My Enterprise Horror Story, Part 1
As I’m writing this, my heart is racing after a recent experience (that’s still going on…) with Enterprise Car Rental. I’m so upset & feel like the only recourse I have is my voice. So, that’s what I’m using right now in hopes that my story will remind you to always, ALWAYS take a video of yourself walking around the vehicle you’re renting with the car rental people & document it all BY VIDEO before you leave the parking lot.
First, let me say that I have used Enterprise for my car rentals for years & years & years. I rent several times a year as well & have always raved about them. I never had one single issue until this time.
I rented a pickup truck last Friday in Winder, Georgia. I wanted one with a big back seat so my kids could fit – we were taking a very special vacation that we were looking quite forward to. Well, when I picked up the truck – the backseat was too small so I requested to exchange it for a truck with a larger backseat. That seemed to be no problem, so I went to a different Enterprise location to switch it out because the Riverside location in Lawrenceville, GA location had the kind of truck I needed. That Enterprise location is about a half hour from my house but I was a quick in and out – super fast! I was pretty happy with the customer service at the time.
The young man that helped me, let’s call him ‘John’ (not gonna use his real name at this point) – he pointed out a couple of scratches on the passenger side of the vehicle and said to my friend & Â myself ‘We know about the marks here on the side & the wet spot in the back. Do you see anything else’? I said ‘Nope, sure don’t. Thank you!’ and didn’t give it another thought. He handed me the keys – no new paperwork, just the keys. He smiled, waved, & I jumped in the truck & drove away. The next morning, I went to crank the truck and the check engine light was on… sooooo I drove it BACK to enterprise (the original location that’s closest to my house) to switch it out yet again.
The manager of the location went outside to check the truck as she was preparing to exchange it for a different one. Â She noticed the scratches on the side & asked me about it. I said, ‘Oh, that was there when I rented it.’.
Well, ‘John’ apparently didn’t notate the scratches so it wasn’t documented. And no one could get in touch with ‘John’ to confirm it. Apparently they checked past rental reports of the truck & it wasn’t noted there either so therefor, I must have done it. No matter what I said, the manager at this Enterprise location wouldn’t believe me at all. She belittled me the entire time I was there and had me in tears. Instead of leaving for vacation, I was in there trying to tell these people that those scratches were on it when I rented it (the day before at that). I mean, heck – the Enterprise guy himself pointed it out after all!
My friend, who was a witness to ‘John’ pointing out the scratches on the side of the truck, came to the location to confirm my story but that didn’t make a difference. The manager told me that I’d have to either accept to pay the damages on the truck (which I did NOT cause so I certainly don’t want to pay them) or keep the truck and try to return it to the location where the switch was made to clear it up with them.
Well, now it’s noon on Saturday and that location is closed. We had been at the Winder branch for an hour going back & forth. We were supposed to leave on our trip on Saturday morning but because of all this, I delayed it until the next day when that other Enterprise location opened at 9am Sunday morning so I could hopefully speak with ‘John’ and get this all cleared up.
I called right at 9 and ‘John’ answered. I explained to him who I was and he said he remembered me and I went into detail about my horror story from the day before. He sounded horrified at how I was treated and said ‘I don’t know why they didn’t call me, I don’t know why they did you like that – I remember you, I remember the marks. They were there when you rented it. Ill fix this. I’ll make sure it’s all notated and get it all cleared up. Make sure you return this truck to me, I’ll fix everything. Don’t worry’. He went on to reassure me for about 15 minutes, even offering to have me bring that truck back up and exchange it for another one. The check engine light had gone off on the truck and the truck was behaving fine – and we were delayed by a day on our trip already, so I figured I’d just take the truck I already had. That location was 30 minutes in the opposite direction from where we were going and ‘John’ had reassured me so many times that I felt everything was a-ok. I took a sigh of relief, loaded up the kids, and left.
So, we went on our vacation and everything was awesome. We had such a wonderful time. Oh, the smiles on my kids faces was something else! If you’ve followed me for a few years, then you know that this trip was so needed for my family. This was our first family vacation somewhere overnight that wasn’t going back to North Carolina (where we used to live before Mike died). The trip was truly epic though. Epic. I’ll post pictures soon.
