Bottom line is this: Erac does not run the biz or train employees to look at reservations as any type of guarantee for a car...EVER. They train the opposite "BOOK THE DEAL" It doesn't matter if the branch is 3 cars or 20 cars short for the amount of reservations the office has, it doesn't matter..."book that deal" !!!! Profits before service is a clear message being instilled. That's the Bottom line...and no employee can refute that. If Erac did GUARANTEE reservations, they would hold the size class reserved for the customer that made a reservation until the customer came in to rent it, and would only rent it to someone else if the original customer never showed up. (hell, for arguments sake....Charge the customer if they didnt show up for a "Guaranteed reservation"

ex. Lets say I am a corporate customer:, and I reserved a fullsize for noon on Wednesday. I have very important clients coming into town and I need a bigger car to accomodate them. It is 11:45 am, and I am ON MY WAY to the office to get it. I made the reservation a week ago, and confirmed it yesterday. In the mean time, Its WEDNESDAY, and guess what, there is only 1 car on the lot with 15 reservations left. (that never happens, right?) Luckily for me (and it WAS just luck) that one car happens to be a fullsize car...A Ford Taurus. At 11:50am, 5 minutes before I get there, the ford dealership calls from down the street. (You know, the one that has their own loaners but the branch manager has been working on them for months to get out of them, and shop is on the fence about it primarily because in the past Erac has had car availability problems...go figure! They hated it when erac would cart their customers all over town when they didnt have the cars they promised, and received many complaints about it) Anyway, They have a customer that broke down and needs a car. Where is that lonely taurus going to go? Will it be rented to the "pop fly" dealership customer, or would it go to the corporate client who made a reservation a week ago, and confirmed it yesterday for that particular size?

Here is what will happen: The trainee handling the call from the dealership will panic, put the dealership on hold, and ask management. Managers will most likely pick up the phone and say..."no problem, we have a Taurus, we will be right down." HENCE: The RESERVATION from the corporate client meant ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Profit is more important than service...HOWEVER, the ERAC MISSION says otherwise......summarized:

#1) Underpromise and Overdeliver.....CUSOTMER SERVICE IS ALWAYS FIRST
#2) Taking care of employees is 2nd
#3) If you do #1 & #2,......Profitability will follow

Now, I ask you Erac'ers.....would you agree that this is a typical scenario that happens thousands of times a day throughout the country?

Would you also agree that this scenario does not resemble in the LEAST what the mission statement claims?

If I am that corporate client, and I relied on ERAC to provide the service they promised me, shouldn't I be upset? I was SCREWED. So again....do reservations really mean I will get the car I planned to receive ? Nope.....You have just as good of a chance showing up at the counter with no reservation then PLANNING ahead. That is the real issue here....Reservations to a customer mean I will have what I planned to have. To Erac, it is a guideline. If I am relying on erac......I don't expect my reservation to be looked as a "guideline". That contradicts your mission statement!