Thrifty SEA should have TOLD ME it was going to charge $250. I could have given them a different card, or just given cash.

Unexpectedly charging $250 for a $25.87 for a week after the rental almost caused me to go overlimit - which could have generated $39 overlimit fees for a whole series of small charges! If I hadn't checked my limit and switched to a different card...the fees could have been a few hundred dollars.

And I was in London right after Seattle, it wasn't as easy as just calling my credit card 800-number. I don't take many credit cards with me overseas...
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In 20 years of renting cars, I have never gotten billed in-advance with a refund for the difference (and I've rented 80 days at Thrifty this past year). I was worried that Thrifty had charged me for some damage on the car. It was annoying to call the US from England to check & see what was happening.

Sucks when one outlet does something different than the others, ESPECIALLY whenever a business does something different than what it tells you!

E.g. Thrifty Las Vegas incorrectly computes the state/local taxes. It's something I've .....ed about before, but I gave up after my first rental (when they did adjust the price for me). It's not worth one hour of hassle every time I rent there. Las Vegas is the only Thrifty place I rent where the price does NOT match the website quote.

I have had cases where hotels have billed $500 8-months later because accounting thought I hadn't paid, etc...

My credit card companies have always covered me 100% for any fraudulent charges, but my brother had his wallet stolen by a professional credit card thief last year. His cards were maxed out within 15 min!

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Thus I always use low-limit credit cards for hotels, cars, and other risky tranasctions whenever possible. Stores should realize that we aren't always using $20,000-100,000 limit cards. Sometimes we are using $500-1,000 limit cards and unexpectedly charging items (rather than just placing a hold) can seriously screw someone up.