geojet01

Well, if insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, the time has come to stop giving National the benefit of the doubt.

Honestly, I've tried to hang on to the hope that I would start feeling appreciated and even pampered again, with that special extra attention that won my steady allegiance for so many years. Instead I'm mostly feeling slapped in the face by declining service (specific example to follow). And it's not just me -- this board is rife with complaints.

National reps and others here keep trying to explain away the quiet cutbacks and resulting lame selection that so many here keep complaining about...

Well, how about the largest city in America? Arriving at JFK around 9 on a Saturday night a couple of weeks ago, we walked out to a COMPLETELY EMPTY National lot. Not a single vehicle ready anywhere on the bare asphalt. Several arriving customers stood around waiting for cars. After 15 minutes, I finally told the counter rep as calmly as I could, "This is unacceptable." To which she sassed back, "We're doing the best we can! There are only two of us!"

JFK. New York City. You know, the city that never sleeps. Some of the highest car rental rates anywhere, and undoubtedly one of National's busiest lots in country, and it doesn't care enough about its reserved customers to have an adequate staff to keep a few cars ready. Of course, I could complain that National's promise is to have an "Executive Selection," but I wouldn't want to appear to be greedy. So, never mind that it's usually no big deal to find a car on the lot with a miniplug for the iPod. We were given a take-it-or-leave-it Galant, and then it was off to the countryside for a week -- with dashed hopes of picking a car with a fairly common iPod connection.

Good thing there's satellite radio, you say? Ah, don't even bother getting your hopes up for one of those these days...

I guess it bears pointing out again that National heavily promoted the arrival of satellite radio FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE on STANDARD models ranging from Cobalts to Malibus to Impalas, and kept on pitching it to customers for the past five years as a National offering. And no asterisks pointed to any fine print that said, "but only if XM wants to extend the free trial in the vehicles." Nevertheless, anyone who deigns to complain about this reduction in service is inevitably scolded that they should consider themselves lucky that they were able to sneak one over on National for all those years, but now they should just get off their greedy high-horse and stop whining about these long-assured amenities and EC/ES offerings. Never mind that National spent years and years establishing those things as its STANDARD LEVEL of service.

So without those special premiums, what's the incentive to pay National's unreasonable, gratuitous rate hikes that are almost bordering on predatory?

With all due respect, peteropny, I absolutely do find $75 per day SHOCKINGLY high. $525 and more for a weekly rental? Perhaps you've decided to redefine shocking, but a lot of us have been griping about these rising rates for months. All the while, we've been assured repeatedly here that rates haven't really gone up in 30 years, and it's even been claimed here that rates have actually gone down. Then there's been the promise that, well, they'll probably be going down soon...

No, actually those outrageous "Last Minute Specials" across Southern California have shamelessly held steady for several months -- midsize weekly in Burbank right now remains $399.

So as I said, I've given up patience -- no more loyalty to National. And others must be, too, because I've got some evidence that ERAC/Vanguard must not be getting many takers for those $399 Last Minute "deals." I'm pretty sure that explains why my weekly midsize rental at Burbank next week (my own "last minute special" through Priceline) is costing me just $134, including taxes. The sweet irony is, I'll probably be driving one of the exact same vehicles I would have been charged three times as much for through National, since my Alamo rental will come from the same shared fleet.

Cloudship, take Dollar or Thrifty at less than half the cost. The way National's been lately, a car is a car is a car...

Now I'm not saying I won't rent from National again. It's just that I see no reason to be loyal to outrageous prices and reduced service, whenever I can do better somewhere else. (And ya know, what I'll miss in "free" days I figure I'll be saving in cold, hard cash.)

drzoidberg

I really don't understand why you had to make a *second* complaint thread about National. This forum is for helping fellow travelers, if you're here only to complain, then do it somewhere else please.

I'm sure National won't miss your business. By all means, leave us in peace and go to the Hertz forum.

geojet01

You go rest in peace zoidberg. Whether you like it or not people complain on this board all the time. The latest about the lousy experience that a new National customer got at PHL is one of the more appropriate ones for fellow travelers who might like to avoid that kind of service. I frankly hope my unhappy experience at JFK helps some of my fellow travelers plan accordingly. If you don't like that and can't seem to stay civil, zoidberg, I'll be delighted to have you stop reading my posts.

drzoidberg

Your posts are clearly not intended to be helpful in advising others or in promoting constructive discourse; from day one, you were here to complain complain complain. We already heard your viewpoints in the other long thread.

I'm not sure why you keep gunning after Paminaz and Rentalguy, both of whom have helped members of this forum significantly.

Elola

I, too, would like to thank Paminaz and Rentalguy for their insight into what is often a misunderstood, challenging and thankless industry. I worked as a rental agent while in college (albeit at a competitor) and I can say from experience that there is no job on Earth that lowers your faith in humanity more than having to stand behind a counter for 8+ hours a day and listen to hundreds of people give you similar sob stories as to why you should bend company policy and risk your job to give them a benefit to which they're not entitled as well as get screamed at for factors (weather, late returns, the rate engine) that are far beyond your control.

