The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated

Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by cowmoo728 on Sunday December 26, 2021 @11:10PM (#29699082)

I had a situation where I found a fantastic deal on the company's own site for a Volvo XC-90, which I booked. When I got to the location they told me they have never had or seen any Volvo model. They offered me a Cadillac XT4, a worse and smaller car, at a significantly higher price than the deal I had booked. Again, booked on their own website. It was egregious enough that it felt like it should be illegal.

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by listenallyall on Monday December 27, 2021 @12:37AM (#29699697)

> at a significantly higher price

you didn't have a screenshot, printout, or email with the reserved price clearly indicated? (on second thought, car rentals, especially at airports, generally have a huge markup due to airport facility fees, service fees, and local taxes -- but even that should have been clearly displayed on the confirmation you received at the time you made the reservation).

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by 1123581321 on Monday December 27, 2021 @01:35AM (#29700050)

I'm guessing he didn't reserve it and just showed up as a walk-in. I could see someone new to renting cars doing that, but it's a good way to pay a premium for urgency and suffer luck of the draw. Anyone experienced should know better as online reservations lock in the price, often at a discount, and guarantee the vehicle size or larger without paying more for the larger vehicle.

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by listenallyall on Monday December 27, 2021 @01:45AM (#29700095)

> I'm guessing he didn't reserve it

perhaps, although he said "booked" 3 times.

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by 1123581321 on Monday December 27, 2021 @01:58AM (#29700163)

True. Must have been a hole-in-the-wall local place if he actually booked it. I don't know why he wouldn't have pulled out the confirmation at the counter, either.

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by cowmoo728 on Monday December 27, 2021 @05:49PM (#29707861)

I did have a confirmation email that listed the price and the car, the person behind the counter and the manager said they couldn't honor that deal because the car didn't exist and I had paid the rate for a lower tier of car. If I wanted a car that could fit 4 adults and luggage I had to pay the difference. It was Sixt in downtown Manhattan.

Searching for "Sixt bait and switch" returns a fair number of stories and reviews that are similar to my experience.

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Re:The absurdity of renting a car will no longer be tolerated by smsm42 on Sunday December 26, 2021 @11:33PM (#29699266)

It might be, but what you're gonna do, sue them from behind the counter? You probably don't even have independent (i.e. not relying on their website) proof that's what the site said... But even if you do, how many people would bother? Eventually, somebody would launch a class action, but by then clever marketing person who launched that promo would already be promoted.

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