Cheap Car Rentals in Downtown, Portland

I had a 1 hr 40 minute window from my Amtrak arrival in Portland to the downtown office closing at 5PM. My train was 2 hrs late and the office downtown closed. I had called numerous times during the trip when I had service to make them aware of the delay. They didn't keep the office open past 4:45 pm (phone went straight to voicemail at that point). This seems like a very early closing time for a downtown office and they did not go above and beyond with 8 hours prior notice of an impending customer issue. I had to redirect my rental to the airport. This came at 2x the cost per day plus an Uber to thebairport, and had to book my car 2 days further out than I had planned to drop the car on Boise, ID. The people on the phone had to be told this extra 2 day trick by me as I was getting the ' we have no cars available at the airport for you' routine based on my original booking and had the beg them to try pushing the dates out further which magically allowed their system to release a previously unavailable car to me. Ultimately, I returned my car im Boise 3 days early compared to the new booking. So, I had to game their system to get my original booking to 'work' and they didn't know how to game their own system. Had I not figured this out, I am not certain what would have happened. Still, having to rent thru the airport was 2x the cost per day and that couldn't be adjusted to matchbmy original rate either. Their staff are disempowered to take take care of customers when it matters the most amd aren't creative when it does either. The car windows were filthy upon taking the car and bought windex wipes once I assessed the unsafe visibility situation in a setting sun glare an hour later enroute to Astoria, OR. My rental cost me about $200 more than expected even when I turned in my car a day earlier than I planned. Else, it would have been closer to $500 with the originally planned turn in time or $1000 more had I kept the car for the full new booking.

I don't do business with AI. Hertz doesn't seem interested in doing business without it - poorly, letting it run rampant, and without supervising it because if it alienates and harasses the customers, that doesn't cost them labor or wages - directly. Hertz accused me of stealing the car before any real person intervened, despite dropping the car off, despite it sitting in THEIR parking lot, despite following procedures. Their staff did not process my return of the vehicle fast enough for their systems, and instead of those systems asking the staff where my return was, they just let their automated system accuse me and waste my time and cause me anxiety by saying I stole it without checking physically where it was before sending the message and applying the late fees automatically. Eventually things were reversed, and the only PERSON from Hertz who spoke to me told me this was NORMAL and automated. As established by case law: Companies are liable for the behavior and actions of their automated software because they choose to implement them in place of staff and training and policy. It's their job to keep their software on a digital leash, And Hertz just lets it run wild through the city. AI at large - public beware.

They would not honor the reservation price at the counter consequently I did not rent the vehicle yet they still charged me $25