Failing Enterprise Fan Mail #101-125

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(new letters get added at the top)

It's easy to send us fan mail:  just send an e-mail to comments2 ((at)) failingenterprise ((dot)) com.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Good luck.  Maintain the rage.

LJG

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Everything you say is true.

M.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Thank you so much for this page! and this Discussion board!

you really helped me in a bind.. I will see what happens from here...

H.C.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

A lot of what I've read reads true and I think most of the people in my group are fundamentally good. We recently lost an HR recruiter and an Area Manager in the span of 2-3 weeks out of my group. Most people in my branch have fall back jobs in case the "Fit hits the Shan " and more people start leaving.

Thank You for this site as well. It just helps me realize that I am not the only person feeling what I am feeling/experiencing because it's happening here in my group as well.

G.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

After looking at your terrific website, I am interested in starting my own to tell my own horror story regarding Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Great site and message board -- your altruism is an inspiration.

Thanks, Y.K.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I came across your website when searching for groups to join on www.facebook.com, and found: (IWHERAC Individuals Who Hate Enterprise Rent A Car!!) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2215389790.

I must say your website has been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me and at first was a slight addiction getting caught up on all the great posts on the site! My experience at Enterprise was so on par with a lot of the other people's posts, and I feel very lucky to have only spent 10 months at ERAC. Your postcard program sounds like such a great idea and hopefully the employees that can still use the internet will view your site and get out of the ERAC dream before it is too late. I realized ERAC was not for me when my branch manager, who was one of the more successful branch managers, was fired without notice and driven home late one night after work. I see that from the numerous posts nothing has changed and I might even dare to say things have gotten worse! I really just wanted to give the creators of www.failingenterprise.com a big thumbs up and its great to see that something good may come of the several bad experiences that many people have had at ERAC.

R - Toronto, ON, Canada

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I used to work for ERAC, specifically the branch that is the subject of your complaints, and while you were renting there. So, we have met. At any rate, the girl that was the manager at the time lost her job-they said that no one else had ever had a website made about their branches. The awful thing was, only three of your ten bad rentals were from her-the rest were from the person who preceded her. Clearly the operating policy at ERAC has a lot to do with the problem.

I felt really terrible that she took the blame and the brunt for something she really didn't cause. I was there, and I saw her do everything she could to get you the right car on a holiday, while her boss, Derek Watts, ignored calls for cars. If I remember right, he was golfing. The point is, the managers can only do so much. Their higher ups screw them and then tell them to suck it up and figure it out. Since I have left ERAC I have figured out that all companies do not operate that way. The company I work for now actively asks for feedback on our challenges, and makes adjustments to make it easier for us to make money for them. This is not the case at Enterprise. Addressing frustrations is severely frowned upon. There doesn't seem to be any desire to make the system more efficient. The philosophy there is really to cut as many corners as possible so you can get a paycheck you can kind of live on.

They claim in that Newsweek article that branches are not purposely given few cars. But they are. The managers need to run as "tight" as they can so they make a paycheck. ERAC is also in the habit of adjusting pay plans so that you can't really gain or earn more. When you hit your goals, they either adjust them and make them unattainable, or they adjust your pay percentage in accordance. There is always a golden carrot dangling, but it's never quite reachable. I don't really know my point in writing, I guess it's that while your complaints are valid, they really harmed someone who did their best for you. In the end it was best for her, because I know she has moved on to much better things. Watching all of that happen was really sad and we all felt really terrible-like something very unjust had happened. Then again, none of us work their anymore, so what does that say?

Anonymous

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I can vouch for everything you have said to be true.  I make reservations on line only to get there and wait, and then find out that they did not have the car I had reserved.

One thing you didn't hit on was the late fee.  The last car I rented I waited there for over a hour waiting for a car that they could not find the keys for, even though this was not the one I had reserved.  Upon returning the car I was one hour late, and they had already charged me for a full day (this was the 2nd time this had happened) the first time I just left the car and paid the price, the second time I just took the car back home.

In addition to that the cars were always dirty, burn holes, and filthy seats, and headliners.  Once they asked me to take a car for a oil change, where I had to wait for hours. The personnel there were not very fond of the car company.

The way I ran across this web sight is because I was almost to put in for a reservation, but I couldn't bring my self to do so, because I have already told my self that I was going to stop doing business with them, because they are not people of their word.  I did not think it was fair for me to get into a car the wreaked of marijuana or tobacco smoke, and these people are gone, and are not charged for breaking the agreement.

So, what ever the reason you started this web site I know from experience that everything you have said is true.  I could add more, but it's been said.

