Fredd

We picked up an Alamo rental car at BHM today for a multi-day rental. We'd requested and paid for a "full size" on the website but received a "standard," a Hyundai Sonata. Oddly enough, when we used the kiosk inside, it repeatedly offered us the chance to "upgrade" to a compact for an extra ten bucks a day.

When I questioned the airport counter rep about our Sonata she told me they're all the same at this location, yet if you look at the Alamo booking engine you'll see that they're separate categories and priced at different rates. Our contract states that we'd rented a full size and received a standard. I called Alamo customer service and the phone rep told me that since they've combined forces with Enterprise and National that those two categories are now "the same."

We got a good deal on the car so I'm not as indignant as I should be, although it's a pain using a car that only has a door lock on the driver's door and no remote entry. It does annoy me somewhat to pay for a "Chev Impala or similar" and get a somewhat stripped down "Chev Malibu or similar," and basically be told that's the way they do business.

I've only had something like this happen once before, and that was when an outfit subbed a minivan for a midsize a few years ago and told me how lucky I was to be "upgraded. "

Is this "downgrading" fairly common with companies?

Tuneman1984

I haven't rented much since they made Standard an actual category (not just Monte Carlo or similar) so I can't comment. However, on the National side I've seen Standard cars parked in Fullsize stalls at locations where you choose your own car. It's odd seeing a Rondo or Sebring and it being offered as a Fullsize. I'm not sure that it's worth a huge stink, but it is the principle of the matter I suppose. You reserved a specific category for your own reasons and then received a product in a category below that of which you confirmed.

Personally I'm going to wait to see how many Standard cars I get on Fullsize bookings before complaining. Standard does house the Ford Fusion, a car I like, but it also houses the Hyundai Sonata, a car I've driven far too often. I was hoping booking Fullsize would get me into nicer/different cars, but we'll see...

fairviewroad

If you really want to make a point, you can file a complaint with the Alabama Attorney General's office. Corporate nonsense like this needs to be exposed.

http://www.ago.state.al.us/consumer.cfm

You might think I'm kidding...but I'm not. Personally, I always rent the smallest, cheapest car possible since (literally) 8 times out of 10 I get upgraded (hardly anybody actually has "compact" cars on hand). But if I reserved a larger car and got stuck with a smaller car and was told to go suck it, I would be royally upset. Alamo needs to learn how to treat its customers.

Fredd

Nor am I. Thanks for the link. ^^ I've already lodged a complaint - you certainly made that easy. The monetary difference is small, but it exists. As well, advertising a full-size but providing a standard (and a fairly basic one at that) is in effect withholding from the consumer the truthful information needed to make a valid decision when comparison shopping.

Cheers,
Fredd

FlyerTalker93851

I'm sorry the Kiosk malfunctioned and erroniously offered to downgrade you for More Money. I wish you would have reported that. How can we fix something if we don't know it's broken. Same thing on cars...if our customers don't report the Intermittent problems we can't fix those either. We don't drive each returned vehicle around a while before we re-rent it. (When it "shimmies at 40"...no we won't notice...on the lot we don't get over 20 at MOST)
Anyhow...The Sonata you drove...three to four weeks ago WAS a Full size. Corp is in the process of re-creating the Standard car class.

Is it a big money diff...probably not...but it's up to that location to settle for you. Its' a difficult time right now following the re-class on the cars.
I'm only responding to tell you ...as I said...before the reclass...Sonata WAS a Full. It's a wonderful car.
Please contact a Manager at the location at which you rented. You said you only spoke with a counter agent and not a manager. Why go all the way to an Attorney General without first speaking to the Manager? The AG will ask if you spoke to a manager for amicable resolution most likely.

fairviewroad

He said he called "customer service", which means he did escalate beyond a counter agent.

Filing a complaint is simply a way of letting the Attorney General's office know that consumer fraud has occurred. (Services received were less than services paid for)

The OP did take a reasonable course of action before contacting the AG's office. At a certain point companies need to take responsibility for their actions without expecting consumers to jump through all the hoops in the exact order. Do you think that if the OP had deliberately underpaid his bill, that Alamo would just shrug it off?

Obviously the AG's office is not going to slap a huge fine against Alamo for doing this to just one person...but filing a complaint helps establish and document a pattern of behavior. It is not the same as filing a lawsuit, or pressing charges, or anything drastic like that. It is simply a way of putting a company on notice that their rip-off, dismissive behavior will not be tolerated.

Fredd

^^ I couldn't have said it better myself.

Let me amplify a detail or two. When we checked in at the kiosk inside the terminal, "it" offered us an upgrade to a compact for $10.95 daily IIRC the exact cents. In the fine print, it also offered us the option to keep the original full size car. I chose that. It then presented us with a compact car, minus the surcharge. We went back and repeated the check-in and got the same response. We explained the problem to a rep standing at the counter. She said the agent in the parking garage would "sort it out." Only the rep in the garage "can override it." She seemed quite aware of the, ah, problem with the kiosk.

