National Car Rental

SIX phone calls in the last week, that's how I'll begin this review. I started using National for business travel, and was relatively pleased with my initial experience. The line at the counter was practically non-existent in the Car Rental terminal of PHX while the line for the AVIS counter was a mile long...but now I understand why. The car was also fantastic, but the negative experiences all come in with trying to set up a rewards account and apply my reservations to it. I was originally unable to create a rewards account in the rental terminal of PHX because, despite adding all my payment information, the both the app and the website continually refused it. Problem is, they never told me it was refused or why -- nothing happened and I couldn't proceed. So I continue on with my rental as-is, thinking I'd be able to add a rewards account to it as I returned the car or just after. The car return was easy but did not give me the opportunity to speak with anyone regarding my rewards account, so I tried to call Customer Service, which is absolutely useless even if you are a rewards member or business traveler. This is where I have made SIX phone calls in the last week, been told something different every time, and never had anything happen afterward. First contact said they didn't know what was going on but there were no recorded issues, try again later. I asked for a case number or something to reference next time I called, but apparently nothing existed or it was "internal". So fine, I called again a few hours later. Second contact tried to say the same thing as the first, but I had already tried again later -- I needed actual information. He hung up on me, even though I was perfectly pleasant throughout the interaction. The next morning was contact #3, and they said there WAS work being done with the website, so try again later (remember, I had been trying for about a week on my own to simply open an account). In the end, I had to try opening a rewards account at AVIS simply to have it tell me the card was the problem. Using another card with National (Why???) worked, at which point I was able to create an account, add the card I'd been trying to use, and delete the personal card. What a hassle. Fast forward a few days, it's now Friday (almost a week since I returned the last rental). Now that I've finally created an account I would like to take the reservation that I had just completed less than a week ago and have it applied to my National Emerald Club account. It's the least they could do for all the hassle right? No, I call and he has to "submit a request to see if it will be approved", even though the only reason I couldn't apply this initially was because of THEIR app. I also needed to add an existing, UPCOMING reservation to my account, which he claims he did, but when I didn't see it populate by Monday I called back. This person told me I needed to contact the travel agent that set up the reservation for me. What...the actual...? Why did the person on Friday tell me it was added then? All of this experience out of one completed rental, and a second upcoming which I may just decide to switch vendors for. The cars at National are great, the wait for at least the one airport was fantastically non-existent, but don't expect them to care once they have your money.