How to turn a potential 4 star review into an instant one star review.
Everything went pretty well when we rented our car from Enterprise. I don't blame them for the long bus ride from the airport to the rent a car center or the poor signage at the airport for how to get there. I don't even completely blame them for the fact that our car smelled like cigarette smoke. But turning the nice little Toyota Camary in after a pleasant Thanksgiving vacation and being told that I had damaged the car was one way to ensure that I never do business with them again.
When I pulled into the lot and got my bags out of the car a cute little girl with a slide rule and a electronic gadget came over to do a walk around. No problem so far as I'm concerned since the car was either parked in my sister's yard all alone in Mesa or in the valet section of the MGM Grand in Vegas what could possibly have happened?
That's when she told me about the "dings" on both the passenger and driver side doors and asked me if I had noticed them in our first walk around when we picked the car up. "Did I see them then? I don't even see them now." I said. So she walked me down to the corner of the car so I could look down the side of the car and see where the light refracts a little where the ding can be seen. "Seriously?" I was immediately dumbfounded and angry. (Which, by the way, is a sure sign of poor customer service.) So I asked to talk to her manager. She said sure but he would tell me the same thing. She called him and rolled her eyes.
When he showed up I told her specifically not to tell him what she was seeing and asked him if HE could find it. After he had a little trouble spotting it she went against my specific instructions and told him where it was causing me to go ballistic. (Another sign of a poor customer experience!) I launched into the whole sister's yard, valet parking lot thing and added a bit about stopping by Target for 20 mins to pick up some Fabreze to get rid of the tobacco smell. And he started to back her up, until I made it clear that even though they had me over the barrel because I had a flight to catch this was completely unreasonable and seemed like a scam. If they want to really provide a service they should have that same eagle eyed attention to detail on the initial walk around, but if I have to be the one on the defensive from day 1 and feeling like I have to wrap the car in bubble wrap to prevent getting dinged when I bring it back then they can consider me a lost customer. After my tirade the manager decided I was not going to pay and he said we were good to go.
Too little too late. National has never asked me to do a walk around, in case you are wondering who to use instead. I just bring my own bottled water.
The other Kevin S.
Update: I had to use Enterprise in Issaquah, WA when my car was being repaired and the service was pretty good. The 1 star rating is for the Phoenix Enterprise office at the Airport.