As Asif pulled up my reservation, he reviewed the details, and then, what I can only describe as the best puppy dog face since my son Noah was five years old said, " You don't want to stay in the economy rental, do you?"
Now when put that way, of course I didn't want to rent an economy car. I wanted to rent a sports car. But, the rental was not for pleasure. It was a business rental. If I needed to carpool with other team members then I would have rented a larger car. However, for this trip, I would be the only driver and only passenger.
"Are you offering a free upgrade?" I asked, Last week in Seattle I did get a Kia mini van because they had run out of economy cars, so the idea of a free upgrade was not outrageous.
" No, just $10," explained Asif.
"$10 for the week?"
" No that's $10 each day."
" So that would be $50 more," I clarified. " I don't think so."
Asif is trained to not take no for an answer. Since guilting me didn't work, As if took the inconvenience and embarrassment approach. " If you get an economy car you won't have electric windows or locks. You'll have to roll the windows up and down."
I stood my ground and assured Asif that I could handle rolling the window up and down. I was beginning to get annoyed. If Alamo is ashamed of their fleet of economy cars and think their customers deserve to drive a different car, then don't offer this category of cars. I don't mind up-selling but up-sell with the what I'll get with the upgrade, not what I should hate about the product I'm renting.
Oh, and the little Kia that I'm driving for my week in Los Angeles, has everything I need. Power windows. Power doors and an AUX connection so I can listen to my audible book on my Kindle.
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