Other Car Rental Programs/Partners (ie. Alamo, Enterprise, Sixt) - I'm Done With Alamo

Just venting here.

I'm a Hertz guy, haven't rented anywhere else in about seven years. I probably rent 8-12 cars a year for two to five days at a time.

Well, in the Southwest Airlines area of FT, a lot of people were saying good things about Alamo and I decided to price shop. Alamo was $50 less than Hertz for a three day rental at MDW.

Long story short, I ended up coming home a day early and I turned in the car. Nobody mentions a fee increase, but when I get home I noticed that my rate had changed from 3 days at $34 to two days at $62.

I do not mind - in any way, shape, or form - paying $34 for the day I didn't use the car. And by turning it in early, I gave Alamo an entire extra 24 hours where they could then rent the car to someone else.

I noticed the difference when I looked at my Diners statement online and wrote a very nice email. Alamo wrote back saying, "Sorry, you changed the terms of your rental without notice, we have the right to change the price."

I replied, "Hey, wait a minute. I'm not trying to take money out of your pocket by asking for a reduction in days rented, I'm glad to pay the full three day rental price even though I only used the car two days."

It's kind of like if I had reserved a hotel room for three days and checked out after two days. Can you imagine a hotel saying, "We're sorry Mr. Apple, your reservation was for three days at $100. Since you are checking out early, we will have to change your daily rate to $200 per night, so you owe us another $100."

Alamo wrote back and said, "While searching deeper into the issue, I found under the Terms and Conditions of this particular promotion, the rate is valid for the original parameters of the reservation. The contract is valid for as long as you honor your original agreement. When you changed the rental, you forfeited the promotional rate guaranteed to your original reservation. I apologize for the misunderstanding."

Oh well. I know many rent more cars than I do, but I hope Alamo has no misunderstandings about the fact that they have a zero percent chance of ever getting even one of my car rental days ever again. I hope the $30 or so extra they collected from me was worth losing the chance at any of the about 30 days of car renting I do each year.

I too am done with Alamo because of the shoddy way they handle Southwest Rapid Reward credits. The last two rentals I had from them were on codes that were supposed to yield double or triple credits. On the first one the base credit posted but it took four phone calls plus a letter to get the bonus credits to post. On the second, I'm at four phone calls and a letter again, and they still refuse to post the bonus credits. I'm not that big a customer, but they've lost me as a customer forever.

Today I see a credit on my Diners statement. I won the dispute.

jtaft - I had completely forgotten that I entered the codes for a quadruple credit on Southwest. I think I will skip the phone calls and just send a letter.

My known and already booked (with Hertz, of course) car rentals for the rest of 2008:
July 10-14 - St. Louis
August 9-14 - Las Vegas
August 18-22 - Chicago
October 15-16 - Dallas
November 21-24 - Dallas

The amount of the credit was $26.56. Just think, if Alamo had replied, "Sorry for the confusion Mr. Apple, we are going to do what it takes to make you a satisfied customer" then there's a good chance one or more of the above five rentals would be with Alamo.

It's kind of like if I had reserved a hotel room for three days and checked out after two days. Can you imagine a hotel saying, "We're sorry Mr. Apple, your reservation was for three days at $100. Since you are checking out early, we will have to change your daily rate to $200 per night, so you owe us another $100."



Some hotels actually do charge an early checkout penalty.

Szymon

Some hotels actually do charge an early checkout penalty.

And I've paid it a few times.

But never ever had I had the early checkout penalty cause the total to become higher than if I had stayed full length of the reservation.

Did you turn it in on a Saturday rather than a Sunday? That's the only time I've seen daily rates be that different, is when receiving their weekend rates (which require a Sat. night stay).

Did you turn it in on a Saturday rather than a Sunday? Original return time was scheduled for 7:00 AM on Saturday, I gave them the car at 4:00 Friday afternoon - about 15 hours early.

Some hotels actually do charge an early checkout penalty.

Szymon

Most Sheratons do & a lot of extended stay brands base their rates off of the length of stay...

Either way, unfortunately, the Alamo contract does, IIRC, state that there are early retun penalties.

Hertz does it too, I believe - if you got a rate based on a longer stay - i.e. rent for a week, get the weekly rate, and return after 4 days, you'll be charged a potentially higher daily rate.

At least you were able to contact them.... They didn't post my triple credit on my last rental, I called the 800 number several times, and when I selected the menu for "award credits" the phone hung up on me. I tried again a couple of days later and sat on hold for 45 minutes without getting to speak to anyone. I've sent 4 emails and got responses that say "someone will contact you in 48 hours" and no one does... I'm thinking of just disputing the charges since they didn't fullfill their end of the contract by awarding points as agreed.

I don't have much affinity for any car rental company, but these guys are bottom of the heap in my book!