Arrived at airport but pre booked car not available

[noodler]

I arrived at panama City beach airport today and they do not have any seven seater SUV even though I booked in october 2014.

I waited an hour but none came in. They said they would not have any tonight at all.

They have told me nothing they can do.

they have given me a lower category car and said to ring them about 1pm tomorrow to see if they have one.

They said even though the car is a lower class they don't refund anything as I paid though a 3rd party ie us car hire.

Is this correct as I am very unhappy as I paid for a 13 day hire for a higher class vehicle. I also have to give up more holiday time to return to the airport.

Thank you.

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

Sorry to hear that. I've alerted Roger to this but in the meantime could you email in full details to info@uscarhire.com so we can look into it as there are several things that Alamo have said that do not sound right.

[roger]

I'm sorry to hear about that. Obviously I'm not sure why the car you booked was not available, and clearly you should in that case have been allocated something better (which I assume was also not available). As John says, please email info@uscarhire.com. Regardless of what happens, if you end up with a lower spec car for your trip, once you are back we can certainly arrange a refund of the difference. Please ensure you keep a copy of all your paperwork to send us once you return.

[noodler]

Thank you. I have emailed you.

[noodler]

Pleased to report that alamo called at 2.30pm to say they had a suv for us

[Tonish]

I doubt that they pay too much attention to what is pre booked. At large depots like Orlando or Miami they will always have a wide range of cars available and presumably rely on looking at overall broad numbers and trends rather than specific individual bookings. It's bound to be quite a complex supply chain. Also, if their agents have been successful in talking lots of customers into upgrades all day long, it's not surprising if your upper range car has disappeared.

I did once stand in a queue watching the family in front of me get an upgrade to a suburban, only to be told when I went to check in that they had now run out of the suburbans, and their last one had just gone, even though I had pre-booked one. Annoying.