Have I been scammed?

[O.H.Lee]

I reserved a Chevy Impala a few weeks ago with Enerprise. I went to pick my car up on 10/23/06 and was told that an Impala was not available, but I was given a free upgrade to a Chrysler 300. The dark blue Chrysler wasn't cleaned yet, so they delivered the car to me still covered in soap suds and dripping water. I briefely examined the front and sides of the car and I told the rep. that I couldn't be sure if the car had a dent or just dirt on the passeneger side. The rep told me not to worry about it.
I handled the car like eggs. I parked at the entrance to the parking lot at work and walked the equivalent of a football field to get to work for the five days that I rented the car. When I returned the car to Enterprise, a young rep walked out to my rental car. He came back seconds later to announce that the car was damaged. I accompanied him out to the car to look for damage. He showed me a small dark scuff mark on the area where the passenger side rear rocker panel meets the rear right tail fin? of the car. Black on dark blue -- I never noticed that scuff whenever I opened the trunk. I believe that this scuff was probably there when I first picked the car up. It only took the rep seconds to find this "damage" -- like he knew just whrere to look. I believe that I have been scammed and I have been searching the net to see if Enterprise has a track record of scamming renters. Any useful suggestions?

Originally Posted by O.H.Lee

I reserved a Chevy Impala a few weeks ago with Enerprise. I went to pick my car up on 10/23/06 and was told that an Impala was not available, but I was given a free upgrade to a Chrysler 300. The dark blue Chrysler wasn't cleaned yet, so they delivered the car to me still covered in soap suds and dripping water. I briefely examined the front and sides of the car and I told the rep. that I couldn't be sure if the car had a dent or just dirt on the passeneger side. The rep told me not to worry about it.
I handled the car like eggs. I parked at the entrance to the parking lot at work and walked the equivalent of a football field to get to work for the five days that I rented the car. When I returned the car to Enterprise, a young rep walked out to my rental car. He came back seconds later to announce that the car was damaged. I accompanied him out to the car to look for damage. He showed me a small dark scuff mark on the area where the passenger side rear rocker panel meets the rear right tail fin? of the car. Black on dark blue -- I never noticed that scuff whenever I opened the trunk. I believe that this scuff was probably there when I first picked the car up. It only took the rep seconds to find this "damage" -- like he knew just whrere to look. I believe that I have been scammed and I have been searching the net to see if Enterprise has a track record of scamming renters. Any useful suggestions?

Yes, you have been scammed. They have an elaborate process which involves recording previously unrecorded damage in a secret log they keep in a back room and when they know a car is being returned they check the log to see if they need to pin the damage to an unsuspecting and highly conscientious customer. Normally they will only do this if the customer pointed out damage and was told not to worry about it, and if they took extra special care of the rental car and is completely certain there is no way the car was damaged while they had it. Look everyone, they got another one! Cha-ching!

[tailfins1959]

Originally Posted by O.H.Lee

I reserved a Chevy Impala a few weeks ago with Enerprise. I went to pick my car up on 10/23/06 and was told that an Impala was not available, but I was given a free upgrade to a Chrysler 300. The dark blue Chrysler wasn't cleaned yet, so they delivered the car to me still covered in soap suds and dripping water. I briefely examined the front and sides of the car and I told the rep. that I couldn't be sure if the car had a dent or just dirt on the passeneger side. The rep told me not to worry about it.
I handled the car like eggs. I parked at the entrance to the parking lot at work and walked the equivalent of a football field to get to work for the five days that I rented the car. When I returned the car to Enterprise, a young rep walked out to my rental car. He came back seconds later to announce that the car was damaged. I accompanied him out to the car to look for damage. He showed me a small dark scuff mark on the area where the passenger side rear rocker panel meets the rear right tail fin? of the car. Black on dark blue -- I never noticed that scuff whenever I opened the trunk. I believe that this scuff was probably there when I first picked the car up. It only took the rep seconds to find this "damage" -- like he knew just whrere to look. I believe that I have been scammed and I have been searching the net to see if Enterprise has a track record of scamming renters. Any useful suggestions?

I'm just a customer like you are. If you don't get satisfaction inside of ERAC's organization here is a 1-2-3-4 punch.

