Enterprise Car Rental Deceptive wording on rental contract deceptive company Matteson Illinois *EDitor's Comment

Being an ex enterprise employee that worked in the loss control department, I have one thing to say... That extra insurance that enterprise sells is not 100% true... we were taught 1st to try and find anyway we can still make customers pay even if they bought our insurance. If all loop holes has been exhausted then we will honor it if a customer has wrecked a car but only and only after we tried to find a way out of honoring it...

Not bashing erac, but please erac stop pressuring your people on selling something that you really don't want customers to use. Oh and I left on my own after, fear of not making into heaven because of were I worked...

I also had a manager deceive me at a Tampa Enterprise. I was at a Ford Dealership getting my truck work on and part of my sales contract states that I receive a rental care for any warranty work done at the dealership. As the agent and I were filling out the paperwork, she told me about the rental insurance, and I declined it, as I always do. I gave her my credit card, but was assured that the card would only be charged if there was damage, emptry gas tank, etc.... The next statement I recieved from my credit card company had a charge of $70+. I called the same lady I spoke with at the office, and she said she remembered me telling her that I wanted the insurance and it was "tough luck" and I had to pay. I then asked for her manager and she told me that there was ni higher manager, she was it. I then asked for the district manager, again, she said there was none. I had to call another local Enterprise to get the information on the district manager. To make a long story short, they did take off the charges, but I no longer run my business accounts through Enterprise, and only use them for my service agreement.

I have been with Enterprise for a while now. I am sorry to hear of all the bad experiences some of you have had with Enterprise. The truth is though, nothing is more important at the company than customer satisfaction. Branches get rated on how many completely satisfied customers they have that month through surveys.

If a branch receives a bad score, the managers and workers are penalized either finacially or through "un-promotability." For those of you that have had bad experiences, trust me when I say that if you return to that branch a few months later, there will most likely be a new manager that will not do the things that I have read here.

I obviously cannot speak for the whole country, but I know that at least in the North East, these policies are strictly enforced. I am sure that this is common throughout the whole company though. I urge anyone that has received bad customer service to conact the local corporate office with your complaints and you will see that they will be addressed immidiately and correctly. We are in the business to make money of course, but only if the customer is 100% satisfied.

As for the damage waiver, I truly believe it is a great asset to purchase and would purchase it even if I did not work here. This is of course just my opinion and anyone can have their own. I have seen too many cars come back with damage or even totalled and collecting deductibles from customers for cars they do not own is truly not the highlight of my day.

We do not make any money for collecting for damages and in fact, like the previous employee said, end up losing money due to the loss of use of the vehicle. What the damage waiver really does is relieve you of any responsibiliy to the car, whether it is your fault or not. If you choose to take it and something or nothing happens, great, you walk away.

If you choose not to take it and nothing happens, great. But unfortunalty, accidents do happen that obviously are not planned. The number one customer answer I get when I offer the waiver is "I'm just going from work to home" or "I am a save driver, nothing will happen." But unfortunalty, customers can not control other drivers that are much more careless than them and do not care about other people's cars. So, when you do not take the waiver, you are just risking your deductible and any claims to your insurance company. It's as easy as that, just as if you were driving your own car.

As for the people that got scammed from "contract changes", this is very illegal and I would recommend you call the local corporate office right away. Also, if you deny that you did cause any damage to the car, our loss control department looks up the past history of the car to make sure the employee was not incorrect in discovering the damage that might have already been there.

Now, the credit card deal is simple. We do not provide credit for the customers so we have to take either a hold or charge for the estimated time the customer will be in the car. If the customer stays longer, we have to take additional deposits to keep charges current. If this is a problem, make sure you tell the rep when you pick up the car what your credit card situation is. We can not guess how long the customer will keep the car so we just keep the charges up to date. It is up to the branch to inform you of your charges and the customer to realize that they will be taking these charges.

Now, selling is a big part of getting promoted, just like the ex-employee said. But even the greatest salesperson will never get promoted if their customer satisfaction is low. Customers should always know what they are purchasing or not purchasing before they leave. And it is up to the ERAC rep to make sure they understand that. If you are unpleased with anything, whether it be the size or condition of the car, let the rep know when you return your car or even better, call them during your rental. Any good branch will make sure to fix any miskates to make the customer happy.

