Failing Enterprise FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):

Q: Is It "Enterprise Rent-A-Car" Or "Enterprise Rent A Car"?

Their official name is "Enterprise Rent-A-Car", but from what I've seen, most people spell it "Enterprise Rent A Car" in casual use, without the hyphens. I use "Enterprise Rent-A-Car" on the more formal explanation pages, but use the more common "Enterprise Rent A Car" on pages designed to show search engines what we're all about. My goal is to reach as many people as possible, so I'm making the site as friendly as possible for how people actually perform searches.

Q: What Advice Do You Have For Other Renters?

If you can avoid renting from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, stay away! Your time and money are valuable and the gravity-defying verbal gymnastics they use to weasel out of their obligations are just tiring. Other rental car companies don't do these things; they want your business and they're willing to earn it.

And it's not just at this one location. Enterprise employees from the U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K. have contributed thousands of messages on the discussion board making it abundantly clear these problems exist throughout the company.

Q: What Advice Do You Have For Enterprise Rent-A-Car Management?

Andrew C. Taylor, Chairman and CEO, shame on you! When your father founded this company, his ethics and reputation were paramount. It appears you've let your moneymen talk you into a series of increasingly unethical compromises to improve profitability. You're now leading a Failing Enterprise!

Stop bragging on your web site about your "Founding Values", and start practicing them. You could start small and I could help you. Begin at 727 Folsom Street here in San Francisco.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Employees Could Benefit From Reading This Book

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Chairman and CEO Andrew C. Taylor
Andrew C. Taylor
Chairman and CEO
Shame, Shame, Shame!

Q: What Are Your Intentions For This Web Site?

I hope at least some of the senior managers genuinely want Enterprise to be a good corporate citizen and strike a fair, sustainable balance between profitability and treating their customers well. And I want them to be profitable and to treat their customers well, partially because I have a family-owned business (just like Enterprise) and I have the same goals for my organization. But I think they've gotten off track lately, and have let management pursue their financial incentives so aggressively they're no longer honoring their founding values.

On twelve occasions, I've talked with counter agents, branch managers and vice presidents about these issues, but all I seem to get is this:

An acknowledgement of the problems
Agreement that they've failed to provide even minimally-acceptable customer service
Multiple robotic repetitions of the phrase "We want you to be completely satisfied"
Silence or outright refusal when I ask them to make the necessary changes

Maybe, if enough people see this web site and enter into a dialogue with Enterprise Rent-A-Car employees and management, they will come to recognize what they're doing and get back on track.

I mean no harm to Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I resort to the Internet only because twelve previous attempts to communicate with them have failed.

They don't seem to be listening to their customers through any normal process. If they have Internet access, maybe this message will sneak in through some unofficial channel.

Q: If The Service Is So Bad, Why Do You Keep Renting From Enterprise Rent-A-Car?

For several reasons:

Their office is a short walk around the corner. My time is valuable and this initial convenience is worth a lot.
I've only just now figured out that these problems are systemic. I kept thinking it was just a fluke.
I've been really busy and perhaps was refusing to acknowledge the emerging pattern as I didn't want to have to look for a new place to rent cars.
I'm an optimistic guy. The glass is half full, the worst is behind us, and it's going to be a bright day. I'm confident that Enterprise Rent-A-Car management really does want to please their customers, and that this situation will correct itself. Maybe this web site will help things along.

Since I created this web site, I haven't been back, but I'd like to. I hope they can fix their problems so I can go back to being a regular customer again.

Q: Have You Heard From Other Customers About Their Experiences?

The feedback I've received from both employees and customers is consistent:

I've accurately described their business practices
They do this at essentially all their branches, in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Ireland, and in the U.K.
It's profitable, so they have no intention of changing
It drives their employees and customers crazy

Q: How Much Fun Did You Have Creating Failing Enterprise?

Quite a lot, actually.

I'm only one person, but I've got a compelling story to tell, and I believe in the power of doing your homework, getting your facts straight, thinking clearly, and then writing clearly. While it's true they've got 6,000 rental locations and 60,000 employees, I've got a simple web site, so it's a fair fight.

Q: How Long Did It Take To Create Failing Enterprise?

About half a day total, including the Internet plumbing, making that cool logo parody at the top of the page, and creating the content. I've made some updates since then.

Q: How Much Time Do You Spend On This?

I spend a few minutes per day trying to keep up with the new discussion board postings. It takes a few minutes per week to post the fan mail, horror stories, and make blog entries, and I occasionally make small improvements.

