Part II: Oh it's True, Enterprise Rent a Car is Evil
My credit card is being held hostage by Enterprise Rent a car. I signed a waiver stating I was not responsible for the car. I then get a call about that so called "waiver."
My mobile rings....
Me: Hello?
Enterprise Rep: Hello, could I speak to Ricardo please?
Me: Speaking.
Enterprise Rep: This is Enterprise Rent a Car calling. Is everything OK with the car?
Me: It is, yes. Thanks.
Enterprise Rep: We just wanted to go over the charges with you.
Me: Well you should have direct billing set up with Chubb.
Enterprise Rep: We do, these are additional charges.
Me: Excuse me?
Enterprise Rep: The insurance you signed off on.
Me: Insurance.....I.....
Enterprise Rep: As of now the charges are 267 dollars. That's a 16 dollar a day charge plus taxes and fees.
Me: Wait, you're saying I owe this!?!?
Enterprise Rep: Yes.
Me: Well hold, on what exactly is this "insurance" I signed off on?
Enterprise Rep: The damage waiver.
Me: Whoa, hold on here...no one told me it was 16 bucks a day! Don't you think you should tell the customer about this before they sign? Had you told me that, I wouldn't have signed a thing.
Enterprise Rep: Yeah well...it's 267 dollars and is 16 dollars a day until you return the car.
Me: No wait, excuse me, we're stopping this.....NOW. You don't tell me one thing and hide the fact that I'm getting hit with 16 bucks a day. Take this policy off.
Enterprise Rep: You'll have to bring the car in for inspection in order for us to do that.
Fine, I'll bring their fucking car in for inspection, but after I do some kvetching. I call Enterprise Corporate.
Customer Service Rep: Thank you for calling Enterprise customer service. How may I help you?
Me: How can you help me....that's......that's a good question. I like that. How can you help me. How about.....how about you do some explaining about how you guys run shop first. Then we can see if you can help me.
Customer Service Rep: What seems to be the problem?
Me: My problem is that I'm given a piece of paper to sign as I'm getting ready to drive off and your employee says it's a waiver. Doesn't say anything more. I sign it and I find out now that I owe 267 friggin' dollars! What is this? Is this the way you do things at Enterprise? You sell your useless extras by telling half truths? Why was I not told of these fees? Do I have to go report this to The Better Business Bereau? The State Attorney General maybe? You see, I already have car insurance so if they had been honest with me I wouldn't have singed the thing because I don't NEED it! You also put several hundred bucks on my credit card and I can't use it now!! Also, no one at the local Enterprise office seems to care!! So explain to me.....what is....all of.....THIS? What? What? What are you really doing here? Tell me...please.....
Customer Service Rep: Um.....I'm going to give you the number of the field manager in your area.
I get the number and explain the story to the nice woman at the Enterprise field office that seems sympathetic to my quandary. She takes my number and tells me that the district manager will call. He never does, but the Enterprise office that I rented from does.
A woman claiming to be the manager rings me.
Me: Hello?
Manager: Hi, is this Ricardo?
Me: Yes.....
Manager: This is Enterprise, I'm the manager and I hear that you were not aware of the charges on our waiver agreement?
Me: No. You've employed some very deceptive tactics. My signature is there based on bad info. This is unacceptable.
Manager: Bring the car back down for inspection and we can talk about this privately and put an end to all of this.
Me: Fine. Tomorrow good?
Judgement Day at Enterprise
I pulled into the lot of Enterprise. My blood was boiling. Enough that if nudged the wrong way, I could wind up causing a scene. I recalled a conversation that I had with a woman I worked with at my last job who saw me in this state as I was getting ready to rip my former bank to shreds for wrongfully charging me overdraft fees. She told me ditch the anger if it's a woman and use my "charm." I asked what she meant by that. She explained that I was very charming and if I used that while looking into her eyes and giving a warm smile, she'd give me back the money wrongfully charged. I was not aware of my so called "charm" but I used it and got my money back. As I counted to 20 trying to calm down, I felt that maybe I could use it here too. But I wasn't feeling the "charm" so I said fuck it. I went in angry.
