Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hello. My name is Carlos.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I’m the customer who got dropped off this morning at your Lower Roswell and Johnson Ferry location to pick up my reserved compact car.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told you would not rent a car to because I had an out of state license and a debt card.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told there was nothing you could do and to please leave.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told, had I had a GA drivers license, you would rent a car to me.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told that there was some law out there that does not allow you to rent me a car.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told that AVIS or Hertz probably would rent me a car. Yet I thought there was “some law”.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who read this on your wall.
Our mission is to fulfill the automotive and commercial truck rental, leasing, car sales and related needs of our customers and, in doing so, exceed their expectations for service, quality and value.
We will strive to earn our customers’ long-term loyalty by working to deliver more than promised, being honest and fair and “going the extra mile” to provide exceptional personalized service that creates a pleasing business experience.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who woke up his sleeping wife and 3 children in Nashville with a call because I needed to get our American Express number.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who you told, after I called my wife, that you needed the “actual card”.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who then called my roommates to come rent a car for me since you would not take my money.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who watched 8 other customers walk in and out with a smile as I sat stranded on your chairs trying to figure out what to do next.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who was late to his meeting with 10 other people because you told me people with out of state licenses are a higher risk to “steal” your cars.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who has just let his 4000 blog readers know how gloriousy sucky your ways are.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am the customer who knows you don’t care about my blog or my readers but this made me feel better anyways.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, you did not just mess up my morning. At last count, 17 people were affected this morning because you did not trust me enough to rent me a car.
Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car, after all the drama you caused this morning, my seat does not even recline.
Regards,
Carlos Whittaker
Technorati Tags: enterprise, enterprise car rental, enterprise rent-a-car
yo, do you think it could be cuz you’re colored?
No it's probabally cause he's an idiot like over half of the customer's we have to deal with. There are certain rules that, even though may be inconveinet to some people, are nessecary to follow with every customer. This guy is just a whiny bitch who thinks that everything should just be ok'ed for him cause that's what he wants.
"Anti_Thought" – You are actually the idit and a disgrace to our industry.
Carlos, On behalf of the rental car business, I do deeply apologize for the apparent disregard for equality and fairness. As a regional manager for a competinginternational automotive rental company it turns my stomach to think that something like that could happen to one of my valued customers. You really should explore the possibility of legal actions.
You have to actually "qualify" to rent a $20,000 piece of equipment. Would you let a stranger borrow your car with no source of recourse? The answer is probally no. Get a life.
That sucks big time, sorry you had to go through all that. If and when I ever rent a car I will keep this story in mind when I make that decision. Thanks for your valued opinion
Wow, that is bunk. I have rented a ton of times in other states, though not with Enterprise.
That bites Carlos, I am sorry man.
Wow…this was one priceless. I think it was due to the “Dear Enterprise Rent-A-Car” before every sentence. Very funny. The blog that is, not that you were stranded. I had a similar, yet not even close to as horrifying experience when I was in Jacksonville, FL last summer.
I’ll just say it, I HATE having to rent a car with a deep passion in my soul.
http://www.vagabondrunn.wordpress.com
Man, I’m sorry you had to deal with this. Ummmm…the only times I have EVER rented was when I was out of state. One would think that most of their business comes from travellers (typically out of state travellers). One might further think that there was some deeper issue here. Did you fit a “profile” they weren’t mentioning? I wonder……
Nope. Not racist, just an underwriting process. Most of Enterprise's buisness is actually in-state customers using the service for vehicle replacement due to auto-accidents. I work there and hate my job, but one thing I hate more is people whinning about rules and practices that are put into place in an effort to make a buisness more sucessful. Yeah it sucks that people in the past have made it so certain qualifications are put into play, but don't blame a company for following it's rules. You couldn't walk into a Best Buy with a credit card number written on a peice of paper and buy anything, let alone rent a $15,000+ peice of equipment. To impy that it may be due to race or not fitting a profile is simply outlandish and foolish.
RETRIEVED FROM MY INBOX:
—–
Below are the details of your reservation.
When you arrive at the Enterprise Pick-Up Location, use the following:
Enterprise Confirmation #: ******
Car Vendor: Enterprise
Name: JEFFREY
Phone: **********
Pick-Up Location:
03AP ATLANTA AIRPORT (ATL)
2045 CAR RENTAL ROW-POBOX45147
ATLANTA, GA 30320
Pick-Up Date/Time: Monday, May 5 3:00 PM
Drop-Off Date/Time: Wednesday, May 7 6:00 PM
RETRIEVED FROM MY INBOX:
—–
Below are the details of your reservation.
When you arrive at the Enterprise Pick-Up Location, use the following:
Enterprise Confirmation #: ******
Car Vendor: Enterprise
Name: JEFFREY
Phone: **********
Pick-Up Location:
03AP ATLANTA AIRPORT (ATL)
2045 CAR RENTAL ROW-POBOX45147
ATLANTA, GA 30320
Pick-Up Date/Time: Monday, May 5 3:00 PM
Drop-Off Date/Time: Wednesday, May 7 6:00 PM
Cancel on them.
