seenitall

Three months ago I made a reservation for a SUV in Alaska for 2 weeks. My quoted rate was $1188. Today I went and looked at the reservation and noted that my arrival flight number had changed. So I edited the entry to the correct flight number. As soon as I did this, and without any request for confirmation, the quoted price for the rental tripled to $3422. I immediately called Hertz to ask them to reinstate the originally quoted rate, but they refused. Their story was that my original rate reflected a corporate discount, these corporate rates are not guaranteed, and that this corporate discount was no longer available on this car.

I asked them what would have happened when I picked up the rental if I hadn't edited the flight number. Their response was that I would have been told at the counter that my originally quoted rate was not valid and I would have to pony up three times that amount, or leave with no car. In particular, they stated that Hertz does not notify customers in advance that their rate may have changed from the time the reservation was made. Has this occurred to anyone else? It seems rather customer unfriendly.

Anyway, I have now made an alternate reservation with Avis at roughly my original Hertz price.

Dave Noble

As far as the rate goes for your company, I would check with your company regarding the corporate rate with Hertz

To change the flight information online, you would have needed to use "modify reservatrion" and it should then have shown you the new price on the page where flight information is added and booking confirmed. When modifying the booking, did it show the new rate?

With a corporate rate that is subject to change, then if the corporate agreement changes, will affect existing bookings - it is really your company's responsibility to inform its staff when it occurs

seenitall

Disagree. Hertz and company both permit employees to use the company's CDP for personal bookings. Company has no knowledge of them, and company contracts with Hertz are arcane. Hertz is the only party here that has complete information about who holds bookings and what the price for these bookings shall be. Thus, unless Hertz notifies you, you have no way of knowing that the booking price has changed short of making an edit to the reservation, or walking up to the counter to collect your car and being told the bad news.

Dave Noble

The contract is held between the company and Hertz
If the company changes its agreement, then it is up to the company to inform its staff about changes to its agreements with Hertz, so that people can check their reservations and change as needed - e.g. send an email to all staff

Have you followed up with your company to see what has changed?

Even so, in this case, you went in and modified a booking and you were then repriced at the current rate - it isn't known what would have happened if you had chosen not to touch the booking

glostix

Next time when you modify a booking, check the box that says "I would like to keep my reserved rate" or "Give me the rate I originally reserved" or similar language.

It is BS for them to change the rate (has happened to me too) since the confirmation emails say "Rate is Guaranteed". Some people collected the cars for such reservations unbeknownst to them, and were able to get it changed back to the original booking price after completing the reservation by contacting CS. Who knows though.

cestmoi123

Not all confirmation emails say the rate is guaranteed. If you book with a corporate CDP code, then the rate is subject to changes in the company's deal with Hertz, and if that deal changes, then the price can change as well.

seenitall

There was no such check-box offered. Entered the new flight number and wham, rate tripled. There was no opportunity to return to the original price. Indeed, CS says all of this is appropriate.

Corporate travel departments are not in the habit of distributing copies of new master agreements with rental car companies to their tens of thousands of employees. Indeed, these agreements are typically subject to NDAs. Further, no company wants their employees to waste their time trying to figure out whether such a new agreement has now made a particular car class treated differently at a particular rental location. Hertz is the only entity that has any reasonably efficient capability of determining if a rental has been affected.

Please read my original post. I stated the following:

I asked them what would have happened when I picked up the rental if I hadn't edited the flight number. Their response was that I would have been told at the counter that my originally quoted rate was not valid and I would have to pony up three times that amount, or leave with no car.

Sorry, but I don't see anything virtuous in Hertz''s actions here. Caveat Emptor.

sosafan

Yes, that is what they told you. That might be true. That also might be untrue.

Dave Noble

With Corporate rates, it is very normal for it to say "Rate is not guaranteed"

Yup - that is normal

It is perfectly normal that if a company ends an agreement that provides a contracted rate ( or it is not longer a discounted offering), that it tells its staff about it since it also is common that this might well change that the car hire company away from being must used. It is also common that such a change could be in line with having set up an agreement with another company

Regardless, with a corporate deal, Hertz will deal with the company and the company is responsible for informing its authorised renters


It may be true, it may also be that the existing rental if left untouched would have been honoured. As soon as you made a change, the rate was bound to change

What has virtuosity got to do with anything. It is a business arrangement between 2 companies. The agreement changed

TerryK

Rate change happen often at beginning of the year when many corporate contracts are renegotiated or terminated. Many corporate rates are not guaranteed and you pay the rate in effect at time of rental.