[NatResGirl]

What was said about area managers controlling availability is correct. We do not have a screen which shows us *exactly* how many cars are available. Our screen shows us ECAR, CCAR, ICAR, etc., and then an O for "Open," meaning we can book, or an "R" for restricted, meaning we MUST call the branch to confirm availability before booking--this happens most commonly for large SUVs, cargo vans, 12- or 15-passenger vans, luxury cars, etc., things they don't have a whole lot of. R-cars are specific settings; it doesn't automatically switch to that when they're running low on something. Alternatively, it will say "S" if someone has called to say they are sold out of the vehicle in question. If it displays "S" after the car type, we physically cannot select anything--the option doesn't exist--and it shows us no prices. If a location is completely sold out, either the price column will be blank or it will show all S's and we cannot move beyond that screen. Someone MUST call and sell out if there are no cars. Otherwise, RALPH will continue to show availability, and we will continue to book cars. This, Admin, is a big part of the reason why sometimes there are no cars when you get there. You book on the Internet, no one has called to sell out (it looks bad for them to sell out, on top of all of this), there end up not being enough cars in the area, and you and the employees you're facing are both at a loss. Unless you're talking about a rental on a busy holiday weekend, this is probably what is happening. It is not necessarily the fault of the rental agents that there are no cars. The employees who have the misfortune of having to be the ones to tell you they're sold out are merely the ones who have to take the shit from everyone (and smile while taking it) when there are no cars. Also, people do call to extend reservations. If someone already has the car rented and calls in to say they want it a couple days longer, that's guaranteed money. Why in the world would the employee turn them down and say "No, come back, we need that car, someone MIGHT be coming in for it this afternoon" ? This is a business, and though we would like to, we can't possibly please *everyone* and still break even. That being said, it still sucks and I hate having to deal with it. It seems a bit inefficient to me, but what do I know? I'm just a reservation agent.

And it gets to me too. It really, *really* sucks when an office SHOWS availability, I have a customer on the line with a broken-down Enterprise rental needing a switchout, I call the office, and they have no cars (or at least claim not to have any). You try telling someone who's in the middle of nowhere and who has to work the next morning that you're sorry their rental broke down, but we have no cars available where they are and we'll have to get them a hotel for the evening. It's so much fun, let me tell you.

As for whether we dump calls on the branches, I personally will try to answer questions as best I can. For certain kinds of questions, like "Can I use a debit card" or "I INSIST on knowing the makes and models that office carries" or "I have to do a one-way," if they don't like the answer I give them, a lot of the time they'll ask for the phone number of the branch in question, and I cannot refuse to give it to them. For other questions, like "Is that the office by Burger King," things I can't possibly know the answer to, I give them the number and have them call.

One thing has been bothering me. I saw on someone else's list of funny things customers say, something about "My insurance company is paying for this, why do I have to pay a deposit?" ... we're told that there are no deposits if the branch is billing directly to an insurance company. We're trained to not even qualify the renter on calls involving direct-bill insurance claims. If customers do need credit cards, then there's something a couple hundred people in the call center are doing wrong multiple times every day, and that needs to be corrected...