Last week I reserved a car at hertz.com at O'Hare for Thursday at 10 a.m. It was a 2-day rental, returning on Saturday. Hertz.com quoted me a weekend rate of $26 per day for a mid-size. I made the reservation.

My flight got in a little early and I arrived at the O'Hare Hertz facility about 9:30 a.m. My name's on the gold board, and I go to my car. It's a Corolla, so I didn't get a great 5* upgrade (no surprise), but I like Toyota cars generally, so I was still pretty pleased. But, I notice that the rental agreement on the hang tag lists the price of the rental at $85 per day.

I went to the Gold counter, where the attendant tells me there's nothing she can do (she's not allowed to change rates) and I have to go to the main customer counter. At the main counter, the agent tells me that I am "gaming the system" by arriving early and that to get a weekend rate I can't pull out the lot until after 10 a.m.

Huh? I told her that I made a reservation on hertz.com and I got in a little early--I don't even know what qualifies for a weekend rate. I just got a good rate and booked it. She said that I'll have to wait until 10 a.m. I said that I'd wait if that's what it takes, and she then says, "OK, I'll change it for you this time, but next time, you should know you can't do this."

OK, folks, I'm confused. Did I do something wrong here? Am I wrong to think I got some poor customer service here? I mean, the hangtag was already printed with the $85 rate. Would they have run out right at 10 a.m. and changed the hangtag to a lower rate? If so, then I guess I have less to complain about.

Anyway, I've almost always had great service from Hertz, so this one kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. It's the "gaming the system" comment that really bothered me, I guess.

I'd be interested to hear any comments.