Originally Posted by platbrownguy

Okay, so it's President's Day weekend, it's DCA, the lot is empty - I get that. I had reserved a full-size car for today 1630 through Monday 1630. I have reserved 15+ full-size cars at DCA in the past few months and have almost always gotten an Altima, occasionally an Impala or Malibu. I am 5* but don't expect an upgrade.

I do, however, expect not to be involuntarily downgraded, especially on one of the few occasions when I actually needed a full-size (or larger - nothing else was available when I reserved) car.

I got a Mobile Alert specifying a gold Cruze. I went to the Gold booth and asked if the Cruze was now F. They said "Oh, yeah, it's full-size." I asked when did that happen and got the what-are-you-talking-about look. I asked if there were any other F cars, like an Altima, and the agent said no. There was a lone Volvo S40 in the gold choice upgrade area (the actual gold choice area was completely empty). I said I would need something bigger than the Cruze, as I had to have people in the back seat for a 4-hour roundtrip ride. She said the S40 was an additional $40 a day, but that she would give it to me for $30. I assented.

However, I assented based on the representation that the Cruze was an F car, and that nothing else was available, so my only options were to take the Cruze or pay the upgrade. I called 888-Car-Gold and was told that the Cruze is in fact a midsize, and she specifically checked DCA. She said I could call customer relations to complain about the misinformation during business hours.

Does it seem unreasonable to call or email customer relations asking them to waive the upgrade fee? If the agent had simply said they were out of F cars, I might not care, but I feel like I was lied to and induced into an upgrade. What would you have done in this situation?