Minneapolis/St. Paul Hijinks

[finemess]

My wife rented a car from Enterprise at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport in April. She had the usual ERAC run-around: we don't have any cars in the class you reserved (then what was my reservation for?) and would you like to upgrade, etc. Plus agressive salesmanship in the LDW, which she declined.

During the walk-around no damage was visible on the car. When she returned it, the ERAC staffer claimed that there was damage on the hood. In the right light there might have been some slight imperfections in the hood, but it was debatable and my wife disputed this.

We received a letter two days ago claiming $637.50 in damages from us. I called and spoke with the Loss Control Specialist and stated that a)my wife had not parked the car under a tree nor had there been a severe hailstorm that would have conceiveably caused the damage, b) that no damage at all was visible in the photos accompanying the letter, and c) we have no intention of paying (or asking our insurance company) to pay for damage that is either non-existent or did not happen while my wife was renting the car.

The Loss Control Specialist agreed to pull previous rentals on the car to see if the damage had been previously reported. I called her again today to follow-up. She was very pleasant and told me that she is waiting on the the Xerox imaging center to put the previous rentals into the system so that she can see them. I told her that I would call again in a week and got a commitment from her that no action will be taken in that time.

I have learned a lot from Failing Enterprise, especially this discussion board. If I do not get a satisfactory resolution at from the Loss Control person, I will move on to the area manager, RVP, etc.

Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.

[edwin]

I just recently ran into the exact same situation. I had the car for 2 weeks and we only had one good thunderstorm during the period of time. During that one day the car was in the garage. Then on a Saturday i returned the car and the gentleman showed me 2 small dents that you could only see in certain lighting. I refused to pay that day. Then about 3 weeks later they sent me a bill for 731.99 for damages. During that time I'm sure they rented the car out so anything could happen. Not sure where to go but my first stop is the Loss Control Administrator.

[finemess]

I acheived a happy ending on the problem posted here about a month ago. After getting nowhere with the Loss Control rep, I called the Regional Director listed on the rental contract & left a message. Several days later I got call from the Loss Control Supervisor. He & I went back and forth through several calls, but the bottom line remained the same: the photos they sent did not show the damage ERAC claimed to the hood. In the end he agreed to drop it. I asked for a letter verifying that and received one from the Loss Control Rep a couple of days ago. It also included an apology for any inconvenience caused.

I learned a lot from this board that helped me get this resolved. My thanks to Admin & all the posters here. I just wonder how many folks in this situation just go ahead and pay or have their insurance companies do so?

As me and my family, I don't think we'll be letting Enterprise pick us up again any time soon.