NeoPatrick

That's interesting because I have had much worse luck with Hertz than anyone else (with the possible exception of Alamo). Since joining the Dollar Fast Lane, I have never had to wait more than a few minutes for a car or for return, and every single experience with them has been exceptional. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, but they have become my rental of choice unless I just can't get the best rate from them, which is indeed rare.

I have arrived at Hertz at the very busy High Point market with a "guaranteed" rental made months ahead to be told they had no cars and wouldn't for 24 hours. I have also received dirty cars from Hertz, including one that smelled so bad I finally went on a search and found a week old Kentucky Chicken box wedged under the seat with rotting chicken in it.
Once returning a car to Hertz at LAX we spent nearly an hour trying to get anyone to "wait on us" and check in the car. I hate not getting some paperwork, or simply leaving the keys in the car in a "mile long" line of check-ins. If all those things are first tier, I'll take Dollar's second tier ANY DAY.

djkbooks

Patrick: Whenever I've booked a car rental with Priceline or Hotwire, it's been immediately following (or shortly after) a hotel booking. A screen will come up after the hotel room is confirmed asking if you'd like to add a car rental, or you can go back later and add one. I've never had occasion to book the car rental only with Priceline or Hotwire, since if we'll need a car, I book the room first. And, I always price shop rentals in between, but the Priceline/Hotwire rates would be lower for a mid-size than any other resource for a sub-compact. Most often, it would be Hertz.

The first few times, I worried about second rate treatment for Hotwire/Priceline reservations. But, I've gotten ridiculously low rates (which my husband finds unbelievable compared to his corporate rates negotiated by his very large company) and we've experienced very few (and only minor) problems - nothing like booking directly or with other third parties.

The time we got the Lincoln, it was at the Hertz desk at BWI with a reservation booked with Southwest following confirmation of flight booking. Again, the rate for a mid-size was terrific. And, this was during the Christmas season. (To my recollection, prepayment was not required for that one.)

nohomers

"My daughter-in-law recently had a horrible rental car experience"

I'm not doubting your daughter in-law, however, this is all second hand information and stories tend to get worse when repeated by others.

NeoPatrick

Thanks, djbooks. Does that mean you think that the rates are lower from Hotwire or Priceline when you do it in "conjunction" with a hotel booking that they'd be if you were doing them separately? Since I never seem to find lower rates on Hotwire for hotels than I do directly also, I have no reason to book hotels with Hotwire. I'm really trying to see the advantage here.

And meanwhile, Andrew, I've suddenly started wondering what you meant about Hotwire not being the "second tier service" (I don't know about Priceline. When I price cars on Hotwire, the lowest priced ones tend to be Dollar and Thrifty. Are you saying that most people would just rather pay MORE to use Hertz or Avis through Hotwire than taking their lowest bid which is probably one of the "second tier" companies? Hotwire and I assume priceline certainly do offer Dollar, Thrifty, and others as well as the biggies -- Hertz and Avis.

Meanwhile, I've always known that Hertz and Avis are way overpriced for the average person checking rates on their own. You need to use a major discounter or have a special corporate number to use them if you are at all concerned with "competitive pricing".

Andrew

<<And meanwhile, Andrew, I've suddenly started wondering what you meant about Hotwire not being the "second tier service" (I don't know about Priceline. When I price cars on Hotwire, the lowest priced ones tend to be Dollar and Thrifty. Are you saying that most people would just rather pay MORE to use Hertz or Avis through Hotwire than taking their lowest bid which is probably one of the "second tier" companies? Hotwire and I assume priceline certainly do offer Dollar, Thrifty, and others as well as the biggies -- Hertz and Avis. >>

Priceline says they use only Hertz, Budget, Avis, National, and Alamo (or at least they used to - now those companies are listed at the bottom of the screen when you make your bid). Can't speak for Hotwire.

NeoPatrick

Andrew, I hate to be a pain in the ____, but I just went to Priceline.com and checked a rental for my week in Phoenix. Your computer must be different from mine because my proposal from Priceline showed all kinds of agencies including Dollar.

But compared to my $150.44 price direct from Dollar with absolutely no discount codes or corporate discounts, Priceline's price for the exact same thing was $171. Their lowest price was $161 with Fox rentals -- whoever they are. But their lowest price with Hertz was $289 and lowest with Avis was $283.