Avis is always good to me. I’m loyal, so they give me upgrades. Last time I rented a focus (cheap), they gave me a mustang. I don’t care for mustangs, but they didn’t know that.
Hopefully someone from Enterprise reads this and voids your bill. We’ll pray now.
Wow that really sucks. And makes me slightly nervous considering i just booked 6 vans through Enterprise for an upcoming Middle School Missions trip. Greaaaat.
So needed a good laugh right now and you did not disappoint!! I am pretty sure that most of the times that I have rented a car have actually been out of state, hence the need to rent a car.
I will be happy to boycott Enterprise. Maybe they should start to care about bloggers with a following right about now.
I would trust you with my car and my heart.
you should have told them that you require 24 hours notice for a cancellation and that, because of that, they would need to pay YOU the full amount of the rental…
when they give you lip, say “i’m sorry, that’s my policy. if i change it for you, i would have to change it for everyone. will that be cash or charge?”
I had an “incident” with Enterprise about 10 years ago. I’ll never use them again. Slimy pukes.
We’ll pick you up my @$$.
I had accident on the 4th of may , it has been nearly two weeks and I am still waiting for enterprise to pick me up so that I can get a rental car- I will never spend any of my hard earn money there- last sat they said the were busy but they would come get me – i am still waiting
that’s lame. i’m never renting with enterprise ever…
Dear Enterprise, I am a customer who is willing to go elsewhere on principle. You don’t treat anyone like that. Good Bye.
They gave my wife the same junk 2 years ago after we moved to Illinois…we’ve not rented with Enterprise since then and have found our life to be much happier than when Enterprise was a part of our lives…Dollar has made me very happy and has some great employees (especially at the ATL airport)…
Blog revenge is sweet, isn’t it? Even if you never get a response from Enterprise PR people, I’m sure they saw this.
I recently posted about a crazy experience with Northwest Airlines and since then, I’ve noticed several visitors from their IP address monitoring that post.
I had to have a rental for over a month after my van was totalled. I rented from Enterprise. It really depends upon who is behind the counter when you walk in whether or not you get good service. It makes zero sense that they wouldn’t rent to you because of an out of state license. Not to mention that my debit card is a Visa also so it works as a credit card. I wonder if something else was going on?
They read your blog and hated it (before they blocked you).
Lesson to the kids:
If your blog sucks, Enterprise will mess up your day.
Dude, if you ever need a car in Dayton OH, ring me. My stinkin’ pasty whiteness and blue eyes wouldn’t have a problem.
I’ve spent a great deal of money on Enterprise. Let’s see if that happens again. I probably rent 4-5 times a year from them. UGH.
This just makes me mad. They CAN use a debit card. Out of state DOESN’T matter! I’ve done it plenty of times. In TX, in PA, in OK…
*sigh*
I could say what I’m really thinking but this is a family blog.
los
that totally sucks…I hate wasting time with stuff like that…especailly when it’s a simple customer service issue.
go to Avis or Hertz.
triangle kicks ass
so does avis
It is probably because you tried to rent at an off airport site. Similar things have happened to me at off airport sites. But then again, on Thursday, in Chicago, my rental car that was supposed to be ready for pickup at 8 AM (I landed at 8:45) was not ready for me to pick up until 10. I had a meeting at 10. I was only in Chicago for that one meeting. I was flying back home at 3. I was standing there with about 35 other customers that also had reservation, but no cars. Not many of them were going to rent Budget soon. I got a convertible and they thought that would make it up to me. It was 57 degrees and I was late for a meeting. I just wanted a car, any car at some time before my meeting started.
that sucks
i’m sorry.
i should pay you to write a poem entitled, “Dear Northstar Homes.”
sounds like we had similarly ridiculous days.
Noted. Avoid Enterprise.
We no longer use Enterprise. Want some fun? Try stranding a family of four in a strange city at the airport without car seats…
Question… Still no GA driver’s license!?
I do kind of understand their problem. Out of state driver with debit card… I could turn around and go to the nearest ATM and clear the account out.
To be fair, when I went to the National New Church Conference last year, Enterprise was extremely good to me. I blogged about it. So, just as with any company, there are ups and downs depending on particular locations. Sucks that it had to happen to you, though…
LOS – A recent happening to one of our church leaders: he had an enterprise reservation for 4 months (120 days in advance). Coming by their lot the day before his rental was there (just hours before it was to be picked up). Upon arrival my friend found out that the manager rented the vehicle to another customer minutes before he arrived. Why? Our leader rents often and gets a good discount. The other guy was ‘big business NASCAR’ man who paid full price. Another slap on a customer’s face. Sounds like enterprise has some flaws. THANKS
That is so wrong. I feel a massive boycott coming on.