To Tim in Washington DC:

You said, "Be careful for what you are signing. Pay attention and listen." BULL. That does me no good when Enterprise reps alter the agreement, and they DID. And they did the same to my friend as well.

In the early 1990s I had cause to rent from a San Diego branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. When asked if I needed the additional insurance, I emphatically turned it down and made sure that the fast-talking salesperson did NOT check that box on the form. When I returned the car, I was in fact charged for that additional insurance, and I disputed it, astonished. The girl at the counter haughtily said, if you did not want it, you should not have agreed to it, so you owe it -- and proceeded to show me the contract, which had been altered! My own copy clearly showed that I had NOT checked that box, and here was this girl telling me that only THEIR copy was binding!

I raised such a public stink there that they dropped the charges on the spot, but only after about 30 minutes of very loud condemnation. I do not recommend that now, of course -- report the complaint to the FTC.

Some 7 years later, a girlfriend needed to use Enterprise and went in armed with my warning -- and that Los Angeles branch did the exact same thing to HER!

I cannot help but wonder at the ethics behind such a business that is constantly mining for branch managers month after month, year after year. It certainly isn't because of "expansion"; it must be just replacing those who are "hired" to become their own boss only to find that this "opportunity" just isn't what was represented to them, and thus they bail. It's been my overall impression that too many Enterprise Rent-A-Car managers are tempted to cheat when they find that their "dream" is not the reality for the vast majority. Whatever the cause, it's the consumer who eats it in the end.

Everyone, I am a current Branch Manager with ERAC as we call it. I have heard the concerns and heard all the excuses. I do agree with the Collision Damage Waiver problems. I used to be a prominent young seller of it, until I realized that it was misleading. I mean, if you buy it, you wreck the car, we pay for it. That sounds like a scam to me.

Sure your insurance company will cover it, but what they don't tell you is that they will also raise your premiums by quite a lot. Did you know that if you have three claims on your insurance, they will probably drop you. Many times I have people come into my office and rent and buy it because they love not having to worry about the car. The reason the insurance is pushed so much, definitely for our sales numbers, but also for you.

If you have ever gone through the process of damaging a rental, you know. I hate the process. For just a door ding, I have to call my repair supervisors, have them come 45 minutes away to just approve that the car can go to the shop, then when it goes to the shop, it is probably in the shop for depending on the damage 3-15 days. That car can be rented out at anywhere from $36 to $85 dollars a day.

If you figure that out, we are out a whole heck of a lot more than any one person out there. You pay $16 to cover a car for one day. We pay $3000 on the damage to cover the car ourselves. If you total the car, we pay for it. You pay $16, we pay $16000. Sounds pretty good to me and the many thousand people who buy it from us everyday.

Now I do have to apologize for some of the branches out there. There are many people who do not know how to provide quality customer service. We work, managers work, over 70 hours a week. There are some stressful times and any one little thing can set you off, I have been there and have gone off the deep end. But I was embarassed more than anything else. We work really hard to get promoted quickly. No one wants to work 70 hours a week.

This company does have its weakeness, the size. We are over 50,000 employees. How many companies that size, have 75% of them dealing with everyday people? Most of you sit behind a desk and wait for someone to tell them what to do. We are exposed everyday to everyone trying to make you guys happy.

Here is the big secret with Enterprise, you aren't happy, we don't get promoted. Plain as day. My whole goal everyday is to make people happy. Thats it. I could care less about the money. Its going to come no matter what. If I make you happy, then I am happy bc I will be promoted.

I could write on and on and on, but I think we all know that business is business. Be careful for what you are signing. Pay attention and listen. Thank you

After renting a car from Enterprise to drive to Vancouver, British Columbia on vacation (a trip I had to cancel over my rental car fiasco), I received a stock "thank you for your business" letter in the mail with a coupon for 50% off my next rental.

This is my rebuttal letter when I returned the coupon. My response generated a personal call from the VP from the area anda refund of ALL charges I had paid.

NOTE: If you write them, be sure to CC the local store, your chamber of commerce, local newspaper, etc as that helps enforce the seriousness of your statements.

