Rental car booking through Costco

Prior to leaving for our West Coast jaunt, I booked my rental car through the Costco Travel website as I always do when we travel domestically. We were going to pickup the auto at San Francisco airport and dropped off at the en of our trip in Portland, Oregon. 

I selected a rental car from Avis for an all inclusive cost of $374.82. For reasons I can't explain, I never got a Costco confirmation number but did receive one from Avis reflecting the $374.82 price. 

When I showed up at the San Francisco airport Avis counter I was told that my cost would be in excess of $1,150 three times more than the cost I was quoted and was expecting. I wasn’t pleased, but had to take the car and give my credit card to satisfy the full amount. 

I had not even bothered clicking on the hyperlink shown on the document below the estimated price of $374.82 that said “See full rental summary”, assuming this was the detailed calculation arriving at the cost. 

Obviously, the final $1,133.40 total bill was grossly out of proportion with the $374.82 I was expecting to pay. 

After quite a bit of back-and-forth with Costco and Avis, I was finally able to resolve the problem in my favor upon returning home. This said, I didn’t let that incident cast a shadow on our vacation and was very good in compartmentalizing that bothering issue!