Hmmm Los, did you make that face at them? The one in the picture? I think if I didn’t know you and you made that face, I’d pretty much give you whatever you wanted! LOL We’ll be boycotting Enterprise too… what a bunch of idiots!
It probably wouldn’t hurt for everyone who reads this to express their dissatisfaction here:
http://enterprise.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/enterprise.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
I know I did…
Had a similar headache situation with Enterprise here in Apex, NC.
Have Avis reservations for our trip to Whiteboard.
http://www.thewhiteboardsessions.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=25542
Dear Enterprise,
You suck!
Regards,
Marty
Dude,
I was a manager of 4 Enterprise offices until I took my current job and have a few insights into your experience.
1. The out of state license thing is bogus. Most customers had out of state licenses and to prevent theft of our vehicles, we would try to get a local address (which you would have given them). This local address was a place we could go to try and find our car if it became a conversion (theft).
2. The debit card rule when I worked there was that we could rent to a customer with a debit card, but they had to qualify differently than a customer with a credit card. From my experience, this meant that you would verify a few contact phone numbers and local address and take the full rental amount plus $200 from the debit card prior to the rental. When the rental was returned, the $200 would be credited back. When I was working, Avis & Hertz would send us all their debit card customers, because they wouldn’t accept them no matter what.
3. They handled the situation incorrectly. It’s all about exceeding expectations. You expected to walk in, sign some papers, and walk out. They failed. Every single one of their employees fate with the company is tied to you being “completely satisfied” with your rental. If it were me, I would contact the office and ask to speak with the area manager. He should make it right, but if he doesn’t, ask for the group rental manager, who will most definitely make it right.
love the technorati tags at the end of the post…
HA
.
That sucks! We stopped using Enterprise a couple years ago after the agent told me I was making a “stupid decision” for declining the additional insurance (my insurance agent said it was unnecessary) and then told me I should probably contact my husband so he could tell me the right thing to do.
Since then I’ve gone with just about anyone else.
+1 For Hertz and an AMEX corporate card.
Los, (may I be so familiar as to use your first name?)
I’ll never use Enterprise again..and I have quite a few corporate customers who rely on me to make trip reservations for them. I’ll be using Avis or Budget for those folks from here on out.
I certainly hope that Enterprise reads this post and the comments.
Melissa in FL
this even made me feel better!!!
You kinda look like a car thief…..
retrieved from my outbox:
=====================================================
TO: ned.maniscalco@erac.com
FROM: Tymm H.
SUBJECT: I read About You Guys…
======================================================
Hey there – way to go witht he customer service! Read all about it right here:
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=4977
tymm
that’s eerily similar to something I’m writing right now, except mine begins each line with “Dear Sprint…”
Vengeance is mine says the Lord… but sometimes he uses his servant Carlos Whittaker
They probably didn’t like the tat., makes you look like a gang banger…
Dear Enterprise,
I am the customer who 3 weeks ago rented a car in TX with a Michigan Driver’s License.
Dear Enterprise,
I am the customer that was charged for an extra day on said car in which you told me that said charge would be removed from my card. 3 weeks later it still has not been removed.
Dear Enterprise,
I am no longer a customer!
DUDE! I just got pulled-over a month ago and got 3 tickets, 1 for not having a GA license, 1 for expired tags (I drove my car here from CA) and 1 for something else.
You should get your GA license and tags and insurance ASAP.
I have already followed Kent’s link and expressed my dissatisfaction with Enterprise. I also gave them a link back to this post…. maybe they will see just how many people have decided to avoid their customer service.
Man this bites. As someone who travels and may need to rent a car it won’t be from enterprise. Maybe they should learn the value of customer service or print their crapy rules in big bold letters on a sign.
Just googled “Enterprise Rent-a-Car” you are 3rd page in and 25th of 895,000 posts regarding ERAC…. they might know about you after all.
Thanks for reminding me of the sucky experience i had with Enterprise – I finally wrote that letter of complaint. Nobody really gets what good customer service is anymore.
Just curious…what would the response be if this was titled “Dear Buckhead Church” in regards to a bad experience with a member of the host team or incident in the parking lot or whatever? I’m sure those posts exist, but would everyone else here jump on there and say, “Yeah, Buckhead sucks”?
But Enterprise isn’t a church or anything, so we can trash talk the company all we want.
FWIW, I’ve been self-employed since I was 17 years old. At 19 I picked up a few out-of-state clients and started to travel a few times a year. Enterprise was the only car rental company that didn’t have a strict “No one under 25″ rule and was the only company that would rent to me at the time. For that, they are always the first company I call when I need to rent even though my horizons opened up after I turned 25.
There’s a lesson in this somewhere. Perhaps an illustration to the host team to reinforce the idea, “The sermon begins in the parking lot”.
Dainel Koster is a buzz killer!
STONE HIM!!
(I kid, I kid)
Been there and done that.
We get plenty of Buckhead Sucks emails a week.
So yea. It is not null and void.
We should learn from everything.
But enterprise still sucks.