Sorry, I just don't get it. Priceline to prepay is almost double in cost from Dollar direct with no cancellation penalty or prepayment. Just seems like a no-brainer to me, but maybe I'm missing something.

pollyvw

Well...I won't tell the whole story, but this report is not second hand. We had problems with a car rental from Budget in Amsterdam. The initial problem was that I had a coupon for an upgrade and they would not honor it. Other problems manifested themselves when we were on the road with the car and since we had the auto for such a short period, we did not report 'product failure' (non-critical, but also non-convenient) until we returned to the rental kiosk. In essense, they told us it was our problem, not the fault of the auto. We signed off, but never received a receipt. I decided to deal with it when we returned home.

So, when I got home, I started with emails and phone calls. I told them what the problem was and what I expected them to do about it...give me a $50 credit which I thought was reasonable (the whole rental cost was about $150) and send me a copy of my receipt.

They went through several stages.

1. Budget International refused the request because 'there was nothing wrong with the car.'

2. Budget's head office offered me a coupon to use on my next rental. I refused that on the grounds that my upgrade coupon was not honored and what confidence could I have that a subsequent one would be honored.

I also told them (truthfully) that I had never used Budget before and the resolution of this experience would determine who I rented from in the future. And I mentioned that if Budget International was not cooperative, I did think that the main office of Budget certainly could afford to issue a $50 credit to my CC account.

3. They did give me the $50 credit...and they finally emailed me a copy of my receipt so that I am now aware of exactly what I paid for.

I am still dealing with the unposted FF miles from a 4/28 rental (they told me at the rental kiosk on the first day that they would do so). I'm not sure I will get them before my current account balance expires in November.

BTW...I will not rent from Budget again.

Andrew

<<Andrew, I hate to be a pain in the ____, but I just went to Priceline.com and checked a rental for my week in Phoenix. Your computer must be different from mine because my proposal from Priceline showed all kinds of agencies including Dollar.>>

Sounds like you are not checking "Name your own Price." Priceline doesn't give you "proposals" for the NYOP service. You bid a price for renting the car and if they accept it, then you find out whether it'd Hertz, Budget, et al. And that's what people mean when they get a good deal on Priceline (which are also non-refundable, etc.)

For Priceline's conventional booking service (which shows you the car companies and is probably not non-refundable), no doubt they offer Dollar and the others, because they have separate arrangements (more like a typical travel agent's) vs. their NYOP service.

joan

I am confused about the original post.

Nonnafelice wrote:
"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."

Did she (the dil in this case)...

A. actually have a reservation for a car, and they did not have one available?

B. Actually have a reservation, but decide she didn't like being yelled at, and walked away without completing her reservation?

C. Ask for the manager, Miss Sashay, when she was being yelled at by the non-manager?

I think, as horribly as your dil was being treated, if she just left, without asking for a manager, that it does not look good. It's your word against theirs. And expecting to come back the next day and get the same rate is unlikely, because now you are in the same category as a "walkin" customer, the kind that are given the highest rates for not booking ahead of time.

NeoPatrick

You're right that I didn't do a "name your own price" with Priceline. It says that can get you UP TO 30% off. 30% off their Hertz quote is still $202.30 -- $ 52 more than my current contract. Again, I guess I'm missing something, but I just don't get the joy of paying more and prepaying. There are also too many reason I might have to cancel, so prepaying is out of the question -- especially when it costs even more to do so.
Don't get me wrong -- I understand the attraction of Priceline for hotels. I just don't get the attraction of paying more for a car rental and having to prepay it too than booking direct. There is certainly NO GUARANTEE than any one agency is going to end up being better than another in any particular instance.

NorthwestMale

So what you're saying is, in brief:

Your daughter-in-law arrived in Boston around 11pm, collected her 3 children and all of their luggage in time to get to a rental car agency at "almost midnight" (which is about the norm for such a situation)...

She later asked the man on duty if he were a woman, then still later decided to leave the premises without entering into any sort of "customer" contract with said company.

This is the late-night Boston equivalent to a person walking into an A & P, then leaving without purchasing anything before returning to ask for some sort of a refund or the like.

Did your daughter-in-law fall down on a wet floor and hurt her ankle or anything?

You say she has witnesses in line who can vouch for how she was treated by this so-called man-woman? Who are they?

Fact is, your daughter-in-law insulted someone, and then expected some sort of favors from this same person.

The way you've written this, as if to soften up your audience for your sob story with absolutely needless detail, is an insult to this forum.

"To me the worst part of this..." is your absurd definition of "customer".

We simply don't care that your daughter-in-law was of the mind to fly alone to Boston with 3 children arriving late at night, or that she is insulting by nature, or that she was plain wrong in stating "(he) can't talk to (her) like that", or that she thinks Budget should perform her secretarial duties.

Your daughter-in-law is clearly the sort of person those in the service industry don't want to deal with. She is also the sort of person that other travelers don't want to be around when they travel.

Your trying to blame this on Budget is just your way of ignoring reality.

