This Site

[Erac United]

Originally Posted by Anti-Andy

While you are working 60-65 hours a week for a company that will chew you up and spit you out as soon as it is your "time" (about year 5), your wife will be growing more unhappy with your marriage because you are never around for her, you will be missing special occasions, kids first day of baseball, school functions, heck, just watching your children grow up! I have seen it happen time and time again.

The company WILL screw you. Look around!!! When it happens to you, you will really regret trading your life and family time for this corporate bloodsucking company. They DO NOT CARE about you. They say they do...until one of your 15 balance areas are out of whack, and then the fun begins. Bring in new blood with more "energy".... hence: the average rental employees age is in the 20's. Has anyone considered the reason there is so much "opportunity" with Erac? It's because there is so much turnover! Yes, the company is growing and a few positions are new, but the MAJORITY of their so-called "opportunities" are just replacing burned out employees.

I've been there 9+....5 came and went my friend. And my wife has been with me since day 1...all three groups. Are you kidding me, why in the world would she want me to leave?

Originally Posted by BranchManager

So if i understand correctly, this site was created because the creater:

1) had a reservation, came to enterprise, and the car was not ready, and was given a different car instead (reason 1 and 5)
2) had rented a vehicle that was almost out of gas
3) found that the corporate rate was higher than the retail rate
4) the CDW rate changed when you upgraded

...

Well, if you had a reservation, you should have a car, I agree. Just as an airline will sometimes upgrade you to first class if it overbooked, you were offered a free upgrade it seems. I know that a pickup truck or SUV or minivan is not for everyone. What kind of reservations did you normally set? Fullsize? Compact?

A vehicle out of gas is not a vehicle you should be given. On behalf of enterprise I apologize. I also apologize about the CDW rate changing. In the state where I work, CDW is the same cost for every car, though on some luxury vehicles the amount of damage covered changes. California may be different. I still apologize on behalf of enterprise for the rep not telling you about this.

As far as the corporate rate, there are a few reasons why you might have found it to be more expensive. First of all, it's generally cheaper than the retail rate, except at airports. The corporate account program was designed for local travel, so it is discounted for local branch rates. The airports drop prices to match demand, so they may sometimes be under corporate. In this case you would get the best of both worlds, because on days like memorial day when cars are $80/day, you would get the corporate rate since it's set at a certain price, much lower. I don't understand why it would be upsetting to have the extra option, but it was, so I apologize for that as well.

It appears the management you've dealt with has also not done a great job of seeing to your needs. I won't lie to you, there have been mistakes made at my branch as well, but I assure you that the regular customers and customers that have confirmed their reservations with credit cards have the cars waiting and the paperwork started before they arrive... unless they come early for their reservation.

I also know that every other rental car company has similar problems. I know with Hertz gold you can just go directly to your car, but I also assume that if you set a gold club reservation and never show up, there would be a charge of some kind? Or would they revoke the membership? In any case, if i knew with 100% certainty that a reservation would be coming in, I would have the vehcile ready for them as well. The point is, I've had a similar situation arise with U-haul where my truck wasn't available, and I imagine budget and hertz and everyone else makes the occasional mistake as well.

The question i have is, what do you intend to get out of this site? I see that it is a place for current and past erac employees to vent frustrations, but if you wanted enterprise to fail, it seems that leaving the frustrations bottled up would better achieve the goal. The site also provides a checklist to rent a car, with some clever ways to "stick it" to the enterprise guy. But if you really wanted to "stick it" to us, why not just suggest another car company, rather than having a customer call us 3 times with 3 different names and do all this trickery (dishonesty, isn't that what we're accused of?).

Or perhaps this site is designed to be found by Erac people so that they can learn from your examples and find ways to fix the problems and thus grow and adapt and become more successful. If so I salute you for your chivalry, and i feel that this site does just that. Ex enterprise employees that complain because they failed to perform doesn't hurt anyone, everyone has disgruntled EX employees, just like no one has 100% customer satisfaction. Enterprise corporate average is around 79% completely satisfied customers with 13% somewhat satisfied customers, which isn't bad at all.

So in conclusion, thank you for building this site to allow some comedy (such as the post about enterprise defintions) some venting, some back and forth between current and ex employees, and all the personal touches, but especially for telling your story (as well as some of the other stories posted here) so that we as a company can learn from the mistakes and grow. Thanks, Admin!