E.N.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Thanks for putting up this site.  I work in Canada at a branch and was told by my buddy about this site.  Awesome, and truly a genius move!!!

Anonymous

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I left ERAC 3+ years ago, that was the 2nd best day I've had in the past 10 years since I graduated college, the 1st was getting married, and the 3rd was today... FINDING YOUR SITE...

I went onto a depression after I left because I could not believe I stayed SOOOO long, 7 years... I bounced from JOB to JOB for a year after until I settled into the Insurance Field and have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER...

I was also bought into the CULT of enterprise, I defended it because I had to to keep myself SANE!

4am Repos, being called Cheap because I was jewish by black women and the MGR telling me its OK! What if I uttered b/c you are black to her? I would be out of a job (I wish I'd done that a long time ago)

I left after a VERY VERY hard last year.. Headaches on Sunday nights b4 work were ordinary, I drank 20+ drinks a week b/t all the "Events" ERAC had and at home to try to relax and blow off some steam./

one suggestion I would have, is to have a forum where current employees who are thinking of leaving can get pointers on where to look... I did that and have a wealth of info I can share with MT's AM's and BM's

I went on depression meds for a while too, until I snapped out of it and took control of my life again...I learned a few things after I left

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO get up at 6am and get home at 8pm NOT EAT LUNCH KISS EVERYONE's ASS because if you don't your MGR will and you'll get chewed out anyway

I appreciate this forum, and your hard work to keep it going...

I LOVE that the corp guys take time to go back and forth with you, the 2 vp's you have up in NO CAL used to be down here by me... so I know the people you are dealing with...

all my best and I hope I can contribute to this site.

exgp32mgr---

Dear Failing Enterprise,

What a cool site!!

I was trying to find Enterprise on the web to reserve a rental car next week. Thanks to your site... there is NO WAY I will rent from Enterprise EVER again... unless I'm completely stranded, I have my kids with me, it's raining, with thunder and lightening, a hurricane, an out of control fire and an earthquake - all at once.

Thank you for the site.

J.E.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I was so delighted to find your website.  I rented a series of times from ERAC at the Tampa airport, but now I'm through.  It's exactly as you say: they never have the car in your class; they're always pushing upgrades; and, no matter how times you rent and decline the insurance, you have to go through the same nauseating sales pitch.  I've heard it so many times, I could probably teach the minicourse where they train the employees to try to rip off the customers.

What a garbage-can outfit it is. I stuck with it for the prices which did beat the competition (if you resisted the upgrade offers, and repeated a hundred times that you didn't want the insurance).  It just isn't worth the hassle though, and I'm sick of being put into larger vehicles which I don't want (it doesn't matter than I'm not being charged extra).

I pity the employees who are being turned into these silly talking heads, and probably for lousy wages and benefits.  Surely, it must be possible to nab these people for crossing some lines with their insurance pitch.  They really are misrepresenting the coverage or protection that various credit card companies offer their customers. It's sickening.

-James D'Emilio

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Actually, I was doing some research on Enterprise and I stumbled into this website... because of you, I'm going to have a hard time writing anything good about the company! damn you! damn you to hell!

hahaha, seriously, I'm really amazed at what you've done here... somebody's gotta stand up for consumer rights and the way we get betrayed after believing that a company is supposed to watch out for our welfare... aside from my duties as a business student, I'm an owner of a small backyard business myself, and quite honestly, it's companies like these that give us aspiring businessmen such a bad name... because of companies like these, being an "entrepreneur" and a "businessmen" automatically meant being a "money-grubber", which is actually not the case...

Sincerely, Carlo

P.S. TO YOU E-MAIL HATERS:

you got some nerve telling the guy who built up the site to "do something better with his/her time"... if you're willing to spend a second of your time to view something you hate, then you obviously have more time on your hands than somebody who made a website to accomplish a goal in mind... seriously, if you don't like it, go out there, smoke some weed, plant potatoes and go view something else on the internet, like pr0n for example...

I do agree that this site is for former employees who did not make the cut... I didn't know that tickets to hell had such strict requirements...

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I worked for Enterprise and it SUCKED.  I would cry when I saw how hard I worked and how little my pay was.  They brain wash everyone to bleed green.  Don't waste your time get out while you can.

The individuals who are sending emails in negative emails about this site, I laugh at you!!!!  When I wake up on a Monday morning @ 7:30am you're getting a shit load of returns and when I get out at work at 5pm you're still busting your ass for some fucking ball buster.

I paid over 90K in college fees and have a B.A in Management and I was wasting my money that I spent on college by checking fucking tire pressure, filling up gas, picking some smelling asshole up, selling waiver in the rain.