Anyhow – We drove home on Thursday (yesterday) and I woke up early this morning (Friday) to take the truck back.
I pull in the parking lot of Enterprise & a friendly face greets me outside. ‘Returning, ma’am?’ ‘Yes, I am but I need to return this to ‘John’ I say.
Well, ‘John’ isn’t here and he’d be glad to help me. I take a chance. I explain everything that’s happened and he seems concerned and says ‘We are gonna fix this’. Two managers come out & seem helpful at first. Then, they excuse themselves to speak outside. Before the door closes, I hear one manager say to the other manager ‘She claims….’.
She claims? I just had a feeling it was about to go South. And I was so right.
A few minutes later, one of the managers comes to me and tells me that I need to take responsibility for my actions & admit I damaged the vehicle.
WHAT?!
I calmly ask him to call ‘John’ – ‘John’ can fix this. ‘John’ pointed out the scratches on the vehicle to me when I rented the vehicle. I did NOT damage this vehicle. I brought it back to you the exact same way you gave it to me. Please, let’s get ‘John’ here.
It was ‘John’s’ day off and the manager wasn’t going to disturb him on his day off. I asked if they could call him… he said he did call him and he did text him, but he got no response and it was his day off, ‘John’ didn’t want to be bothered with work. He had family stuff going on.
‘No matter what I said, this manager treated me like I was a piece of trash who had damaged their vehicle and couldn’t own up to it. He even tried to tell me that I had a phone conversation with him where I had told him the damages weren’t there when I rented the vehicle. Um, no – that never happened. Ugh. I felt attacked! Again, I called my witness who was there with me up there to confirm my story but that didn’t make a difference with this manager either. He didn’t care to hear either of us.
I asked if they had security footage from the front of Enterprise. The truck exchange was done directly infront of the front door. ‘John’ pointed at the scratches with his fingers as he told me about them – surely they have a security camera and they can pull it from that moment and view it. I asked the manager if he could pull them – he said he wasn’t going to pull the security footage.
Apparently, ‘John’ won’t be back at work til Monday morning.
I feel like if I return the truck without ‘John’ being there to say ‘Hey – this WAS there before. This lady didn’t do it. Don’t charge her. Stop treating her rudely. We messed up’ – then I’m going to be ultimately screwing myself. I was informed if I kept the truck til Monday that I would be charged for it… so guess what? Apparently I’m paying for this truck to sit in my driveway until Monday. I’m hoping that ‘John’ is a stand-up guy and that this isn’t some big scam… because right now, I feel like I’m about to be scammed. I sure hope not though.
Do you have a headache yet because I do….
The way that I was treated was horrible. HORRIBLE. I was treated like a liar & a criminal. With SO much rudeness. I’ve never been treated so poorly by a company. I kept my cool the entire time, while standing on firm ground. But this has definitely got my nerves some kind of frazzled.
On Monday morning, I will be in the Enterprise parking lot 5 minutes before the doors open.
Lesson learned. I don’t think I’ll ever rent a vehicle from this company again after my recent experience – but no matter what. For all of you – always – ALWAYS – take a video of yourself walking around the car you rent. Document everything by video if you’re going to rent a vehicle, no matter what.
Now, excuse me – I’m going to try to breathe and not think of all the worst cast scenarios inside my head. I’ll post a part 2 on Monday.
OH MY GOODNESS! Bless you! I hope “John” is there on Monday and everything is sorted in your favour!
I am so sorry. Before Monday, I would go ahead and contact the corporate office. This is absolutely ridiculous! I am trusting as you were and could see the same thing happen to me. I’m praying “John” will be honest and this will be handled and you get the money refunded for keeping it extra long as well as a well deserved apology from each of those who treated you so disrespectfully. Do let us know how this turns out. Your readers can all let this company know what we think.
