LIFE IMITATES ART (WELL SITCOMS ANYWAY) AT THE RENTAL CAR COUNTER
Written: Aug 26 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: We did get a car, eventually.
Cons: The eventually part.
The Bottom Line: Reservation:(noun)Act of reserving.
Reserve(verb)To keep in store. to retain.
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| JAMES23's Full Review: National |
One of the things I enjoy about living right downtown is the relative convenience it offers. Almost everything is within walking distance, including both Elena's and my work places. Anything that isn't within an easy walk is a short ride away on either public transit or taxi. Hey that's probably why we put up with the high rents that are an endearing part of downtown Toronto, and I'm sure most other major urban centre.
As such we don't own a car. Why put up with the added hassles of parking, insurance, and gas for something that will probably gather dust most days of the week.
It's when we have to venture outside the city though that this does become an issue. Case in point the weekend just past. We were invited to a wedding. The groom is an old friend of mine and was actually the best man at our nuptials.
I was returning the favour by acting as MC for their reception. They had decided, probably after witnessing first hand the Cecile B.DeMille production number that was our wedding, to have a small intimate wedding themselves.
It was to be in the Groom's father's back garden, with an open altar and a marquee tent for the reception and meal afterwards. It was a beautiful site and an enjoyable wedding. The garden though was in a farm many, many miles north of Toronto.
No problem, we'd just rent a car for the day. As a demonstration of the partnership that our marriage has become, this fell to Elena to do. She doesn't drink and I naturally volunteered to help with the consumption of our share of the wine and spirits at the reception. Therefore she became the designated driver. That meant she got to book the car.
Elena called around to a couple of places and settled on national, more so because they have an outlet around the corner from our place, (Jarvis and Richmond Street) than any special rate or deals available. The Saturday before we strolled over and chatted with the manager on duty about availability, prices and all that good stuff, the blackout had only been a couple of days earlier and we just wanted to make sure their were no problems.
Thursday, after just double-checking a couple of other places, she called National and made a reservation for Saturday. She specifically asked for a compact car. This was an important point as Elena is shall we say petite.
After confirming a pickup time of 12:00 pm, she was given a confirmation number by the central booking line. Elena then called the specific location at Jarvis and Richmond Streets where we would be getting the car and read them off the confirmation number. Yes they had it in their computer, one compact car for Saturday August 23rd at 12:00 pm.
We spent Saturday morning doing our normal routines and getting ready for the wedding. Wrapping the gift, pressing suits, shining shoes et cetera et cetera. Just before noon we strolled over to National Car Rental to pick up the car. When we got there Elena happened to notice that there were no cars in the lot. I assured her that there was no problem. It was probably out back.
The neat thing about any work place is that on a nice summer Saturday morning, the boss isn't the one who has to sit in the office. Usually that role falls to either the newest or shall we say "less experienced" employee(s). Either that or someone too dumb to catch on or someone on the bosses sh!t list. It's nice to see that National adheres to this rule.
The charming girl, soon dubbed Miss helpful, behind the counter was able to confirm that yes we did have a reservation. Then came the fun part. She then stated that there was no car available. What followed was something akin to that famous Sienfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine discover what constitutes a definition of the word "reservation" as it applies in the automobile rental world.
I asked to confirm that they had our reservation. She confirmed there was a reservation. I then asked where the car was. She confirmed there was none, sorry.
I asked if a reservation meant that there should have been a car for us. Yes she confirmed this too. Therefore I asked why was there no car. She didn't have an answer for that on, aside from the fact that she was sorry.
She then called around several other nearby National locations, nope no cars. She confirmed with head office that we had a reservation. Yes we did, just no car. I asked politely (barely by this point) if she understood what exactly a reservation meant? Yes she did.
Now to me a reservation means that yes we will have a car for you at the date and time you have asked for it, preferably of the type you've asked for. Of course I'm not a rental car professional. It appears that a confirmed reservation actually means, maybe if you're lucky we might have something with four wheels and an internal combustion engine available within a hundred mile radius and sometime within a week either side of the day you asked for it, but don't count on it.
We played the "yes you have a reservation, no we don't have a car for you" game for about half an hour. In between she alternatively fielded incoming other calls with "we have no cars sorry" from other stranded Torontonians, and calling whoever was nominally in charge about the ever increasing ticked off guy in the wedding suit on the other side of the counter (me) who kept insisting that he wanted/needed a car.
At one point she got a call back from another location that actually still had vehicles to rent. Our relief was of course short lived when she announced it was a pick up truck. Elena gave her a dirty look that scared me, but obviously went over her head when she asked if the would be "all right." She assured us with a straight face that there would be no extra charge for this upgrade to a larger vehicle even though we had reserved a compact.