1) Sign NOTHING admitting the damage.
2) File consumer fraud complaints with www.ftc.gov and the applicable state consumer affairs office.
3) Sue them in small claims.
4) If they ignore the judgement, get a writ of attachment to have the Sheriff seize one of their vehicles for you.

Have you been scammed?

You deserve it!!! You had every opportunity to nip this in the bud right from the beginning, but you let it drag on and now you are being scammed.

Can't feel sorry for you.

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by tailfins1959

I'm just a customer like you are. If you don't get satisfaction inside of ERAC's organization here is a 1-2-3-4 punch.

1) Sign NOTHING admitting the damage.
2) File consumer fraud complaints with www.ftc.gov and the applicable state consumer affairs office.
3) Sue them in small claims.
4) If they ignore the judgement, get a writ of attachment to have the Sheriff seize one of their vehicles for you.

Here goes Tailfins again scared to handle things on his own. This is the deal. You probably already signed the Damage Report, if not then you should be cleared. They let you go without making you sign the report or acknowledging the damage happened when you rented the vehicle so you have been absolved of liability. If you did not sign the report say they never mentioned it to you and let you go. If you did sign it then you are on the hook because they have a copy of a rental agreement that shows you signed for the condition as well as signing for the damage report that probably said that you acknowledge the damage is your fault.

In the future you need to be as stingy and picky as possible. You must not live too far from the branch if the car still had suds on it being that when cars drive they create wind and that wind usually blows off the soap (unless this soap had some adhesive in it) then I may believe that part. Yeah a black scuff on a blue car does suck but again you signed an agreement stating you would responsible for damage if it occurred while in your posession. Ask for previous contracts to be checked for the same damage and the unit history. If it was there someone should have it documented. Good luck.

First of all any grown adult (an i am assuming that you are since you rented a vehicle) knows to CYA. It is absolutely absurd to think that because some Joe told you not to worry about it that you shouldn't have had it recorded. That is 100% completely your fault. You signed a rental contract saying that there was no damage to a car when you clearly saw that there was damage. Before you get all pissed off at a company and start crying that you were scammed perhaps you should take a look at your own buisness decsions. Who signs a contract that they do not read?? You are a moron and you deserve what you get.

Furthermore for everyone else on here who thinks that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has a policy to scam their customers get your heads out of your asses. That is ridiculous. I ams ure Enterprise makes every attemt to correctly assign blame for damages to their cars. But it is true if you think you have a problem i encourage you to submitt a formal complaint or take them to court.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Voice of reason

First of all any grown adult (an i am assuming that you are since you rented a vehicle) knows to CYA. It is absolutely absurd to think that because some Joe told you not to worry about it that you shouldn't have had it recorded. That is 100% completely your fault. You signed a rental contract saying that there was no damage to a car when you clearly saw that there was damage. Before you get all pissed off at a company and start crying that you were scammed perhaps you should take a look at your own buisness decsions. Who signs a contract that they do not read?? You are a moron and you deserve what you get.

Furthermore for everyone else on here who thinks that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has a policy to scam their customers get your heads out of your asses. That is ridiculous. I ams ure Enterprise makes every attemt to correctly assign blame for damages to their cars. But it is true if you think you have a problem i encourage you to submitt a formal complaint or take them to court.

Only at Enterprise Rent-A-Car does believing what an employee tells you makes you a sucker and a fool who's about to lose several hundred dollars and later be told you should never listen to "some Joe" just because he's a customer service representative.

It's stuff like this that fuels Failing Enterprise.

[formererac]

Admin,
ERAC as a corporation doesn't encourage this, and actually tells its employees to do a thorough walk around with every customer. If the customers story is 100% accurate, and the employee admits to it, the renter is not at fault. But, if all the loss control department has to go on is a signed copy of the rental agreement by the customer, acknowledging he walked around the vehicle and there was no damage, and the previous contracts indicate no damage, what is ERAC supposed to do? If we just ate the loss, we would set a presidence, then what's to stop anyone from bring vehicles back in any condition they feel like? It's just protecting assets. Now, I'll acquiese that alot of employees at ERAC don't do thorough walk arounds, but the customer signs the contract too.

[MT Minus]

I would contact the better business beurau.

maybe you should've looked at the car more carefully if you signed stating you looked at the car. Why would you do that anyway with out looking for damage on the rental?