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Enterprise Rent-A-Car Complaint - Drop off charges ???? - Rental
Rental - Complaint
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- I recently rented a car from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport location. My husband and I flew into Raleigh-Durham and rented a vehicle from Enterprise to drive home. We had a lot of business to take care of and were going to be coming home with a lot of belongings so we decided to drive home. I have rented from Enterprise in the past and have always had a positive experience. This time it turned into a nightmare. I made the reservation online and even had a live online chat with a customer service representative. When we got to the Enterprise office in Raleigh, it was so crowded. There were people everywhere. By the time it was my turn to go up to the counter, it was such a rush and when they asked me if anyone else would be driving the vehicle and I said, yes, my husband, they only asked me for his driver’s license and didn’t need to see or talk to him. He was standing outside with all of our luggage. They just took my driver’s license, his license and my credit card and the woman who took care of me only asked me if I wanted a Sonata or a Taurus and then told me to come outside and get the car. We were rushed outside, she pulled the car up and handed me the keys. I asked her if she was going to inspect the vehicle before giving to us and she said “Oh yeah, it’s so busy here today, I almost forgot”. I also had to ask her to mark how much gas was in the vehicle because it was only ½ full.
The trip was fine but here is the really bad part. We drove back to New York and when I went to return the vehicle to my local Enterprise office, they looked at me like I had five heads. The Customer Service Representative told me that they do not accept cars from other branches. You cannot even imagine this ordeal. I have never had a problem like this with any other company I’ve rented from and have never heard of such a policy. The CSR then proceeded to call the Raleigh office and put me on the phone with a CSR there who was very rude to me and said that they do not do “one way rentals”. I never knew about this. When I made the reservation I clicked on “drop off at another location” and that was it. I never thought about this nor was I ever informed about this policy. Apparently though, if you rent from an Enterprise office, the vehicle must be returned to that office no matter where else you drive to. I was shocked. There was no way I would have ever rented the vehicle from them if I knew this. They said there was going to be this big drop off charge and when I told them no one had ever informed me about it, they said I should have known before I rented the vehicle. They then put me on the phone with a manager and he was also very rude to me. I explained that the day of the rental, I was rushed out and when they asked me if I would be driving anywhere else, I said yes and they never asked me where or anything. They give you unlimited mileage but you still have to drop the vehicle off at the location you rented it from. I was really both annoyed and shocked and frankly, very very nervous. Since the manager was rude to me, I asked him very sarcastically, “So, what if I drove to California, would I still need to drive the vehicle back to Raleigh”, he chuckled and said “yes” and then I said, “This is absurd, I can’t believe how this company operates” and with this awful rude tone he said to me “Then you should have rented with another company”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and then I got more annoyed and loud and he started saying they were going to charge me $2.00 per mile which would have come out to around $1,100.00 plus the rental, which was only $206.00 to begin with. I told him I didn’t have that kind of money and he started saying he’d have to pull someone from his office to come and pick up the vehicle and when I said, “Can’t someone just rent the car from there, he said they don’t share vehicles. I said “How was I supposed to know that?” and he said, “You should have asked”. Whoever heard of such a thing? He then said I should read my contract and I told him, “Are you kidding me, I was rushed out of there, I’m lucky I got my full name on the line”. So after this whole back and forth drama and the manager at the Enterprise office I was attempting to drop the vehicle off spoke to this guy in Raleigh, he gets back on the phone with me and tells me that “he doesn’t normally do this for anyone and can get in big trouble but he’ll do me a big favor and ONLY charge me $550 plus the rental”. Now I only had $500.00 to go on my credit card, they took a $200.00 hold and the rental was $206.00 so I thought I was covered for the initial rental and told this person that I did not have enough to pay for it and he told me to “Figure it out”. I then got very frustrated and the manager where I was took the phone from me and was trying to work something out. He took the keys and said he was working it out and was going to check out the vehicle to make sure there were no damages (which there were none) and that I had enough gas (which there was a full tank) and then told me everything was okay and that the Raleigh office would be contacting me to “negotiate” something.