Enterprise Rent a Car
(deleted)
(deleted)
Attn: (deleted), Regional Vice President, Rent-A-Car Operations
Re: Coupon received in mail and rental experience

March 18, 2004

(deleted):

I received your rental coupon in the mail March 17, 2004. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to your advertisement.

My rental experience at the Grass Valley location was, beyond a doubt, the most embarrassing, demoralizing, humiliating waste of time I have ever encountered.

My experience included the following problems:
1. I was guaranteed a quick courtesy pick-up to the rental location. Grass Valley is a small town. My home is not hard to find and is located within 5 miles of your rental location. I gave exact directions to my location, including freeway exit, street name, house number, etc. Courtesy pick-up took over 45 minutes to arrive at my location.
2. I knew that I would be pressed for time, so during the online reservation process, I entered as much information as possible to ensure that I would be in and out quickly. Important details that would affect my rental experience were not disclosed at that time.
3. At no time prior to arriving to pick up the vehicle was I informed that a debit card was not sufficient to rent a vehicle. My debit card had more than sufficient funds to cover a reasonable deposit and rental charges for my rental period. Instead of placing a hold on these funds, I was requested to fill out an extensive and intrusive list of personal information and undergo a credit check, an employment and residence verification, etc.
4. During this verification process, I expressed concerns over the time the process was taking, stating very clearly that my children were at daycare still and had to be picked up before a certain time. Failure to pick them up by a certain time incurs a late fee of $1 per minute per child a fact I disclosed to the representative. At no time was I offered alternatives to the process, such as delaying my rental until the following morning or use of a telephone to contact my daycare provider. I was given only a repeated platitude of just a few minutes. The process took nearly 45 additional minutes and I was only able to use a telephone to speak to my provider because I used her as a personal reference to verify my residential address.
5. At no time prior to arriving to pick up the vehicle was I informed that I would need verification of my personal vehicle insurance coverage. When I could not produce that (it was in my vehicle at my home), I was told that I had to purchase an extremely inflated insurance through you in order to complete the rental process. This nearly doubled the quoted rental rate.
6. When I was taken to the vehicle, it was neither the model nor the size reserved. I requested a mid-size sedan (IE. Ford Taurus, according to the Enterprise website). Instead, I was taken to a compact car (Dodge Neon) and charged the full rental rate for the requested mid-size sedan despite the fact that their rental rates are vastly different.
7. At that point, I was so late (nearly 2 hours) picking up my children, that I had no choice (despite already being very dissatisfied) but to take the vehicle home so I could drop it off and go get my children. I was not informed until after I signed for and took possession of the vehicle that the car could not leave the state a rental condition that negated my entire reason for renting the vehicle.

I returned the car the next morning as soon as the office opened. I ended up missing 4 hours of work and forfeiting the inflated rental rate for a day to drive the car less than 10 miles. After explaining the circumstances for my delay, I was able to slide with my daycare provider just this once or I would have been out of pocket for an additional $240 for late fees.

I spoke to two other families here in Grass Valley (names deleted) who reported that their experiences with that location involved exactly the same circumstances. I also have second hand knowledge of a third similar experience in this location. I can understand the business necessity of ensuring your vehicles will be returned, however, I feel that your precautions came at the expense of your customer service and satisfaction.

The use of the coupon for 50% off the rental cost (which I am returning) is not sufficient incentive to rent from your company again. Even at half the cost, the service is so inferior that it is beyond contemplation.

In short, I have been so turned off by my experience, that not only will I never enter one of your establishments again, but I am now wary of renting from any other car rental service.

I was willing to write the lost amount off as experience but to be contacted again to request a repeat experience is an insult. At this point, I do not expect a return of my expenses, but it would be a token gesture on your company's part to at least refund the overcharge (as mentioned in Item 6 above).

Please remove my name and contact information from any and all mailing lists or telephone solicitation lists you may collect. I am listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. This letter serves to revoke any and all business contracts we may have been involved in, which negates any exemptions for solicitation under the aforementioned Registry.

(signature deleted)

CC: Enterprise Rent-A-Car Grass Valley
Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce

Enc: Coupon

I have been renting vehicles from my local Enterprise office for the last 8 months. In that time, I have rented more than a dozen times. I have never had a problem with any of my rentals and the staff there has, after the first couple of times, usually upgraded me for free as a "preferred customer."

