On July 11 I made an online reservation at Enterprise Rental Car for a car to be picked up at the Grand Rapids Michigan airport on Monday, July 23. The rate quoted was $24 per day for Monday through Friday that week.
We flew stand by, and ended up arriving in Michigan late at night on Saturday, July 21 instead. The rental agency was closed so my friend picked us up from the airport and took us to her home. Sunday morning I called and asked Enterprise Rental Car if it would be possible to get our car a day early. Miguel said yes and I could pick it up at 11:00am. Then he quoted my new rental cost for Sunday through Friday. It sounded a little high to me so when I hung up I looked up my paperwork from the reservation and the price was almost $100 more! Just for adding one day. I called them back and got a different person. After spending quite a while on hold, this woman said that Miguel had somehow changed our reservation and we were now being charged $34.39 per day. I said No, we had a reservation with a quoted rate of $24 per day and if they wanted to charge me $34.39 for SUNDAY ONLY that would be acceptable but I expected them to honor my Monday through Friday reservation at the $24 price. Unbelievably they would not do it. I was flabbergasted, and called the customer service number instead of the reservation line. I got a reservation clerk. I told Mike that I wanted a customer service supervisor, but he insisted he could help me.
Needless to say, he was of the same attitude as the previous person, claiming it was my own fault for authorizing a change to my reservation. I was NEVER informed by Miguel that asking for a car on Sunday would affect the price the rest of the week! According to him I had to pay the $34.39 per day if I wanted the car. He even tried to explain to me, in a very condescending tone how the rental car business is just like hotels and people just don't understand that the supply and demand determine the price. I told him I used to work in the hotel business for many years and we DID NOT reward our customers who requested to spend more money with us by extending their stay by raising their nightly room rates for the duration of their stay. Mike got quite rude at this point and I hung up on him. Luckily, I had not given my credit card number when I made the reservation.
The problem with this supply and demand pricing system is that you may think you have a reservation, but when the car rental company screws you over you have already missed your opportunity to get the best pricing from a competitor because you are now a last minute reservation.
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