Q: How Can I Contact The Owner Of This Site?

You can send e-mail to: comments2 ((at)) failingenterprise ((dot)) com.
Send Fan Mail if you wish.

Q: Why Don't You Put Your Name On The Site?

The site isn't about me. It's about Enterprise Rent-A-Car and their unethical and probably illegal behavior and I want to keep the focus on them. I can understand how some people would want to leverage ownership of a popular site like this to try to become famous or get on TV. I'm not trying to do any of that.

Enterprise knows who I am, and how to contact me. On the day the site first went public, I contacted Enterprise through several channels and gave them my contact information and I now have regular two-way communication with them. Failing Enterprise isn't "rogue", "underground" or an "outlaw" in any way.

Q: Has Enterprise Contacted You About This Site?

Yes, they have. Two VP's came out within a week to visit and talk. They were unhelpful and unrepentant. They said "Now we know what we need to work on", left, and I haven't heard from them since.

The GM for California and Hawaii called at one point, mostly to complain about some messages on the discussion board. It was obvious he hadn't even read the site. He mistakenly thought I was a former employee (I am not). After reading the site, he apologized, called back and said, about my local San Francisco branch, "I can't believe they're still in business!". Of course, that's a branch that reports to him...

An in-house attorney has contacted me a couple of times to complain about some of the postings on the discussion board. She also frightened our spineless third-party discussion board host into closing us down, so now we're hosting in-house, and she tried to frighten my ISP, who wasn't born yesterday.

Q: Has Enterprise Sued Or Threatened To Sue?

No. I have worked very hard from the beginning to ensure I don't violate any of their legal rights. I've retained one of the best Internet and intellectual property attorneys in the U.S. to ensure that I stay well within the bounds of free speech. It is our well-considered position that there's no possible basis for winning a suit against Failing Enterprise, although we understand that not all suits filed are intended to be won. In the event we are sued, we have a plan on the shelf that we will swing into action.

Further, we have regular two-way communications with Enterprise; they know I'm a reasonable guy and they can talk with me at any time. On occasion, they've objected to postings on the discussion board that I also found objectionable, and I've removed them. I'm sure they're not happy with the existence of Failing Enterprise, or its content, but we have a proven record of open communications.

Q: Have You Ever Worked For Enterprise?

No. My relationship with Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been only that of a customer. I've never been an employee or vendor or anything else. I've never worked for an insurance company or car company either. Before renting from them, I never even knew anyone who worked for Enterprise. My efforts here are purely the result of my experiences as a customer. It's true that I've become a lot more informed about Enterprise and its practices since I started the site, but, again, my only relationship with them is that of a customer.

Q: Do You Still Rent From Enterprise?

I'm taking a break. Things are so bad there I really don't want to go through the hassles, delays and lies, etc. all over again. For the time being, I'm renting regularly from another national chain just a few blocks away. The comparison between them and Enterprise is like night and day. They really provide great service. I hope to go back to being a regular Enterprise customer as soon as possible, for a couple of reasons: Their office is located right around the corner from my building, and their prices (at least their base prices) are low. But they need to correct these obvious problems first.

Q: Are You Really Being Truthful On This Site?

Yes, absolutely, and for a couple of reasons. First, I'm an honest guy and have found that my life is so much simpler if I just quietly tell the truth. All sorts of problems just never appear. Second, my attorney has advised me, unnecessarily, to always be completely truthful on the site and to have the proof to back it up. There are a lot of ways to get sued, such as for libel or slander, and truth-telling would be a key component of our defense.

And there's no reason for me to lie. The truth was so shockingly appalling all I had to do was to lay out the facts.

Q: Do You Have Any Advice For People Wanting To Create A Similar Site For A Different Company?

Yes, two things. First of all, do your homework, get your facts straight, think clearly and then write clearly. You really need to know want you want to say and then say it well.

Secondly, talk with an internet and intellectual property attorney first. I recommend you consider using the firm we use. There are a lot of ways to step wrong on a site like this, and quickly find yourself sued for libel, slander, threats, extortion, trademark violation, defamation, etc. I'm not an attorney, but the way I understand how it works is that if you stay within the protective bounds of free speech, you've actually got a fairly strong position. But it's easy to step wrong and get sued. It's best to avoid the problems altogether.

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More on Enterprise car rental at the Failing Enterprise home page.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Is A Failing Enterprise!