I believe the main point is that the service you receive is going to vary from office to office. In any franchise business like Enterprise, it is inevitable that you will find "vultures" in some locations as well as good people working in others. When I find such "vultures," they lose my business forever. That is the only power I, as a consumer, really have. When I find good people who treat me well and routinely exceed my expectations, I regularly return and recommend them.

No matter what, always read the contracts before signing. Always keep a copy of the contract. And, as one previous commentor mentioned, always make sure everything is noted on the contract.

I work for a professional driving company. We offer transportation from Limos to medical transportation vans. We have a corporate account with Enterprise and use them when need a vehicle to transport our clients. We prefer mini-vans or even mid-size to full-size vehciles. My manager called Enterprise on Clairmont Mesa Blvd in San Diego to seek out a mini-van.

The gentlemen told her that one was not available. She asked what would be available for us to rent in white. He explained that he had a volvo. My manager said that was great, I will take 2 of them if I can. He said that she could not rent 2, only 1. He said that he can only rent 1 vehicle to us. She said then another car would work. He said that he only has limited vehicles and could only rent 1 to us. So, she said that she would call other Enterprise rentals in the area for 2 vehicles. He said fine. After calling around, we did manage to find 2 vehicles, but with a change in our schedule, only needed 1 now. So, my manager called back to the office with the Volvo. She asked if we could pickup the Volvo and he said come on in.

I went in to pickup the Volvo myself. When I walked in, I overheard the manager say, "He can just wait." Ignoring what I just heard and hoping that he was refering to someone else, I waited for about 5 minutes before being acknowledged. Mind you only 1 customer was in the lobby and 5 employees sitting around talking amongst each other. Finally after the 1 customer was done, the rental sales person asked me what I needed. I told who I was with and what I needed. He said no problem. Talking to himself while typing in his computer, he said, "OK I have a Ford Focus here for you." I questoined to him why a Ford Focus? Another gentlemen overheard this and said abrubtly, "I never promised I would be able to keep the Volvo for you guys." I stated that we had just called minutes prior and that he had 2 volvos sitting in the parking lot. He said that those are rented already and will not be available.

I agreed to just take the Focus, since the Manager of the store there was ignoring this whole thing and would most likely not get anywhere argueing. When we went outside to inspect the vehicle, I noticed a missing hub cap on the vehicle. I mentioned to the sales person. He actually through down his clip board on the vehicle and said, "What do you want?" Shocked my his response, I said that we are a proffesional driving company and would like a hub cap put on this vehicle. He said that he did not have one to give to me. I said then do you have another vehicle.

Getting aggrivated with me, he stormed inside his office and finally drove around from the back with a Dodge Neon. He said, "Here, this is the best I can do!" I said, thank you, I just want our company to be represented in a nice vehicle, isn't that what we are paying for. He said, "You guys always want vehicles right now." "You never give us any notice, you just want them now." I explained to him that he would probably not have to worry about that in the future, due to the service that we went through today. He was actually upset with me. I asked if this was the service recieved by all patrons? He did not respond, he just had me sign and off I went. One final note, my company purchases no additional damage coverage for the vehicles we rent from Enterprise. Since he was getting nothing additional from us, he was obviously not thrilled even dealing with us.

We will NEVER use Enterprise in the future. We have setup a new account with another rental car company just blocks away. My advice, STAY AWAY FROM THE HONG KONG SWAP MEET of a place in Enterprise Rental car. I have other bad experiences from my personal dealings with them that I can talk about later.

All Attorneys will tell you - Read the Contract first before signing! If you have any questions then ask away. If not satisfied then don't sign. It is you the buyer's responsiblity to read the contract and ask questions to the seller.

The old saying "Buyer Beware" is important to remember. If you do not like something on the boiler plate contract change it! If the seller does not accept there is no meeting of the minds - no contract other words.

The Seller is under no obligation to tell you anything about the contract unless you ask. In addition, If the agent says one thing, and it is contradicted in the contract. The contract is what counts unless changed to reflect what the agent states. Get every promise in writing. If a third party promises to take care of the bill. Get it in writing and signed by all parties concerned. Read your Insurance Policy to make sure what is covered and what is not regarding rentals. Each policy is different.

Hope this helps everyone in the future.

