Advantage had the responsibility to attempt to make alternate arrangements. Many times when we were sold out, we would spend a significant amount of time attempting to locate available vehicles at other rental companies. Depending on the conditions, some agencies were willing to match or even beat the reserved rate; in the cases that they were not able to, we would pay the difference between the customer’s reserved rate and what the customer actually paid at the other company. (This also happened in reverse all the time: we’d help other agencies out. Because we were all stuck together in the basement of the airport, most of us became friends and were more than happy to help each other out.) There were many times that we came close to literally not being able to find a single available car in the entire city, but we never, ever had to flatly deny a reservation to a customer. Had that happened, we would have been willing to pay for alternate methods of transportation (taxi, train, air, etc.)–but only after we were sure (and had completed the legwork ourselves) that no other arrangements were possible. It appears that Advantage fell short of even barely acceptable customer service.

Normally, I would say that Advantage would only have been responsible for a train fare had Advantage ensured that no other cars were available and had exhausted other options, including calling nearby offices, both Advantage and other agencies (and arranging to pick up any difference). But because they didn’t even attempt to assist the customer, I’m tempted to say that they should automatically cover the train fare (and I’m assuming here that the train fare was more than the original rental would have been) without argument.

One thing to note is that, as a franchise (which I assume they are), that Advantage office would not have had the authority to force another Advantage location to accept the original reservation. I assume that is what the agent was referring to, although it sounds as if she wasn’t particularly adept at wording it in a pleasant manner. Presumably the nationwide reservations center or customer service office could have assisted with these arrangements; however, I’ve discovered that (at least in my company) sometimes the people who can authorize that aren’t in during non-business hours. At the least, though, that office should have called nearby offices to see if they had cars available and could either honor the rate or bill the difference to the SeaTac office.

Also, I’m a little unclear about the refunds or what she claims she was owed. When she reserved (not “rented,” as she said–that mistake in terminology is one of my pet peeves) the car, did she prepay the rental or simply place a reservation?

If she prepaid, then Advantage should have refunded her what she prepaid when they admitted they could not honor the reservation. If the train fare was greater than the reserved rate, they should have refunded her in the amount of the train ticket.

If she simply made a reservation with no financial commitments, Advantage should only have had to cough up enough cash to cover the difference between the reserved rate and the train fare. Under no circumstances would they be responsible for paying for her entire train ticket as well as not charging her for the rental.

What did the $100 refund represent–the former or the latter?