Reservations???

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You have postings...big deal. Postings are not a reflection of the effect this "site" is having...sorry. We're losing potential candidates that we would have spent over $20,000+ on to train only to have them fired or quit because they sucked anyway? We're losing employees that Area Managers and RRM's are probably just dying to let go anyway...again because they suck? All and all, you probably ARE doing a good thing. Saving us a lot of money training these idiots on the front end and saving us a huge headache on the backend.

You're assuming that employees that would listen to independent sources of information are not the kind of people you'd want at Enterprise. This reinforces our suspicions of Enterprise's cultural isolation. It really is a green hermit kingdom that's turning its back on the modern world.

Admin

"Customers that do not realize this are not educated consumers."

I hope every potential Enterprise customer and employee reads this and decides not to do business with you. In a free market, companies with this attitude go bankrupt, and Enterprise will have employees like you to thank.




....Enterprise is not going bankrupt..unlike Budget. Enterprise is making profits, because they ARE providing better customer service.

...but the whole industry is a sham

Reservations:

1) 20% of my reservations never show up. They don't call, they just don't show up. Out of 100 reservations, that leaves 80.

2) 40% of the reservations that don't show up either called to confirm their reservation the day before, or were called by the banch and confirmed their reservation.

3) 15% of my reservations that do show up don't qualify to rent. They might have a debit card with a luxury car reservation for example. This percentage increases drastically during prom time, but let's stay at 15%. Out of 80 people coming in, this leaves 68.

4) 50% of people with reservations do not come in ON TIME. By on time I mean at least 1 hour early or late for their reservation. Would a restaurant honor a reservation an hour early or late? No no no. Out of the 68 people, that leaves 34.

5) 5% of my reservations want a car other than they reserved. (The thought an enconomy car was a Stratus, or they couldn't book an SUV online but want one). Out of 34 people that leaves 32 that wanted to honor their reservation.

So out of 100 people, 32 will be in for the cars they reserved.
So if i have 10 reservations, 3-4 can be realistically expected to come in for their cars. I have 5 people scheduled to return today. Why should I get more cars?

But then the person that assured me he'd be in before 12:00 wants to keep his car over the weekend. Now you come in 5 minutes after I received that phone call. You're one of those 3 people who actually made it in for the reservation. Now it's MY fault that your car isn't ready.

So what can I do except call another branch that has a full size car on the lot and assure them that my 2nd customer will be returning THEIR full size car at 3:00, more than enough time for their 4:30 reservation. They give me the car and you lost 10 minutes. But now they're short that car- and if this customer doesn't come in either, oh no, another headache.

My other option is to get all 10 cars for all 10 reservations, pay for 10 cars, but only rent 3 (Plus 2 to walk in customers) so i sit at 50% fleet utilization, and make less money than it takes to pay the bills at the branch.

Or I could do what every other business, such as AIRLINES, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, TRAIN STATIONS, BUS STATIONS, and anyone else who takes reservations does, and figure that no show ratio into my plan, and hope today isn't that 1 day out of 20 where 7 people show up instead of 3.

I don't know what anyone else does for a living, but I assure you, no one has 100% customer satisfaction, or a 100% rate of honored reservations.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by BranchManager

Reservations:

1) 20% of my reservations never show up. They don't call, they just don't show up. Out of 100 reservations, that leaves 80.

2) 40% of the reservations that don't show up either called to confirm their reservation the day before, or were called by the banch and confirmed their reservation.

3) 15% of my reservations that do show up don't qualify to rent. They might have a debit card with a luxury car reservation for example. This percentage increases drastically during prom time, but let's stay at 15%. Out of 80 people coming in, this leaves 68.

4) 50% of people with reservations do not come in ON TIME. By on time I mean at least 1 hour early or late for their reservation. Would a restaurant honor a reservation an hour early or late? No no no. Out of the 68 people, that leaves 34.

5) 5% of my reservations want a car other than they reserved. (The thought an enconomy car was a Stratus, or they couldn't book an SUV online but want one). Out of 34 people that leaves 32 that wanted to honor their reservation.