The optimism, friendliness and helpfulness shown by Paminaz on this forum is just amazing and I find her and Rentalguy's posts to be helpful and insightful and not in the least bit an attempt to "explain away" the cutbacks that have been made across the industry. They are simply trying to help us, the consumer, understand the inner workings of their company to help us make the wisest decisions. I'm sure the past few months have been difficult enough for them with having to deal with seeing their friends and coworkers laid off and they know just as well as we do (and they don't like it, either) that their service/product is not up to its prior standards, but they are the same as any company right now, just trying to survive and the least we can do is be patient and understanding, they do not need to be berated on forums such as this. Thank you Paminaz and Rentalguy!

geojet01

OK, I'll try to remain civil in the face of these personal attacks that are really uncalled for. I didn't attack anyone here -- if anything, I criticized a COMPANY, National.

This post doesn't mention rentalguy at all, but since some of you have: If I'm not mistaken, rentalguy has said he works for CORPORATE. If someone who works for corporate happens to be watching these boards, and sees someone complaining about an utter lack of adequate staffing, disregard for the customer and rude treatment at one of the company's busiest locations, it seems to me that falls under the heading of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

Contrary to what zoidberg wants to read, this is not a repeat of my earlier post. My point is that earlier suggestions that pricing would improve "after spring break" or some other unforeseen event are not coming to pass. In fact, the situation and service are, in my experience, deteriorating FURTHER.

Where do I make these observations if not to National, and if not on boards like this? And if you work as a counter rep for National, this isn't the kind of attitude you should have:

Your job description is to serve the customer, plain and simple, and if you can't hack it, stay out of public service. If I'm waiting for 15 minutes on a dark, empty lot for a non-existent "grab-it-and-run" rental, that IS unacceptable. And who would you have me address my complaint to -- the wall??? If you work as a counter agent, YOU REPRESENT YOUR COMPANY. I appreciate the cheery attitude reflected by Paminaz on this site, even if I don't accept her explanations for the seriously deteriorating service she has no control over. I'd certainly rather encounter her than the sassy "it's not my job" National representative I had the displeasure of dealing with at JFK.

If I keep getting this shoddy treatment from National, I'll be back to complain again. Hopefully others will, too. It's the only way I see to affect change at what WAS my favorite rental company.

Now, let me point out again: I haven't attacked anyone personally here, but responded in kind when I was attacked. If you want to defend National, have at it. But can you be civil? Sheesh, I really did call it correctly when I pointed out that any complaint here is usually met with scorn about being on a greedy high-horse. As a great National rental agent once told me, "Someone took their too many Serious Pills this morning."

Tuneman1984

While I too have found some issues with National, I try not to be too complainy about them. I've been loyal to National almost out of necessity since they don't require large credit holds when you pick up the car and they had a great rate for under 25ers. Now that I'm turning 25, I can afford to shop around a bit.

Part of the issue I'm having is that I've driven just about everything National offers, so it's hard to excite me anymore. This will shock a few on the board, but I'd actually WELCOME an HHR or Malibu just to try something new. I've found that where National in general used to have 6-7 cars on the lot to choose from in my class booking, there's now 2 at most, and always the same two. However, I recognize a lot of that is due to the economy and keeping cars on longer. I accept that. I also accept that customer service issues I've had probably had to do with the location itself rather than National as a whole (not mentioning any names...Toronto).

What has annoyed me are a couple of small issues I've had. The first is that because I had booked a car at a location that subsequently shut down, the My Itineraries function shut down completely for me. And since National's rental system seems to have last been updated in the Reagan era, there's no way for them to simply void the reservation. The other was being unfairly cheated out of a rental credit as I posted a few weeks ago. Those both aren't enough for me to up and walk, but it did hurt my loyalty a bit.

The way I see it is this, with rising prices at all the agencies and car choice, customer service, and car condition dwindling, it's a shop by price market now. National is carrying base model cars, Hertz is eliminating many of their Prestige Collection cars, Avis is swapping out DTS for Town Cars in the lux category, and the list goes on. So, since everybody has the same product right now, might as well pay the lowest price. I do believe that in a year or two from now when things turn around, we'll start seeing Volvos and sporty fullsizes on the aisles again. When that happens, I'll "go green" even if the price is slightly higher, like I used to.

For now I'm being a bit creative with my summer Toronto trip since prices have ballooned. Enterprise has dirt cheap weekend rates in the city, and there's a franchise National office that has cars in the $35/day range during the week. So I'll have to car juggle a bit to save money, and I'm even still staying loyal to National in a way.

See, I'm not all bad

peteropny

Ok - the thread - much like the other has degenerated into personal commentary. This thread is being locked.

peteropny - moderator - National