Dollar Entertain report

[idontknow]

I know, it seems like I am posting just the bad things about our trip. I am going to sit down tomorrow or Thurs and post more details and with the good and the bad to our vacation. These first couple of posts are just FYI posts.

We used the Entertain code at Dollar for our intermediate rental from 9/14 - 9/22. Everything went off without a hitch. We got a red Intrepid that had 8000 miles on it and it was immaculate inside and out. The grand total for 8 days was $185.

Now the bad part. I don't know if we will rent from them again or not. When we got to the counter, we encounter many very hard sells. "We can upgrade you to a PT Cruiser for only $70 more." DH rolled his eyes (he can't stand them) and I said no. "Oh, we can do it for only $50 more if $70 is too high." No, that's ok. "Would you like to prepay for the gas?" No, we'll stop before we get on the beeline. "Well, we've changed our poles (???) and you have to fill up within 10 miles of the airport now. It would be better if you prepaid." No, that's ok. We've never had a problem before, we'll do it ourselves. "If the tank is not completely full when you return it, there will be a charge of $4.17 a gal. Why not prepay? It's only $1.37 and it is very competitive with the rest of the gas stations in the area." No thank you. (turned out that $1.37 was the going gas station rate)

The entire trip I was wondering what they were going to pull when we returned the car. It turned out that everything was fine, though. Right price and no grief about the gas. I was wondering if we would end up with the Cruiser once we got to the car, but we didn't. What I didn't understand is that there was only 1 Cruiser in the lot when we got to our car. Really weird. We could have rented from National for $10 less and gotten a full size car, but I always have to go to the counter and have them adjust the bill. We tried Dollar this time, and I think we will stick with National since we've never gotten that hard of a sell.

 

[smart cookie]

I never encountered any hard sell at the Dollar counter during my July trip...i did use the FASTLANE aisle, whether that made a difference or not. I was also renting a minivan...so the upgrade thing wasn't an issue.

 

[n2mm]

We got back yesterday and also rented at Dollar with the ENTERTAIN code. We had a full size reserved for $126 for the week ($168 after taxes and fees). Yes we were asked if we would like to upgrade to a jeep for extra, but my husband said no, a full size was fine. THEN the employee said it would be a 20 minute wait for the full size, but we could have a minivan for the same price if we didn't want to wait. Yes we took a minivan.....a minivan for $126 for a week (base amount). It was great. Dropping off the car took less than 3 minutes and even the dollar employee was impressed with the rate we got. Hard sell doesn't bother us, so yes we will still rent through Dollar especially while NATIONAL has these high rates.

 

[idontknow]

I'm glad neither of you encountered the hard sell. Maybe it was just the particular employee that we had. While we were in line, they were having the people line up for keys after they had already been through our line. DH thought it was weird, but when we got to the part of getting our keys, they just gave them to us. We didn't have to wait in any other lines.

 

[DISMOMof3]

We have the entertain code for our upcoming Oct visit. I am glad to here no one had problems with it. We have the full size reserved for the $168 w/fees added. I feel like that is a great rate.

 

[poohbear2]

We didn't have any problems either with any "hard sells". The agent did ask if we would like to upgrade, but I am sure they have to ask this to everyone, like "would you like fries with that".
She looked at our small group and she said, "Oh I am sure you 'll be fine with the intermediate. An agent with common sense! We loved Dollar.

 

[A kid at heart]

I for one will never use Dollar again. I just returned this afternoon from disney and I ended up with no rental car. They kept doing the hard upsell to a minivan for 10 more a day and I kept saying no, then I was told it would be an hr wait for my car then as none were ready. I said ok, then if my car is not ready then you should upgrade me to the next available class at no charge. Then I was told I needed a 200 deposit to put down on the rental, thats in case I don't return it on time. (my ttl price was 149 for an ICAR) I said since when is a 200 deposit required? I've never in all my trips ever had to put a 200 deposit down before. They said they've always done that. Well I got home today and double checked from my previous trips and I haven't had to put a 200 deposit down before. (I keep record of this for future references)
Needless to say I didn't need them putting an extra 200 on my CC while I was in disney so I left without a car and a vow to never use them again for myself or any of my clients.
Happy Limo on the other hand was absolutely wonderful! It was nice to be chauffered!

 

[chloesmommi]

Are you Fastlane Members, by any chance? We've rented from Dollar the last two trips, and everything went very smooth. However, one time we rented from Avis, and there was a 1 1/2 hour delay, causing us to miss the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review. However, if Dollar is starting to have problems, I will reconsider using someone else. The last thing I need at the start of a WDW vacation is aggravation from the car rental company.