I did not hear anything from them and kept trying to call and left several messages. When I checked my credit card online, I saw that there was no balance left and when I called the credit card company, they told me that the card was charged by Enterprise for $550.00 and when I told them I did not authorize the charge, they told me that I had to call Enterprise and that there was nothing they could do for me. I kept trying to call Enterprise, left more messages, sent emails and to no avail. Today I looked at my credit card statement online again and there was now a charge for $899.28!!!! I cannot figure this out. I am so upset and now I am going to be charged who knows what from my credit card company for going WAY over the limit. I finally had a chance to calm down and read the back of the contract and there is a part that says they can charge a drop off fee of $100.00 or $.50 per mile if the car is dropped off at another location, whichever is greater. So to the best of my estimation, at 550 miles charged at $.50 per mile, would come out to $275.00 and even if they add the $206.00 for the original rental that comes out to $681.00. What is the extra $218.28 for? I am so confused and keep calling to get them to send me a bill or an estimate, a breakdown of what they are charging me but I cannot get anyone’s assistance. This was just not a pleasant situation, there’s no way we would have rented this vehicle had I known any of this, I would have made other arrangements for sure and I know it is my responsibility to read this contract, but it’s a four page contract, in tiny little writing and it was such a rushed rental, I just don’t know what to do and how I am going to pay for this. Can you imagine a person wanting to go through this? Had I known any of it, I never would have bothered. Was I supposed to guess that this was their policy? Do I let them just get away with this? How do I know they won’t charge me more money again??? I am really very upset and need some guidance on this one.
I do not feel this was fair treatment and I was treated very rudely. Does anyone out there care about consumers? Are we all just to be made to bow down to these big companies and have to deal with whatever they dish out? Am I just another number? Someone, please help!
The trip was fine but here is the really bad part. We drove back to New York and when I went to return the vehicle to my local Enterprise office, they looked at me like I had five heads. The Customer Service Representative told me that they do not accept cars from other branches. You cannot even imagine this ordeal. I have never had a problem like this with any other company I’ve rented from and have never heard of such a policy. The CSR then proceeded to call the Raleigh office and put me on the phone with a CSR there who was very rude to me and said that they do not do “one way rentals”. I never knew about this. When I made the reservation I clicked on “drop off at another location” and that was it. I never thought about this nor was I ever informed about this policy. Apparently though, if you rent from an Enterprise office, the vehicle must be returned to that office no matter where else you drive to. I was shocked. There was no way I would have ever rented the vehicle from them if I knew this. They said there was going to be this big drop off charge and when I told them no one had ever informed me about it, they said I should have known before I rented the vehicle. They then put me on the phone with a manager and he was also very rude to me. I explained that the day of the rental, I was rushed out and when they asked me if I would be driving anywhere else, I said yes and they never asked me where or anything. They give you unlimited mileage but you still have to drop the vehicle off at the location you rented it from. I was really both annoyed and shocked and frankly, very very nervous. Since the manager was rude to me, I asked him very sarcastically, “So, what if I drove to California, would I still need to drive the vehicle back to Raleigh”, he chuckled and said “yes” and then I said, “This is absurd, I can’t believe how this company operates” and with this awful rude tone he said to me “Then you should have rented with another company”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and then I got more annoyed and loud and he started saying they were going to charge me $2.00 per mile which would have come out to around $1,100.00 plus the rental, which was only $206.00 to begin with. I told him I didn’t have that kind of money and he started saying he’d have to pull someone from his office to come and pick up the vehicle and when I said, “Can’t someone just rent the car from there, he said they don’t share vehicles. I said “How was I supposed to know that?” and he said, “You should have asked”. Whoever heard of such a thing? He then said I should read my contract and I told him, “Are you kidding me, I was rushed out of there, I’m lucky I got my full name on the line”. So after this whole back and forth drama and the manager at the Enterprise office I was attempting to drop the vehicle off spoke to this guy in Raleigh, he gets back on the phone with me and tells me that “he doesn’t normally do this for anyone and can get in big trouble but he’ll do me a big favor and ONLY charge me $550 plus the rental”. Now I only had $500.00 to go on my credit card, they took a $200.00 hold and the rental was $206.00 so I thought I was covered for the initial rental and told this person that I did not have enough to pay for it and he told me to “Figure it out”. I then got very frustrated and the manager where I was took the phone from me and was trying to work something out. He took the keys and said he was working it out and was going to check out the vehicle to make sure there were no damages (which there were none) and that I had enough gas (which there was a full tank) and then told me everything was okay and that the Raleigh office would be contacting me to “negotiate” something.
