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Enterprise Bait and Switch
Recently rented a car out of a regional airport. I booked my reservation the morning of (~2 hours notice) through the Costco travel portal. While booking, the portal showed options abound from compact to luxury SUV. I settled on a reasonable economy car for about $186 for two days (no indication of limited availability on the website).
Upon landing, I went to the desk to obtain my car. The friendly and helpful rep said that this was a “new reservation” (within 24 hours) which I get and stated that she would have to check availability. She went out and came back shortly after. She stated that the only availability they had was full-size and that I’d have to be charged for that. Because I had a meeting within 1.5 hours, I didn’t have a choice to argue and rented the car. The price increase was about $50. I get that I rented the car and signed the rental agreement. However, how is this not “bait and switch?” You rent a car that shows as available for an agreed-upon price, show up to the airport in a hurry to leave, and then get told that the car you booked because it was available on the website isn’t really there and that you have to pay more. How is this not like an airline selling you a basic economy ticket and then saying, “no standard Y seats are left—you can pay $50 for an exit row” on check-in? |
Yes, in short, this is a load of crap. You should contact Enterprise to complain. If you get any pushback, ask them to show you where in their terms and conditions that they say they won’t guarantee the price on a confirmed reservation booked less than 24 hours before pickup.
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I had good luck resolving a car rental overcharge issue - when an Alamo agent sold and charged my daughter for totally unnecessary liability insurance, when she was fully insured by our automobile and personal umbrella policies, and had additional coverage through the credit card which she used - by contacting Costco Travel at: [email protected].
We received a full refund of the charges for the unnecessary insurance. Thank you for taking the time to contact Costco Travel regarding your experience using our service. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns, as one of our goals at Costco Travel is to provide a high level of service to our members. When concerns like this are brought to our attention, it provides us the opportunity to evaluate our products and determine how we can improve them in the future. We have contacted Alamo on your behalf and they have advised they send their sincerest apology for the inconveniences experienced during the rental period. They have refunded the extended protection coverage charged. Attached is a copy of the revised invoice. We greatly value your membership no matter how small or large a concern. We are always assertive in assisting our members in any way possible, and are committed to providing you with the quality service that all of our members deserve. We sincerely appreciate your business and the opportunity to assist with your future travel plans! |
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