Oh my Lord, I am so sorry, but you certainly bring up something us trusting people need to realize, that all companies are for their selves, they certainly are upset that no one checked thoroughly when it was returned before. Keep the stressful good fight and call the BBB to document this (that gets their attention) All need to remember this and act accordingly
I’m so sorry this happened….what a way to ruin wonderful vacation memories. I know I will definitely think twice before renting a vehicle, especially from Enterprise—and will be sure to document any damages myself, thank you for the advise. I’ll be thinking of you on Monday morning, sending good vibes and anxiously waiting to hear about your positive outcome. In the meantime, try to enjoy your weekend!!
Oh dear .. I hope you can get this resolved in a timely manner and in writing, so it doesn’t come back to haunt you in the future. Always mark down all problems on the vehicle when renting from anyone on the rental paper work and initial it with the person renting it to you initials as well. Better yet do as you suggested film it and point out any and all problems with the vehicle
If no satisfaction with the local personnel, escalate it to the Corporate Office and address the President of the office. Each State or area has a corporate office that one can talk to. Then there is the Corporate Offices in St. Louis if you get no satisfaction from the local offices.
exactly, don’t stop at the dudes who are scamming, go higher up. .hire an attorney if need be. I would spend 10 times the amount they say the damage is, to prove them wrong!!!
I posted on your Facebook page that I read some comments on Enterprises’ Facebook page that this exact same thing is happening to other people. I won’t be using Enterprise ever! One of the people was told everything was “taken care of” and then got a bill in the mail!!!! How do people sleep at night doing this to innocent people???
i will NEVER rent a car from them again, ever!!!! What a horror story that is! I wouldnt stop at JOHN, i would go up the chain of command to the top. You also might want to try your local news station, most have a consumer watchdog type segment…Companies dont like bad publicity, and thats gonna be some BAD publicity!! also, i would notify my cc company that they may try and bill you for bogus damages,
I agree with Jean , that is not a good way to run a business. I will never rent from ENTERPRISE, even if you have the photo or video ,they can say no again. most people will just give up and pay the damage, don’t do that. that is a scam .
Never swap out vehicles at a different location than from where you picked it up from. The store that knows/thinks that the car won’t return to their store will give you the oldest vehicle, highest mileage vehicle, or vehicle with undocumented damage, so their store won’t get charged for the repairs. If you do have to swap out get your own copy of new paperwork with any damage written on it.
So many corporations are doing so many scams on people nowadays, it’s getting scary. You have to take photos and notes and screenshots of virtually everything, get confirmation emails sent with details while you’re still on the phone with the rep who is telling you whatever it is, the world has gone nuts. I’m sure you will get this resolved, however I wonder what they will do to actually make up for your experience, since it just won’t be enough to say, ‘oh you were right’. I also wonder about the people who don’t know what to do, aren’t as strong as you, and are bullied into paying what they asked for. I wonder how many people, so far, have paid for that same damage on that truck?
There is probably just as much scamming going on from the other side as well, which is perhaps why these corporations have come to this behavior? One would think however, that Enterprise themselves would take their own videos of each vehicle’s pre and post rental inspection to prove their case and protect their own interests, if they only wanted to protect themselves, so it kind of speaks volumes that they DON’T do that?
Hope you have another rental place around to deal with next time! And good on you for getting the word out on these crooks.
I was looking for your update to this story. I had shared it with my contact at Enterprise and she was going to send it on to their rental department. I had hoped you had a good outcome!
