I was supposed to stay in the DR until the 17th but came home yesterday for a few reasons but the main one will be "told" below.
Well, I arrived in SD on Friday the 7th to a beautiful sky and great weather, at around 1:30pm. As it's the "norm" for the past 20 odd years, my buddy Ramon was waiting for me.
His car was broken, and since I had a car reserved for the 9th, we made ourselves back into the airport and went to the place that I had the reservation and asked them if I could get the car, or A car, right away. This is where it gets interesting:
The car is not available, I was told. I understood 100%. Any cars at all, I asked?. Well, let's see what can I do for "my friend", he said. After "making" a few calls, he, all of a sudden, "found" an "economy" car but needed to charge me extra because I could not wave any type of insurance that they were offering. This prick was trying to tell me that his "favor" was going to cost me more for 2 days than what I was paying for the other car (non-economy) for 5 days!. I told him that my credit cards offered insurance. Ok, he said. I gave him my 2 Visas and my Master Card. He called and he was told that that I was covered. Am I done?. Not so fast:
Now I needed to pay, something like US 4.70 a day for some kind of crap. I told him point blank: "look at me, don't think that you are dealing with an axx hole. I will quote EVERYTHING that you have on your web page and if anything that you say to me it's not written on your web page, I will ask you for an explanation.
Now the moron was telling me that in order to wave any type of "insurance" that they offer, that I needed to have a Gold Card or a Platinum Card. I told them to call each and every of my cards and to ask what was my limit on each and that after he did that, to show me on his web site where it says that it needs a Gold or Platinum card. He went on and on and on saying about this and that. Do you have 800 dollars in your card?, do you have 1,00 dollars in your card?, you have have 2,00 in your card just in case something happens?. All I said was: "yes but call them and they will tell you how much I have on it". I made him get his company's web site and asked him to show me where it said all the things that he was talking about. It said nothing. I basicly made the moron admit to me that they do not put it on their page just to get people in, as in a sale pitch, as in "to suck you in". I asked him: "so what you are basically saying is that your site is lying to people in order to get them in and THEN, when they come get their car, the price will maybe double. That's good to know".
After about 35 minutes, I asked him to see his manager. He was the manager, he said. Well, I told him: "if you are the manager, man, no wonder the other car rentals are full of people and I have been here more than 30 minutes and I have not seen a soul ask you a question". I then told him that I wanted to see him delete the information that he had in the computer about the "new" car. When he did, I told him to go ahead and cancel the other reservation. He looked at me surprised that I was cancelling. He had this stupid look on his face and asked me "why". All I said was "are you kidding me, do you think that I would ever deal with you guys again. The same crap will happen when I come get the other car on the 9th since I would be using the same card". Well, he told me that since I made it on the internet, that I needed to cancel it on the internet. No problem. I called Visa right in front of him and told them that there was a "XX" charge from "XX" car rental that they should reject. No problem.
Lastly, I told him: "care to bet that within 5 minutes I will have a rented car?. Just look outside to all those guys waiting with signs".
Well, within seconds, on my way out of the airport, I was stopped by someone that quote me a great price, without all the hastle. We were driven to his rental place about 3 minutes from the airport. All he said was: "the price is with all the insurances. You can pay with your credit card or cash. If you pay cash, you don't have to give us a deposit but we will need to keep your passport in our safe until you return it". Within 10 minutes, we left with a 2003 car and I ended up saving more than 100 dollars!.
NOTE: NOTE: NOTE: I can not say the rent car's name because they advertise here.
Off to re-activate my Dominican cell phone. Done.
Stopped by Ramon's home to cancel the 9th car reservation. Done.
Went to see my brother Carlos and for the next 2 days, I was just buying him things for his new place.
On Sunday, we went to the airport to get Louisa and off we went to Venta Club Gran Dominicus (***nice report about this place on a later day***) in Bayahibe/La Romana.
A few days after, I got the horrible news that my wonderful 15 year old nephew suffered a heart attack and passed away. That's all I will say about this matter.
NOTE TO THE MODERATOR:
If you wish to separate the thread because of the 2 topics, go ahead.