You keep this up and people will be thinking your only religious because you’re bitter
Someday I’m going to learn when to use your, you’re, and y’all properly
Hertz – all the way!
Daniel, you should read my post about “no earthly good”. We can still expect great customer service as Christians…
http://judifree.com
@Judith – I didn’t mean to come across saying that Carlos deserved this experience by any means…it was obviously a bad situation and certainly should never happen, just like a bad experience never should happen at Buckhead….but they do happen.
I would think it isn’t anymore appropriate to trash the whole company than it would be to trash Andy Stanley and all of NP Ministries because of a single bad experience by a handful of people who didn’t grasp the mission statement.
But that’s just my opinion, worth what you paid for it.
You should send your story to The Consumerist.
http://consumerist.com/
Hell hath no furry like a racially profiled, brown skinned, foreign looking, bald worship leader being discriminated against.
Yes, I hate to say it but it sounds like discrimination to me.
Fight the power!
I HATE enterprise. We rented 3 mini vans. Show up to the location and they said..we don’t have them..sorry your loss. Tough luck. So I drove to the other location and it wasn’t any better! What a terrible waste of money/time and energy…never again shall they take me to the cleaners!
I feel like we need to stand up for consumers and employees of companies. Comparing this company to a church is apples and oranges. The point of a company is to make money so we have some control as consumers who we want to get our money. Churches are communities of faith and their purpose is quite different. Each church has a little different mission or purpose, but very few, if any, exist mainly to make money. Our standards then are different. If you want to compare one company to another, fine… or one church to another; but comparing a company to a church is a completely different thing! By standing against Enterprise we are showing our value of people over money, by criticizing a church someone is expressing something completely different.
it’s all been said, so…sorry, friend…
oh, yeah…you absolutely should not have to pay for that rental.
When you criticize a church, you are criticizing the leadership of that church (people). When you criticize a company, you are still criticizing the people in leadership at that company. Apples and apples. What you criticize for, what the standards are…apples and oranges. We as Christians are judged by how we treat other people, hence I felt it was worth mentioning.
And I’m not saying they are above criticism. I just recently quit using one anti-spam provider (that I used to love) for another because of a bad customer experience issue. It happens. I’m not saying Enterprise is above criticism.
Let me go another angle. When you read the people who say “This church sucks, that sucks, etc, etc”…what is your thought about that person making the criticism? Why is that any different for someone who criticizes a non-church? When people go ranting without any deeper sentiment then “sucks”, I think it’s belittling of themselves.
I’ve been renting from Enterprise for a long time without a negative experience. But if something similar happens to me the next rental, and it seems to be a trend and the company is going down the tubes, I will stop using them. I may post some constructive criticism somewhere. My post was prompted more by the comments than by Los’ original post.
Ouch! Just this past weekend I rented a compact car from Enterprise with an out of state drivers license (I am from Colorado and was in Kansas City, MO), and used my debit card to secure the rental. Sounds like they are possibly a little inconsistent with their policies.
Anyways, I enjoy your blog, keep up the great work!
Quit playing the victim.
Be responsible.
Our local Enterprise totally rocks.
Don’t spread malice.
Amen
I blogged about this very type of thing last week. People judge you by the outside – God by the inside. Keep doing what you are doing. Great blog.
my car got totaled two years ago, and the insurance company sent me to Enterprise. I waited two hours for a reserved car (in which the turn signals didn’t work, so I got pulled over by the cops twice for), and i was stuck with the $1200 rental bill enterprise sent me, instead of the insurance company. it took 4 months and a lot of stress to straighten that out. Enterprise SUCKS.
It was probably the beard. Sorry to hear about it bro. I have a reservation with AVIS this weekend…and am glad.
Brook Sarver
http://www.two10eleven.com
From one guy who has a disdain for bad customer service to another, here you go…
My live chat with Enterprise
I put up with this same lousy service a couple of years ago, when I paid for one of my band members (Carlos Torres) to come play at our concert . I handled all his expenses, made the reservation with my AMEX, even FAXED a copy of the AMEX to them. I called the office where he picked up the car (correction, TRIED to pickup the car) .. I told them, “I don’t want any trouble, I don’t want you to ask Carlos for money, I want you to have him sign the papers and say “everything is taken care of, Mr. Torres”.
They screwed it up royally.
It does suck, but you have to look at it in their situation. If you do not have a valid GA drivers license, it is not really their fault (dude you been living there for 6 or some months…). They could have probably been friendlier though if your claiming they were not. You should be happy that they did not just take your card number as it protects you. You can’t blame a company for following a policy that protects their company and clients.
I hope they send you a voucher or something though.
Wow. Totally not cool.
I suppose they don’t — or didn’t — know that you have a blog that’s so popular.
Too bad for them. Heh.
Mike M. Did you see the post right before yours? May be if Los had been wearing a polo shirt with kaki pants and loafer shoes he would not have had any problems. What’s wrong with you?
Really surprised nobody has brought this up yet.