I did not hear anything from them and kept trying to call and left several messages. When I checked my credit card online, I saw that there was no balance left and when I called the credit card company, they told me that the card was charged by Enterprise for $550.00 and when I told them I did not authorize the charge, they told me that I had to call Enterprise and that there was nothing they could do for me. I kept trying to call Enterprise, left more messages, sent emails and to no avail. Today I looked at my credit card statement online again and there was now a charge for $899.28!!!! I cannot figure this out. I am so upset and now I am going to be charged who knows what from my credit card company for going WAY over the limit. I finally had a chance to calm down and read the back of the contract and there is a part that says they can charge a drop off fee of $100.00 or $.50 per mile if the car is dropped off at another location, whichever is greater. So to the best of my estimation, at 550 miles charged at $.50 per mile, would come out to $275.00 and even if they add the $206.00 for the original rental that comes out to $681.00. What is the extra $218.28 for? I am so confused and keep calling to get them to send me a bill or an estimate, a breakdown of what they are charging me but I cannot get anyone’s assistance. This was just not a pleasant situation, there’s no way we would have rented this vehicle had I known any of this, I would have made other arrangements for sure and I know it is my responsibility to read this contract, but it’s a four page contract, in tiny little writing and it was such a rushed rental, I just don’t know what to do and how I am going to pay for this. Can you imagine a person wanting to go through this? Had I known any of it, I never would have bothered. Was I supposed to guess that this was their policy? Do I let them just get away with this? How do I know they won’t charge me more money again??? I am really very upset and need some guidance on this one.
I do not feel this was fair treatment and I was treated very rudely. Does anyone out there care about consumers? Are we all just to be made to bow down to these big companies and have to deal with whatever they dish out? Am I just another number? Someone, please help!
Comments:
Posted by Leela on 2007-06-12:
From Enterprise's web site -
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/oneWayRental.do?country=US&transactionId=WebTransaction6
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/oneWayRental.do?country=US&transactionId=WebTransaction6
Posted by FoggyOne on 2007-06-12:
It is extremely unusual to find a company that doesn't charge for large drop off fees. I used the Enterprise website and could not find any 'one way' rental except for what emt_c says above. And, when you do have a one-way rental with another company they need to know your destination, not that it is just one way.
Posted by *Brenda* on 2007-06-12:
Yep, it says it right on the page when you go to reserve a car.
One Way Requests
Generally, one way rentals are possible within a metropolitan area. Please consult with the Enterprise office to determine if a one way rental is possible.
One Way Requests
Generally, one way rentals are possible within a metropolitan area. Please consult with the Enterprise office to determine if a one way rental is possible.
Posted by Dedicated Reader on 2007-06-12:
You wrote, "I know it is my responsibility to read this contract." That sums up the problem.
Then, "Are we all just to be made to bow down to these big companies and have to deal with whatever they dish out?"
Yes, you do -- because you agreed to their terms when you signed the contract.
Then, "Are we all just to be made to bow down to these big companies and have to deal with whatever they dish out?"
Yes, you do -- because you agreed to their terms when you signed the contract.
Posted by Ceese on 2007-06-13:
Wow!!! Okay to say that I was ballsy and flippant I think is a bit extreme. Naive may have been a better word to use but not ballsy or flippant. How was I being ballsy by renting a car and making a very honest mistake? That is ballsy to you? I didn't have the intention of causing myself so much grief, I mean give me a break. Where do you come from? You can clearly see that I had no idea about this and why don't they ask you these questions when you are renting? I was even told by a manager where I dropped the car off that this should have been explained to me before they even let me sign anything. Why is it so hard to imagine that you can rent a car and drop it off at another location from the SAME EXACT company? You can buy something from a store and return it at the same store in another location, can't you? I don't get it and think that some of your comments were a bit harsh. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but geez!
Also, one of the biggest car rental companies, Avis lets you do one way rentals, picking up from one location and dropping off at another. A friend of mine actually rented with them recently and dropped off in another state with no problem. I did not want to rent with them though because to return it where I live, I would have had to go much farther away from home and wind up taking transportation home afterward.
Hertz, another huge car rental company also lets you do this. Apparently, the jerk in Raleigh was right, I should have rented with someone else. I just know better for next time though. My whole point to posting my complaint was to vent and my despair over their lack of understanding and their rush right out of the gate to be totally rude to me. That was unwarranted. Then to lie to me and tell me what they were going to charge me, disregard my phone calls and charge me whatever they felt like was my actual issue. I thought this was very sneaky and let me tell you THAT WAS BALLSY!
