We were making a long run for the weekend, and decided it best to not put the mileage on the car I rely on for every day use. We checked around for rates, made phone calls, and decided to use our local Enterprise branch, because they had the best rates, and Entreprise as a whole was recommended by several of my friends (the company in general - not this location).
I phoned over a week in advance, and inquired about their regulations, pick-up and return times, confirmed the rates, etc. Things were explained to me, I thought, in relatively good detail. I took notes, thanked them, and said that I'd be calling back very shortly to make my reservation. I double checked what they told me against what was online, and I called back to reserve.
I informed them that I was traveling a long distance (approx 670 miles each way) and I needed a car with cruise control. They said that to be guaranteed a car with cruise control, I needed to pick the Standard level car. This would be on par with a Dodge Stratus. I was fine with that, and asked if they had Stratuses or the equivelant (Cirrus, etc) because we were looking at that model for our next car purchase, and would like the opportunity to try it first. She said she couldn't promise it, but would make an effort for that to happen. I appreciated that. She said that I'd have to pay for Thursday, which I wasn't totally happy about. We were leaving Friday morning at 5am, and so I had no choice but to pick-up the car Thursday. She was nice about it, and said that if I came in after 5pm (they close at 6), they wouldn't charge me for Thursday. I appreciated that too, and agreed.
I asked about payment. They said they'd put a hold on my card as a deposit. I understood, but explained that with the credit card I have, if it's put in as an open-ended transaction (which they do, as do hotels), my card holds my entire balance, and I didn't want to be without it for emergencies. They said I could pay cash up front, but I had to bring along a copy of a pay stub, and a current utility bill. I said that was not a problem. Nothing else was mentioned about it.
Thursday evening came, and we went down to pick the car up at the office. This is where the problems started. First, we had to wait a long time. There was only one other couple in there picking up a car, but 3 workers, none of which waited on us. We didn't even get in to the process until about 5:20. It was at this time that they took my pay stub and my utility bill, and made me fill out a form about paying cash. Then they asked for my $250 cash desposit. I told her they never mentioned that to me. She said they must have forgotten. There's no mention of this on the form you have to fill out when paying cash either. Not having that much cash on me, I kept the cash I was going to pay them, and told them to use my credit card.
Another thing I thought was strange was the mileage. They told me I had unlimited mileage, but I had to give them my proposed route, and sign a form stating that I was only traveling through PA, OH, IN, and IL. I'd have to pay a penalty if I strayed outside of those states. I thought it was a little odd.
By this time, it was past 5:30, and they asked me what type of car I wanted. She then noticed in the system there was a note stating that they should try and hold the Stratus for me. When she yelled back about bringing it out, someone else yelled out that they just rented it. I wasn't really upset, as they said they couldn't promise, but if the note was in there, and we came in when they told us to, it would have been nice to have it. She then said she didn't know what they still had - they were kind of picked out. She came back and offered me a car that looked like a small SUV, a Neon, a Cobalt, a Sunfire, a Focus or a PT Cruiser (they had one of each). This kind of floored me. I didn't want the SUV due to the cost of gas. The Neon, Cobalt, Sunfire, and Focus are all compact or economy class cars. I was paying for a Standard car. I asked about cruise control again, and was told that the only cars guaranteed to have it are Standard. The only Standard available was the PT Cruiser. We decided to take it, as it was now 5:45 pm.
I did tell them I wasn't really happy about that, as I reserved a week in advance. They said they were cleaning it, and we had to wait. My husband drove it home. I ran a few errands, and went home.
When I arrived home, my husband said he had some doubts about the car. He said he kept bumping his head on the ceiling, and he wasn't sure of how comfortable it would be on a long drive. I said that there had to be a way to adjust the seats. We couldn't find one. We went to gas the car up, and found lots of nasty surprises, namely french fries, crackers, and ketchup packets stuffed in the seat pocket - so much for cleaning the car. We cleaned it out so as not to be charged for leaving a mess. We finally called Dodge, and they told us the seats couldn't be adjusted down unelss the car had the optional 6 way power seats - it did not.
