National car rental and American Express Rewards: BEWARE!!

[lodgelady]

My 3 day daily rate online with EI only (intermediate)= $29.43
My 3 day rate when trying to redeem my Amex Rewards certificate(intermediate)=$53.00

Be very careful when using these rewards certificates, they are not always gonna save you money!!
BTW, I tried calling "customer service" at National car rental to find out why redeeming my "reward" was costing me the same as if I had no certificate at all. I would say that speaking to her was like talking to a wall, but a wall would have been more polite! A very unhappy experience. Buyer beware!!!!

 

[mkymouse4ever]

Thanks for the heads up, we were considering this, too! MKY

 

[DVC-Don]

I put in a BJ's Wholesale discount code on a rental not long ago on about 3 companies. The price went up or stayed the same. Some discount huh?

 

[Disneydenise]

I just had the same problem. I got a great deal last year but this year I am getting a price twice what I would pay at Dollar. I have a fast lane membership but I can't locate it I amgoing to try Dollar I think this time. I am only going for 4 days and the price is more than I paid for 9 days last year.

 

[ivanova]

Lodge Lady

Who did you call, National or AmEx? We're planning on booking rental car for April, and our friend going with us was planning on paying for her part of the rental with AmEx reward certs. If it's going to up the cost of the rental, it won't be worth it.

 

[Disney On The Bayou]

I thought about this several years ago, when I spoke to a freindly national car rental service rep., she explained that if you use the certificate, you had to pay full rental. The only way this would be worth it is if you had so many rewards points you had nothing else better to do with them. A weekly rental will cost at least $300.00, compact!!! Most likely $500.00 or 50,000 amex points.

 

[lodgelady]

ivanova- you cannot just apply an Amex cert to just any ressie with National ( I don't know about the other car companies) because what Disney on the Bayou said is true. You cannot have ANY other discounts on the car (EI, discount codes etc) and when you make the ressie you must use the Amex Rewards Point code. The rate you pay before the vouchers are applied is so inflated that you might as well save your points and just do codes and EI. It is like wasting your points. Also, it is my understanding that they won't accept the Vouchers without doing all of the proper stuff first! Sheesh-what a racket these car companies have going!

 

[ivanova]

Lodgelady,

We got verbal confirmation from Budget that we can book any rate, using any code and apply the certs as if applying actual money. We are still waiting for written confirmation from Budget via email, so we can print it out and take it with us (just in case we get grief at the counter).

We were also told by an AmEx rep that we should be able to get the "best rate possible" from any of the rental car companies, then order the certs from AmEx. AmEx rep also claims we can endorse the certs over to someone else ... my sis is getting the certs, but the rental car will be in my husband's and my names, so she's supposedly allowed to sign over the certs to us (in Budget rep's presence) that we can then apply to the cost of the rental. We'll see....

 

[mom23guys2]

We got the same run around from National (and all the other car choices except Budget) when I called to apply a $100 certificate from Amex to a reservation I had made last July for this Easter. My car with EI is $180 when I asked about the Amex certificate my car rate jumped to $308. Even with the reward points I'd pay $28 more. needless to say, I kept my original reservation. I'll just use to points for merchandise gift certificate, like the Gap. They don't raise sale prices to full price because I'm using a gift certificate.Budget also told me it would be applied at the counter when I got the car but the car would cost the same as the National reservation so I'm just going to keep my points.

 

[lodgelady]

ivanova- I wish you luck with your voucher use. Please post when you return from your trip and tell us how you did with it. I hope (as mom23guys2 pointed out) that you don't get burned at the counter when you check in (BTW, even EI members cannot go directly to the EI when you use these vouchers -you MUST go to the counter- another downer).

 

[ivanova]

Okay, my newbie-ness is about to show ... what's "EI"?

 

[pbhunt]

EI is is Emerald Isle which is a land mass, I believe and is easily confused with EA which is Emerald Aisle, a "row" of cars that you can pick from. Sorry, I couldn't resist

 

[ivanova]

Which rental car company does the Emeral Isle/Aisle thing? Right now we're looking only at Budget with the AmEx Rewards certs....

 

[pbhunt]

Only National features Emerald Aisle service, and it's only for Emerald Club members. Pluto has an excellent post on this page which explains the process. Sorry, haven't used Budget in Orlando.

 

[BuzzMe]

When I made my reservation with National I used a code from The DC and specifically told them that I was going to be paying with an AmEx certificate. The person I spoke with assured me that it was okay. Of course when we arrived we learned differently and had to pay for the "free" day. I can understand if that is the policy, but I was annoyed that their employee gave me the WRONG information. Thinking of trying another rental co. next time.

 

[rpbear]

I also used National EA for a 5 day rental in November. I had a discount for being a DC member and a free day from another coupon. The total for my rental was around $114 for a full size car. I had a $100 American Express Cert. I called National and they assured me I could use the cert and just pay the difference. That is exactly what happened. I gave the EA attendent the cert as we were leaving the parking lot and my AmEx was just charged $14. I guess is just depends on who you talk to and who take the cert and how they handle it.