I stood at the front desk behind a man who needed directions but kept changing his destination, so they would have to get a new set of directions every other minute. If he weren't elderly I would have considered throwing him through the window. But I'm not that evil. After 10 excruciating minutes the manager came and greeted me.
Manager: Ricardo?
Me: Yep.
Manger: Sorry about all of this confusion. We'll inspect the car and if there's no damage we may be able to do something.
We go out and inspect the car. No damage.
Manager: Why did you sign this?
Me: I signed it because no one told me that is came at a cost, just that I waived responsibility of the car. This is not a waiver, it's insurance and your man should have been up front with that.
Manager: No it's a waiver. That's what we call it. It's a waiver of collision and liability.
Me: Call it whatever you want! If I have to pay for it, it's something more than just a waiver and you have to tell me this! You didn't. Your man lied.
Manager: Well let's have a look at what we can do.
Once back inside, she issues me a new set of papers and begins typing numbers into the computer.
Manager: Well, I can't give you all the money back but we can pay for some. You did sign it. We can cover everything up to 100 dollars. So...you'd still owe us 100. I don't have the authority to go any further.
Me: Really?
Manager: That's the best we can do.
Me: And you'll place these charges after I return the car and reimburse the hundreds you have on it now.
Manager: Correct.
Me: I think we have ourselves a deal.
Actually, we didn't. I had my fingers crossed. If she didn't have the authority to wipe the charges clean, I would talk to someone that could; the district manager who never called me back.
I placed a call to the field office again. I explained that 100 dollars was still unacceptable. The woman on the other line assured me that he would call and he did.
District Manager: Hi Ricardo, I'm returning your call. Sorry I didn't the first time but the office you rented from told me that everything was taken care of.
Me: No it wasn't. I still owe 100 dollars and while I appreciate her efforts, and I'm still paying for a lie. I let it go with her because she claimed she didn't have the authority so I'm done talking to her and I want to continue this with you.
District Manager: I'm sorry about all of this. You're not paying 100 dollars. Look, let me give you my number. If anything else happens, call me.
Success!! I thwarted the deception and discovered that Enterprise was NOT SO EVIL after all. But the joy would be short lived.
The Hubcap
For the first time in a long time the sun was out and the rain from the previous days had washed away the dirt and grime that accumulated on the rental. As I exited the car, something caught my eye....the hubcap. The cheap plastic has scratches on it. did I do this? Was it already there? How did I do it? What will happen?
Then I noticed the other cars in the lot. there were 3 other Nissan Versas with the same hubcaps. All in pristine condition.
It would be dark out soon.....
Not many people would be around......
The lighting in the lot isn't too good.....
Roll the dice Ricardo.....live dangerous...thrive on the adrenaline...
Who would know?
Coming up.....
Advair for asthma sucks and I'll tell you why.
And....
Jewish matchmaking. A gateway to hell or an effort of goodwill? I'm in the crosshairs.
19 PEOPLE HAVE UNLOADED:
oh god I'll keep my fingers crossed for you....
Do it! Steal the hubcab! Do it!
Ask your matchmakers if they know any nice Jewish boys in my area. There has to be at least one. LOL
It's an even exchange. You get a hubcap and don't have to deal with the remainder of their 'bs.' And they'll have to deal with replacing the damaged one.
With all they put you through... Go for it.
Shame you had to escalate the situations.
Dood...what a NIGHTMARE. I can't even imagine.
but wait... are you getting back all the $ or just 100$.....??
boo for crappy service!
Monique - Thinking about it. And I'm sure there are some great Jewish boys in the area. I'll see what I can do.
Urban - Yeah I there is a way out of this hubcap situation. I will figure it out. They should just leave me alone.
