize&quot; car by Alamo. That is what the poster reserved and was paying for. When he got there they substitued an economy car instead -- not even a compact which is the classification between the two cars. They downgraded him TWO classifications of car. You seem to think that because Salt Lake City is some backwater town (absurd to say the least) that he should not only NOT complain but simply expect that? And you're claiming that to tell others that he was downgraded two classifications without any monetary adjustment is unfair to the company? Please tell me you're joking. That is simply absurd!

Perhaps the poster made an error here calling the G6 a GS6 -- but there is little doubt that what he means is he reserved and was paying for a midsize and got an economy. If he had wanted to reserve an economy car to begin with, he surely could have done so and gotten a lower quote than he was given for his car classification of choice -- a midsize. Surely you can understand the issue. It has nothing to do with the specific car he got, but rather with the lowering of two classes.

Patrick, you should probably read the first post, and the only one that matters with regard to any responses here.

The facts are that the man turns up at a random internet website fully six months after his cause for complaint just to try to do inappropriate harm to some company's reputation. If you don't call him out on this then you're just clueless as to how auto rental works.

He seems to believe that &quot;his opinion&quot; should matter in the wide world of airport car rentals.

He also admits to accepting what they were offering when it suited him at the time, but (and not &quot;suddenly&quot; either) it isn't good enough six months later.

(one would think he turned the car in many months ago)

Months later he again opted for the poor services/options offered by the company despite going to the competitors and hearing that he could go online and do better for himself. Salt Lake City, while quite surely a backwoods location in terms of auto rentals, does indeed have plenty of internet connections, so a truly dissatisfied consumer would have made haste to do better for himself with any one of those.

(unless, of course, he truly didn't believe he would do much better for himself, before weeks later landing here trying to convince the likes of you otherwise)

What is most comical in all of this, is the reference at the end of his long rant to &quot;be(ing) fair&quot;.


To hear him tell the story, he could've taken a $20 cab ride to the nearest internet terminal ($40 round trip) and saved himself hundreds of dollars renting from the competition, so why didn't he do so?

I think we all know why...

There's only one point in your ridiculous post that makes any difference to me, Northwestmale. Frankly I don't care if it took him 6 months to post about this experience. That's his perogative. But the bottom line is someone reserved and had a contract for a midsize car. When he got there they offered him an economy car which is a full two classifications lower. They weren't crediting him any money and couldn't offer him a car of the same classification that he reserved, but instead said if we wanted anything other that the two grades lower that he ordered that they were going to charge him full price for, he'd have to pay a whole lot more than his confirmation. You think that's fine. I don't. And I know in my heart that if it happened to you, you wouldn't like it either. No one wants to may for a car two grades higher than what they're getting. If you do, then there is something very strange about you. Do you also not mind paying for a deluxe suite if you get to a hotel and all they have is a standard single. Do you smile and say &quot;oh, yes this is a backwater town so I'm perfectly happy paying for a suite and not getting one&quot;. Give me a break!

And although you think Salt Lake City is a backwater town, what is one supposed to do? Rent a car in NYC or LAX when going to a backwater town like Salt Lake City? Your suggestion that someone should happily accept a lesser classification car than they are paying for if they happen not to be in one of the 5 or 6 major markets of the country is nothing short of absurd.

My experience with Enterprise has always been the complete opposite. I've always booked the cheapest economy car and gotten upgraded for free when they didn't have it. I believe they only have a few of the economy cars in stock at each location, so this is often the case. I would advise to always book the cheapest since you can always upgrade on the spot if they end up having an economy car and you don't want it. :)

I've also had very good experiences with Thrifty recently in both the US and Canada. They're the same company as Dollar.

First, for more reasons than I care to go into, I think NWmale is off his rocker.

Second, my dirty little secret is that I almost always reserve cars from 2 rental companies at the same location. That way, if I get the runaround from one or the &quot;we don't have any cars,&quot; I have an option other than to just swallow what one company is selling.

If you think that's unethical, tough. I've seen from the inside what rental companies do to make a few bucks, and renting 2 cars doesn't even make it one the radar screen compared to that.

Just for your info I am still awaiting a response from Alamo. I did receive a message from Alamo that indicated they would research my complaint &amp; respond within 24 hrs. That was several days ago. It appears to me that they have no logical reason for the car rental action hence I will be ignored - how's that for a customer no service department. That's O.K. since they have lost me as a customer anyway.

As far as I am concerned if a company does not have a mid-sized vehicle I reserved than I should be upgraded at no additional cost not downgraded to another vehicle at the quoted price of a mid-size. I don't care if it's New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City, or Tucson. Their website makes no distinction of what is available at the different locations. If they don't have certain vehicles available at some locations then in my opinion the customer should be so advised when he/she makes the reservation.

For NWMale I only referred to the incident in SLC so as to let Alamo know that they screwed me two times in a row. I was not satisfied with Alamo either time &amp; so advised them. However they showed their customer service merits by doing NOTHING to correct the situation. Even if a customer is wrong a good company will attempt to defuse the situation.

Also If you, NWMale, think I have time to get to an internet site with wife and luggage when I am supposed to be on the road following a pre-planned itinerary, you are off your rocker. I want to obtain the vehicle I requested &amp; hit the road. I don't what to spend half a day trying to resolve a rental situation. If you're are willing to take what the rental folks give you that's your choice but not too many other folks are going to be willing to do that without some action or complaint. You apparently are one who is willing to pay $10 for a $5 item because you're buying in backwater America.

I think J_999_9 has a great idea. I never thought of that. I think most of us like to conduct ourselves honesty &amp; we get screwed when we end up dealing with a company who is less than honest.

Thank you.

I guess i've just been lucky, but I've never had a single problem with renting from Enterprise off airport locations. One thing about their off airport vs on airport locations is that the airport cars are nicer and newer.

Didn't Enterprise just buy Alamo and National?

j999.... dont you think by double booking, your adding to the problem of &quot;we dont have cars&quot; if 2 agencies are holding a car for you????