I’ve been sent to enterprise by insurance companies twice after accidents that were not my fault. The first time was great, no problems at all. The second time, there were mess ups all over the place which were likely the insurance company’s fault. By the time it was straightened out and I was able to get the car, I was told the insurance company would only pay for their cheapest car – which was smaller than my Ford Focus. Those are pretty small! I explained calmly that I drive 4 kids to school everyday and something smaller than a focus was simply not going to work. Enterprise upgraded the car at no cost, because it was just good customer service after all that.
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience, but it’s not fair to make a judgement based on one experience. I’ll rent from them again.
Mr. Carlos Whittaker
We are deeply sorry you have experienced unacceptable service with one of our offices. I would hope you understand this is a one-time unfortunate event, and will never happen again.
Our profile shows us you prefer vehicles with hydraulics and big spinner rims. Due to our shortage in this area, we will not be able to accommodate you in this business transaction.
Please quit talking poorly of our business. If this continues, our legal counsel will have to notify you.
Any questions or complaints can be filed at the below address.
Contact the following agent for assistance.
what does enterprise car rental have to do with the host team? i am not seeing the comparison, please explain a little more.
thank you ~ host team volunteer coordinator
Here you go:
Titus 3:1-3
2 Cor. 12:20
Proverbs 29:22
Proverbs 30:33
Careful Mike, that might sound judgmental to some people.
I can’t believe how far this post has gone
I now see bloggers blogging about this post, just to give you some love, lol. At some point I would hope that Enterprise would respond to you but who knows.
nice mike…did you have fun over at biblegateway.com?
i “almost” rented with them today…my gut told me know – your post confirmed it. thanks for saving me the hassle
Sorry to hear of your experience. I had a pretty decent experience with them recently; although the only grief I experienced was when I only had a debit card to charge with they had a pretty extensive procedure to go through for me to use it (verifying employment – what?!; calling my bank, etc).
Scripture should have been the first consideration.
you are obviously a flight risk.
Okay, I’m lost.
Can someone explain the reference about the “vehicles with hydraulics and big spinner rims”?
I was stranded with my car in Ontario this past week and called Enterprise and they too treated me like crap.
Let’s picket Los.
First off I will start out by saying that i am an enterprise employee and know that some things happen that people dont always feel like went in their favor however as a company we have an overall 81% completely satisfied customer rating. I guess what i am saying is that the service that you got doesnt reflect enterprise as a whole cause those folks if trained properly should have qualified to keep that from happening. Anywhere you go something can and will go wrong eventually if given enough opportunities and it appears you got your bad experience out of the way and its just that simple. Go to any other rental place and they make it twice as hard as we do to get a car
Sometimes I think that in this country we are very spoiled when it comes to our customer service.
We have good service much of the time, but when it’s below par, we are shocked.
From what I hear, poor customer service is the norm in many other countries.
Not to minimize your situation, Carlos, though.
So what happens if you are foreign, like me, and want to rent a car when visiting?
WOW, we had problems with Alamo a few years ago double charging our credit card. I wish that I had this type of powerful outlet back then!
Stupid car rental places!
If you dont like them dont deal with them a$$hole
David, who let you in? He was writing about one experience. Often, that’s all it takes. You should go find out how serious Apple is about customer service and customer approval ratings (well, everywhere except this one, I’ve read.
I hate enterprise… they have poor service and are too expensive.
Loved your entry!!!
I currently work for Enterprise as a branch manager. I truly am sorry for your experience. While it is a matter of policy to only rent to local renters on a cash or debit baasis (though I realize that individual branches make exceptions – mine is often one of them), the manner in which they dealt with you was atrocious and there is no excuse for it. I would ask, however, that you not judge the entire company based on the poor quality of service you received from one office. Just like any large company, Enterprise has some people who should probably not be there. The people who wrote that mission statement that you posted truly believe in those ideals and I hope you can see that the majority of us who work for Enterprise abide by them too. I do hope that you will give Enterprise another chance some day.
CHECK OUT http://WWW.FAILINGENTERPRISE.COM
I have been to that website many times. I use it as a tool to run a better business. I do not agree with many of the things on the website, but beneath the anger for anger’s sake of many people are legitimate issues that need to be addressed. I am not some rookie who looks at Enterprise all doe-eyed as it they can do no wrong. I realize that there are abuses, but as I said in my initial post – the people who wrote the mission statement that Carlos posted on the website truly believe in it and so do many of us – including myself. You might consider reading “Exceeding Customer Expectations” by Kirk Kazanjian, if only to learn a bit more about the founder and the owning family and what they stand for. Enterprise is a huge company, and like any big company, the original ethos gets diluted as it gets larger and it becomes more difficult to make sure everyone abides by it. However, there are many of us who still do this. I can honestly say I have never worked with a better group of people than with those in my region.