In conclusion I feel this site is true b/c I lived it and if you feel that it is not and you don't agree with it your a fucking asshole and you should be working at ERAC getting paid shit making scum bags like Andy Taylor, Jack Taylor, Andy Church, Eric Stone, Mike Nigro fucking pockets bulge with money. I will never wear another white shirt again in my whole life. FUCK ESQI.

Employee number 4024*

Kiss my ass!!!!

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Thank you SO much. You guys are wonderful.

K.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

A co-worker told me about your website, and I loved it.  Let me start off with I hate my job, and I work for Enterprise.  I read through your website and I agree with some of it.

Enterprise is a big corporation that is privatley owned, and has all of the problems that corporations have.  Find me one corporation that is perfect.  I have worked for them for over a year, and wish everyday that I could quit.  I live in a small military town where the average pay for a college graduate is between 7-8 $ per hour.  The reason that I stay, is that I have a mortgage and two cars that depend on the pay from Enterprise.

What I hate most about the job is the customers.  I've read through some of the complaints from the customers, but for once think about it from our point of view.  I get up everyday at 530 am to make it to work at 7 am.  I spend the entire day at work and I get home between 630- 7 pm.  I have a husband at a house that I never see.

When you step up to the counter at Enterprise, I have already been there for many hours.  When you complain because your insurance company is only paying $20 per day, well that is because that is what your cheap ass purchased on your policy.  You have a choice on how much rental reimbursement is available when you purchase your premium every year.  When you have only $20 per day, it is because you wanted your premium as low as you could get it.  It is not that we are "out" of $20 cars, we don't have any to begin with.  Per insurance agreements with national companies, there are no rates that are under $20.

When you step up to the counter and are upset that it will take so long for your car to get fixed at the body shop, they are not part of our company.  I realize that your insurance agent has "already set up the reservation for you", however what that really means is, give the Enterprise employee your claim number and they will do all the work.  The reservation has not already been set up and there is not a car waiting, no matter what your insurance agent told you.

Let's move on to CDW.  If you don't want it, fine.  However don't yell at me when you park it in the parking lot somewhere and someone else breaks something on it.  Or when someone hits you and I have to collect your deductible.  You said you didn't want to pay for it, and declining it says that you can afford to pay for any damage.  You are stupid for not taking it, but it is your choice.  I cannot count the number of times that a customer has walked in, and had the balls to yell at me for damage that occurred while it was in their possession.  Who would you yell at if it was your own car on your own insurance?  I am tired of taking crap from customers that has nothing to do with me.  I understand that it is completely my fault that you wanted to keep your premiums low and have $20 toward a rental, it is completely my fault that someone else hit your car and now its in the shop, it is completely my fault that the body shop was delayed and put the wrong bumper on it, and of course it is my fault you didn't take CDW and now we are looking at a shattered windshield that you are right, you shouldn't have to pay for that.  What I want you to realize when you walk up to my counter in a bad mood for something that is not my fault, please realize that I have already been there since literally the crack of dawn, that I have already washed probably no less than 10 cars, that I have already been yelled at by 5 other people for something that had nothing to do with me, I probably have not had anything to eat since I left my house at 630 am, I have a family at home that I never see, and I am making a measly $12 an hour to stand there, take your crap, try everything to be nice to you, check you into your car as quickly as I can, and make sure that you were completely satisfied.

I am 24 years old, I have a husband and a house to care for.  I am tired, I am worn out, I am exhausted, I will not deny that I have a few premature grey hairs.  I used to be a fun loving person, I used to smile all the time, I used to be friendly, and I used to be more energetic.  Enterprise is hard, and it is long hours.  Days are great when people pull their head out of their ass and act like adults at my counter.  Days are longer when people are not understanding and are rude for crap that is not my fault.  We are all human and we all make mistakes.  When you get up to my counter and you yell at me, I realize that you are making a mistake and I forgive that.  However you can't forgive that I am human when I make a mistake. I hope that this website allows you all to vent the same way it has me, however vent to the website and do not take it out on the poor person at the counter.  They have been there all day, they miss their family, and they make crap for money.

Give them a break!!!!

-Exhausted Enterprise Employee

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I couldn't stop laughing while reading your site.  It's GREAT and so true.  I worked at ERAC for almost 6 years, four as a branch manager.  I bought into the "GREEN HAZE" right out of college.  I was straight out of college without experience, fast tracked up the corporate ladder and making descent money.  I won every "prize" a manager could win, including the "President's Award" for performance.

The formula for success at ERAC is simple:

SELL UP, SELL DUB (damage waiver), RUN TIGHT

That is everything that is good and bad about ERAC in one statement.

