On Jan 1, 2004, I booked a car for October in Maimi - rate was $85+tax, total $113 for 5 days. Printed the confirmation screen and also received their confirmation email.

Tonight, I was checking other reservations on-line and decided to look at this one, too. To my surprise the rate has now changed and shows $100+tax, total $149 for 5 days.

Can they do this?

If I have my original confirmation when I pick-up the car are they obliged to honor it?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

You should really call up Budget's Customer Service line. The dollar difference is big enough for an argument, IMO. Good thing you have a hard copy of the confirmation.

You don't happen to have a Budget FastBreak number, do you? From my past experience, when I made an online reservation, and then later on, call in to have my FastBreak number added to the record, that will raise my rates, quite significant in some cases.

Did you make sure to decline all of the insurances? Or maybe not fill the tank up to 100%?

Thanks for the comments.

Just to clarify - this rental has not yet occured. I booked in Jan 2004 for Oct 2004. I have confirmation for one rate and now on the budget website it is showing a higher rate - somehow it changed?

I think I am going to leave it as is and deal with it when I get to Miami (with both my screen print confirmation and email conformation as back-up.

Perhaps you should make a reservation with another car rental company as a back up in case they are not willing to honor your original rate.

......I've had this happen twice, although both times when I called the customer service folks after the rental was said and done, they credited my credit card.

Last time the agent asked, "do you have this rate in writing?" When I replied affirmatively, she said, "well then, I'll take your word for it."

An interesting business practice to say the least.

ctcamel,

Thanks for the comments. By chance, did you happen to say anything when you picked up the car or did you not notice the rate had been changed then?

I hadn't noticed until after I had returned the car.

Rates do change if you modify a reservation to the rate at the time of the modification. Could this have happened when you checked the reservation?

A few years ago this happened to me several times, although not at Budget and I caught it at check-in. Realizing that is not exactly your situation, but it was easy enough to get fixed since like you I had a printed copy of the reservation.

I had a reservation at Budget which specifically stated no surcharges. By the time I picked up the car, the location started adding a $10 surcharge. They were not impressed with my printed reservation showing the lower total and refused to remove the extra $10. But after the rental, customer service gave me the $10 credit on my credit card. Still waiting for my miles though...

I rented a minivan. When I got my receipt, it was 15 times $13. ($165). Went to counter, and said I should pay just a daily rate of $38.99. While I was there at the counter, I was shorted a few gallons of gas (showed full but it took 6 gallons of gas to go 65 miles!--should have taken 3 gals max). Had documentation to prove shortage. Got a credit for the gas.

I may not have bothered about the gas but since I had to go to the counter anyway, I asked for the gas credit.

What city is now charging a $10 surcharge?

Monterey, CA

JohnOClark, I found that out this past weekend. Reserved a car from Budget. We were flying a small plane but got socked in due to unexpected weather the same morning. Called Budget, advised we'd be later than initially planned due to weather. Asked if they wanted a credit card to guarantee the car or otherwise change the arrival time on our reservation ticket. Resounding "NO" was given: Agent emphatically told us if the internet reservation ticket was changed in any way, it would default to the current day's rate, not the reserved rate we set up. Therefore, Budget advised they would just hold our car until we arrived, up to 12 hours past the reserved time. Everything was OK for us thanks to a savvy agent.

Stranger Things Have Happened in the Fog,

mrspilot