yeah enterprise sucks bad go to hertz they are much better enterprise employees lie to you all the time im glad you wrote this blog just mabey we can put them out of buisness
Ha Ha Ha…get a real credit card and this problem won’t happen. A debit card is not a credit card…
I work for Enterprise. I’ve been on the other side of the counter during a similar story. Trust me, we don’t like turning people away. I got 12 people in my HQ checking every ticket. They have little macros that pop up little flags everytime we bend the rules. So I get emails telling me I shouldn’t have rented to this Debit card or this CCard wasn’t scanned. If we don’t scan the actual card that ccard company will do a BC (Bank Chargeback). So taking your wifies ccard number over the phone is just giving you a free car. Yeah some companies will do that, but my accountants don’t want to have to call ccard companies and work hard for the payment. All in all, please don’t take it personally. We hate not renting a car, but there are so many rules it would be impossible to tell them to every customer over the phone. And on the internet noone reads all the rules that are posted.
Take care,
Matthew
Assistant Manager
Lyndhurst, NJ
Company offers you to rent cars in Moldova. The best rent car Moldova and the best rent apartment Moldova.
I totally feel your pain. I had an incident with Enterprise rent-a-car out of Nations Ford Rd. in Charlotte on the 4th of July. I am having to pay for damage on a car that had some minor scratches on it. The car I was given was definitely not what I reserved, and by the end of it all they switched cars on me 3 times. Mind you it was a busy 4th, and I or the guy (Rob)who rented me the car lied about doing the walk-around. I was being considerate at trying to let him to help another client because they were so busy. This is the thanks I get. A bill for 310 bucks. Instead of eating what would have been my next car rental anyway. Now they have lost a customer for life. I just rented from Avis on a trip to New York. To see more about how bad Enterprise sucks go to: http://www.failingenterprise.com
Vincent
Andy Taylor, owner/ceo of enterprise prides himself on, and has stated in several published interviews how he has empowered ALL his employees to make decisions on their own. Branch Managers are empowered to decide for themselves how to run their branches. The branch manager of that office could have put you in a car. Sounds like the branch manager was lying or…….Andy Taylor was.
Guess what? They twice put me in vehicles w/ bad brakes and did not care!!
The kids I was driving around in one vehicle found disgusting used Qtips and other gross things under the seats. And are we are supposed to just take this kind of service??????
I can’t get them to even pick up the van I have presently, the one with bad brakes. After leaving many messages, the district manager in Santa Clarita valley, Ca., (Jeff} won’t call back. Customer service wouldn’t give me the corp. ph. #. I googled it and called Missouri. They said it would take at least 24 hours to get back to me. ARRRRHHHHHH!!!
To top it off I am expected to give them $12 a day on top of my insurance coverage to pay the difference a day for this broken car [It is an insurance contract rental}. Talk about shady practices!! And I approve this BLOG : )
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We will never let you down mr. Carlos Whittaker!
I am the customer who reserved a vehicle online and was given a confirmation number. This is the customer who arrived to pick up the vehicle and was told there were no vehicles available even though it was reserved and confirmed!!!
Enterprise SUCKS!
I feel you're pain. I am returning my rental tomorrow morning.
We rented a full-size non-smoking vehicle for a road trip from Houston to Dallas this weekend. They delivered to my wife an obviously smoked-in intermediate with a flat tire. But I didn't discover the situation until after I got ready to leave on Friday evening (after they were closed, of course). After being told by the Houston office that a Dallas office would exchange the car, the Dallas office refuse because there were no “mechanical problems” and I was a bit heated with the agent.
We won't be renting from them again!
Can't believe Rich has been gone for over ten years!
With a debit card there is a higher chance that the balance could run out, which gives a branch no power if a car is to disapear. If you were going to steel a vehicle there would be no way to find you in another state with the resources available to a small branch. It sucks, and I'm sorry that they were horrible at explaining this… but it really is just so there is findability and fundability for a high risk person, aka an out of state person.
I worked there awhile back, and although I could not stand the place, I understand this rule. Saw was too many "close calls" when I was the one who rented a car to a cash or debit customer.
ALERT: Enterprise Rent-A-Car May Have Fired Employees as Fake-Evidence to Lobby for Bailout Money
Highlights
· Enterprise lays off 2,000 employees shortly after TARP, despite touting a roubst hiring system on their own website.
· Enterprise then steps up lobbing efforts in Washington claiming they need a bailout because they benefit the auto industry.
· Enterprise is suspect of laying these employees off in order to gain the ‘look and feel’ of a failing company despite skyrocketing sales.
· Enterprise is a private company so the public cannot track their actual finances.
“SICK ABUSE”
It does not matter if your Democrat, Republican or Independent: This is sick abuse of taxpayers. The Wall Street Journal reports Rent-A-Car companies are riding Detroit’s woes to muscle in TARP legislation for bailout money. The most vocal is the Enterprise Company, which includes: Enterprise Rental Car, Alamo and National.
