"tim....." wrote in message ...

"Lawrence T. Akutagawa" wrote in message ...



wrote in message
...

I was scammed by Hotwire and Budget. I purchased 8 days of rental from
Hotwire, returned the rental car within that 8 day period. Later discovered
that Budget goes strictly by the times that you put into the pickup and
drop-off times you put into the Hotwire rental request, not a 24 hour period
for the amount of days you have paid for through Hotwire, so since I was off
by a few hours in my estimated pick-up and drop-off, they charged me an
additional day of use at the full rate of $50.39 (Mind you my Hotwire rate
was 20$ a day) Now Budget and Hotwire customer service will do nothing for
me. Oh and I purchased a mid-size and got a compact. (Hotwire did give me
a credit for this at least!) This is a complete scam by Budget! DO NOT USE
BUDGET!!!!!

Moral of the story, if you are going to use Hotwire (or other online travel
agencies) to book a car rental, make sure that you put the return time as
late as possible without incurring an additional days charge, otherwise the
rental agency can take you to town if there are any changes to your drop-off
time

*****************
Why "scammed"? Didn't you confirm/verify/check the return time before you
left the rental lot? Typically, you have - if an 8 day rental - 24x8 hours
rental. If you picked the car up at 3:00pm, then you need to return the car
no later than 3:00pm on the eighth day...not at 5:00pm, 8:00pm, or 12:00pm
on the eighth day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But he didn't do that.

He picked the car up at 3pm and told them he would be dropping back at 1pm
but turned up at 2.59pm. (that's an example, we don't know the exact
numbers)

So is it fair to charge for the extra time?

*************
The issue is not what he told them, but what the signed rental agreement
indicated as the return time - as indicated by my full posting before you
did your judicious editing. Of course, all he says is "Later discovered
that Budget goes strictly by the times that you put into the pickup and
drop-off times you put into the Hotwire rental request, not a 24 hour period
for the amount of days you have paid for through Hotwire, so since I was off
by a few hours in my estimated pick-up and drop-off, they charged me an
additional day of use at the full rate of $50.39"

Item - how is it that he "Later discovered"? Didn't he read and understand
the rental agreement such that he knew the return deadline even before he
did sign it?

Item - how is it he "put into the pickup and drop-off times" that he "put
into the Hotwire rental request" as the return deadline rather than the
return deadline indicated in the rental agreement that he signed at the
counter? The former is a request; the latter is the contract. Doesn't he
understand the difference?

Item - exactly what is this "a 24 hour period for the amount of days you
have paid" that he talks about? The contracted return deadline is
specified on the rental agreement before he signs it. That - and only
that - is the return deadline....not anything else he concocts, no matter
how reasonable he deems it to be. Didn't he read the rental agreement
before he signed it? If he did read it, didn't he understand what he read?

Item - what does "since I was off by a few hours in my estimated pick-up and
drop-off" mean? Why in the world is he stuck on HIS "estimated pick-up and
drop-off" instead of the return deadline indicated on the rental agreement
that he signed? What is the color of the sky in his world such that he
utterly ignores the rental agreement?

Item - note well that in all this, he has yet to tell us two simple things:
First, the return deadline - date and time - indicated on the rental
agreement that he signed.
Second, the exact date and time that he did return the car.