So out of 100 people, 32 will be in for the cars they reserved.
So if i have 10 reservations, 3-4 can be realistically expected to come in for their cars. I have 5 people scheduled to return today. Why should I get more cars?

But then the person that assured me he'd be in before 12:00 wants to keep his car over the weekend. Now you come in 5 minutes after I received that phone call. You're one of those 3 people who actually made it in for the reservation. Now it's MY fault that your car isn't ready.

So what can I do except call another branch that has a full size car on the lot and assure them that my 2nd customer will be returning THEIR full size car at 3:00, more than enough time for their 4:30 reservation. They give me the car and you lost 10 minutes. But now they're short that car- and if this customer doesn't come in either, oh no, another headache.

My other option is to get all 10 cars for all 10 reservations, pay for 10 cars, but only rent 3 (Plus 2 to walk in customers) so i sit at 50% fleet utilization, and make less money than it takes to pay the bills at the branch.

Or I could do what every other business, such as AIRLINES, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, TRAIN STATIONS, BUS STATIONS, and anyone else who takes reservations does, and figure that no show ratio into my plan, and hope today isn't that 1 day out of 20 where 7 people show up instead of 3.

I don't know what anyone else does for a living, but I assure you, no one has 100% customer satisfaction, or a 100% rate of honored reservations.

I agree that having many customers not show up for their reservations greatly complicates things. I would be very frustrated to run a branch under these conditions.

However, you can look at the historical statistics and keep buffer stock and still accomodate just about everyone who comes in with a reservation. But Enterprise doesn't do this; they rent every car as fast as they can with a goal of an empty lot. It's not OK to use the excuse of "many customers don't show up" to justify saying "therefore, we ignore reservations altogether".

I'll agree it's a tough problem, but ten out of my fifteen reservations were dishonored. Somebody wasn't really trying.

Admin

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

I agree that having many customers not show up for their reservations greatly complicates things. I would be very frustrated to run a branch under these conditions.

However, you can look at the historical statistics and keep buffer stock and still accomodate just about everyone who comes in with a reservation. But Enterprise doesn't do this; they rent every car as fast as they can with a goal of an empty lot. It's not OK to use the excuse of "many customers don't show up" to justify saying "therefore, we ignore reservations altogether".

I'll agree it's a tough problem, but ten out of my fifteen reservations were dishonored. Somebody wasn't really trying.

Admin

Folks, he doesn't get it...nor will he ever. I've never seen admin respond to a logical post and actually realize where we're coming from. He starts out agreeing to certain points people make...only to keep the person interested...then always comes back with the same old story. He just has to find holes in everyone's logic. I especially love how he tells us what we CAN do...Buffer Stock?....what the?

Originally Posted by BranchManager

Reservations:

1) 20% of my reservations never show up. They don't call, they just don't show up. Out of 100 reservations, that leaves 80.

2) 40% of the reservations that don't show up either called to confirm their reservation the day before, or were called by the banch and confirmed their reservation.

3) 15% of my reservations that do show up don't qualify to rent. They might have a debit card with a luxury car reservation for example. This percentage increases drastically during prom time, but let's stay at 15%. Out of 80 people coming in, this leaves 68.

4) 50% of people with reservations do not come in ON TIME. By on time I mean at least 1 hour early or late for their reservation. Would a restaurant honor a reservation an hour early or late? No no no. Out of the 68 people, that leaves 34.

5) 5% of my reservations want a car other than they reserved. (The thought an enconomy car was a Stratus, or they couldn't book an SUV online but want one). Out of 34 people that leaves 32 that wanted to honor their reservation.

So out of 100 people, 32 will be in for the cars they reserved.
So if i have 10 reservations, 3-4 can be realistically expected to come in for their cars. I have 5 people scheduled to return today. Why should I get more cars?

But then the person that assured me he'd be in before 12:00 wants to keep his car over the weekend. Now you come in 5 minutes after I received that phone call. You're one of those 3 people who actually made it in for the reservation. Now it's MY fault that your car isn't ready.

So what can I do except call another branch that has a full size car on the lot and assure them that my 2nd customer will be returning THEIR full size car at 3:00, more than enough time for their 4:30 reservation. They give me the car and you lost 10 minutes. But now they're short that car- and if this customer doesn't come in either, oh no, another headache.