For a brief moment I had visions of us pulling up to the wedding in a beat up pick up with Elena perched on a phone book so she could see over the dash. I even started to assess if I had time to run down to the lumberyard to get blocks of wood to attach to the pedals so her feet could reach them. It passed.
I was slowly realising that this whole episode was an exercise in futility. It was also pushing me a little closer to spending the rest of the weekend in the cardiac ward of the local hospital. There's no point in arguing with a minimum wage flunky, especially one who really does not want to be there in the first place. It was pointless she kept confirming that yes we did have a reservation, but that just no cars. Mind she also kept saying she was sorry, and I was almost starting to feel just a bit of sympathy for her.
She knew we had a wedding to get to. She just didn't know what to do to help, aside from saying sorry a lot. She also kept trying to use the blackout as an excuse until we pointed out that one that was over a week ago, and two we'd made the reservation after it was all over.
Mind I had little sympathy for whatever moron took a reservation without checking on his stock of cars. Reservation means yes I will have a car sitting there ready for you, not I'll call around the city at the last minute to see what's available.
I took her name and that of the manager, and was about to leave when she suggested that she'd keep trying and maybe, just maybe have something for us in half an hour. We'd said we'd go for a coffee around the corner, which would give both of us a chance to get our blood pressure down to normal, and come back in thirty minutes.
Of course we didn't go for a coffee. We ran home and grabbed the yellow pages. For the next thirty minutes we frantically called every car rental agency listed in the Greater Toronto Area, national aside. It was all for naught, nobody had any cars. One place did say they had some moving vans, but one look from Elena told me that wasn't going to do it.
I was about to admit defeat and call the Groom to be and give them a heads up that we wouldn't be coming when I decided to call National again. Our "helpful" lady came on, and after a hushed conversation with someone else in the office said she had found a car for us. The car was a full sized station wagon, and would that be ok? One look at Elena told me nope it wouldn't and that's what I told her.
We hung up waited five minutes and for some perverse reason I called National again. She answered again and pleasantly said she'd found a car for us. Reluctantly but more than a bit curious I asked what kind. To be honest by this time I was expecting her to tell us she'd found us a tractor-trailer and would then cheerfully announce that there would be no extra charge for the upgrade.
I was disappointed well not really actually I was relieved. She assured me that a mid sized Mitsubishi was at that very moment sitting in the lot and would she like them to hold it for. No I almost said give it away, then caught myself realizing that she might fatally misinterpret sarcasm. We dashed out the door and were back at the rental lot in record time. Surprisingly there perched in the almost empty lot was the car.
Miss helpful was busy prepping it. This meant playing a garden hose over it to redistribute the dust and grime, but I really didn't care. In the office was another staff member who completed the needed paperwork. I guess he was the one who'd delivered the car.
From the charming personality he displayed, he was probably the manager called in on his day off by his hapless employee. Hey for all I knew that was his personal car getting "washed" outside. If it was I really didn't care at this point.
I told Elena I was going out to do a walk around the car to check for dents, scratches, missing wheels or whatever. The manager seemed to be upset by this. I guess he prefers that the customers sign the papers without this minor formality. When I came back he asked me if I had found anything. I told him it was ok aside from a couple of minor scratches and blemishes.
Elena was signing everything and I heard them discuss insurance. She was explaining to him that she'd checked and her Visa already covered the extra insurance he was trying to foist on her. He didn't seem to like being fleeced out of an extra twenty odd bucks, or maybe it was his car. His response was curt.
“You break my car you pay me. Then insurance pay you, ok."
My immediate response was to reach over the counter and perform a little impromptu dental surgery on this shining example of good customer relations. I managed to prevent myself at the last minute. We didn't have time for Elena to make a stop at the bank and get bail money and then make another stop. Besides he'd probably have bled all over my new suit.
We made the wedding barely, and only because the Bride was held up in traffic. Before the ceremony the Groom dragged me aside and asked for a big favour. In all the planning, he'd forgot to arrange for a way to get the newlywed couple back from the farm to their wedding night suite at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto. What were the chances of a lift after the reception he asked? Of course I said yes, now glad that we'd stood firm on our refusal of the pick up truck upgrade.
Returning the car the next morning was no problem. "Miss helpful" had the day off., so we got to deal with "Mr. spoil my Saturday afternoon off, rip me off on excessive insurance" instead. He strolled about the car looking for dents and scratches after I assured him there were none. After one look at my expression though I guess he decided that wasn't important after all.
After Elena handed in the keys and got her receipt, he announced that we’d now had a file open there that would make our next rental even easier and faster. Yeah right, something tells me that won’t be anytime soon.
Recommended:
No
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JAMES23
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Member: James Smith
Location: Toronto Ontario CANADA
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