Begging for TARP money, Enterprise claimed:
There are “fewer customers renting cars. A decline in airline travel means rentals have plunged, because many rental-car outlets are at airports, the companies and analysts say.”¹
However, while Enterprise woefully declares rentals have plunged, their own websites glorifies how much their sales have skyrocketed in 2008—an increase of $600 million (source: Enterprise corporate fact sheet).
SUCCESSFULLY LOBBIED CONGRESS for BAILOUT FUNDS
The Wall Street Journal recently quoted Enterprise, Alamo and National Rent-A-Car in a letter to congress, where these companies argued the so-called decline in rentals will result in layoffs and additional staff cuts.
“The impact of the declining economy on our business has already resulted in significant cost reductions, staff cutbacks and facility closures,” they wrote. “In addition, our industry faces significant near term financing challenges…We therefore believe that government action is necessary to help restore access to capital.” Enterprise laid off 2,000 employees, about 3% of its work force”² shortly after TARP legislation passed.
The Wall Street Journal reports these rent-a-car companies started “lobbying Congress to allow them to use Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to finance new auto purchases. The House of Representatives included a clause in a TARP reform bill that it passed last week to give the government authority to back loans to rental-car companies.³
LUDICROUS ARGUMENT
Enterprise successfully argued you can help Detroit by giving loans to end-users. They said they deserve a bailout because they buy a lot of cars and will help the automakers through their own purchases. By following that flow of logic, everyone in the United States should be eligible for a government backed loan to buy a car.
However, it gets worse.
There is no stipulation that ensures this money will be used to buy cars. They can use the funds to expand, hire new employees or remodel their headquarters. They can even hire back the 2,000 employees they fired—not likely.
Regardless of what they use the money for, it is a long and inefficient path to bailing out the intended beneficiaries—US automakers.
STRATEGY: LAYOFF EMPLOYEES to SHOW A NEED FOR BAILOUTS
What may be the most troubling part Enterprises’ so-called woes is the fact they successfully lobbied congress using job and layoff data. While we do not know all the behind-the-scenes lobbying that happened, we do know the layoffs were the central part of their argument for bailout cash. It is extremely worrisome a company can simply show their company had layoffs to gain access to the government backed loans.
If this is true, the bailouts program unintentionally creates an incentive to layoff people.
And it looks like this is what Enterprise did.
While the Enterprise CEO and executives complain they had to layoff 2,000 employees, their very own employment website as of February 25, 2009 claims they hire 8,000 each year. In addition, they are the largest recruiter of college grads, an achievement they still tout on their employment website.³ While it is admirable they hire so many grads, this fact alone suggests their layoffs were not caused by the economy if they are so eager to hire four times as many people.
PRIVATE COMPANY
Complicating matters is the fact Enterprise is a privately held company and they are not required to publicly reveal how their money is being used. This includes CEO and executive bonuses. Until released, the public is left to grassroots efforts like boycotts and calling government officials to get answers to this potentially grievous problem.
(part 1)
You guys are a riot. One of my coworkers found your "blog" at work and you could hear the laughter all over the office as people opened up their emails once it got passed around.
(lemme start off by saying I can't stand enterprise, but for entirely different reasons)
I work closely with the dept of Enterprise that handles accidents involving our cars and incidents where rentals "go bad" and i also used to work in the rental branches.
part 2
Any time we rent a car out to somebody, we're entrusting them w/a valuable company asset (anywhere from $8k to $80k) that's a huge risk for an office/area/region of the company and that risk is multiplied hundreds of times per branch. Generally, we ask for two things, a valid DL (which since we're not connected to the DMV-DPS we have to trust from the renter that it's valid) and a CREDIT card. The credit card tells us something important; it tells us you're not a complete deadbeat, fiscally-speaking lowlife beacuse you have established CREDIT in good standing w/a financial institution. That minimizes (although it doesn't eliminate) our risk–credit cards have limits after all–and gives us a sense of assurance that we'll probably get our car back and hopefully get paid for the rental charges. Furthermore, CREDIT card companies have other information on you that may be useful to a rental car company should you decide not to return the car. (which happens so much it'd make your head spin).
part 3
Also crucial to keep in mind, a CHECK card is not, hast not been, and will never be a CREDIT card.
Despite the VISA or MC logos and the "but i can use it as a credit card" mentality anyone who says/thinks it's a credit card is, has been, and might forever be, a moron. Provided you have a checking account, any bank will give any fool a check card in hopes that they'll spend their money faster and thusly collect some nice side revenue from VISA / MC. CHECK cards are not indicative of sound (or even unsound) credit/financial history.