The contract the rep at the window in the parking garage gave us states clearly:

"Reserved: Full Size,"
"Driven: Standard,"
"Charged: Full Size."

We looked at the car and contract and returned to the window. I told the rep that it didn't look like a full size car. She told me they were "all the same."

As we drove off, I called the customer service number and a rep told me that since they've combined forces with Enterprise and National that those two categories are now "the same." He apologized. I believe I've held up my side of the communication with Alamo.

When we reserved this rental, we chose a full size car for an additional cost over the other categories. I'd prefer a compact or mid-size over a full size without such features as remote entry.

For all I know there's a missing remote entry for this car. The only way I can enter it is using a lock on the driver's side. There's no lock that I can find on the trunk (no manual in the glove box), so this modern car with "only" 18700 miles on it is less convenient to enter and exit than, say, my father's 1950 Buick. We rented through the Alamo site, by the way, and not through Hotwire.

To repeat myself, the Alamo site still offers at this location standard and full size as two discrete categories. Full size costs more.

I neither expect nor want anything from Alamo. I've let the local consumer affairs authorities know as a public service.

Good advice about letting the company know about "hidden" problems when returning the car. On the rare occasions we've had a problem with the car (a slow tire leak recently, a shimmy or braking problem at higher speeds), I always let an employee know when returning the car. I think this is a somewhat different issue.

Cheers,
Fredd

jackal

(emphasis mine)

Depending on the location, length of the tourist season, and all of that, rental cars can average 20,000-40,000 miles per year.

A car with "only" 18,000 miles on it can be all of six months old. That truly is "only."

Understand your frustration with the lack of modern amenities, and I'm not contesting that at all (I agree with you wholeheartedly)--I just wanted to point this out.

beckoa

...even on Hawaii!!!
(Put nearly 1K on a 6 day rental on the Big Island this year, and have seen some higher mileage sebrings on OGG too )

Interesting note on the remote vs. 'key only' to open the door... remotes are nice ^

Fredd

Points taken re my sarcastic "only" comment. ^ We've had everything from brand new to about 40 and 18,000 miles is definitely not out of line.

Okay, it's not a bad little car. It even has XM radio. I'd prefer a remote entry though.

No, my complaint is solely with Alamo's advertising and charging me for a full size and providing me with a standard. Our problem at the check-in kiosk indicates either a major mistake or something sleazier.

If I get any response to my complaint I'll post it.

Cheers,
Fredd

beckoa

Thanks- always nice to hear about resolutions ^ [its a nice data point for the rest of us ]

fairviewroad

Exhibit "A" on why it's not a good idea to report a poorly performing engine to a car rental company:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12753211-post1.html

Tide_from_PAE

My family and I have rented cars at BHM 4 times now (1x Alamo, 1xNational, 2x Enterprise) and I experienced a similar problem with Alamo back in January (the $10 a day promotion) where a full-size was reserved and we received an intermediate, I think it was a Saturn Vue. Since all classes were the same price, there wasn't a price difference when booking, though the kiosk did offer to downgrade us for more money. Alamo and National do share cars at this location. The National website doesn't exactly mention it, but BHM has a small Emerald Aisle (mainly fullsize). It may not be up to flyertalk standards, but I was happy that National let us have a crimson Impala with Alabama plates, even though it wasn't exactly on the Emerald Aisle.

Enterprise also has been real good at BHM, the insurance upsells haven't been bad and the staff very friendly. Add in that BHM's taxes are quite low for an airport and it makes things even better. That said, I do attempt to rent with National at BHM because of the Emerald Club. It was interesting to see that the OP had a similar experience with the BHM Alamo. The car selection might not be the best, but rentals and returns are quick, and all the cars we've rented have had 3k-9k miles.

Tuneman1984

Saturn Vue is an Intermediate SUV, so it's technically an upgrade from a regular car. However most Intermediate SUVs share platforms with cars in the Intermediate class, and as such can seem like a downgrade on space (minus the trunk area which allows larger items to fit). Depends what you need of course.

emanon256

I had this happen twice out of several hundred rentals over the past few years.

Once at Enterprise, I reserved a full size and got a 2 door sub compact of sorts. I complained to the desk and they said that was all they had, I complained to the desk manager, and he said he can't do anything. I asked for his manager and he called some guy and put me on the phone with him. That guy, the GM, told the staff to comp the entire rental. ^

Once at Avis I had a full size, and it smelled of smoke, so they gave me a standard instead, and a $25 coupon for my trouble. Full Size and Standard are usually the same price (I still can't figure that one out).

Both times I feel like they went above and beyond.