I am responding to this email in order to clear up what has happened and what is happing regarding my car rental in Calgary from July 18-24 of 2013. I rented a 2013 Mitsubishi SUV from the Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Macleod Trail SW, Calgary.
I had returned the car as agreed upon on July 24/13 at 1:28pm and did a final walk around the car to see if there was any damages, and there wasn't. Hours later, when I am about to return home from Calgary to Toronto I received a phone call about damages to the car I had rented. They claimed that there is hail damage to the vehicle and I was confused as to what damage he was talking about because hours earlier I had just done a walk around with the employee to ensure there was no damages. As I am sure you train your employees, they go over the car with a fine tooth comb to ensure that there was no damage inside or outside of the car - obviously looking for any little scratch, nick, scrape or dent to make me responsible for. I received the bill and paid the $260.75 I owed for the car rental for the week, which was then stapled to a copy of the report which clearly states that I retuned the car with no damage and the fuel level at the same as when I received it. The initials of both myself and the Enterprise employee are clearly in the box which states there is no damage to the vehicle.
I had rented this car under my corporate discount because I work for RE/MAX. I am disappointed with the way I have been treated by your employees as if I had done something wrong. I am sure that there are over 30,000 agents across Canada and over 250,000 in the US that use our corporate rate for different services from hotel stays to rental cars. However, I am sure that RE/MAX would like to know that this is how their agents are being treated when using a company they recommend and support.
I have been doing research after I received a phone call from your claims department (over a month after the car was returned) and I have found that there has been previous reports of false claims, after the fact regarding, fake damages. I am confused as to why your employees bother doing a walk around the car with the customer to look for damages, then signing off that there are no damages, to later then file a claim saying that has been damages - and in this case, to the amount of $2,334.32. There would be there visible damage to the car if there was in fact $2000 in damages to the outside of the car. Your sales person Jamie Howard, fortunately, was the most pleasant part of my whole experience dealing with Enterprise RAC. He came to pick me up and bring me to the closest Enterprise Branch, and was the most friendly sales person anyone could ask for. He is the person who did the original walk around when I picked up the car (no damages, 3/4 tank of gas) and he is also the one who did the final walk around (no damages, 3/4 tank of gas). We both signed the copy of the report and I was on my way to the Calgary Airport to return to Toronto.
It is disconcerting to me when researching Enterprise RAC that I have found a website not affiliated with your company at all, that explains how to make a claim to your customer service department. (
http://www.ehow.com/how_7357739_file-customer-service-enterprise-service.html). On this website it gives a 6 step process starting from recording the event through to making a claim online against the Better Business Bureau. I really hope that this email will open some eyes as to what is happening to your customers and corporate clients when doing something as simple as renting a car while on a business trip. I felt like I was being pressured and bullied into making a claim with my insurance company as my coverage also covers my rental cars. This is completely unfair and I am sure that there have been more than a few people that have not taken stand and just submitted to a false claim. I know of a few because they have also taken a stand and made their voice heard online, and held Enterprise accountable for their actions. I have found a gentleman in Texas who also ran into the same fraudulent damage claim. (
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/enterprise-rent-a-car/houston-texas-/enterprise-rent-a-car-fraudulent-damage-claims-houston-texas-1045953) His story is almost identical to mine, making me think that there are hundreds more out there just like this. Here is another article I found with the EXACT same false hail damage report (
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Enterprise-Rent-A-Car/Select-StateProvince/Enterprise-Rent-A-Car-False-Hail-Damage-Claim-Dallas-Texas-1071126). I have also found a video online using the same script that was read to me when I was contacted AFTER leaving the branch with a receipt in my hand saying there was no damages. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdQ9WTELSiE). I truly hope that Enterprise is not training their employees to do this. It is not how business should be done and if I treated my clients like this I wouldn't expect to be in business.
I would like nothing more than to be contacted by a customer service representative regarding this issue. I am a very fair person and I play by the rules. However, I feel that Enterprise RAC is using its power of intimidation to falsely make claims of damage to customers and getting them to pay it - but this stops now. The public needs to know of this and I feel that everyone should be held accountable for their actions - regardless of your 18 Billion dollars in annual revenue. I have CC'd in who I thought would be interested to know how their customers are being treated and would like to know how their company is being run on a front line basis. I am not paying for a fraudulent claim and I hope this letter will encourage others to take a stand.