Payless Car Rental in Las Vegas seems to use bait-and-switch as their standard operating procedure. I had a reservation with them in December for a compact car. They could not honor the car class I had booked, so the agent offered me a truck for the same price. I drive a compact car at home and had no desire to drive a truck in Las Vegas. I asked her to simply give me a car in the next car class. She said she could, but I would have to pay a minimum upgrade charge of $15 per day! I couldn't understand how she could offer me a truck for no extra charge, but a mid-size car would be at least $15 a day more. I declined her bait-and-switch offer and went to a competing car rental company.
On my trip to Las Vegas this last week, I decided to give Payless a second chance. The rate I booked, inclusive of all taxes and fees, was $74 for a compact car. The agent showed $96 on the contract. When I questioned it, he said there were taxes and fee on top of the $74. I told him the $74 rate I was quoted was inclusive of all taxes and fees. I told him that what he was doing was called bait-and-switch and was illegal in many states. I told him I wanted the rate I had booked. He kept mumbling something about me booking online and kept pointing at the confirmation number on my printout. I told him that I've been in the travel industry for 34 years and was wise to what he was trying to do. He finally went in back and got a supervisor to agree to honor the rate Payless had quoted. How generous!
I wrote to Payless customer relations in January regarding my first incident. I told them I would give them an opportunity to explain and to make things right before I pursued a formal complaint with the Nevada Department of Consumer Protection. To date, they have not replied or acknowledged my letter. Now it's time to get the State of Nevada involved.