I rented a sport utility vehicle from the Advantage Rent A Car Salt Lake City Airport location on January 1. When I arrived at the counter and presented my reservation, the representative informed me that the reservation was not guaranteed to be an all wheel drive SUV, and that I would need to pay an additional $100 to upgrade to a larger all wheel drive SUV if I wanted a vehicle with all wheel drive. While at the counter, I listened to their staff have the exact same conversation with two other customers. This came as quite a surprise to me since I have rented SUVs from Advantage and several other rental car companies at SLC, and have always been told that the only SUVs rented from the airport locations are those with all wheel drive. After agreeing to pay the upgrade fee, I carried my luggage to the lot to pick up my vehicle. While walking through the lot I noted that all of the SUVs on the lot had all wheel drive. I then carried my luggage all the way back to the rental counter and asked to speak to the manager.
When I pointed out to the manager that I was made to pay an upgrade fee when there were no two wheel drive SUVs available, he told me I could rent a two wheel drive SUV, but I would have to wait for 20 minutes while he went to get the vehicle from another Advantage location 6 miles away. I let the manager know that as a customer with a confirmed reservation, I should not be made to wait or pay an upgrade fee if the vehicle class I reserved was not available. He eventually agreed to reduce the upgrade fee by half and told me this was the best he was willing to do for me if I did not want to wait. Given these poor choices, I agreed to pay the $50 upgrade fee and get on with my trip. A reputable rental car company would simply have provided a free upgrade in this situation.instead, I was misled by the representative who first handled my rental transaction and then subjected to an unfair business practice by the manager on duty when I pointed out that the SUV I supposedly reserved was not even on the lot. Since I heard the same scam being perpetrated on other customers while I was at the counter, I can only conclude that Advantage is systematically directing its employees to mislead customers in order to charge unwarranted upgrade fees.
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