Comments on: Fighting companies that fudge the numbers

By: Nobody

Nobody — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:46:40 +0000

Jennifer IS the one.
If your flight arrived early and your gate was not occupied by an airliner running on time, so you got off the plane early:
Do you demand a refund from the airline?
What do you expect from the car rental agency as you arrive early?

Here lies Fast-Gun Elmer
RIP
Nobody was faster

By: Jennifer (the other one)

Jennifer (the other one) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:40:15 +0000

What’s wrong with what Hertz did? If they’d rented his care to someone else when he didn’t show up on time, the customer would (quite rightly) been angry with them. Depending on the contract, and whether it was prepaid, doing so may have been illegal. They couldn’t recoup the income loss from a no-show by renting it to someone else, so it seems perfectly reasonable to charge for the period the car was reserved for, not the period it was actually used.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:06:35 +0000

“…If Southwest can offer decent customer service AND prices, why can’t other airlines manage the same thing? Ditto goes for car rental agencies…”

Unions!!!

I have been forced to join a union to get a job and forced to work with them as a manager. They are the biggest time wasters I have ever seen. If they aren’t screaming “not my job” then they’re screaming at management for doing something like picking up a piece of trash.

By: Carver

Carver — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:10:42 +0000

The professor’s rant is downright silly. Exactly which company, rents a product by the day, gives you a refund for keeping the product for less than 24 hours. Try this. Go to blockbuster, rent a movie and return it the same day. Do you expect a partial refund. NO. Then why would this dummy expect one from Hertz?

If you arrive late, Hertz will happily change the pickup time to make sure that you get your full 24 hours.

The simple truth of the matter is that most travel companies have good service, for its frequent travellers. Service for non-frequent travellers is more hit and miss.

By: David Z

David Z — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:49:47 +0000

So, here is a question: If Southwest can offer decent customer service AND prices, why can’t other airlines manage the same thing?

They can if/when they can afford to, depending on the situation. There are “few” cases of such if one looks hard enough.

By: TOM BROLLINI

TOM BROLLINI — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:26:51 +0000

Well I’m again talking the opportunity to PRAISE American Airlines for there handling of my screwup a few weeks ago.

I had cancelled a trip last year in Oct due to my wife haveing medical problems.

I was rebooking it the end of July when I noticed I had booked it in June.

Dummmm! I was thinking I had until Oct, even thought I should have remembered buying it in June.

So, I emaild AA, explaining my screw up, asking them to extend the time so I could re-book.

Well American Airlines not only extended the time frame but gave me another year.

So American did me right.

I was hoping that Elliott would post it since I sent it to him when it happened.

I like to praise companies when they do well & work hard against those that don’t.

American did well this time.

By: Lisa S

Lisa S — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:43:35 +0000

On the positive side, Southwest is a great airline. I misread my e-ticket, stupidly thinking the flight number was the departure time–I am still wondering how I could make such an idiotic mistake. I arrived at the counter 10 minutes after the plane had closed its doors. I apologized to the agent and asked what my options were. The wonderful Southwest employee told me I could buy another ticket or fly standby for the next flight, which was pretty open. I took my chances, got listed on standby, and flew 3.5 hours later. I love Southwest. I wish they flew more places directly!

So, here is a question: If Southwest can offer decent customer service AND prices, why can’t other airlines manage the same thing? Ditto goes for car rental agencies.

By: Carrie Charney

Carrie Charney — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:23:48 +0000

My husband and I are retired. As we speak, he is on his way from NY to OR in our Roadtrek, bought so that he can avoid the time constraints and idiotic beaurocracy of airports and hotels. He also wants to be able to go where he wants, when he wants, without having to reserve weeks in advance in order to get a fair price. I sometimes accompany him on these “jaunts,” but, more often than not, I am experiencing more exotic destinations. So, I reserve in advance, fly to most places, (I will meet him in OR) and allow plenty of time to put up with all the nonsense that is related to travel in today’s world.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:05:30 +0000

Travel is down, and people are less interested. For the life of me, I don’t understand why the various travel companies don’t become MORE friendly and make it EASIER to travel in order to maintain business in this down time. There are so many ways in which they could help the customer without incurring much expense.

By: Joe Farrell

Joe Farrell — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:24:53 +0000

Ok – if you arrive late – you can ask that the rental TIME be adjusted. If he has a pre-paid reservation – then he has a pre-paid reservation – most car rental companies will happily adjust the time out to reflect the actual time out. But asking for a refund, well, thats not gonna happen.

Companies have been developing these mentalities for years now. When times were good they put in restrictions because they could – people needed the service they provided and the service was scarce. Now, times are tough and they are making it worse – and they drive away repeat business.

If you are going to treat your customers like the worst discount rental company out there – if you are going to charge people Hertz rates and provide Advantage service, you are going to drive your customers to Advantage – if they have to put up with the silly, inflexible rules, people are going to save the money and go to the cheaper solution.

By: Parker Phillips

Parker Phillips — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:55:27 +0000

Being retired we used to travel a lot by air and use rental cars. Due to all the hassle, problems, etc., etc., we now do more travel, in the US and Canada, by car. It may take longer to do what we want BUT we can do it at our own pace and not worry about whether the flight will leave, will we make the connection, will the rental car be a problem, will our bags arrive, etc. We are still forced to take a flight to places that are too far to really drive to (HI, AK, Europe) but tend to do more around the US these days. We also look for “Mom & Pop” motels that more often then not treat you like an actual customer and guest or B&B’s.