Ottawa Part I

Last weekend I went to Ottawa to visit some friends who were in town for a conference. (I must confess at the start that this isn’t going to be a transit story, but rather a transportation story so I figure it qualifies.) Usually to go to Ontario I take the train, but seeing as though Ottawa is less than two hours away, I opted for the convenience and freedom of a vehicle. So I decided to rent a car. I went online and searched out the best deal I could find. Knowing that the car would cost more than the train in the end (due to gas, parking etc…), I wanted to get a good price. I made a reservation and was all set. Thursday night after work I went to the gym and then went downtown to pick up the car. I got to the rental office at about ten to seven all sweaty and starving from my vigorous work out, anxious to pick up the car and go home. I gave the representative my reservation information, credit card and drivers license. In a few minutes I would be on my way.

“Miss, did you know that your credit card has expired?”
“Excuse me?” I answered perplexed.
“See here,” pointing to the expiration date, “it expired in August”, he continued.
“Well that can’t be” I responded, realizing how screwed I was. “I never received a new card from the bank. Is there something you can do? I need to rent this car”.
“No Miss, unless you have another credit card”.
“No, not on me.”

In my effort the get out of debt I stopped carrying my credit cards with me. You can’t use them if you don’t have them. Seemed like a brilliant idea until last Thursday.

Searching for a solution I finally asked, “Can I just put money down instead? For collateral?” Realizing how stupid a comment that was I mustered a sheepish smile and laughed slightly. A cash deposit on a rental car! Oh here sir, let me write you a cheque for $10,000.

“No ma’am, I can only rent you the car with a valid credit card.”

Crap, crap, crap, I thought to myself. My other credit card was at home and it doesn’t offer rental car insurance, so my deal of all deals daily rate would then turn double adding on the rental company’s private insurance. The train was looking really comfy at this point.

“Can I call home and get my other credit card number?” I asked desperately.
“No Miss, I need to swipe the card in computer. Look, we close in five minutes, maybe you can come back tomorrow with a credit card.”
“No, I can’t, I am supposed to leave tomorrow.”
“Well, you can come back later with your credit card and rent through National next door. They are open until 11pm.”
“hmm… but they are more expensive…”
“You can still have your rental with us and they will process it”.

Well, this seemed like an idea and quite obviously my only choice, apart from cancelling the trip altogether. It did mean that I was going to have to take the bus home, pick up my other credit card and then take the bus back downtown. All this would take a good couple hours. It was at this moment I really missed living downtown…

I left the car rental place and headed to the bus terminus. I decided to call Eric on the way and see if he had some miracle solution. I had him check my desk and all over the apartment for mail from the bank with a new credit card. I didn’t want to go all the way home and come back armed with a credit card that was going to double my rental fee. Unfortunately he had no luck and never found a new card. He did offer to bring me my other card though, and save me the return trip home. I realized that this was my only option, as a last minute train fare would cost way more, so I turned around and went back to National to wait. I had plenty of time to stew over the mess I had made and get really frustrated at my negligence. An otherwise inexpensive weekend was now going to cost me a fortune.

Eric finally arrived, card in hand and I got my car. It ended up costing me double what I had planned on just as I had estimated. At least I was fully insured.


... to be continued.......