I rented a car from the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport location. A few days into the rental, I was approximately halfway through a 2 hour drive to a Southern Puerto Rico city when the air conditioning system suddenly stopped. After I returned from my trip a couple days later (it was a weekend trip), I called the rental car company and notified them of the issue. They told me to bring the car back and they'd replace it.
Since I was in Puerto Rico on business and I was staying an hour away, I had to wait a couple days and take a day off work to exchange the car. About 2 days after receiving the new car, the rental office called me to say the car they gave me in the exchange was due for servicing and it should never have been given to me.
I agreed to return this second car but explained that I was staying at a distant location and was working so it was a HUGE inconvenience... They gave me an upgrade. I spent 2 more weeks in PR from the time I returned the first car without hearing anymore from Enterprise.
Over a month after returning the first car, I received a letter from a Loss Control Supervisor requiring payment of $717.19 for damages to the air conditioning. There was also a vehicle accident report form included which was mostly in Spanish, did not have my signature, listed the location as unknown, and had no police report associated with it... Which makes sense since I was never in an accident!
I contacted Enterprise customer service that I was disputing the claim and the employee told me someone would get back to me in 48 hours. After more than a week without anyone contacting me, I received another letter from the PR Enterprise insisting on payment.
I immediately called customer service again and placed another complaint. Again I was told someone would contact me in 2 business days and again I waited almost a week when FINALLY someone from the regional office called me but not to discuss my dispute but to ask if I received their letter requiring payment.
I explained that I was disputing the claim and that someone should have contacted them... He said they had not. I told him I was going to contact the corporate office and did just that. The corporate customer service representative was polite but said I MUST go through the regional office but that he would get in touch with the regional VPs office and someone would follow up with me within a day or two.
Once again more than a week passed and this time I received a letter from PR threatening to turn my file over to their attorney or a collection agency if I did not send them the payment within 5 days.
During all this I contacted a couple of mechanics and told them what Enterprise told me (that the condenser was cracked) and these mechanics told me this could occur if the condenser wasn't tightened properly... The vibrations of the vehicle could cause the crack. I called corporate again and this time made it quite clear how upset I was.
The employee assured me she would get the corporate general manager involved. A few hours later someone from the regional office finally called me back. I explained everything including the fact that there was never an accident (I had a witness in the passenger seat), there was no outward damage noted, and the info the mechanics gave me.
The employee insisted that it was my fault because I had the car for a week (eventhough I explained it happened a lot sooner than that) and he said a pebble must have flown up under the car while I was driving.
I have not been given any pics of this so called cracked condenser and don't see how they can say I caused this damage! I will never rent from Enterprise again... And will not rent from their two sister companies (National and Alamo). The founder of this company (Jack Taylor) is a WW2 veteran who served on the USS Enterprise and named his company after this ship... Enterprise Rent-A-Car should be ashamed to soil the name of a great American aircraft carrier with their shady business practices and corporate bullying!
Monkeygirl
Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A.
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