Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - non-refundability may be a redeeming quality

I recently made a reservation for a full-size car from Avis at DFW on Expedia.com.

The rate was $21.99/day for three days -- Saturday to Tuesday. Excellent rate for a full size car if you ask me. I didn't even bother trying Priceline because the negatives, such as non-refundability, are not worth it when the published rate is $21.99/day.

Well, Avis says the rate is 24-something for two days and then some outrageous rate like $75 for the third day. I cut $50 off the three day rental by taking a compact instead of a full size, but it's still more than the rate I was quoted. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif

So, I figure maybe I should go back to trying Priceline for rental cars again. Non-refundability is bad if I change my mind, but that's unlikely if I can put in a winning bid two or three days before I get there.

There's no way they can charge me more at the counter, since Priceline is pre-paid.

Your post isn't clear to me. Are you saying you made a reservation for a full size through Expedia and Avis is not honoring the rate?

I had a similiar incident at alamo in Cleveland. They wanted to charge me about $50 more than the price quoted originaly. They said that this is the rate that is showing in their system. After complaining they gave me the original rate.
Lesson learned, always print the confirmation and bring along.

I think what may have happened is the Expedia calculated the 3-day rate based on the lowest qualifying rate for the first day of the reservation. Avis likely has a Weekend Special for Saturday and Sunday but that rate is not valid for Monday, thus Avis felt the need to charge the OP the higher daily rate for Monday.

Expedia does bury this disclaimer on their “review rules and restrictions” section below the rate quote “Additional days beyond the regular rate plan periods will be charged at the extra day rate.” It is confusing, but I think they mean the the “regular rate plan” is the weekend time period so Monday and Tuesday are considered extra days even though the OP reserved weekend and weekdays at the same time.

I had a similar confusing experience with Enterprise using Orbitz. I booked a car at OMA in April for Thursday through Sunday and the rate class printed on the confirmation said “Weekend Rate,” along with the verbiage about extra day rates. My case did end better than the OP's though, Enterprise gave me the weekend rate for the entire rental period—I was happy.

If the OP has a spare moment it might be worth sending Expedia a complaint E-mail if the total base-rate quoted by Expedia was lower then the base rate the OP was charged at the counter because it is confusing.

I always print something from the travel company showing the rate and then speak to a manager when they jack the rate up. When you have it in print with the reservation number most managers will honor that. I always double book my rent cars to get the best rate. They always want to use the higher rate reservation but I give them the res number they must use.

hmmmm...i had a similar problem with Dollar in TUS a few weeks ago. Booked thru the Dollar website, and was given a quote for 3 weekend days (pickup on friday evening; return monday before noon).
when i returned the car, i was charged for 2 weekend days, plus 1 non-weekend day. Since i had a copy of the dollar confirmation with the original quote, they "agreed" to honor the rates as booked/confirmed.
but it took 45 minutes at their counter for them to sort out the mess.....good thing i had arrived at the airport with plenty of time!