So again, now explain to me how this was ballsy and flippant on my part? I don't understand how you guys were so shocked when other big companies have no problem with this and it is such a non-issue with them. What companies do you rent from?
Thanks for all that support fellow consumers!
Also, one of the biggest car rental companies, Avis lets you do one way rentals, picking up from one location and dropping off at another. A friend of mine actually rented with them recently and dropped off in another state with no problem. I did not want to rent with them though because to return it where I live, I would have had to go much farther away from home and wind up taking transportation home afterward.
Hertz, another huge car rental company also lets you do this. Apparently, the jerk in Raleigh was right, I should have rented with someone else. I just know better for next time though. My whole point to posting my complaint was to vent and my despair over their lack of understanding and their rush right out of the gate to be totally rude to me. That was unwarranted. Then to lie to me and tell me what they were going to charge me, disregard my phone calls and charge me whatever they felt like was my actual issue. I thought this was very sneaky and let me tell you THAT WAS BALLSY!
So again, now explain to me how this was ballsy and flippant on my part? I don't understand how you guys were so shocked when other big companies have no problem with this and it is such a non-issue with them. What companies do you rent from?
Thanks for all that support fellow consumers!
Posted by markml on 2007-07-03:
I can definitely understand your frusteration and plight. And I do think that poor level of customer service should be unacceptable, but unfortunately it is not surprising for a rental car company.
However, to consider it from their perspective, the reason they wanted to charge you so much is because they now have the hassle of transporting the car back to Raleigh (i.e. they have to hire a driver to take it back, pay for the gas, and the car is not making money for them while it's not being rented). It probably would have been cheaper for you to drive the car back yourself and then take a bus home.
Also, certainly not all stores will accept a return from another location. The ones that have really large inventories and distribution systems (like Walmart probably) will, because they get huge shipments everyday, so even if someone bought all of one item at a store and returned it to another store, it wouldn't effect them that much.
This is obviously not true of car rental agencies, which can only have a small finite number of cars at every lot. When you return the Raleigh car somewhere else, that is one less car they have in the lot, because they probably don't get new cars delivered everyday.
I'm not sure how Avis and Hertz manage to do one-way rentals so easily, but my guess is that it is easier for them because they are much larger companies. Also, I think they generally charge much more than Enterprise for their rentals, so in some cases, the price of "one-way" is built-in to the rental fee.
Still, the customer service was very unacceptable. Thanks for the advice about Enterprise.
However, to consider it from their perspective, the reason they wanted to charge you so much is because they now have the hassle of transporting the car back to Raleigh (i.e. they have to hire a driver to take it back, pay for the gas, and the car is not making money for them while it's not being rented). It probably would have been cheaper for you to drive the car back yourself and then take a bus home.
Also, certainly not all stores will accept a return from another location. The ones that have really large inventories and distribution systems (like Walmart probably) will, because they get huge shipments everyday, so even if someone bought all of one item at a store and returned it to another store, it wouldn't effect them that much.
This is obviously not true of car rental agencies, which can only have a small finite number of cars at every lot. When you return the Raleigh car somewhere else, that is one less car they have in the lot, because they probably don't get new cars delivered everyday.
I'm not sure how Avis and Hertz manage to do one-way rentals so easily, but my guess is that it is easier for them because they are much larger companies. Also, I think they generally charge much more than Enterprise for their rentals, so in some cases, the price of "one-way" is built-in to the rental fee.
Still, the customer service was very unacceptable. Thanks for the advice about Enterprise.
Posted by leopard on 2007-07-13:
I worked in the car rental for 3 years at hertz, and I have a friend at enterprise. The reasons you can rent 1 way from Hertz, Avis, and a few other companies is because they are corporately owned. enterprise is different. Each branch is individual, and owned by that particular branch. They are permitted to share cars with other branches in the same metropolitan area. The reason the agent was so upset, is because now he has to fly an employee to new york to retrieve his property and endure large expenses for airline tickets and the cost of driving the car back to its home area. All of this expence which Im sure will come to a lot more than the $900 you were charged will come directly off his bottom line. Car rental employees' pay comes mainly from profit after overhead. Because of this incident, this particular branch will probably not profit this quarter. Car rental offices are always run with only 3-5 employees per branch, and it sounds like this raleigh branch is in a very busy location. so for your failure to read your contract or throughly read the website, you are taking an employee away for up to 2-3 days to retrieve your car. Next time, take your time, even if it is busy to fully understatnd your contract, and read it completely before you leave the area.
