It was my first time renting with Hertz so I had to go to the Gold counter at SJC airport.

I had reserved a Luxury vehicle, ended up with a 300S (turned out to be a nice rental). When I called the 800 Hertz #, they said this location had Lincoln Continentals. Upon arrival, the gold agent said they do not have them ever. Ok..

When I asked to check-in and then browse the PC section, the agent said I could not because I needed to book 'Midsize or higher'. I stated I booked a Luxury, which appears higher on their category list than Fullsize (Group F), she then said it was because Hertz was offering me a special rate when I booked and I wasn't eligible. When I said that rate-eligibility outside of midsize or higher was not present on the Ultimate Choice terms (https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/produ...ate_choice.jsp), she just shrugged and repeated herself.

I just booked from the Hertz homepage without any special promo, with my AMEX Plat and prepaid, so my rate was:
CDP: PLATINUM CARD FROM AMEX
RQ: BEST
Rate Code: VCPD1

As it turns out after walking the PC section, there wasn't anything better than the 300s which I received for booking Luxury, but this interaction bothered me.

Q: Was I eligible to have picked a vehicle from Presidential Circle?

Later, I called corporate and they said that the Luxury vehicle tier is eligible for PC upgrades.

I spoke with the Gold desk upon returning the vehicle and a different agent who was present said their location defines the Ultimate Choice ‘midsize or larger’ solely as ‘midsize, standard, or fullsize’ because they have to guarantee a certain number of vehicles in PC and by booking a different tier such as Luxury they have to reserve (set aside) that vehicle.

The logic I don’t get here is why they aren’t following corporate and why if I had reserved a luxury tier vehicle and chose from PC, why they wouldn’t just put the reserved luxury vehicle into PC as a replacement.

Any advice on how to handle this for a similar future reservation? I plan on renting from here in the future and probably the Luxury tier so as to guarantee a certain level of vehicle, but if this action occurs again who can I escalate this too? The on-site staff don't seem to understand the program. I just want a smooth experience. Friends have told me to pay the difference and go with Enterprise.