I woke from the haze when I realized I wasn't contributing to humanity and I couldn't even have conversations with quality people about joining the company.  I realized they were not doing the right thing, which continues today.  How can something as simple as renting cars become so evil?

H F R - So Cal

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I have to say I love your site.  As a former employee of Enterprise it brings me joy to read the comments posted on your site.  I love the "hate mail" because those individuals are the real losers.

I can agree with you about the service from a customer's perspective, but to be honest with you, some of them got what they deserved (even though they weren't the majority).  I'm not even going to lie, I half way checked the cars for damage and would rent a car with no gas in a heartbeat.  I did feel bad for customers when I had to lie and say that we had to pick up a car from another office or it was getting an oil change all because we did not have it.

I really HATED Enterprise because of the way they treated their employees.  I began as an intern and stayed on after I graduated.  I worked in Group 17 (Philly) and 18 (Baltimore) and at 5 branches and a satellite.  As an intern in 17 I got paid $10/hour, however, in Group 18 they paid me $8.50/hour.  I worked as an intern my senior year in college and tried to escape, but I thought that I couldn't find anything worth leaving for (I was so wrong).

When I came on full-time in Group 18, I found out that basically everything I did as an intern meant nothing and I would have to start from scratch.  They told me that I would make $32k my first year, but that just did not add up with the $10.53/hour I got working full time.  The best part is when they raised the base pay by a whole $0.15/hour and sent an MS01 spreading the news.  Which added an extra $11.54 to my pay check!?!?!?!? I should get excited over that?  Anyway, then I found out that I have to work 1 month from 7:30 to 6:30 or later for 5 days a week and get 1 vacation day a month with a limit of 7 per year?  And only 6 holidays off?  All of this for that little bit of money they were paying me?

Then working in the Mid-Atlantic during the winter is not the best time to wash cars in 35 degree weather or after it snowed.  And the summer is no picnic either when the heat index is 110 degrees.  All of this for the little bit of money they were paying me?

What sense does it make for me to go to school for 4 years to come out and make $10.53/hour, work 11 hours a day, and get limited to wearing a white shirt everyday?  It doesn't make sense, I don't even need a degree and can get paid more than that almost anywhere doing less.

For those of you that are cracked enough to still be there and get excited because you are an Assistant manager or Branch manager, your getting butt raped.  The government takes 40% of your little bonuses anyway.  Thankfully, I got out of there after 18 months (only 6 months full time).  Currently, I'm working for a company with a net worth over 1 trillion dollars that will pay for me to go back to get a graduate degree and respect it, making 60+% more, working 17 less hours a week, getting semi-annual bonuses that make ESQI and all of your other bonuses look like a joke, getting 4 weeks vacation and 10 holidays off, going to company functions that make city dinners look elementary, doing 85% less work, and enjoying the fact that I am at home chilling while ERAC employees are are trying to sell some waiver or washing a pick-up truck in a shirt and tie.  All of this is a job that is really what your college degree is worth, not trying to take someone's deductible for a ding that can be popped out and the person 5 rentals prior did it. So for you losers, don't try to say that I couldn't cut it; I know what I am worth, unlike the rest of you idiots.

Ricky Walker

P.S. For the current employees, do the research you are being butt raped your college degree is worth so much more. Get out it's never too late. And 1821 lick my nuts. I'm out.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Love your site.  From hearing about it from some former & current co-workers, I ran into it a couple years (unfortunately it took me that much longer to come to my senses) before I left the green monkey.  It's pretty funny...lots of employees pass the word around about the site & it drives the suits crazy!

MY STORY:

Like many unwilling & unsuspecting college graduates, it was my first job (I like how they call a cult a "career") after I got my degree.  I was too damn anxious to start a career & stop waiting tables (though I made more money doing that than renting cars in a suit).  I was also too lazy to look into other things & was "employee referred" by my former green bleeder & sister (she wised up much sooner than me & now makes a ton of money working as rep for a major Pharm Company).

Like many folks who visit your website, I got so many horror stories but so little time...reading some of the emails & postings are a riot and hit frightfully too close to home...you see, from rental, I threw myself into a worse pit...ADMIN...that's where I wasted more formidable years spinning my wheels and working my arse off while my manager left early everyday (when she showed up) & made 6 figures for doing not much of anything while my salary could barely pay for all my living expenses and post-college debt like student loans.

