Tuesday, December 02, 2003
My Rental Experience
Reading Pete Maher's entry in This Is Broken had prompted me to blog my own recent experience...
The story begins in late October. I need to book a flight to corporate HQ in St. Paul. I vow to not fly Northworst if I can help it. I jump onto the corporate travel web site and eventually find a non-stop Delta flight with the right flight times. As usual, I could have found it faster on Expedia or Travelocity. Booking the rental car and hotel were much easier.
Move forward to Wednesday, November 19. I leave training class early to catch my flight. As usual, Delta is on time and the flight was without incident. I get off the plane and take what seems like the 100 mile trek across the airport. I hate the Minneapolis airport. Who dreamed up the crazy scheme to only gate the planes on one side of the concourse? I'd flown through here before, but only to change planes. It turns out the rental cars are in a different terminal. The tram ride doesn't make it any easier.
Ah..the Hertz counter...go past it and check the Number 1 Gold board and go straight to my car...umm...no...my name isn't on the board. So much for being a Gold member. Go back into the terminal and stand in line at the counter. I tell the hired help (barely more intelligent than someone at Wallmart) my name. I even spell it. Nope, no reservation. Time to find my paperwork. I finally get it, and give her my reservation number. My reservation is found, but she tells me it'll be 15 minutes before a car is brought up. Um..no..wrong answer I tell her. I'm a Number 1 Gold club member. My car should have already been waiting. "We just had 15 flights put down. It'll be 15 minutes.". I grumble off swearing that I'll complain about it later.
My complaints must have moved heaven and earth because my car is waiting for me on the curb when I leave the terminal. I'm feeling much better about this. I get out of the airport and find my hotel just fine. Returning the car is a different story....
The next evening I'm on my way to the airport. I normally get off one or two exits before the airport, fill the gas tank, then get back on the freeway. But in this case...it can't happen...no gas stations. I wander aimlessly about the area and finally find a gas station, put in $4.00 worth of gas and get directions back to the airport.
The exit signs give two terminal names. How the hell do I know which terminal I want???? Can't it just say "Airport"? I make a guess. It must be right because there's the Rental Return sign. Just stay in the middle lane of the three lanes. Umm..no..that doesn't work. The lanes split in different directions, with signs giving information for where the right-hand and left-hand lanes go. The middle lane, where I am, goes both directions...and nothing to indicate where to go for rental car return. I'll take the right-hand turn.
Good guess. I get into the Hertz return area, give the man my paperwork and get my receipt, then prepare to make the 100 mile long trek again. But wait...there's more...
Move ahead to Monday. As I'm filling out my online expense report, I find that guy in the return read my mileage wrong. I got charged for additional miles. It's off by exactly 100 miles. Time to call Hertz. "We get unusually heavy call volumes on Monday. We urge you to call back tomorrow." Ummm...no...I'm going to remain here on perma-hold.
About 20 minutes later I'm talking to someone that says he can help me. I explain my situation and then get put on hold while he checks things. I think of this as buying a car. The salesman says "Let me go talk to the sales manager and see what I can do." knowing full well that he can do everything needed to close the sale. Eventually, the Hertz rep comes back on the line and tells me my credit card charges will be adjusted.
Unfortunately, my session with the online expense system has timed out and lost everything. Time to start over again...
The story begins in late October. I need to book a flight to corporate HQ in St. Paul. I vow to not fly Northworst if I can help it. I jump onto the corporate travel web site and eventually find a non-stop Delta flight with the right flight times. As usual, I could have found it faster on Expedia or Travelocity. Booking the rental car and hotel were much easier.
Move forward to Wednesday, November 19. I leave training class early to catch my flight. As usual, Delta is on time and the flight was without incident. I get off the plane and take what seems like the 100 mile trek across the airport. I hate the Minneapolis airport. Who dreamed up the crazy scheme to only gate the planes on one side of the concourse? I'd flown through here before, but only to change planes. It turns out the rental cars are in a different terminal. The tram ride doesn't make it any easier.
Ah..the Hertz counter...go past it and check the Number 1 Gold board and go straight to my car...umm...no...my name isn't on the board. So much for being a Gold member. Go back into the terminal and stand in line at the counter. I tell the hired help (barely more intelligent than someone at Wallmart) my name. I even spell it. Nope, no reservation. Time to find my paperwork. I finally get it, and give her my reservation number. My reservation is found, but she tells me it'll be 15 minutes before a car is brought up. Um..no..wrong answer I tell her. I'm a Number 1 Gold club member. My car should have already been waiting. "We just had 15 flights put down. It'll be 15 minutes.". I grumble off swearing that I'll complain about it later.
My complaints must have moved heaven and earth because my car is waiting for me on the curb when I leave the terminal. I'm feeling much better about this. I get out of the airport and find my hotel just fine. Returning the car is a different story....
The next evening I'm on my way to the airport. I normally get off one or two exits before the airport, fill the gas tank, then get back on the freeway. But in this case...it can't happen...no gas stations. I wander aimlessly about the area and finally find a gas station, put in $4.00 worth of gas and get directions back to the airport.
The exit signs give two terminal names. How the hell do I know which terminal I want???? Can't it just say "Airport"? I make a guess. It must be right because there's the Rental Return sign. Just stay in the middle lane of the three lanes. Umm..no..that doesn't work. The lanes split in different directions, with signs giving information for where the right-hand and left-hand lanes go. The middle lane, where I am, goes both directions...and nothing to indicate where to go for rental car return. I'll take the right-hand turn.
Good guess. I get into the Hertz return area, give the man my paperwork and get my receipt, then prepare to make the 100 mile long trek again. But wait...there's more...
Move ahead to Monday. As I'm filling out my online expense report, I find that guy in the return read my mileage wrong. I got charged for additional miles. It's off by exactly 100 miles. Time to call Hertz. "We get unusually heavy call volumes on Monday. We urge you to call back tomorrow." Ummm...no...I'm going to remain here on perma-hold.
About 20 minutes later I'm talking to someone that says he can help me. I explain my situation and then get put on hold while he checks things. I think of this as buying a car. The salesman says "Let me go talk to the sales manager and see what I can do." knowing full well that he can do everything needed to close the sale. Eventually, the Hertz rep comes back on the line and tells me my credit card charges will be adjusted.
Unfortunately, my session with the online expense system has timed out and lost everything. Time to start over again...
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]