I landed at Seatac airport and went directly to the car rental location that I booked via Priceline. That car rental place was Payless. Once there, there was another gentleman ahead of me in line and no one behind the counter, but a sign stating that "will return in 30 minutes, if after hours please talk to Avis or Budget car (6am to 9pm is Payless hours)". I was there in line at 630pm. I talked with the gentlemen waiting and he said that he had been there for 10 minutes and no Payless employee as ever behind the counter since he was there.
Once I was in line for 45 minutes and not employee returned to the desk, I called Payless; as did the other gentlemen waiting ahead of me. They stated that they do not have a direct number to that location and that I need to speak to Priceline, you in order to resolve my situation if I would like to cancel or adjust my reservation since made through Priceline. Before making the call to you, Priceline, I stopped at both Avis and Budget in order to see if they could contact the Payless people as they are who to go to after the Payless hours; the employees there began to search a number down for Payless' employees. Concurrently, I called Priceline to see if I could have you call Payless and get the employee to come and work so that I could get the car that I paid for. Payless stated that they cannot find that number so I requested that my reservation be canceled due to paying for a car, but unable to get a car unless I wait until 9pm for when the Payless hours are closed and then Avis or Budget would be able to assist me.
Literally, the individual that I spoke to recommended that I wait over two hours at the car rental location purely due to bureaucratic reasons being that Avis nor Budget could take my reservation yet even if Priceline called on my behalf telling them to accept my reservation early due to the Payless employee being missing from their appointed work station. I further asked to cancel my reservation to the Priceline representative because I did not want to sit and wait for over two hours when I could walk to a different car rental that was staffed. The Priceline employee stated that I cannot have my reservation canceled due to the reservation being "restricted", an administrative loophole your company has if you ask me and as such, you, Priceline had zero assistance to provide me as the customer other than pretty much being told to 'get bent, sit and wait'.
Fortunately, the Avis employee continued to assist me and the other gentlemen waiting for by then close to two hours and was able to located the Payless employee for us to get the rental cars we paid for. I will most defiantly not being using Payless again or attempt to use Priceline customer assistance again because it is not helpful.
Payless' poor customer service is free marketing for Avis. read more