Space at Jurassic Lake
The first sentence on the lodge's website reads: The rumors you've heard about trout fishing at Strobel Lake (aka Jurassic Lake) and Barrancoso River are true.We couldn't say it better. This will be our fourth departure to Estancia Laguna Verde, Argentina, and it continues to amaze us beyond belief.
Estancia Laguna Verde has access to more than 14 km of Lake Strobel which includes protected bays, 12 private lakes, and the Barrancoso River. With an incredible history (no fish at all before 1994) to now known as the best place in the world to go for record breaking fish of a lifetime, Lake Strobel rainbows can gain an impressive 2 pounds per month! These fish are wild, strong, and free. They challenge the best tackle and wear out fishermen!
It's unusual that we have openings for Jurassic Lake but we have a couple rooms for February 5-12, 2022, with a possible 4-day dorado extension. The fish have been rested and
now that Argentina is open, this is going to be an amazing trip. Take a look at the itinerary and the video, and then grab a room. It's going to be a wild ride!
Contact Ben Hoffman 800-245-1950, or us for more information.
A Car Rental ‘Do Not Rent’ List?
I love The Travel Insider by David Rowell and found this very interesting tidbit in his November 5, 2020, newsletter. Who knew?
The Secret Do Not Rent List
We all know about the “Do Not Fly” lists. But did you know that rental car companies have “Do Not Rent” lists? The really shameful thing about these lists is that a rental car company will accept a booking from you, and not tell you you’re on their Do Not Rent list until you turn up at the airport counter to collect your car keys – a time when they have maximum leverage over you.
Reader Dan shares his experience :
It’s not nearly as consequential as being on a Do Not Fly list, but I spent a week (or more?) on the Avis Do Not Rent list and I thought you might be interested….perhaps there are more of these secret lists…
The worst part of being on the Do Not Rent list is, like the Do Not Fly list, no one seems to know anything about it, and the customer service agents cannot tell you if you are on it or not, or how to get off it. The Avis staff, who are usually super helpful, were just about useless in this situation.
I arrived in Philadelphia Airport last Thursday and took the shuttle to Avis to pick up my prepaid 3 day rental that I had rented some 2-3 weeks before.
When I arrived at the Avis Preferred location I was sent in to the counter and told I could not rent a car because I was on the “Do Not Rent” list. What was this about I asked. Can’t tell you – you need to call security. How do I call security I asked? They gave me a phone number. It didn’t reach anyone. They gave me another number. I reached someone who said he doesn’t handle the Do Not Rent list but he could give me the email address of the person who does.
I did learn why I was put on the Do Not Rent list. Some 5 months ago I had a rental with Avis where I was overcharged by about $50. Disputed the charge with Avis and resolved it (or so I thought) and forgot about it. Avis apparently did not consider it resolved, sent the $50 charge to a collections agency. When I received the notice from the collections agency, I provided them with the resolution notice and forgot about the issue.
In the meantime I was able to make reservations with Avis without anyone bringing up this problem. Only when I showed up at the airport for my rental was this an issue. After talking to one agent and emailing the correspondence to the security person I was told it would be fixed, I would be taken off the Do Not Rent list and I could pick up my car. Great I said I am at the counter at the airport. Oh no that wont work, the system needs 24 hours to update…….
At this point I got pretty incensed, but fortunately my better half was with me. So she rented a car with the same credit card and we were on our way only an hour later than planned. Had my wife had not been there, I would have taken the bus back to the airport, caught another shuttle to another car rental and tried to rent another car, not an easy process these days. Probably would have used a lot of language I would have regretted as well.
A couple of days later I called Avis to ask for a refund of the prepaid rental I could not use. Oh no problem, said the friendly agent. Can I also confirm that I am no longer on the Do Not Rent list, I asked? Oh I can’t tell – you need to call security. They gave me a phone number. It didn’t reach anyone.
What an extraordinary sequence of fails on the part of Avis, and what a great telling of the experience by Dan.
It seems clear that if a rental car company accepts your booking request, and gives you a confirmation number, then unless there is some prominently displayed warning on the confirmation paperwork they email you saying “This is not a confirmation, and your reservation request is not guaranteed until the renting office checks to see if you are on our Do Not Rent list”, they’ve entered into an enforceable contract with you, and can’t break it without exposing themselves to liability for the consequences of their breach.
It seems there might be as many as three different “Do Not Rent” lists. One for alleged bad debts, such as Dan fell afoul of. Another for “bad” renters that return dirty cars (isn’t that what a cleaning fee is for?) or who are too much trouble, or too accident prone. And a third for people who the rental car company judges to have too many driving offenses recorded against them – not while renting cars, but just in general.
If you get too many speeding tickets, you might find the rental car company won’t give you the keys when you turn up with your confirmation number in hand. The excuse for this is “we only run a license check at the time of rental so we don’t know before then” – that’s a thin excuse, and made thinner because the rental companies don’t give warnings or provide clear unmissable disclosures about rental confirmations being subject to a time-of-rental license record check, and don’t provide clear guidance as to how many offenses is too many.
We’re Still Guiding!
I’m not going to kid you, some days are really cold now that November is more than half over. It’s winding down fast. Fishing Creek is in great shape going into winter and the trout will soon be on redds and are beginning to show spawning behavior. We have a couple more guiding days scheduled but the guides are already talking about Erie steelhead fishing. Here’s a few photos from the past week or two.
That’s all for this week. Next Thursday is Thanksgiving so we’ll do a short blog on Wednesday. Only 5 weeks ‘till Christmas!!