IT'S REALLY SAD Y

I for one genuinly appreciate this site. I am a recent college graduate with a mediocre gpa (I am one of those steriotypical college students who was more involved with extracurriculars like student government and social societies than schoolwork) and few employers were bending over backwards to offer me a job. This being the case I was looking for a job that would give an underachiever like myself a chance to prove that grades aren't the sign of a successful businessman. I believe I have found that in enterprise.

After reading through virtually all of the posts on this forum I have still decided to give ERAC a chance. Why you ask? Because I believe the reality of enterprise is a happy medium between what the overzealous recruiters are telling me and the disgruntled employees and customers are posting. Do I expect ERAC to work miracles? Nope. But I do expect good experience and a lesson in hard work.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank the admin for allowing open discussion on the positives and negatives of ERAC. It is always encouraging to see public discourse so that young men and women like myself can see both sides and make up our minds to what is best for us.

P.S. - I'll let you know how it goes. Who knows, you might see me back here in 6 months angry as hell and bashing Enterprise with the best of them...haha...

I have been an employee of Enterprise Rent-A-Car now for about three years now and just happened to stumble upon this website while researching what is going on with Hertz going public. I have taken some time to read about the complaints on this site, especially those regarding the person responsible for this website.

First off, for the designer of the website. I too would like to appologize for your bad experiences at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. It seems that the branch you were dealing with did a few things that would seem questionable in regards to the way they handled their business with you. However, I too would like to play devil's advocate just like the Branch Manager. I think that you should try to step back and put yourself in our shoes for a minute.

Regarding the whole upgrade into a truck deal seems like it didn't work out for you all that well. Sometimes that happens, I have had people make reservations for Compact cars and dont want to get a free upgrade into a Standard size car because they like the idea of getting 30 miles per gallon. However, I think what people tend to forget is that rental branches are dealing with a finite asset. There is not an unlimited supply cars, we do not have the luxary of having a safety stock somewhere in the back. It is what it is. We do not have the option of making a new car for a customer if we run out of a certain vehicle. We try to do the best that we can and to make everyone happy. With regards to booking cars online I would advise people not to do it. Sometimes you can get a great rate online but the sole purpose of the internet site is just to book reservations, it does not take into account the specific types of cars the branch has available and what they are expecting back. Let me just give you a hypothetical example. It is possible for me to walk into my office tomorrow morning to find that 100 compact car reservations have been made the previous night, keep in mind my branch only has about 90 cars. Obviously it is pretty much impossible to honor every person with a compact car, I would have to get people into trucks, for some people they could care less and for some it can be a huge issue. I always recommend that customers call the branch, most times if you just let the representative know about the kind of rate you could get on the internet they will typically match it. Also let them know that it is extremely important that you get a full-size car and that a large vehicle like a truck or SUV is unexceptable.

Now for the gas issue, this is something that I really hate. Gas is such a pain in the ass for us, at least it is for me. I specifically work at a branch that rents cars to customers getting their vehicle repaired at a dealership. I always get asked why we rent vehicle that do not have a full gas tank. I usually have a few responses. First off I would love to give a car to a customer with a full tank of gas. However, when I do that the customer drives about 30 or 40 miles buring about 2 or more gallons of gas and will return the vehicle with the gas needle barely touching the "Full" line. The customer will justify that they did not have to put gas back into the car because the needle was still touching the "Full" line. Now, customer B gets into the car, and as soon as he backs out of the space the needle moves to less than full. He is now pissed off at us because he thinks that we purposely did that to screw over the customer. Now, this brings me to another point. Do you want to know why we charge more for gas then at the gas station. Its simple, its because I am paying an employee to put gas into a car, essentially you are paying the full service rate. Now, take a guess at what would happen if we charged pump price for our gas. Whould you return you car at the same level???? Of course not. If we did that I would constantly have a car prep putting gas in cars and not having enough time to clean out cars. It really is just an insentive for people to return the car at the same level, that why we charge high rates compared to the pump. If it was intended to be shady we would not tell you how much we would charge you for gas at the time you sign your contract. I always suggest that customers arrive a little early (about 20 to 30 minutes) if having a full tank is extremelly important. Simply ask a representative to make sure the tank is all the way full.

The branch manager explained the corporate rate thing pretty well so repeating what he said would be silly.

Now, for the damage waiver part I understand that it can be frustrating since different cars have different rates. Personally, if someone had a compact car reservation for instance and I had to get them into an SUV, I would only charge them the damage waiver rate as the compact car. Its not the customers fault that the SUV was the last car I had. In general though higher profile cars typically are more expensive to fix. Do you call your insurance company and ask them why they charge two different rates to insure for a Toyota Camry and a Ferrari???

