Thanks Barrie. BTW, here is my rant so far for this trip from another forum I am a member...
Last month, we decided to visit my daughter and new granddaughter and would rent a car through Costco, in order to save wear and tear. Budget had a week special with Costco, where you save 30% off the listed rental, provided that you pay in advance. They also had another special where for another $29, they would throw in Sirius Satellite radio. I ordered and payed for the car as required.
Just to make sure, we drove to the rental car company last week and sure enough, they were very nice and said the rental was booked for the 25th of March, and yes, the car I chose had Sirius radio.
Well, Saturday morning (3/24), we received a call from Budget saying the rental location I selected did not have any cars available. They told me simply to call Budget and they will transfer the car rental to another nearby location, where it will be ready for yesterday. They then said due to me pre-paying, I would have to probably pay the price again, and settle the difference later. What difference? I've already paid it!
So yesterday, I get my neighbor to drive me to the other Budget rental agency to get my rental car in preparation for our 1400 mile road trip today. I wait in a long line and as soon as I reach the one "clerk", he tells me the rental contract was not transferred. He tells me to get back out of line and call the 1-800 number and get the contract transferred. I advised I already did this on Saturday and he said he did not care, and it was not his problem.
I stepped out of the long line, and made the call to the corporate 1-800 number to again get the call transferred. They then say, that I will have to pay any differences, but they will transfer the car order to where I was now at. What difference? I have pre-paid!?
Now, I have been at this Budget for nearly an hour, and the clerk reminds me they were about to close for the day. I am the last person to get waited on and the doors were now locked. He said I will need to pay the difference at the end of my rental, but would help me out. He pulls up with my car, and see it is filthy. He apologized and said his worker who cleans the cars had gone home, so take it or leave it.
I verified that the car has the Sirius radio and he said, "oh, no, this car does not have satellite radio", but for a slight upgrade (I upgraded twice already!) he would give me a car with Sirius radio. A few minutes later, he brings out another dirty car and says, "here you go!" He also said we would settle the money difference when I return the car. By this time, I am frosted, pissed and defeated. I sign the final papers and verified that my girlfriend also had permission to drive the car and he tells me that she could drive it, but without scanning her driver's license, my insurance would not cover their car and I needed to bring her in so he could scan her driver's license.
I explained that I lived 30 minutes away, and could he please wait for me to go get my girlfriend, but he apologized and said he was closing for the day. I asked what was my other option and he said, "oh, no problem, just drive her to the international airport another 10 minutes down the road, and they will scan her license."
I now jump in the dirty car, drive 30 minutes home, pick up the girlfriend, then drive 40 minutes away, get my girlfriend's license scanned, and now I am so frosted that I am regretting this entire rental, and in about an hour, we start on this 1400 mile trip, dirty car and all. But hey, I have Sirius radio!