Vehicle Hire Upgrade
You book a van rental online, 10 months in advance because you are a very well prepared person. In this instance, you’ve gone for the smallest size van, because you need to move a dozen or so boxes and a few other pieces. It’s easy as anything, so you’d think.
Fast forward all these months and the day before you are picking up said van, you get a phone call. The purpose of this call is to double check, you still want the van. Answer is positive. You almost hear the groan on the other end of the phone. “good news, we have given you a complimentary upgrade, to a Ford Transit” Is the next line of conversation.
That Is Not An Upgrade
Actually, it is a fob off. They screwed up, they have no little vans available. Despite booking 10 months earlier, they have screwed up the booking, so instead are offering a bigger van. This is no good to man nor beast. The idea of the tiny van, was to be able to zip into the town centre, park and go to a couple of shops and a bank, then pop int a supermarket. Parking a car sized van is fine, you don’t need to worry about height restrictions on car parks etc. Trying to get a Transit into most town centre car parks isn’t going to work. Same with multi-stores where these vans are too tall.
Are the bigger vans more fuel efficient? No they aren’t. Had we wanted a Transit sized van, guess what sweetcheeks; We’d have hired one. You have not given us a complimentary upgrade, you have fobbed us off with something not really fit for purpose, but something we didn’t ask for.
Complimentary Upgrades Defined.
When you check into a flight and are told we’ve upgraded you to Business Class – That is an upgrade.
When you arrive at your hotel to be informed, your double room booking has been upgraded to a suite – Yes, that is an upgrade.
Collect your hire car and are told the Audi A3 you booked has been upgraded to an A5 then that is an upgrade too.
You get the drift here, these are nice surprises, they put a smile on your face and make you feel happy.
Being told the small van you booked isn’t available, so instead here are the keys to your bigger Ford Transit – NOT AN UPGRADE!
Sort Your Shit Out Hertz.
If I wanted to hire a 16 seater minibus, to drive mates to an event or the airport, booked it months in advance and at the time of collection I’m told, sorry we only have a 52 seater coach available – What use is that?
The idea of booking in advance is to get a good price, but more importantly to ensure you have booked what you need, for the dates you need. You pay there and then, so the hire company have your funds, so they are responsible for delivering the ordered product.
This is not the first time this has happened when we have hired and prepaid for van hire. This is not good enough, especially on bookings made in advance like this. Let’s get this straight – You did not upgrade us, you fobbed us off with something not what we wanted because you screwed up and couldn’t supply what we had paid for.