I will post about the resort later and I am sorry if I don't reply in a few days.
Well, I arrived in SD on Friday the 7th to a beautiful sky and great weather, at around 1:30pm. As it's the "norm" for the past 20 odd years, my buddy Ramon was waiting for me.
His car was broken, and since I had a car reserved for the 9th, we made ourselves back into the airport and went to the place that I had the reservation and asked them if I could get the car, or A car, right away. This is where it gets interesting:
The car is not available, I was told. I understood 100%. Any cars at all, I asked?. Well, let's see what can I do for "my friend", he said. After "making" a few calls, he, all of a sudden, "found" an "economy" car but needed to charge me extra because I could not wave any type of insurance that they were offering. This prick was trying to tell me that his "favor" was going to cost me more for 2 days than what I was paying for the other car (non-economy) for 5 days!. I told him that my credit cards offered insurance. Ok, he said. I gave him my 2 Visas and my Master Card. He called and he was told that that I was covered. Am I done?. Not so fast:
Now I needed to pay, something like US 4.70 a day for some kind of crap. I told him point blank: "look at me, don't think that you are dealing with an axx hole. I will quote EVERYTHING that you have on your web page and if anything that you say to me it's not written on your web page, I will ask you for an explanation.
Now the moron was telling me that in order to wave any type of "insurance" that they offer, that I needed to have a Gold Card or a Platinum Card. I told them to call each and every of my cards and to ask what was my limit on each and that after he did that, to show me on his web site where it says that it needs a Gold or Platinum card. He went on and on and on saying about this and that. Do you have 800 dollars in your card?, do you have 1,00 dollars in your card?, you have have 2,00 in your card just in case something happens?. All I said was: "yes but call them and they will tell you how much I have on it". I made him get his company's web site and asked him to show me where it said all the things that he was talking about. It said nothing. I basicly made the moron admit to me that they do not put it on their page just to get people in, as in a sale pitch, as in "to suck you in". I asked him: "so what you are basically saying is that your site is lying to people in order to get them in and THEN, when they come get their car, the price will maybe double. That's good to know".
After about 35 minutes, I asked him to see his manager. He was the manager, he said. Well, I told him: "if you are the manager, man, no wonder the other car rentals are full of people and I have been here more than 30 minutes and I have not seen a soul ask you a question". I then told him that I wanted to see him delete the information that he had in the computer about the "new" car. When he did, I told him to go ahead and cancel the other reservation. He looked at me surprised that I was cancelling. He had this stupid look on his face and asked me "why". All I said was "are you kidding me, do you think that I would ever deal with you guys again. The same crap will happen when I come get the other car on the 9th since I would be using the same card". Well, he told me that since I made it on the internet, that I needed to cancel it on the internet. No problem. I called Visa right in front of him and told them that there was a "XX" charge from "XX" car rental that they should reject. No problem.
Lastly, I told him: "care to bet that within 5 minutes I will have a rented car?. Just look outside to all those guys waiting with signs".
Well, within seconds, on my way out of the airport, I was stopped by someone that quote me a great price, without all the hastle. We were driven to his rental place about 3 minutes from the airport. All he said was: "the price is with all the insurances. You can pay with your credit card or cash. If you pay cash, you don't have to give us a deposit but we will need to keep your passport in our safe until you return it". Within 10 minutes, we left with a 2003 car and I ended up saving more than 100 dollars!.
NOTE: NOTE: NOTE: I can not say the rent car's name because they advertise here.
Off to re-activate my Dominican cell phone. Done.
Stopped by Ramon's home to cancel the 9th car reservation. Done.
Went to see my brother Carlos and for the next 2 days, I was just buying him things for his new place.
On Sunday, we went to the airport to get Louisa and off we went to Venta Club Gran Dominicus (***nice report about this place on a later day***) in Bayahibe/La Romana.
A few days after, I got the horrible news that my wonderful 15 year old nephew suffered a heart attack and passed away. That's all I will say about this matter.
NOTE TO THE MODERATOR:
If you wish to separate the thread because of the 2 topics, go ahead.
I will post about the resort later and I am sorry if I don't reply in a few days.
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