On March 25, my daughter and I returned our red Ford Focus to E-Z Rent a Car in Ft. Lauderdale airport. While in the air, we discovered that my daughter had left her Nikon digital camera in the rental car. When we landed, we call the rental agency and reported it missing. After several phone calls, Adrianna, one of their employees said she had found the camera in the car we had rented. She said she was, at the time of the phone call, sitting in the same car we had rented and, without prompting, she identified it as a Nikon camera contained within a black case. She said she would be delivering it to the main branch located at 2541 State Road 84, Ft. Lauderdale, immediately after work.
We immediately called Federal Express to arrange pickup. An attempt was made to pick up the camera at 5:45 P.M., but the main office was closed.
On March 26, we called the office to check on the pickup and were told that the camera did not get picked up by Fed Ex but by UPS and the camera was sent to a different customer. Numerous phone calls to the office ensued; not once did the company employees initiate a call to us.
After several weeks of us calling and after being referred to different people, the company said our camera was not sent to the wrong person, that the employee is "not sure it was a Nikon" (even though we have her on tape saying several times that the camera was definitely a Nikon) and that the camera was now lost. The latest office manager, Kelita, said that E-Z Car Rental is not responsible because of the agreement we signed which states the company is not responsible for items left in the car. We insist that the camera was found and removed from the car by one of their emplyees who then identified the camera by brand, describing the case it was contained in. Since it was in her possession and no longer in the car, we believe the moral and perhaps legal reponsibility shifts so that the car rental company has an obligation to get the item back to the owner or compensate the owner for its loss while in their possession. Does the signing of the agreement give their employees a license to steal anything they admittedly find in a car? Apparently E-Z Renta a Car thinks so.
This company was never forthcoming with information - phone calls were never returned and proper procedure was never followed, including identification of the person who may have erroneously received our digital camera. We are extremely frustrated and will likely resort to small claims court.
I have abbreviated this version of our complaint, but have kept clear records of our trials with the company through its many employees - some of whom reportedly left its employ.
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