Posted by mcm on 2008-02-12:
The same thing happened to me; I made the reservation online for a van in San Francisco, and called to confirm; when asked where I was going, I said "moving to Portland".. no one said "you can't drop off the vehicle there!"
They were shocked when I returned the van. It would NEVER have occurred to me that they do not do one-way rentals. My rental time period would have been close to physically impossible; I would've had to drive to Portland, then automatically turn back around to drop off the van in SF again, making no stops for gas!! If it's such an issue getting a vehicle back, common sense would suggest that they'd ask where I intended to return the van.
Now they want to charge me over a $1000; I'm disputing the charges on my card and having them removed, and fighting it as much as I can.
I'm taking the issue to a local news show as well; I won't pay more than was originally quoted to me without a fight. If I made a mistake by missing the fine print in the contract, then so did they, by not asking where I would return the vehicle. They need to own up to their unclear reservation policies and unhelpful, clueless customer service.
They were shocked when I returned the van. It would NEVER have occurred to me that they do not do one-way rentals. My rental time period would have been close to physically impossible; I would've had to drive to Portland, then automatically turn back around to drop off the van in SF again, making no stops for gas!! If it's such an issue getting a vehicle back, common sense would suggest that they'd ask where I intended to return the van.
Now they want to charge me over a $1000; I'm disputing the charges on my card and having them removed, and fighting it as much as I can.
I'm taking the issue to a local news show as well; I won't pay more than was originally quoted to me without a fight. If I made a mistake by missing the fine print in the contract, then so did they, by not asking where I would return the vehicle. They need to own up to their unclear reservation policies and unhelpful, clueless customer service.
Posted by michigan-mom on 2008-09-23:
I feel bad for you, but be glad it was not HERTZ!
I had a 35 DAY one way rental from HERTZ.
My personal car burned so I had to wait on the insurance co. I returned the car and had the same problem with returning it. Prior to dropping off the car I had talked to the HERTZ Corporate Office and the Alpena MI location where I rented the car from to clear the drop off and still had the same problem. I requested they send me a bill when they had it figured out and never received one. I had used my Debit card to secure the car so they attempted to run the charge through my checking account sending everything flying.
KIA SPECTRA
TOTAL CHARGE FOR 35 DAYS @ $129.00 per day
$4921.26
Their web page says: Competitive rates with no separate Drop-Off Fees.
I could have bought the car for that.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS! no matter how small
I had a 35 DAY one way rental from HERTZ.
My personal car burned so I had to wait on the insurance co. I returned the car and had the same problem with returning it. Prior to dropping off the car I had talked to the HERTZ Corporate Office and the Alpena MI location where I rented the car from to clear the drop off and still had the same problem. I requested they send me a bill when they had it figured out and never received one. I had used my Debit card to secure the car so they attempted to run the charge through my checking account sending everything flying.
KIA SPECTRA
TOTAL CHARGE FOR 35 DAYS @ $129.00 per day
$4921.26
Their web page says: Competitive rates with no separate Drop-Off Fees.
I could have bought the car for that.
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS! no matter how small
Posted by Gwen on 2012-08-13:
I feel for you. I agree they should have took the time and explain that to you. I'm going one way but returning to an airport but I had to do it by phone. The local place was going to charge me for one way. This saved me $50.00. I haven't pick up the car yet but I can't wait til I show them my reservation. They also put ahold on your bank account of $150.00 til you return the car. It's very confusing but you would think that they would have explain it to you. They did to me and then I decided to call the main company. You can take it to any airport free of charge.
Posted by Tony on 2013-05-23:
I have rented twice from Enterprise in the last few months with both being one way rentals and I had no problems. First rental I needed a car because mine was totaled in an accident - I rented in San Jose and dropped in Monterey. They told me there would be a $75 drop fee, but they forgot to put in the computer, so when I dropped off, I wasn't charged. Second rental was to move from Monterey, CA to SLC, UT. I reserved online the one way rental and then called to confirm the pricing and policy on miles. My quoted rental price included the mileage and drop fee in the rate (no extras). When I dropped in Utah, I had no problems. I have had nothing but great experiences with Enterprise. (I do book through USAA, though for a member discount - don't know if that makes a difference?)
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