The "Upgrade" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just picked up our car at Panoramic Car Rentals. We started renting our car from Mohamed five years ago. He used to meet us at the airport in St. Martin in the parking lot. I would sign the lease, charge it to my Master Card and off we would go. Two years ago, with the completion of the new airport, he is not allowed to do this anymore. He sends an employee to the airport who stands outside the luggage area and holds up a sign with our name on it. Pretty neat seeing your name when you exit the airport. Looks like you're important, instead of just ordinary. The employee loads our luggage into his van and takes us to the rental agency which is about a quarter mile away. Check in there and then we're off. Usually gives us a great car for a fantastic price. First year he gave us a Hyundai Accent with only 91 miles on it for the week. Then, it has gotten progressively worse. Car with a couple thousand on the next two years and then last year, a car that we didn't even have to go around to mark where the scratches were on the contract. The whole car was a scratch. I still document the exterior with my camera so there are no questions when we return. His employee last year had the keys in the ignition when we arrived and after a few photos, we took off. By the time we arrived at our villa, I noticed that the hood wasn't latched correctly, so I pushed the hood down tightly. I decided to lock the car while we were in the villa getting our luggage unpacked and at that time I noticed that the key wouldn't go in the lock on the passenger's side door. I guessed they knew about that at the rental agency. My mistake!! Next day after driving, the same thing happened to the hood. Should I take the car back or not. I decided to get some wash lineand tie the hood down until the end of vacation. No other problems and it was great having a car that was all banged up since anyone looking for a new car to break into wouldn't be looking at my rental. Vacation went smooth and we got fantastic gas mileage with the Hyundai so there were no complaints. Upon return, the employee started to look over the car and announced that someone had broken the lock on the passenger's side while trying to get into the car. Funny how he went right to that lock. Now I get what is going on here! OK, now he has my attention. "Where is Mohamed?" I asked him. "He's not here today," he shot back. "Well, when we picked up the car, that's the way the lock was, since I tried to lock the car at the villa and the lock wouldn't work," I responded. He then told me I would have to pay for the lock. I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with him so I asked for a piece of paper and described the problems we had with the car, including the damaged lock. Had him make me a copy and stapled the credit card form to his copy. I told him as soon as I get home I will call Capital One and tell them not to pay the charge. He had me sign the receipt and then another employee took us to the airport. No sooner were we home than I had an email from Mohamed. He said he was so sorry for what happened and he tore up the charge for the lock. He said to contact him if I need a car again and he will make this problem right. Well, I thought I would give him one more chance this year. I emailed him and he returned it immediately with a price for 18 days at $300 which included the taxes and the insurance. Wow! He really was trying to make it right. But, I wonder what the car will look like that he gives us. We have now found out! We were told it would be another Hyundia Accent, but when we got to the rental office, the new girl there said we were getting an "upgrade" this year. Wow! Signed the papers and went out the door to our "upgrade" car. Sitting there in front of the agency was a Toyota Corolla with even more scratches than last year. An "upgrade"? Do they know this car might accelerate by mistake when I'm heading down one of the steep hills leading to the Caribbean? Both Carol and I went over the car this time. Lock looked bad again on the car, but the attendant tried it and it worked. Aerial was broken off, but he showed me the radio worked ...... and he got me a full tank of gas! Off we went. While driving to our villa, we got tired of the reggae music on the station he had on so we changed it. And ...... realized the only station you could get without an aerial was the local station that had the reggae music playing. No problem, man! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - top pix is car from last year while bottom one is our "upgrade" from this year.