Enterprise Rent-A-Car False Claim of Hail damage after car was returned Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The company Iworked forarranged for a rental car at the Sioux Falls Airport on a direct bill agreement for 60 days. After 5 weeks I decided to return the car and return home to New York. I took the car to the airport on October 5, 2010 at 8 am and waited in line and when the two customers in front of me had been waited on, the person at the counter went out to the car and did an inspection of the car. From the rental counter I observed the individual do a complete walk around the car and a visual inspection of the interior. He came back in and reported to his co-worker that the car was ok and a Return Rental Document was printed and given to me.

The next day around 2pm, an Enterprise employee called me on my cell phone and stated that when they were washing the car, they had found minor hail damage to the car that had not been seen the day prior. I informed the individual that I was driving in Illinois at the time and could not return to Sioux Falls to review the damage and further stated that the car had not been in a hail storm while in my possession. He said that you could be in a hail storm and not know it. I rebutted his statement and said that at night the car had been parked beside my personal car and in the daytime the car had been parked in a parking lot with hundreds of other vehicles none of which had hail damage.He stated that the damage was so minor that it would probably not be repaired but they just needed to file a report and that I needed to know. The conversation ended with me insisting that no damage had occured while I was in possession of the car.

On October 7, 2010 Enterprise Damage Recovery Unit sent me a notice stating that there had been damage reported to the vehicle I had rented. They advised me to contact my insurance company or credit card company so that a claim could be filed. The postmark on the letter was October 12, 2010.

I called Enterprise Damage Recovery Unit and explained there was no hail damage to the car, I had not been in a hail storm and that visual inspection when I returned the car had not revealed damage and that damage was found 24 hours later. She said she would note it on the claim.

On October 22, I received an email stating that they had investigated with renting location and that I was being billed $450 for damage.

Inlater conversations withindividuals in the claim office I have asked for photosor someproof that there was damage to the vehicle. I have been told that no photoswere taken and the only proof of damage was the bill for the repair to the vehicle and later told they had a quote. In this day of everyone owning a camera, I find it impossible that photos of the damage were not taken and put with the claim.

I am convienced that there was no damage to the vehicle and that this is a rip off and that I am being taken advantage of. The claim department has threatened me with turning the file over to a collection agent, and possible legal action. The person in the claim department does not care that they can not provide me with documentation of damage. The last conversation I had with the claim agent, she got mad when I insisted upon proof of damage and hung up on me after threating me with legal action.

I would advise anyone not to rent from Enterprise, National or Alamo since the claim office seems to represent all three rental companies by their threats not to allow me to rent from them in the future if I do not pay.