Dollar Car Rental

Fruitcake

Mrs Cake and I have just come back from a holiday in the USA. We had a very tight schedule with 10 'plane flights, 3 helicopter flights, 2 train rides, 2 boat rides, 1 balloon flight, 6 taxis, and three hire cars all in the space of 2 weeks. Everything was booked and paid for in advance and it went like clockwork with the exception of the 2 hire car rentals from Dollar. These were booked using the MSE website to find the cheapest deal (Airlines Network, which turned out to be $2/day cheaper than through Dollar direct.) This included all insurance, petrol, additional driver, airport tax, drop-off at a different location to pick-up etc.

We got to the Dollar desk at Phoenix airport and handed over the voucher for a 4 door compact (what we would call a family saloon.) "Oh no sir, this car is too small to drive up into the mountains, for $11/day extra you can have this bigger car" (less economical,) "or for $19/ extra you can have this even bigger car" (and even less economical.)
£10/ day more for a 40% less economical car! I pointed out that we were only driving from the airport to the hotel, and back again 2 days later. 2 people, 2 suitcases, that's all; there and back, nothing else. A round trip of 300 miles.
He tried again, we refused. He tried again, we refused and insisted we had the car we had booked. He relented, but when we actually picked the car up it was a mid range. We had been given a free upgrade because they didn't have a small car.
The sneaky so-and-so was trying to get us to pay for an upgrade because they didn't have the car we had booked.

There's more. We got to Cincinnati airport to pick up the last car. No hassle from the guy at Dollar, until he said, "We don't have a car"
Stunned silence before a double barrelled polite but forceful vent. We booked the car 2 months in advance and they took our money.
They had no cars at all, and were not expecting one back for another hour. We pointed out that we had just travelled several thousand miles, crossed 3 time zones, and had an hour to get to the hotel before they stopped serving food. After suggesting they got a car from Hertz or Avis across the road at their expense, they sudeenly found a brand new car that just needed to be registered for rental, "it'll take 10 minutes." The car appears and dissapears, then a different car sudenly appears. From having no cars at all they find 2. It's a miracle, we got to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare.

There's more. We get to Dayton airport to drop the car off. Nobody to check the car in, no shuttle bus. We now have 4 suitcases because we've bought loads of presents for the family. We lug these 400 yards to check-in, then play hunt the Dollar desk where we hand over the keys and paperwork. "There's a charge for an addittional driver, airport taxes, and for drop-off at a different location to pick-up." Stunned silence before .......etc, and 50 minutes to get through security before our next flight.
It took 10 minutes of 'phone calls before I got a receipt with zero balance on it. We made the flight with time to spare.

Dollar Car Rental. They were the cheapest, now I know why.

Bristol, Newark, Buffalo, Phoenix, Houston, Cincinnati, Dayton. Airport security, excellent.

USA, Canada. Immigration, excellent.

Continental Airlines, Grand Canyon Railway and hotels. No luggage lost or damaged, (Glass, ceramics, bottles,) excellent.

Fruitcake

You Only Listen To Me When I'm Wrong

mpet

I must admit, Dollar have gone back in my estimation.On our recent trip to Florida, because of last minute addtions to our numbers we decided to upgrade at the airport.

After questioning the clerk closely about the size of a 9 seater(as opposed to a 7 seater) we were told - there was virtually no difference. We paid for a tank of petrol as well and went to collect our people carrier.

Well it was huge - like a small school coach. Needless to say, we went back to change to the one we had originally paid for (allinclusive except fuel). I didn't think nothing of it until I got home and checked all the paperwork and my credit card bill.

They had charged me for a tank of fuel on the much larger vehicle - which came to a mind numbing £80+. I emailed them at the beginning of September andgot an auto response, but nothing since.

Give me Alamo every time - you can pick you own car from whichever category you have paid for.

mpet