I showed up at 3am at Las Americas in Santo Domingo. Nobody at Budget desk. It never occurred to me to call RentalCars on the spot to describe the unexpected situation (my only mistake; my mistake nevertheless). I was tired and just needed a car (that I ended up getting from a different shop). Getting in touch with RentalCars later was painful; they basically implied that I was lying (I provided all the evidence I could; just didn't have a picture of the empty Budget desk) . I fully prepaid to RentalCars a few weeks before that; so, I lost 100% of my money on top of being politely told that I was lying. Folks, be careful ... Advice from someone who's got burned a few times: whenever you can rent directly from a rental shop, do so. Skip the middlemen like RentalCars. They provide no value added; and when there is an issue, you're almost always on your own. The actual rental shop will always send you back to talk to them since they're the folks you booked with (and good luck with that)