Stay away from Enterprise because I wouldn’t wish my experiences with them to my worst enemy.  I had been renting for over 10 months with them on my business travel.  I am on my 9th vehicles, from maintenance required, broken windshield they fixed and expected me to pay full price and the rep was upset when I told him NO.  Then I had 4 vehicles with Electrical issues, 1 vehicle’s AC went out on me in the heat of July going through NM,  1 Jeep  went dead at my client house and he had to give me a jump to get me back to the city.  I did get one great Optima but the Branch Manager wanted me to give that back since it needed maintenance on it.  When this was all addressed to Branch Manager then she passed the buck to her Asst Manager who couldn’t  give me a straight answer why I am being charged for gas when I am renewing my agreement and not leaving the vehicle.  Plus why am I being double charged monthly.  It took a caring employee to send me to their Accounting Dept because the Branch Manager and the Asst  Manager  didn’t know the answers to anything I was asking about .  It was sad because my bank had called me about the double charging.  I didn’t think that a big company like Enterprise would be scamming their customers this way.  I was forced to pay attention and saw that  they are more consistent with making mistakes  than finding solutions.  The new area manager was just as bad because he didn’t make any attempts to fix issues either and didn’t even know how to call back a customer who has been renting for 10 months straight.  The icing on the cake was yesterday that I got a call from Damage Dept  of Enterprise to collect a past due.  I was just on the phone with the Asst Manager yesterday and he said nothing whatsoever about any damage  when I went to do the renewal of my rental.  Now I got an email saying there is damage after that vehicle was returned 25 days ago.  Two  reps looked at the vehicle,  One rep done her inspection before I took my belongings out and the other rep went to do his inspection after I took out all my belongings.  From there,  I went to the manager on site to tell him about the oil change that done already by me and the radio powering off and locked after powering back.  How is that my fault when I had been dealing with vehicles with factory’s electrical issue here.  This is so ridiculous and even the manager at the branch told me months back she noticed all the Jeep have electrical issues.  I had wrote to the Damage Dept to tell them how am I responsible for something 25 days ago when Enterprise had two of the reps inspected the vehicle and no damage was reported or detected.  I told them to deal with my Attorney and they are about to lose a valuable customer too.  If I can turned back time,  Enterprise would’ve not be my choice for rental.  Be smart and stay away from them.  I know for a fact that I am not the only customer who is dealing with nonsense at Enterprise.  I know people don’t like to use their voice but I needed  to express enough is enough.  I know exactly what you been though as I am here and been living in Hell with Enterprise Rental
Nice advice and ideas that everyone can follow and refer through it.
This is nearly identical to what my family went thru back in 2007. We live 2 hours north of San Francisco and my oldest son had been accepted in CalArts’ summer program but we had to get him to SoCal by a certain time. I had decided to take all of my kids, including 2 friends, & go to Disneyland, so I rented a van.
We arrived at Enterprise, but it wasn’t ready when promised. It had been turned in late, there was trash all over, and something had been spilled. But, we were going to be late, and what the heck, I have 5 kids, I’m used to messes. So we took it as is. I paid the extra for insurance and we went on our merry way. I have been a defensive driver for many years, grew up learning to drive in snow covered mountain roads. My daughter’s beau spelled me and he delivered cars for a living, so both cautious drivers.
We made it to Vallencia on time, had a blast in Disneyland, saw a couple of old friends and came back home. There wasn’t one second that van was in motion that I wasn’t in it.
The first thing that slob of a manager did was go right to a spot on the underside of the bumper and go, “Uh-oh, what have we here? Looks like you high centered on something, maybe went over a curb?” Of course, I denied it.
But what really rubbed my fur backwards was when he opened the sliding side door, and said “Just look at this mess! You’ve been eating in here!”
My jar dropped. We’d cleaned out all the trash and no way did I let the kids eat in there – those boys are so messy, they could shame the Cat in the Hat.
I had absolutely zero defense. I got his report in the mail. Luckily, I’d purchased their insurance so it didn’t go on my record. But you know, “small town – large hell”.
Another lesson learned was prompted by my 26 year old son’s recent accident when a 17 year old kid, driving mommy’s car tried to cross the 2-lane hwy in front of him, from the right shoulder, without signaling or even doing a mirror check. My son, who was driving his work truck that he’d paid for himself, did his best to avoid hitting the driver’s door, so he took a hard left & connected on his left front fender instead.
The boy was bringing coolant to his friend, who was stranded in the turn-out. There’s much more to it, but suffice to say, the boys lied & my son was found to be at fault bc “his tires went over the double yellow line when he tried to pass the other driver” in the oncoming traffic lane.
The lesson? Invest in a dash cam.