I rented an intermediate car for 6 days (Sept. 21-26,2015) from Thrifty car rental through Hotwire. The rental was at Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. When I approached the Thrifty rental desk, I was informed that they had no reservation in my name. They asked if I had a confirmation number. I did have a number from Hotwire but was unable to find the number on my person. The Thrifty representative was very helpful and diligently searched through a number of other groups that I might have rented from (Travelocity, Expedia). I knew it was Hotwire but began questioning myself about which rental company I had used. Unfortunately, no confirmation number could be located by Thrifty for any other company. I had taken the Hotwire offer of $189.63 for the six days but was now faced with a six day offer of over $300.00 (by Thrifty) for an intermediate car.
I was able to locate an intermediate car from Alamo for six days for $283.39. I took their offer. When I returned home after the six days, I located the Hotwire paper whose heading stated "Hotwire Reservation Confirmation." I called the company on October 8th and proceeded to explain the situation to the representative. I asked that Hotwire simply reimburse me for the difference between the $189.63 originally agreed upon on Sept. 13 and the $283.39 price I was required to pay on Sept. 21 to Alamo, namely, $93.76.
The representative told me to send my confirmation sheet from Hotwire as well as the payment receipt from Alamo to Hotwire in care of the "Attention: Research Team" e-mail address. I did so on that date, Oct. 8th. Since then I have contacted Hotwire on the 22nd of October as well as on November 7th explaining that I had heard nothing from them regarding this issue. Their telephone message on the 8th of October indicated that 7-10 days were needed to settle differences and that it had now been seven weeks since I sent in the required paperwork.
The itinerary (confirmation) number from Hotwire was. How could Hotwire do something like this? I can understand the loss of the confirmation number by Hotwire or Thrifty (as hard as that makes it on the renter) but an out and out refusal to communicate or settle the problem from the Hotwire company makes me wonder how Hotwire can state, "Why you'll always rent from a company you trust." Maybe you'll be wondering too!