Andrew

What I think you are missing NeoPatrick is that most people are paying LESS with Priceline than they would pay with Dollar or Thrifty. You seem to be basing your "why Priceline?" query on your own assumptions and calculations about what you think other people save with Priceline, not on other people's actual experiences. Most people trying to save money on a rental car would just use Thrifty or Dollar if their Priceline bid below the best Thrifty/Dollar quote fails - I know that's what I do.

NeoPatrick

As a matter of fact, you've taken me off track from my original comment which was basically about Hotwire -- which as I understand it is NOT a bidding process -- that's what I was referring to when I asked what the attraction was when I can invariably find better deals direct.

Maybe within a week of my next trip I'll give Priceline a try. If I can bid 30% below my current contract and get it, then why not -- when it is doubtful I'd have to cancel the trip. But for a few dollars savings, I'd probably pass. I'd just as soon not have to pay for 6 weeks or more, and also get my FF miles, which I assume like with Priceline hotels you forfeit.

In any case, I apologize for steering this thread so far off the original topic. I still agree with what janis mentioned above -- it is kind of hard for them to "give you" anything when you didn't actually "buy" anything from them.

And I also have to agree in part with Northwest Male (who is certainly not mincing words) in that your daughter-in-law was NOT a customer. A customer has to buy something -- and she didn't. What you are talking about is how they treated a "potential" customer.

There also is clearly something missing from the whole story. I fail to believe that when she "asked something about the rate" the clerk said "you can't talk to me like that". Something HAD to be said besides "could you please tell me the rate" for any clerk to react with that answer.

But here's another point. If I called a business -- any business -- and told them I had been mistreated and a manager said that the clerk would probably be fired, I doubt I'd want to have anything to do with the company again anyway. What an odd thing for a manager to say when he hadn't even investigated the incident.

dmlove

I beg to differ NorthwestMale. Are you kidding me? -- she arrived when Budget was still open for business (I don't care if that was midnight or 3 a.m., they were open for business)....How does their employees' rudeness come to be HER problem? Either they're open for business at that hour, and will have a competent and courteous employee on duty, or they should just be closed at that hour).

Assuming she did not have an advance reservation, however, unfortunately, the most she's going to get is a "we're sorry". Whether they fire a surly employee is up to them -- probably depends on whether they've had other complaints about him

By the way, I have a first name that makes people often mistake me for a man. I don't like it, but I certainly don't take it as an insult, just an honest mistake, which is gently corrected.

theatrelover

We had a terrible experience with Budget at Miami Airport. Our first car kept beeping at us that the trunk was open although it wasn't. The second car didn't have seats which adjusted up and down and my husband's head kept hitting the ceiling. After making us wait for a long time, they finally gave us a third car. The light came on saying that the tires were not properly inflated. They insisted that the tires were ok, put some more air in them and sent us on our way. By the time we reached our hotel on Key Biscayne, the indicator was flashing again. There was no way we felt safe driving this car. We spent all night trying to reach Budget at the airport and then, after they closed, Budget headquarters. They insisted on sending someone to fix the car making us sit in the lobby waiting for the repairman for over two hours. He never showed. After that, we could never get anyone from Budget on the phone. The next day our concierge finally got someone from Budget on the phone, told them to come pick up the car and that we would not pay them a penny for it. We rented a car from Enterprise through our hotel. It took Budget three days to come pick up the car and our hotel charged them parking fees. Naturally, Budget charged our credit card for the full weekly charge. We disputed that with our credit card company and got a full refund. We will never, ever deal with Budget again.

NeoPatrick

dmlove, care to explain why anyone -- no matter how rude -- would say "you can't talk to me like that" when simply asked a question about the rate? Don't you think that "something" is missing from this story? Like maybe another side? Is it just possible that the version the DIL has told might be just a little bit colored by the fact that she was already grouchy and grumpy and upset that the Budget bus took so long, she had the kids in tow, and was extremely tired at that hour plus irriatated by the delays? Is it just remotely possible that she approached with as much or more attitude than the clerk we're getting a second hand account of? It's really hard to picture any clerk saying "I don't have to rent you a car" when someone has only been all sweetness and light. Now I'll ask readers this. If you had been a grouchy customer and brought on the tirades yourself, when you told your friends or mother-in-law about it, would you admit it was your fault or would you remember it as being all a rude and nasty clerk who had absolutely no provocation for the attacks?

dmlove

You're right, I'm assuming she wasn't rude and he was, but those are the only "facts" I have to work with. NorthwestMale made a heck of lot more (and worse, and obnoxious, to boot) assumptions about the OP's DIL than I did about the Budget employee.