Just returned - Alamo Savetime - my experience.

[jclutton]

On advice from this forum I walked cheerfully into the garage at MCO with a spring in my step and my print out with my bar code on it in my hand. As I approached a guy from Alamo asked which car class I was looking for, I said 7 seater, he asked to see my paperwork and shook his head when I showed it to him. He pointed to the part on the paperwork which says I need to go to the kiosk and tells me to go back into the main building, I told him I had been told just to get the car and give my details as I left, he said no you need to go back inside. I go back in looking for the kiosks to get my car, find a few in front of the Alamo desk and start the process, but the kiosk wouldn't let me complete, so I tried another which wouldn't let me complete either, so reluctantly I queued up to speak to a sales rep, after 5-10 mins I got to the front of the queue to be greeted by a smiling spawn of the devil who proceeded to tell me I hadn't got a big enough car for my needs, I replied happily that it wasn't my first trip to Florida and pointed out that my family of 4 should easily fit in a 7 seater, but he was adamant that I would end up having to tie my daughter to the roof, but I stood my ground. He then said for only $300 more I could get a 8 seater with leather seats, DVD screens in the back, reversing camera, the works he said, I stood my ground again. He then changed gear and went on that I hadn't enough insurance ( I had taken Virgin Platinum Insurance, as I always do and never had any issues) he said I needed to pay another $200 for breakdown insurance and another $140 for tyre damage insurance otherwise I could be liable for $1000's if anything happened, again I stood my ground, my voice rising the longer I was kept prisoner at the desk, I was happy I was in Florida but getting really annoyed at the B-S I was getting. Eventually I got my paperwork and returned to my family who were getting worried about me as I had been at the desk for nearly 40 mins. As I found the correct line of cars I picked a Chrysler Town and Country with only 500 miles on the clock, full leather, DVD screens iin the back and reversing camera, the works, a lovely car.
So in summary, Alamo Savetime didn't save time and Alamo sales reps are

[W1zz]

As well as the Alamo Save time, you also need to do the Online Check-in to get your 'Alamo Bypass Ticket'

It sounds as though Alamo are tightening up on this, as previously people have said just the 'Save Time' barcode sufficed.

[w3dal]

^^^ that's the ticket I got doing OLCI it worked perfectly.

Hoping for the same this year.

[Guest]

That's rubbish ! We have booked the same 7 seater with platinum insurance through Virgin, I do not want a pushy sales person ! As I have everything I need ! Breakdown insurance is included !

[Cyclospora]

Yes - worked well for us using the Online Check In.

The problem is - you only tend to think that online check in is just for flights - don't associate it with car hire. Although once you've used it and benefitted from missing the queues (and sales reps! ) you will be likely to look out for it next time!

[Princ3ss D]

Thanks for the honesty as I will be in exactly the same position in a few weeks time

I have manged to do savetime, but it wouldn't let me do online check-in so haven't got a bypass voucher either I read something on here that you need to take the flight number out of the booking before dong online check-in and it will go through? Too late for me as it is not coming up as an option now. We also have a 7 seater booked and there are 7 of us lol, so what upgrade are they going to offer us lol - an A-Team van! Thank you I am now prepared and will also stand my ground

[W1zz]

Originally Posted by Princ3ss D

I have manged to do savetime, but it wouldn't let me do online check-in so haven't got a bypass voucher either I read something on here that you need to take the flight number out of the booking before dong online check-in and it will go through?

See more...

Does it not let you login to the OLCI ? I used the confirmation number that you receive on the SaveTime confirmation email. It's also displayed above Alamo SaveTime barcode (9 digits).

For my SaveTime, I used by booking ref.

[Yorkshire_Dan]

I tried to warn people about this in another thread time and time again!

juneandpeter take note!

I think the information about savetime, check in and skip the counter needs to be made into a sticky to warn others.

[uktigg]

I was under the impression that OLCI with Alamo is for US reservations and Virgin Holidays only.
Savetime is for everyone else who has booked through a 3rd party.

I've been with Virgin Holidays 3 times now and have always done OLCI and gone straight to the garage.

I believe that you do either OLCI or SaveTime. NOT BOTH :-)

[lindaj]

I booked directly with Virgin Atlantic and when I tried to OLCI it kept telling me I was putting in the wrong booking number. I telephoned virgin and they gave me another number which didn't appear on any other documents but that allowed me to do OLCI. I walked directly to the car park, a man stopped us, looked at our documents and told us where to go to pick up the car. The one piece of advice though, you will need the lead drivers driving licence (both paper and card) and also a credit card that the booking was booked on, again it has to be in the lead drivers name.