Having been through my own customer service nightmare recently, with British Airways (which is still on-going, by the way) I am very sympathetic to travelers who get shafted on business trips/vacations by incredibly lousey customer service.
Here’s a recent horror storry from E. Spat about the horrible service and offensive customer service from Advantage Rent-a-Car. I’ve not used them before, but you can bet I sure as hell never will now.
To add something to the other side of the coin, I have always had great luck with Thrifty. We rented from the location at PDX something around 12 times in the past years, and always their service has been prompt, courteous, and over half the time we’ve gotten free upgrades because they didn’t have the level of car we reserved. With their “Blue Chip” program, you get there, the paper work is filled out, the keys are attached to it and all you do is sign your name, throw your bags in and take off.
And at PDX, I have seen some of the same staff there FOR THE PAST SEVEN YEARS.