 Bilked in Connecticut
This one’s a doozey.
I rented a PT Cruiser from Enterprise in late November from Meriden, Connecticut, and the tires were slashed by my ex-building manager. It’s a long story but I am 90-percent certain it was him. The police would not come out unless I saw him do it so I have a police report but no one’s been charged.
I’m in a much nicer, safer place now but I have no furniture because I am bracing for a small claims fight with Enterprise Rent-a-Car.
Anyway, as soon as this happened, I drove the Cruiser slowly two blocks to a gas station. (There was an violent person willing to vandalize the vehicle in the house so I couldn’t leave it there.) I called Enterprise’s roadside assistance line, which called a towing company, which took it to a dealership, where mechanics under Enterprise’s command looked at it, apparently repaired it, and return it to me. I paid the $265 bill.
Four days later, the muffler started to melt. I have no better way to describe it. The exhaust pipe was spraying heat onto the metal parking light which caused the plastic around it to weld up and melt. The parking light was dangling so I took it out and that seemed to stop the melting. I called roadside assistance again and they said it should be safe to drive back to Meriden. (I was anxious to get rid of this thing.)
A few days later, I got a call from a “senior loss coordinator” Maureen Ringrose (I assume I am dealing with Group 48/Hartford) who said that a mechanic(s) had told her that when the tires were slashed, the vehicle must have had an impact with the ground, bumping up the exhaust pipe, and I am responsible for a $947 repair bill. (My insurance’s deductible is $1,000.) She admitted this was one of the strangest cases she’d ever seen, but she wanted to set up a payment plan.
I know enough about cars that they do not just bounce against the ground when air is let out of the tires. Plus, the two tires that were slashed were on the passenger side and the exhaust on the driver’s side. And even this were true, the car was returned to Enterprise for care with a full explanation of what had happened, and returned to me, presumably safe. They could have given me another car or insisted this one was not roadworthy. The senior loss coordinator (SLC from now on) seemed to think I was responsible for making sure the car was safe when I got it back. It’s apparently not a given that the car is safe after Enterprise has it repaired.
I got the bill for $947. I then got all of my money out of the account I used to make the deposit so Enterprise couldn’t just go in and swoop it, which I hear they do.
I called the SLC in late December and she then said the car had been rear-ended when I had it. The first mechanic(s) was wrong. The second mechanic(s) said that it was rear-ended and took pictures to prove it.
The new explanation is not as physically implausible as the old one. But the car was not rear-ended, at least not while I was in it or watching it or by anyone who told me they rear-ended it or left a note or created the kind of damage that’s I’d expect in any collision serious enough to cause internal damage. (I real anally raped by Enterprise, if that’s what they mean by rear-ended).
I got the pictures from the shop and they show the damage I had already inspected with some arrows pointed on top, indicating that the car was messed up, which I had guessed when it started melting.
I called a lawyer through my employer’s benefits program and he told me Enterprise couldn’t charge me unless they proved I was rear-ended. “This is what our mechanic said could have happened” would not hold up in court. He said he doubted they would pursue this for $947. It seemed, to him, like a case of the big guy trying to squeeze money out of the little guy, hoping the little guy would get scared and give in.
The SLC called me at the end of January and I told her I had talked to an attorney and I deny the claim. She asked, “Is your attorney a mechanic?” What kind of stupid question is this? Yes, he’s a mechanic with a law a degree; he’s also trained to administer herbal medicine and has been ordained in several churches. She seemed frustrated, like I had ruined her day, which I guess is a good sign. She said she’d talk to her supervisor.
I got a message from her today that they were, I forget the exact words, charging me and I’d get paperwork in the mail. I called the attorney. He thinks the case is so goofy that they might not really send me said paperwork and told me to call him if they do.
That’s where the story ends. Everyone I’ve told it to has said not to give Enterprise a dime. An older coworker with a background in finance commanded me not to.
Still, I take it seriously and I’ve been in financial lock-down since this happened, just paying bills and saving for the potential small claims court case. It’s caused me significant anxiety. But I’d spend more than $947 on legal fees to defeat this. We can’t let big corporations push us around. I can’t give them any incentive to put more unsafe cars on the road or swindle other customers. I went to lawyer. I’m coming here. I will go to the media, the blogs and any and all consumer protection agencies.
My ideal scenario would be for someone in Group 48 to realize how shameful and backwards it is to put an unsafe car on the road and charge the driver when it proves to be unsafe. Like the owner of this site, I realize the world’s largest rental car company is not going away and only want to improve. Also, I want them to realize I honestly have no idea what happened to their car (and neither do they apparently). Mechanical failure still seems to be the likely explanation why one part of a vehicle would attack another.
I also noticed Enterprise’s website, as far as I could see, includes no safety policy or guarantee. Looking at the contract, I see it holds renters responsible for “acts of God.” Presumably, Enterprise Rent-a-Car has confirmed that God exists and will charge you for His Will. Enterprise: It’s not just evil; it’s Satanic.
Any ideas? Suggestions? Similar stories?  |