Mis sold mislead car hire

Toms_2

Hi

Just back from what was to be our family holiday of a lifetime

Disneyworld Florida

2 weeks before we went on our holidays I telephoned my travel agent ( Thomas cook) to add a hire car to allow some freedom on our holiday, when on the telephone I told the TC adviser I need a vehicle with lots of room to take 2 adults and 2 children ( 6&8) with 4 cases and hand luggage ... I was advised that TC via netflights had got me a good deal for a dodge caliber SUV , full insurance , full tank of fuel for £392 for 2weeks , I looked on line and was happy to go with it, when I got to Sanford ( Alamo ) to pick up my car I was asked to go to the car park and pick from 3 small compact cars,, I said there must me some mistake ,, " I've paid for a dodge caliber" TC rep said it must be my mistake , time and time again,, I was offered an upgrade for an extra $15 per day,,, I was very angry ..the only way to get to my resort was to take a car, so I packed 2 cases in the boot and packed everyone in the car , it was a squeeze .. I was told the TC rep at the airport had raised a complaint for me.... Then got to the resort, registered complaint again with resort rep,,, her hands were tied? I took the car to he nearest Alamo and TC at the resort would raise a complaint for me and that they had he transcripts from my telephone calls ( not to worry ) To rub salt in to my wounds I had to pay a further $108 to transfer my family back to the airport when my holiday came to an end..... As far as I was led to believe there had been 2 files created for me with complaints sent to TC head office.. I'm just off the phone to TC head office . They told me that they would not get any info from the reps? if I wanted to raise a complaint I could do so today......I have for the 3rd time raised my complaint...

I've now to wait 28 days to see what TC finds

Angry

bazster

It's a bit late now but if I were you I'd have taken the $15-a-day upgrade and then asked TC to pay it when I got back home. Rarely worth arguing about relatively small sums of money during your holiday, it just results in you having a bad time.

Didn't you get any documentation regarding your original booking? Not even an email?

cubegame

It might sound harsh, but if you can use the internet to moan about it, why didn't you use the internet to book a car in the first place.

£392 does sound about on the money for a small SUV though so there must have been a mistake somewhere. I'm surprised that Alamo didn't sort you out.

Edit: I did check the classification of a Dodge Caliber and it doesn't appear on hire car sites under the Intermediate SUV classification which would be the smallest class available. It seems to be either a compact or an intermediate.

I suggest therefore that the agent made a mistake and the paperwork will reflect that you got the car class you paid for.

ferf1223

agree that a Dodge Caliber is generally a compact car...sometimes described as a 'mini-SUV'...it's certainly not a proper SUV by any stretch of the imagination...but if you booked a Dodge Caliber, then a compact car falls into the same category.

sounds like TC either didn't know it wasn't a proper SUV or didn't care...but if you looked online before accepting the vehicle, you would have seen it was not a full size SUV?

peachyprice

Your post is a bit hard to read with no paragraphs and random punctuation, but if I am reading this right TC made a mistake with the size of car you hired, so you took the car back and went without just because it was a tight squeeze on the first and last day of your holiday?

neilbond007

As mentioned before, the Caliber is a compact car so you weren't mis-sold / advised.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Caliber
I know it's easy to get carried away and book the deal right away but it would have been worth checking the size of the car before believing Thomas Cook. I'm guessing the people "advising" you had never been to the US, had never seen a Caliber and were just reading on a screen that it was a "SUV".
9 times out of 10 the rental agency won't have the exact make / model of car that you "ordered". It will say "Dodge Caliber or equivalent"

PS - I would have been happy to get anything other than a Dodge Caliber. I've had one a few times and they are awful.

PPS - Why did you have to pay $108 to get back to the airport? Didn't you book the car for the whole 2 weeks?

peachyprice

neilbond007 wrote: »

PPS - Why did you have to pay $108 to get back to the airport? Didn't you book the car for the whole 2 weeks?

I think he gave the car back. He says 'I took the car to he nearest Alamo'

neilbond007

peachyprice wrote: »

I think he gave the car back. He says 'I took the car to he nearest Alamo'

I read it as they took it there to complain... not to give it back!

peachyprice wrote: »

Your post is a bit hard to read with no paragraphs and random punctuation, but if I am reading this right TC made a mistake with the size of car you hired, so you took the car back and went without just because it was a tight squeeze on the first and last day of your holiday?

Indeedy. "Cutting off the nose to spite the face" comes to mind.

Sorry to sound harsh...

peachyprice

Hopefully OP will be back to clarify.

bazster

The OP stated his/her requirements ("I need a vehicle with lots of room to take 2 adults and 2 children with 4 cases and hand luggage"), so that's what he/she should've got, it wasn't up to him/her to be an expert on American car models.

Having said that, I just Googled Dodge Caliber. If that's a compact then my cars must've been made by Matchbox.

System

bazster wrote: »

The OP stated his/her requirements ("I need a vehicle with lots of room to take 2 adults and 2 children with 4 cases and hand luggage"), so that's what he/she should've got, it wasn't up to him/her to be an expert on American car models.

Having said that, I just Googled Dodge Caliber. If that's a compact then my cars must've been made by Matchbox.

Well its just about the same length as my Megane. You will definitely not get 2 adults, 2 children, 4 standard pieces of luggage and hand luggage in my car!