I unfortunatly had the experience of being in an accident in a rent car. I swirved to miss a cat, ran off the road, and totaled their vehicle.I did purchase their insurance and did not have to pay a dime. Not even a deductable. They treated me with utmost respect and put me in another vehicle. I praise this company to this day. I will never rent from another company again.

I am sorry some of you are bitter but do not let your bitterness efect other peoples judgement. What they sold me was a wonderful product. I recommend that everyone takes it!!!

I unfortunatly had the experience of being in an accident in a rent car. I swirved to miss a cat, ran off the road, and totaled their vehicle.I did purchase their insurance and did not have to pay a dime. Not even a deductable. They treated me with utmost respect and put me in another vehicle. I praise this company to this day. I will never rent from another company again.

I am sorry some of you are bitter but do not let your bitterness efect other peoples judgement. What they sold me was a wonderful product. I recommend that everyone takes it!!!

I unfortunatly had the experience of being in an accident in a rent car. I swirved to miss a cat, ran off the road, and totaled their vehicle.I did purchase their insurance and did not have to pay a dime. Not even a deductable. They treated me with utmost respect and put me in another vehicle. I praise this company to this day. I will never rent from another company again.

I am sorry some of you are bitter but do not let your bitterness efect other peoples judgement. What they sold me was a wonderful product. I recommend that everyone takes it!!!

I unfortunatly had the experience of being in an accident in a rent car. I swirved to miss a cat, ran off the road, and totaled their vehicle.I did purchase their insurance and did not have to pay a dime. Not even a deductable. They treated me with utmost respect and put me in another vehicle. I praise this company to this day. I will never rent from another company again.

I am sorry some of you are bitter but do not let your bitterness efect other peoples judgement. What they sold me was a wonderful product. I recommend that everyone takes it!!!

You done good. I hope you got an adequate pat on the back from your manager for so rigously defending your company's integrity. As for me, let me reitterate, (read slower next time. you might catch more), I left the company on my own.

Deception and failure to inform the customer of all their financial options was encouraged as far up the ladder I could see. I fail to recognize your qualifications to conclude otherwise.

My qualifications are four years with the company and managing three different branches. Is thinking on your own and forming your own opinions based on what you see, despite what others are telling you, so inconceivable to you? Strange coming from someone as intellingent and well spoken as you appear to be. Im sure this company had a difficult time getting you to buy into their sales pitch.

By the way, you mis-spelled, hay(unless you were referring to what farm animals eat), competitive, and maybe and your second sentence doesnt make sense. Thanks for proving my point. I couldnt have scripted a better response.

You sure sound sympathetic. Sure, you still have your job. By the way, this is a rebuttal not inside information and we switched it to the proper category.

I'm sure your position will be well-assured for the future due to all your Brown-Nosing. Is your job so tenuous that you feel impelled to ingratiate yourself to corporate?

ED Magedson
EDitor@ripoffreport.com

I have been an employee with Enterprise for over 3 years now and have found this company to be one of the greatest for standing behind their employees I have ever seen. I have had the opportunity to work for some of the largest sales companies in the country, and have found that no other employer has both their customers and employees in this kind of regard.



To Enterprise the customer and the Employee have a level playing field and they work hard at keeping things fair. I'm sorry you seem to have confused a competative environment with something more paranoid. It is true that Insurance sales are the fastest way to get promoted, but what sales based company dosen't promote for being the highest producer.



Only an individual who is already morally comprmised would even think of cheating their customer into something they don't need to be a part of. Additional insurance on a rental may not be for everyone, however if you think about it seriously, It really is the only way to rent a car.



Who wants to give their financial stability to another party (wreck a car and you will see what I'm talking about). I had the opportunity many years ago to have an accident in a rental car which came from one of our competitors, Let me tell you not only the financial burden but the hassel of sorting things out were enough to convince me. But hay, If you can't afford the peace of mind, maby a little dose of reality will open your eyes later in life.



Mike, whoever you are, I really do feel bad that you have taken a negative outlook twords a company who wants nothing but, promotions, growth and happy returning customers for their future. However if I read your negative feedback above correctly, I don't think you would have had much of a future anyway.

In response to April's comments. The number 1 way to get promoted at this company is to sell, or at least ensure a charge for damage waiver insurance. Employees are taught this and the company is relentless in promoting it. Every employee's damage waiver sales are posted on a daily basis for the whole company to see.



