From: roger@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Subject: Re: Terrible Experience With Alamo
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 21:05:28 GMT

In article <5696@vp.COM> yms@vp.osc.com (Yuh-Ming Shyy) writes:
>Here is the story of my own terrible experience with Alamo. 
>Personally, I'll NEVER EVER do any business with ALAMO again. 

Well, after you've gotten shafted by the others, you'll have to give
them another try, alas.

>1. I reserved an economic car with Alamo for only $63/week 
>   through my travel agent.

STEP 1: get the confirmation number for the reservation along with the
price, and get all this info printed on an itinerary by your travel
agent's computer on their letterhead.  Or as close to this as possible.
It's much more efficient to wave this than just to say so.

>2. When I finally arrived at my destination air port, a bus 
>   took me to the rental center in the middle of nowhere. 

Alamo is an off-site rental agency.  This will happen everywhere.  Part
of the bargain deal.  You want on-site?  Try Hertz, Avis, National,
Budget.  And even those sometimes require a bus ride, as in
Minneapolis.

STEP 2: ask your travel agent how far from the airport the rental lot
is.  They know.

>3. At the counter, the service man first told me that they have 
>   my reservation, but the price is $87/week instead of $63/week. 
>   He said that is what he had on the computer and there is 
>   nothing he can do. Take it or leave...

STEP 3: Call your travel agent if it's during business hours.  If it
isn't, call the next day and tell them what happened.  They want to know
and may be able to get it fixed for you.

STEP 4: ask to speak to the manager in any case.  Don't get angry, get
to the person in charge.  Explain patiently, and document as best you
can.  They may even pay for the call to your travel agent.

>4. Reluclent to go back to the airport, I agreed the price. He then 
>   began to presured me to buy the insurance. I rejected all. 

Good move, assuming you have a credit card that covers it.

>5. Unhappily, this guy then began to ask me if I want to upgrade 
>   the car to a Nissan Sentra. I rejected again. This huy then 
>   gave me the key. 

Had they promised you some kind of car?  (STEP 0.5: Find out as much as
possible about the kind of car you're getting *before* you arrive.  In
writing, if possible.  Find out what "economy car" means.)

>6. I was surprised to find out that what he hgve me was a two-seat 
>   convertable! With 4 big luggages, I had no choice but to go 
>   back to their office and ask for a larger car. 

STEP 5: if you're REALLY unhappy, ask them to give you a bus ride to
another rental agency.  This tends to wake them up, especially if you
use the pay phone in their lobby to make a reservation first.  If they
won't give you a bus ride there, get one back to the airport and get to
the other rental agency from there.

>7. Being tired and frustrated, I said "OK, give me the Nissan Sentra!". 
>   This guy gave me the new bill, when is almost $180/week! This is 
>   really outrageous, I know Nissan Senra/E is good, but does it 
>   worth $180 a week? 

That's not an unusual price for a weekly rental, you know.  You had some
extra-special deal, believe me; $16/day is rock bottom for most places.
The price they quoted you there was a regular weekly rate.  

>8. Tired, hungry, in the middle of no where, I had no choice but to 
>   accept this car. I will never do any business with this company 
>   again. 

STEP THE LAST: Do one more piece of business.  Write down everything
that happened, document whatever you can (confirmation number, copy of
rental contract, note from travel agent, names of people you dealt with
at the agency, etc.) and write a NICE, non-emotional letter telling of
your disappointing experience.  Write to the president of Alamo (the 800
number will give you the address) and cc: it to your travel agent, the
Alamo agency where you rented it, and perhaps one or two other places.
(If you work for a big company and this was business, a copy to them
will help, esp. if your company has an agreement with Alamo.)

Tell them what you expected to get, what you were promised, what
happened to you, and so on.  Tell them that you're very disappointed and
will have to try another rental agency next time because you can't rely
on Alamo.  An tell them that you feel you were deceived, and that you
would like a portion of the money back.

Roger
>
>Be aware of Alamo! 
>
>


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