Car rental companies are known to unleash collection agencies on their customers, often for no good reason. Don’t believe me? Just pick up a car rental trade magazine to see the full-page ads by companies that handle damage claims, which are just a step removed from a collection agency. Or visit my office, and I’ll share the “collection agency” case file with you. Or read this. Don’t get me wrong: I think these companies have a place in this world. But not in Dorothy Rice-Lara’s world.
Posts tagged as:
Budget
Terry Boyle rented a car from Budget in Edinburgh, and when he got home, he found an unpleasant surprise from his car rental company: a $271 repair bill.
Here are two recent stories of car rental employees going the extra mile for their customers. I’m sharing them with you for two reasons: First, because car rental employees rarely get any recognition for a job well done; and second, because I just filed a column that’s critical of certain car rental franchises. Maybe I’m feeling a little guilty.
Poof! There go your hard-earned points. Employees at budget hotels are using a variety of strategies to deny travelers their rewards, including typing the wrong name in a guest’s reservation or failing to include important frequent-stayer information.
Douglas Hawkins and his wife reserve a Budget rental car in Naples, Italy, but when they arrive at the car rental counter, the company downgrades his car and almost doubles its rate. Six months later, Budget hasn’t refunded the money Hawkins says it owes him. What now?
Here’s a story with more disappointments than the college basketball invitational. Shortly after Mary Van Veen returned her Budget rental in Ireland, she discovered a surprise $174 charge on her credit card. She contacted the car rental agency, which told her “the car was extremely dirty and they had to pay a valet to clean it.”
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