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| My office in Maui (note the laptop at the bottom of the photo) |
This post will encompass both the task assigned to me in the 30 day blog challenge, and a little story about how we ended up driving a white Mustang convertible.
Since that's more entertaining, let's start there:
Rocking the Mustang Convertible
Our flight arrived in Maui at 9:45 last night. That is 12:45 my time, and as most of you know, I am NOT a late night kind of gal. As a matter of fact, rare is the occasion I make it past 10 o'clock. Unless of course I have bubbly in hand.
So here we are, the four of us, waiting at the baggage carousel, me tired as hell, the kids hyper and my husband cool as a cucumber. As we were one of the first people to check in at YVR, we were one of the last to get our luggage in Maui, so, by the time we left the airport on the Budget shuttle it was close to 11:00 o'clock.
The ride to the Budget location is short, and at this time of night there is no line up to pick up our rental car that I had pre booked with Tracey an old friend from high school.
Now, before I take you along on this ride through the tricks of a salesman, let me remind you that I have spent my entire career in sales (in one form or another) and am so proficient at negotiating that I actually drove both my Realtor and the sellers Realtor nuts when we bought our house.
So here we arrive at the Budget car rental shop in Maui. The guy who helps us asks for my last name, and very quickly finds my booking number. Then the pitch starts......at first, okay, I have to admit, I did ask......"what would it cost to upgrade from our current rental to a convertible?". Seriously, I would never have asked if it wasn't for the fact that my son, who is generally disengaged, considering his age, figured the number one thing to do in Maui was to rent a convertible. So I did have to ask.
The answer, $160 extra per night. Yep, per night, and we are here for two weeks. So you do the math on that. We aren't talking a Ferrari or Porsche, simply a Ford Mustang Convertible. Seriously, how does one justify an extra $160 per night for a car that simply provides a roof that comes down, no GPS, no extra horsepower, no luxury features, simply the fact that it is a convertible.
Wade and I both decided this was a no go, so we continued on with the reservation. The next thing this very adept (yet obvious to us) salesman did was to look at our reservation and say (and I quote) "Oh, you have a pre-paid reservation, that automatically gives you 50% off the cost of an upgrade to a convertible". "So that is $80 per day for a Mustang convertible." Then he proceeds to add the fact that they may not have any, so he needs to check first.
I know, you understand where this is going. Yes, lucky for us, there happens to be just one more convertible left in their rental pool that night. OH MY!!! Hmmm an upgrade from our current rental contract to a super hot convertible Ford Mustang, for only $80 per day? We look at each other for less than 30 seconds and once again decide, NO, this is not worth it.
All the time the kids are sitting there waiting for us, wondering what the heck is taking so long. So, we proceed with the signing of the rental documents and just before it is all done, the dude asks if we have a Sams Club or a Costco Card.
Gosh, of course we do, so we obligingly produce our Costco card. Then you should have seen this man act. He was really great, he definitely has a future sales career on his agenda. He took one look at our Costco Gold card, which could have been a Geeks Depot Gold Card, or Nordstroms Card, and said........and I quote......"Oh, you only have Costco Gold...... had this been the full Costco Business Card, you would automatically get the Costco Discount on the rental. Hmmm he said, it is the end of the night, and so I will just "THIS TIME ONLY" offer you a rate of $50 per day for the upgrade to a convertible.
Seriously folks. This guy, not a manger, not an owner, not an investor, has personally, without any input from management looked at us, and decided we were worthy of a 70% discount? I know for a fact that no business would allow that kind of discounting if they couldn't afford it. In other words, the $160/day is serous gouging. So how many tourists who want the sexy "Ford Mustang Convertible" succumb to this?
Right now you are probably wondering did we or didn't we?
And since it is very, very late at night..... I will leave the answer to that question, as well as the contiuartion of Post # 13 in the 30 Blog Challenge until tomorrow.
Please tune in. I will have the continution of the "mustang" story as well as sharing with you where my site is moving. (I know, you have probably noticed some changes of late - they are all good - keep watching to find out where we end up :-) )
Good night for now....
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