Meleah - I will get back all the money they put on my credit card when I return the car. And I now owe them nothing in that "waiver" money. They wanted me to pay 100 bucks of the 267 but I got out of that too.
So, to break it down, they put 300 bucks on my card just to rent it and then wanted another 267 for the stupid insurance. That's 567 bucks!!!!!
Keep in mind that the 300 they throw on your card to rent and don't tell you about is always given back to you when you return it. They don't consider that a real charge. So if you have to rent, watch out for that one.
ALF - How bad does this suck!!!!?! Boo!
One: You are a badass. I would have just shrugged and chocked it if to, "You KNOW better than to sign something you haven't read."
Two: Charm works. i.e., nudie pics post.
Three: I have had this Advair refill script in my pocket for a week, waiting on that post of yours. GET TYPING! :)
(heavy sigh) well done brother.
just imagine how many people get "policied" to death over things like that and don`t have the structures in language and assertiveness to get thier money back.
i like when the manager said for you to come down and discuss the matter privately......another way of saying let`s hush this up.
that was a show of weakness on her part, and a signal for you to hold your ground.
again, well done.
YAY! I'm so happy that you got your money back. I used to work for a company that shall remain nameless that actually instructed us on how to have customers basically sign away every right they had without ever knowing...BOO! Corporations suck!
Looking forward to hear about advair. I took it for about one week once. Yuck!
Mr.Lady - No messes with me like that. If you do you will know you have been in a fight. I never make it easy for people to just take my money through those kinds of means.
Don't you dare fill that Advair script! It's the spawn of Satan.
Whether you sign something or not, nothing is etched in stone if you know how and where to squeeze. And squeeze hard.
And you were being much to hard on yourself in that post. I saw honesty and confidence build as you kept writing and that is beautiful. I will be a total pain in the ass.
Dr.A - Good of you to notice that she wanted to put the issue down quick. By applying pressure at the top is has nowhere to move but down, if they are smart. If it moves up, they have a death wish and sticking with the attack will only yield greater rewards. Therefore they will apply pressure downward to shut the customer up.
Leah -I have said it on your blog, I will say it once more on this blog, the picture is classic!
I bet they taught you all sorts of semantics to get the customer to empty their wallet on things they didn't need. Corporations are evil. If they were people they would be the most detestable sociopaths you would ever meet. Actually you kind of have to be one to make it up the ladder at many.
And Advair sucks. Glad you no longer take it.
Well done to you on getting it sorted though...normally those situations go the other way, so I'm glad this time it didn't!
Tracey
Those bastards! Good thing you were so persistent. Remember Ric, don't trust whitey.
I think that a lot of companies do things like this because they know that a lot of people will not go through the trouble of trying to straighten it out and they'll get away with it. Since it's all done with credit cards they think that you'll just pay.
I hope things work out for you Ricardo. Enterprise tacked $600+ extra on my card for the stunt I pulled in Napa, but it was well worth it........she even gave me a ride to the airport. ;-)
Oh, by the way.....I thought Leon's post was hilarious! ROTFL
*taps fingers impatiently*
*ahem* ADVAIR?
Tracey - Thanks and you're right. They could have sat back and said, "you signed it." But I was such a pain that they gave in.
Leon - LOL! You reckon it's a racial thing, do you? Time will tell.
BBE - Most people will NOT go through the hassle I did but I contest everything. Never make it easy for people to take your hard earned money without a damn good reason. Even if it's a speeding ticket or something, fight back. Be a pain in the ass.
Clay - Leon's comment made me laugh. I would say that from what I gather of your story, 600 and then some would be a small price to pay for the memories.
Mr. Lady - All in good time my dear. As you can see my guests are still digesting this harrowing tail of consumer fleecing. The story will be up late Wednesday. Get ready.
jesus. at least you got out of THAT mess.....
mental note:
Never use Enterprise and NEVER sign a "waiver"..... wow.
Meleah - Watch your wallet with these assholes!!! BE CAREFUL!
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