Now it seems that you are on some quest to show how Enterprise is a horrible employer and that some employees are down right bitter with their employment with Enterprise. And you know what, your right. Enterprise employees over 50,000 people all over the world. Do you honestly think that all 50,000 are happy with Enterprise??? Of course not. Enterprise is not a unique company that has 100% employee satisfaction and 100% customer satisfaction. Enterprise is not the only business in the world where some employees may not like some of the business practices. A lot of people bitch about their jobs all the time. Most customer service business too have claims filed at the Better Business Bureau. It doesn't mean that Enterprise is a bad company to work for, it just means that unfortunately we really screwed up with those particular people. Also, most of those people that filed claims had disputed charges. Typically those that dispute charges at my particular branch are those that feel they dont need to pay for the gas they didn't refill, upgrades they agreed to pay for when they picked up the car, and the damage waiver that they didn't understand what they were signing but did it anyways.

I must say though I am kind of suprised that you rented 15 times during your duration and it seems that everytime it was just a huge screw up. I would love to know why you kept coming back to rent so many times after you had horrible experiences renting from a particular branch. Two bad experiences would have done it for me.

I also took a minute to check out some of the other peoples bad experiences too, especially the one regarding the guitar. I must say that what happened was pretty jacked up but when you have a large company, especially one with 50,000 employees , not everyone will be an honest character. It happens, Enterprise is not the first to have some occational employees that are dishonest, stuff like this happens all over the world in several businesses.

Now with regards to the employees at Enterprise. I honestly do not know what a lot of these people expect from Enterprise with regards to pay. Honestly break down your job for just a second. What do you do? In a nut shell you type up contracts, clean cars occationally, go through callbacks, at sell the different protection options. Its not rocket science people. They can hire almost anyone to do that kind of work. Its why they are the biggest college recruiter, they give graduates the opportunity to learn about business from a micro management position. It is true that you need to have a college degree in order to work at Enterprise, however, it doesn't matter what concentration. Most people that I have met at Enterprise majored in the most useless concentrations possible (i.e. Philosophy, Liberal Arts, General Studies, Sociology, etc.). I would say that easily 75% of people fall into this category. For most of these people they are beginning to realize that they pissed away their college career persuing a major that would amount to jack shit. These people are just coming to grips with reality. Granted, there are definately things that I disagree with when it come to how things are done. But the difference between myself and the other people that bitch on your site is that I have the balls to be candid with my boss and let him know that I 1) disagree with something, 2) here is my logic for why I disagree with it, and 3) this is what I would do to change it. Also, if people are so upset then why dont they just quit. No one is forcing them to stay with Enterprise.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Hello and thanks for such a well-considered and thorough message. You seem to have thought through many of the issues and I appreciate it.

I do, however, want to comment on a few of the things you've mentioned. I appreciate that you're playing devil's advocate and I'll respond to some of your thoughts.

Originally Posted by Intern

Regarding the whole upgrade into a truck deal seems like it didn't work out for you all that well... ...I think what people tend to forget is that rental branches are dealing with a finite asset. There is not an unlimited supply cars, we do not have the luxary of having a safety stock somewhere in the back. It is what it is.

I can only conclude that you and I have different definitions of the word "reservation". I'm not asking you to have an unlimited supply of cars, just the one you promised you'd hold for me. And "safety stock" isn't a luxury, it's a promise you volunteered to make. Nobody forced you to offer and confirm the reservation.

Originally Posted by Intern

We do not have the option of making a new car for a customer if we run out of a certain vehicle. We try to do the best that we can and to make everyone happy.

Except that you include yourselves in the category of people you wish to make happy. You're putting your branch's profit goals ahead of your customer's needs. You dishonor reservations because it increases your operating profit to do so. It's admirable to "do the best you can under tough circumstances", unless you're the one creating the tough circumstances. Don't ask me to make sacrifices because you intentionally overbooked to increase profit.

Originally Posted by Intern

With regards to booking cars online I would advise people not to do it. Sometimes you can get a great rate online but the sole purpose of the internet site is just to book reservations, it does not take into account the specific types of cars the branch has available and what they are expecting back.

Do you realize what you're admitting to here? Enterprise takes reservations knowing full well that it's making no effort to actually have sufficient cars to meet them? How is this not bait-and-switch, or simply fraud? This is a serious question.

