Tales from the Hood: The worst rental car company in the world... Triangle!

So what do you when a company you would rather not do business with has you by the cojones?

My friends and I went to D.C. in two extended Expeditions and we rented the vehicles from Triangle Rental Car.

My original reservation was for 4 p.m. and I planned to take a quarter day off from work and pick up the rental, but when I called the people, they told me not worry, I could make it in by 6:30 and everything would be great. So I finished a full day of work.

My friend Felicia, who rented the other SUV, picked her car up at 3:00 and also confirmed that it would be okay for the second rental to be picked by 6:30. So I leave work at 4:30, arrive at Triangle at 5:40 and wait in line until 6:20. When it finally gets to the lady in front of me, the rental counter guys asks her if she wants to upgrade her rental from a regular Ford Explorer to an Expedition, for no extra charge. Clearly flirting with the lady, the Ewokish man made me think, wow, they must have a lot of Expeditions. When I finally made it to the register, I was told they were out of Expeditions and that the last one had just been rented.

I went ballistic.

It was not 6:30 and they were out of Expeditions. They were out of Expedition because Ewok gave the last one away to some random woman who actually reserved an Explorer.

I went ballistic.

The manager came out and offered me a 15 passenger van at the same price as the Expedition.

I went ballistic again. I could not imagine driving ten hours, up mountains, in a fifteen passenger van.

I looked at the manager for ten minutes, said nothing, and finally thought of a solution. I ran outside, found the lady who got the last expedition and offered her $100 to let me get the expedition and take the Explorer. She did with no problem.

After the trip, I returned the rental and called the regional manager and filed a complaint. The offered me a free rental but I declined their offer. Triangle Rental Car is a gawd awful company and I will never use them again.

-Until Triangle Rental Car goes out of business,

Zack