My other option is to get all 10 cars for all 10 reservations, pay for 10 cars, but only rent 3 (Plus 2 to walk in customers) so i sit at 50% fleet utilization, and make less money than it takes to pay the bills at the branch.

Or I could do what every other business, such as AIRLINES, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, TRAIN STATIONS, BUS STATIONS, and anyone else who takes reservations does, and figure that no show ratio into my plan, and hope today isn't that 1 day out of 20 where 7 people show up instead of 3.

I don't know what anyone else does for a living, but I assure you, no one has 100% customer satisfaction, or a 100% rate of honored reservations.

Rattling off numbers like these certainly gives you the look of credibility, but I have a few questions about them.

1. What kind of sample size are you working with here? I'm an avid poker player, so I know better than most people that you can't get an accurate picture without a lot of information.

2. 15% of renters not qualifying seems a little high to me.. If this many people are making it into your branch and not qualifying, it seems to me that your employees aren't doing a very good job of explaining the qualifications for renting on the phone.

3. Your stats fail to account for customers that fall into more than one categorty. More times than not the trouble customers are nutjobs across the board. They show up late, don't qualify and demand the wrong vehicle. I believe that your numbers are greatly skewed.

The difference between bad companies and great companies is that great companies realize there are problems inherent to their industry. But unlike Enterprise, they don't just accept it as unfixable.... They take exception to these problems and try to make it right for the customer.



Enterprise may have enjoyed the fastest growth of the rental companies. And this growth largely contributed to their image in the 90s. But the backlash is already happening. Believe me, a reputation for being a shady company will stick with Enterprise for a lot longer than its success has.

Admin your next rental will be 75/a day including your 5%(I bitch all the time discount) deal with it. If you where nice, just so you know I usually give corp account 15% because corp account does mean alot to me and my branch.. But since you alway have a problem and I will take care of your hourly charges and your extra day, screw you and you get 5%. O ya I do make fun of you when you leave and you are a joke amount ERAC. Not just So Cal but company wide now!!! Your website is great!! There is a reason why more and more ERAC people are on. LOL at Admin's idea back firing...

WOW YOU GOT THE POINT RENT SOMEWHERE ELSE!!! GOOD FOR YOU!! YOU FREAKING IDIOTADMIN. you did something 10 time over that it usually take most people one time. We didn't fit your needs, OK MOVE ON. I hate to lose the business but honestly Hertz just when up for sale, so I think ERAC is going to be ok. And Alamo had to merge with National, Avis is in the red. Budget sucks, I just hope you don't break down while you are renting. Erac keeps growing.... umm how long with it take others to figure out what makea profitable company.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Admin your next rental will be 75/a day including your 5%(I bitch all the time discount) deal with it. If you where nice, just so you know I usually give corp account 15% because corp account does mean alot to me and my branch.. But since you alway have a problem and I will take care of your hourly charges and your extra day, screw you and you get 5%. O ya I do make fun of you when you leave and you are a joke amount ERAC. Not just So Cal but company wide now!!! Your website is great!! There is a reason why more and more ERAC people are on. LOL at Admin's idea back firing...

Best of luck with your career.

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

I agree that having many customers not show up for their reservations greatly complicates things. I would be very frustrated to run a branch under these conditions.

However, you can look at the historical statistics and keep buffer stock and still accomodate just about everyone who comes in with a reservation. But Enterprise doesn't do this; they rent every car as fast as they can with a goal of an empty lot. It's not OK to use the excuse of "many customers don't show up" to justify saying "therefore, we ignore reservations altogether".

I'll agree it's a tough problem, but ten out of my fifteen reservations were dishonored. Somebody wasn't really trying.

Admin

Of these 10 dishonored reservations, did you never get a car? Did you just not get the car you wanted? Yesterday I took a flight it was oversold, then delayed 3 hours. I got on the flight, a few people didnt, after waiting 3 hours. That is dishonering a reservation. Every been "walked" at a hotel. That is dishonoring a reservation. There is almost never a time were someone comes in to ERAC and does not get a car, even if it involves a little wait. Keep up the good work on this gossip board