After 6 and a half years I said enough is enough & did the unthinkable...went to work for an insurance company!  At least they pay you very well for hard work, there exists a true career path with real training and development, and there doesn't exist that bizarre good ol' boy, "white shirt & tie", happy hour to ease the pain, rah-rah sales & marketing outbursts, "what will I do if I don't pass the grille?!?!" fear & ridicule amongst your peers, "sell CDW or get fired" phobia, the fascist corporate cult nonsense...you get the picture...especially if you wasted time working for them...it was worse than some episodes of Survivor at times...I made it out & did pretty well for myself like most people do but just take so dang long to figure out--like I said, it took me over 6 freakin' years & that's like some major prime time when you a college graduate & sweating your education away on some nasty and disgusting rental cars and rude customers...really, and we went to college for this???

-Free at Last

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Hi there, I work for enterprise in the UK.

Same story here, exactly the same little traps, rubbish pay, annoying service and bizarre management styles that actually hinder getting people the cars they want.

They have an unofficial policy where they prioritise reservations, leaving anyone who books in good faith over the internet is in serious trouble, as they will be on the bottom of the pile.  Corporate first, insurance then retail then retail internet.  Forget getting a van at the weekend, not going to happen.  Also, due to the hierarchy in the company, your sniveling manager will decide who can have cars and who can't and then promptly get their trainees to inform the customers when they arrive at the branch while they hide in their offices.  After the trainee has been verbally abused for half an hour, the manager then comes out and explains how they would have handled the situation, and critiques the trainees approach to customer service!!!  Outrageous cowardice followed by a stab in the back and an air of superiority.

I really do feel for half of the company's employees because they are good people, however, the good and honest ones cannot progress up the ladder to make changes because promotion is based on sales figures and numbers, which you simply cant get if you have a soul/don't like to screw people over/have an ounce of morality or whatever.

The pay is atrocious for new trainees and the hours often exceed 55 hours per week.

It's not just enterprise, other rental companies have other ingenious ways to screw you over too, but i have only worked for ERAC and so here is my two cents.

By the way, I hand my notice in this week. Id rather be poor than be miserable.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I was told about your website yesterday by an equally ticked off co-worker, and I love it!  I have worked for Enterprise for 3 and a half months, and have basically been wanting to get out for two months.  Just about everything in your discussion area is right on the money and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I t's like I just found a support group for employees of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.  Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Nigel York (obviously not my real name) from group 39

Dear Failing Enterprise,

We reserved a mini van July 10, 2006 at the Enterprise outlet in Astoria, or, to be picked up at noon on August 7, 2006.  We needed the van to drive to Portland Airport to pickup our grandchildren who were coming from Denver for a week's visit.

On August 5, 2006 we confirmed by telephone.  At noon on August 7, 2006, we drove to Astoria to pick up van and were told they did not have one but would deliver one to our house by late afternoon.  We felt we should at least have been notified by phone that Enterprise would not deliver as promised.  Portland is a two hours drive from Astoria and we had to leave our house by 5:00 a.m.  We just could not rely on Enterprise to keep their word.

I would not be comfortable making a reservation with Enterprise again.  Reservations do not seem to mean anything to these people.  We were able to rent a van from Lum's Auto in Astoria. Our future rentals in our home town will be from Lum's.

M.A.K.

Dear Failing Enterprise,

Thank God someone realizes what a terrible business they jokers run.  I went on a business trip ( I am a cardiologist and my wife is a travel agent), and when our flight was delayed past their closing hour, they just left and we were on our own.

Luckily hertz was different from them, and they stayed open and had cars available.  I am currently on hold with the manager from Enterprise in Rochester NY (@ the airport), and he wouldn't budge on how to keep me happy as a customer, and to keep me renting from enterprise.  He promptly put me on hold and here I sit for 20 minutes and counting.  Luckily I found your website so I can hang up and call corporate and if they can't solve the problem, then I will ensure that my wife doesn't recommend Enterprise to any future clients.  I will also never use them again.

Thanks for taking your time to expose what Enterprise really is.

Sincerely,

J.T., MD

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I want to "thank you" so much for this site and your determination to keep it going.  It is the internet at its best!

Because of this site I was inspired, informed, and empowered to fight for my rights and to my surprise I prevailed.  I got Enterprise to drop the fake damage charges they were about to claim from my insurance company.

I wrote consumer affairs online.  I sent complaint to BBB. I sent letter to attorney general and to state insurance adjuster BUT I kept up the pressure on the local station manager and somehow was let off their insidious hook.  It was none of the aforementioned, nor the three local networks that helped but my own determination armed with the information you supplied from countless others who have been extorted in this manner.

Kudos to you all!

Sincerely,

Joan Adams

Dear Failing Enterprise,

I liked your site.

S.C.

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