I then immediately called Enterprise's 1-800 number. It was now after 7pm. They wanted me to return the car. I told them I couldn't because they were closed. She told me to return it the next day. I told her I needed to be on the road by 5am. She wanted me to drive it to the Montoursville airport (45 minutes away). I asked why they couldn't drive down with a new car. She put me on hold and came back and said they didn't have any cars for me anyway. She then wanted me to to drive to the Harrisburg airport (60 minutes away). I again asked why they couldn't bring me a car, as per their advertisements. She said that she'd call, and put me on hold. They didn't have anyone available to come up, and besides the guy at Harrisburg said he was over 6 feet tall and had no trouble with the Cruiser, and didn't understand our complaint. I told her firmly that I did everything the people at the Selinsgrove office told me to do, and now I'm stuck with a car that we don't feel safe driving, as my husband can't see well out of the windshield.
She put me on hold again, and came back and told me her manager said that we should get on the road, and report in around 8am. At that time, they'd give me a location to go to based on where we were, and we'd swap the car out. I was fine with that.
I called in the next morning at 8am. We were almost out of PA. They had no locations near where we were, but they did have one in Youngstown Ohio. They said I could return the car there. When I got there, the woman at the counter, who was very nice, had no idea what I was talking about. She called the Selinsgrove store, and Dalina asked the woman at Youngstown to put me on the phone. She was snippy, and informed me that I had been instructed to return the car to Harrisburg, and I refused. I told her that was not entirely true. I said that I told them I was unwilling to make a two hour drive (one hour each way) that late in the evening when I had to be on the road by 5am, and that honestly, I felt it was ridiculous of them to ask me that when they advertise that they'll pick you up, and offer roadside assistance. I told her that the woman at the call center agreed with me, and I did exactly what the call center instructed me to do (call at 8am the next morning).
Dalina then told me that I couldn't leave the car there because they'd be responsible to retrieve it, and they couldn't do that for at least a month, and they refuse to be responsible for storage fees. I asked her what she was going to do about it, and she said I should return to PA, and she'd instruct me on where to go to turn the car in. I told her there was no way I was going to backtrack several hours to turn this car in. She then told me it was my fault, as they offered me a wide range of cars, and I chose this one. I told her that wasn't entirely true either, that they offered me two cars in the range I paid for, and a few economy class cars that were tiny for making an 11 hour drive, or didn't have cruise control, and they made no mention of offering me a refund on the rate for the Standard level car. She didn't really know what to say, but again told me that I was stuck with this car unless I wanted to return to PA. I was very unhappy, told her so, said I'd be taking it up with Corporate, and hung up.
The woman in Youngstown said she'd help me if she could, but she had no cars available. I thanked her, and left. When I arrived in IL, I called corporate to voice my unahppiness. The man at corporate said he saw all my calls noted, and said the situation had not been handled properly. He said that under emergencies or special situations, which this would have been, they could have made a number of provisions to help out, and he was sorry. He asked if we thought we could return the car to PA safely, and I said we'd try our best. Seeing as how most of it was interstate, it was ok, but whenever we were in an area with traffic lights, I had to keep watch because my husband couldn't see them through the windshield. We managed to make it back in one piece, albeit very uncomfortable.
When I returned the car, I was tired and cranky, and didn't want to start a fight. I was a polite as I could be. She said she was sorry for the misphap, and offered us one day off our bill. I said that was fine. We left.
I got a call from the district manager a few days later. I explained everything to him. My stance has always been that there is poor communication between the call center and the office, and that I did everything I was instructed to do, I only refused to do things that were unreasonable on their end (traveling two hours to swap it when they advertise they'll pick you up and have roadside assistance and backtracking on my trip to return the car to their satisfaction) and was still given a hard time. Lastly, that I was put in to a corner when picking a vechicle that I booked plenty in advance. He said that I had a valid argument, things weren't handled properly, and to try and earn my business back, he was going to give me a free weekend. I thanked him for his call, and said that would be fine. That was in mid-March. To date, I've gotten nothing from Enterprise confirming that.
I never got rude or obnoxious, or picked an argument with anyone. I remained calm and presented my argument rationally and firmly. When someone had a workable solution, and I followed it, the next person told me that wasn't right. I appreciated the "breaks" I got, but they also ended up putting me in a bad spot. If I had gone in earlier, I would have had to pay for Thursday (even though I didn't take the car anywhere other than gas and home), but I would have had time to return the car after we found it wasn't going to work for us. A no-win situation.
I will not use that branch of Enterprise again. I'll try another if and when I get my free weekend. If I have the same experience, I'll have to try another company. I'm glad that I don't often have to rent cars.
Railyn
Northumberland, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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