Round Trip from Montreal to Quebec

We arrived at the Budget/Avis counter at Montreal Trudeau International Airport around 8 AM, but there was no one there, even though their business hours state they open at 6 AM. A middle-aged woman showed up after 8, looking very displeased as if we had disturbed her sleep. We handed her our rental voucher, and she processed the pickup and added an additional driver at my request, explaining that for spouses, there is no extra charge. Initially, we were happy as it saved us some money. However, when we reached the parking lot, we saw they had given us a Chevrolet Spark, the same model we originally got from Alamo in Vancouver, which has a trunk too small to fit two suitcases. Alamo eventually replaced it with a new Golf. We went back to the counter to request a different car, but the lady's attitude worsened, saying they had no cars of the type we booked and that if we wanted a bigger car, only a C-class KIA was available for an additional 10 CAD per day. We argued that since they didn’t have our booked car, the upgrade should be free. She insisted that the Spark was in the same group as our booked car and that we needed to pay for a larger one if desired. We then contacted Mr. Zhang from your Guangzhou headquarters, who had provided excellent service before our trip and left us his WeChat for any issues. We reached him via WeChat voice, and after hearing our situation, he agreed that the other party was at fault and promised that the customer service would call us soon. Your company’s customer service called quickly, communicated with Budget, but it seemed like the problem wasn’t resolved. The customer service suggested we agree to the upgrade fee to complete our trip and discuss it later. Meanwhile, the woman had already given the KIA to someone else, implying we no longer had that option. Ultimately, they gave us a Hyundai Elantra, charging us an additional 32 CAD, with the remaining amount to be charged upon vehicle return. Being forced to upgrade for a fee left us very dissatisfied with Budget.

Arrived at the car rental location on time, only to be offered a lower grade vehicle. They insisted it was an SUV as per the reservation. After over an hour of negotiation, the manager finally intervened and provided the reserved model.

When we arrived at the airport pickup location at around 8 a.m., the line was very long, but there were only two service staff, so the wait time was long.

la voiture n'était pas de la même catégorie que la réservation, j'ai payé un supplément pour avoir la catégorie prévu, mais voiture presque neuve donc pas trop décu.

Unbelievable or despicable that Budget and Hertz, which are probably different brands from the same company, hire only one employee each for pick-up desk. Especially at a time when a long haul flight (read with many passengers) lands. Hard to understand why pick-up procedures take so long. Took more than 60 minutes overall. And I was lucky to be 4 or 5th in the line. They must have been over 20 when I finished...

Good.