Originally Posted by Intern

Let me just give you a hypothetical example. It is possible for me to walk into my office tomorrow morning to find that 100 compact car reservations have been made the previous night, keep in mind my branch only has about 90 cars. Obviously it is pretty much impossible to honor every person with a compact car, I would have to get people into trucks, for some people they could care less and for some it can be a huge issue. I always recommend that customers call the branch, most times if you just let the representative know about the kind of rate you could get on the internet they will typically match it. Also let them know that it is extremely important that you get a full-size car and that a large vehicle like a truck or SUV is unexceptable.

So what you're saying is that after I make a confirmed reservation I should call the local branch and ask them to reserve a car for me? Does this in the slightest way seem ridiculous to you?

Originally Posted by Intern

Now for the gas issue, this is something that I really hate. Gas is such a pain in the ass for us, at least it is for me. I specifically work at a branch that rents cars to customers getting their vehicle repaired at a dealership. I always get asked why we rent vehicle that do not have a full gas tank. I usually have a few responses. First off I would love to give a car to a customer with a full tank of gas. However, when I do that the customer drives about 30 or 40 miles buring about 2 or more gallons of gas and will return the vehicle with the gas needle barely touching the "Full" line. The customer will justify that they did not have to put gas back into the car because the needle was still touching the "Full" line. Now, customer B gets into the car, and as soon as he backs out of the space the needle moves to less than full. He is now pissed off at us because he thinks that we purposely did that to screw over the customer. Now, this brings me to another point. Do you want to know why we charge more for gas then at the gas station. Its simple, its because I am paying an employee to put gas into a car, essentially you are paying the full service rate. Now, take a guess at what would happen if we charged pump price for our gas. Whould you return you car at the same level???? Of course not. If we did that I would constantly have a car prep putting gas in cars and not having enough time to clean out cars. It really is just an insentive for people to return the car at the same level, that why we charge high rates compared to the pump. If it was intended to be shady we would not tell you how much we would charge you for gas at the time you sign your contract. I always suggest that customers arrive a little early (about 20 to 30 minutes) if having a full tank is extremelly important. Simply ask a representative to make sure the tank is all the way full.

If the gas tank were at least half full I wouldn't have a problem. What bothers me is driving six blocks, getting on the ramp for the San Francisco Bay Bridge (ten miles to the next gas station) and then having the warning light come on saying I am completely out of gas.

Enterprise apparently wants it both ways with the gas issue. They want to charge customers for the extremely overpriced "refueling service", because it's profitable, but then they don't want to actually have to provide any "refueling" or any "service". So if you bring back the car without a full tank, you pay extra because Enterprise has to refuel it, and then they just give it to the next customer who is the one to actually do the refueling. You're charging for a refueling service that you don't provide.

Originally Posted by Intern

The branch manager explained the corporate rate thing pretty well so repeating what he said would be silly.

Now, for the damage waiver part... ...Do you call your insurance company and ask them why they charge two different rates to insure for a Toyota Camry and a Ferrari???

If you really want to pursue this analogy, imagine renewing your car insurance and the insurance company quadruples your rate, explaining you're now covered as if you were driving a Ferrari. You explain you're still only driving your Toyota, and they say "Don't you understand it costs a lot more to insure a Ferrari?". Truthful, but completely missing the point.

Originally Posted by Intern

Now it seems that you are on some quest to show how Enterprise is a horrible employer and that some employees are down right bitter with their employment with Enterprise.

Actually, I'm not. The current and former employees seem to be doing that just fine by themselves.

Originally Posted by Intern

I must say though I am kind of suprised that you rented 15 times during your duration and it seems that everytime it was just a huge screw up. I would love to know why you kept coming back to rent so many times after you had horrible experiences renting from a particular branch. Two bad experiences would have done it for me.

I've heard this from many people and it always surprises me. This sounds like "So, you figured out we're ripping you off. Well, it's your own fault for coming back." Is this the official Enteprise policy on people who point out unethical and possibly illegal behavior, to explain that the first time they noticed was their fair warning, and subsequent actions aren't Enterprise's fault because the customer should have known?

Again, I appreciate your feedback and your long and well-considered response. However, I disagree with some of your logic. Your opinions and logic seem to match a lot of Enterprise employees. Is it possible this is your first real business job out of college and that you're setting your moral compass to your local environment? Before you went to work for Enterprise, did you really think it was ethical to promise something to a customer to get them to come in, knowing full well you wouldn't honor their promise when they got there, but it was OK because they wouldn't be in a position to argue once they arrived?