Congradulatary messages are sent out to the best sales people on a regular basis. You could work a 12 hour day, service 15 customers effectively, but the next day if you didn't sell any of this stuff, you had a bad day.



Above, the reason why I distinguish 'sell' and 'charge' is because many times, the sale transaction in the traditional sense never happens. A sale implies an agreement between the seller and buyer. Often times there is no agreement on the buyer's part and it is charged, regardless of whether the customer was informed or misinformed.



I have heard on many occasions from higher level management that if customers are not complaining about an employees sales tactics or noone is calling to complain about invalid charges, an employee isn't trying hard enough to sell it.



I have also heard employees respond on this board that the customer is signing a contract and they should really read what they are signing. Here's a new flash to the customer service professionals.



Customers will trust you to explain what they are signing. If they are signing for anything that hasn't been explained, it's your fault, not the lack of intelligence or business sense the customer posseses.



I left this company as I was encouraged to deceive people. I welcome any responses but as for current employees wishing to disagree with me, don't bother. You will just be showing your ingorance. Employees who do not recognize this either have no moral sense or are blinded by the corporate fast track this company sells.

I was in the same boat with Enterprise. I have to deal with them because my new cars warranty states that in there. My situation happened about a year ago, My car was in the shop for the same problems over and over, so Ford called Enterprise and spoke with the Manager in the Waldorf office.



The service manager at Ford told him, "These people have had a lot of problems with their new car. We will have their car for at least two weeks and last time you told them that their insurance company doesn't cover the rent-a-car. We ARE paying for the insurance in addition to the cost of the rental car. I trust that you will make sure this is noted on their account?" The manager told him yes, and the service manager gave him all the information.



We didn't have any problems at that point. We returned the car when our vehicle was finished being fixed.



Three months later, I start getting several phone calls a day from Enterprises billing office demanding $660.91. I told them I didn't owe anything, Ford was taking care of it all. After explaining this to their billing office over and over again, I finally got a bill in the mail that stated this balance. Now, that's all it said, with my private information, etc. There was nothing stated as to what this balance was for. So, I called the office I went to and asked for the manager by name. First a woman got on the phone and told me that he was too busy and demanded I tell her what I was so upset about. I did and she looks the account up and tells me the balance is for the upgrade on the vehicle. First off, I recieved a midsized vehicle, that was what I have, then I told her it really doesn't matter, after waiting in your office for 2 hours, that was the only car they could get us. Then she tells me she'll give the manager the message.



Another week went by, and I get a notice of collection from Enterprise. I still never heard from the manager. So, I called again. This time when the woman got on the phone, I told her that I would not hang up until he did get on the phone and if I were still refused, I would make it a point to show up their in person. He got on the phone. He tells me that the balance was the insurance cost, I said excuse me, Ford told You specifically that they were paying the insurance cost. You told them you would make note of it. I told him that this was his mistake and his problem. He tells me that he will square it up with Ford and if I didn't hear from him taht everything was OK.



Needless to say, I get a letter from a collection agency telling me that they put it on my credit report and they were demanding payment in full. I called him again. I asked him, if he didn't square it with Ford he was to call me and never did. I asked for his manager. He gave me a name and phone number. When I called it, I got a home recording with this man's name (I don't even think he worked for Enterprise)and I left a message, needless to say, never to date recieved a response. I am still dealing with this, it even states on my recite that Ford was covering everything.



I did how ever, ask my insurance company about the insurance, they told me that the only insurances that do not cover rent-a-cars are state funded insurance (such as MAIF), and liability. But I didn't have a state funded company and I have Full coverage. Enterprise was just going for the extra money.



I haven't stopped with Enterprise, By the time I'm done they will fix the situation and my credit report. The only thing I can tell you is to keep pushing Enterprise. Because this has cost you so much, your best bet is to send their main office a certified return receipt request letter. Make sure you include your conversations, the problems, the way you've been treated, information like the account number for the rental, etc.



Tell them what you want and tell them in this letter that you are giving them 10 business days to comply from receipt of this letter, if they do not you will sue them for the balance taken from your account, any bills amount you could not pay because of this, 10% intrest for each month, and (in accordance to federal laws) 3X's the total. Hope this helps you some.