However, in California (as I'm sure is the case in GA), someone w/an out of state license and a check card is a huge risk. Being that your residence (according to the only official document proving your identity) is out of state, what vested interest do you have in returning our car to us? We can't go down the street to repossess our car (something we have to do dozens of times a day); and do you think enterprise would bother consulting the dept of commerce to oversee jurisdictional issues associated w/an interstate reposession? fat chance.
part 3__Also crucial to keep in mind, a CHECK card is not, hast not been, and will never be a CREDIT card.__Despite the VISA or MC logos and the "but i can use it as a credit card" mentality anyone who says/thinks it's a credit card is, has been, and might forever be, a moron. Provided you have a checking account, any bank will give any fool a check card in hopes that they'll spend their money faster and thusly collect some nice side revenue from VISA / MC. CHECK cards are not indicative of sound (or even unsound) credit/financial history.__However, in California (as I'm sure is the case in GA), someone w/an out of state license and a check card is a huge risk. Being that your residence (according to the only official document proving your identity) is out of state, what vested interest do you have in returning our car to us? We can't go down the street to repossess our car (something we have to do dozens of times a day)
part 3
Also crucial to keep in mind, a CHECK card is not, hast not been, and will never be a CREDIT card.
Despite the VISA or MC logos and the "but i can use it as a credit card" mentality anyone who says/thinks it's a credit card is, has been, and might forever be, a moron. Provided you have a checking account, any bank will give any fool a check card in hopes that they'll spend their money faster and thusly collect some nice side revenue from VISA / MC. CHECK cards are not indicative of sound (or even unsound) credit/financial history.
However, in California (as I'm sure is the case in GA), someone w/an out of state license and a check card is a huge risk. Being that your residence (according to the only official document proving your identity) is out of state, what vested interest do you have in returning our car to us? We can't go down the street to repossess our car (something we have to do dozens of times a day); and do you think enterprise would bother consulting the dept of commerce to oversee jurisdictional issues associated w/an interstate reposession? fat chance.
Even when people rent from us w/in state licenses and check cards, we typically ask them to provide 2-3 current (non-overdue) utility bills w/their name an address on them.
part 5
So in conclusion, it's nothing against you personally. It's just that enterprise gets burned much, much more frequently by out of state/check-card types. Is it a law? Not in CA and prob not in GA. Were the people at the counter idiots for telling you so? More than likely yes (which speaks volumes of enterprise's "college graduate" hiring requirement). Did your and your friends' customer service experiences suck? Absolutely. Enterprise employees get treated like crap by their managers, have to take and put up w/nonsense from stupid customers 10hours a day and as they say, crap rolls downhill.
Like myself, many people at enterprise are looking for other jobs. Ones that will treat us well and won't make us bitter misanthropes that post essays on blogs about something otherwise inconsequential.
Great post. But I would like to say I have been really disappointed with Enterprise lately. For the first time ever their customer service simply underperformed and created more problems than I can note.
Second, they are using my tax paying dollars as they were hardcore advocates of bailouts for the rental car industry. They cried saying they could not replace their cars every year. (How many people wish they could replace their car each year).
So until I get a free rental for helping them with bailout money… I will avoid Enterprise like the plague. Why? I will not encourage their abuse of taxpayer money by playing victim for bailouts. The Wall Street Journal did a expose. You can read about it here:
http://digg.com/d1l2xh
Sick.
Sorry. Link didn't work last post. Here it is:
http://digg.com/d1l2xh
i hate to say it but enterprise could not care less about your experience. I work for them in south florida and this is typical of them. they suck. i have seen them mess with more customers than you could possibly imagine. especially when you return the car. if you dont watch out they will hit you for damage that's been on the car for six months. INSPECT THE CAR WHEN YOU RENT IT PEOPLE!!!!! they will send you to collections and mess up your credit for something that you did not do but you cant prove it cause you signed the contract. and if you take the damage waiver they will look for ways to get out of honoring it. they are a horrible unethical company and should be avoided at all costs.
take it from a porter at one of the locations in illinois. I see all the inside dealings at enterprise and before you even walk through that door, they start making assesments seeing how much they can sell you up. they are the biggest low lifes i have ever worked for and whats worse is the fact that they are an aarogant group of people who think they should be worshiped because they have college degrees. im better than this. tommorow, im resigning.
wow, i am sorry that happend to you…
its because you dont have a credit card loser….why would they just give you a 20000$ vehicle with a debit card deposit? And by the way, not taking your wifes cc number over the phone is a security measure that your visa and mastercard have in place so you dont get fraudulent charges on it.
i work for enterprise, and am very sorry to hear about your experience, i am with enterprise in the UK, so one day when you come over you will still use us as we are a different bunch of people. you say no one cares about your blog but i do, i think it was not good what happened to you.
have a good day
I understand you deeply and yet must say that i also understand the car rental company. Each company has its own set of rules and this includes car rentals companies…
Wish you all the best, Rosa.
The problem in this case was not the out of state license but the lack of a true credit card. Your debit card may have a VISA or MASTERCARD logo (most do these days) but the card is still linked to a checking account. The policy of only accepting debit cards from local renters is due to a vast history of individuals renting cars with a non-local debit card and then taking the car never to be seen again. Sounds like a SMART business practice to me. This is the same reason many businesses no longer accept personal checks, etc. COMMON SENSE! Any adult knows, in this day and age, a credit line is a necessary part of life.