I think lying to people is just plain wrong, and doing it knowingly and repeatedly is equivalent to picking a fight, and now I'm picking a fight right back.

Your further comments appreciated.

Admin

[GP51Sux]

Originally Posted by Intern

With regards to booking cars online I would advise people not to do it. Sometimes you can get a great rate online but the sole purpose of the internet site is just to book reservations, it does not take into account the specific types of cars the branch has available and what they are expecting back.

The irony is that this is very true. Most non-airport branches can't stand the internet, and hate getting reservations from it. I completely understand the internet customers getting angry when they show up assuming that the exact car they booked would be there.

The two big problems with the internet (other than the bad rate the branch gets) are:
1) Most branches (should) make an effort to schedule their phone in rezs to accommodate what cars they do have and should have at a given time. An internet rez may be made after closing one night for 8am the next morning. Many times there is not a car, and the internet does not keep inventory (a huge problem in itself), nor does it have a disclaimer that either there may not be a car, or that the customer should confirm their reservation. Either of those would ease a lot of problems I think.
2) Probably the most simple, the customers often don't put their contact info on the rez. If I had an internet rez come across for something or some time that I did not have available, I would call them to reschedule. However, when you can't contact the customer yuo can see the train coming down the tracks, and have to prepare for when the customer shows up. That brings in an entirely different deal with them actually showing, another topic for another time...

All in all, I don't see the internet as a bait and switch. I just see it as a bad deal for intown branches. ERAC corporate thinks its a tool to stay cutting edge and "book every deal", but for every 3 deals that went perfect from the net, there were probably 10 that had something go wrong...take that ESQI!!!

Originally Posted by Erac United

I've been there 9+....5 came and went my friend. And my wife has been with me since day 1...all three groups. Are you kidding me, why in the world would she want me to leave?

Dude, you have no idea....Your wife is probably silently miserable. Maybe you just dont realize it. Have you ever asked her? I bet she would trade the money you make for more time with you in a heartbeat...and if not....hmmmn?

[eracer's speakup]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I for one genuinly appreciate this site. I am a recent college graduate with a mediocre gpa (I am one of those steriotypical college students who was more involved with extracurriculars like student government and social societies than schoolwork) and few employers were bending over backwards to offer me a job. This being the case I was looking for a job that would give an underachiever like myself a chance to prove that grades aren't the sign of a successful businessman. I believe I have found that in enterprise.

After reading through virtually all of the posts on this forum I have still decided to give ERAC a chance. Why you ask? Because I believe the reality of enterprise is a happy medium between what the overzealous recruiters are telling me and the disgruntled employees and customers are posting. Do I expect ERAC to work miracles? Nope. But I do expect good experience and a lesson in hard work.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank the admin for allowing open discussion on the positives and negatives of ERAC. It is always encouraging to see public discourse so that young men and women like myself can see both sides and make up our minds to what is best for us.

P.S. - I'll let you know how it goes. Who knows, you might see me back here in 6 months angry as hell and bashing Enterprise with the best of them...haha...

You will do well, just remember this same thing, when your talking to City Managers (full of shit 90% of the time) and when you talk to the MT that has been there for over 1 year (idiot who can't sell and doesn't understand why they can't make an exception for him on the qualifications). The branch is just like this your manager isn't going to tell you he hate stuff about the job and the pissed off employee isn't going to tell you that he can't find a job this good because he has no personality either.

[eracer's speakup]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Dude, you have no idea....Your wife is probably silently miserable. Maybe you just dont realize it. Have you ever asked her? I bet she would trade the money you make for more time with you in a heartbeat...and if not....hmmmn?

Your right I"m sure you know his wife better then he does? dumb ass. O ya please respond with some stupid wife joke like "I know his wife she was with me last night" Idiots are so predictable.

Originally Posted by eracer's speakup

Your right I"m sure you know his wife better then he does? dumb ass. O ya please respond with some stupid wife joke like "I know his wife she was with me last night" Idiots are so predictable.

If he works at erac, I know he sees his wife about a maximum of 2 hours a day before he collapses, and a whole 1/2 day on Saturday!!!!! She doesnt see him Sunday becuase he is doing dealership drive-by's to see if any cars are dropped for the 50 reservations on Monday morning at 8am, or driving an hour and 1/2 away to pick up cars. Bottom line you poor little rental monkey: His wife hates his husbands job, and resents the company for taking so much time away from her family.