Reservations???

I've been working for ERAC for almost 4 miserable years now... rental, insurance inhouse, admin, & driver. All the positions have sucked big time: Rental- long hours & stressful customer situations (ie: no more cars!)
Inhouse- micromanged to death & then some.
Admin- dress nice & work in the mailroom?!? you've got to be kidding! also
being around all the Level 3 Green-Bleeders is annoying at best.
Driver- pick up & drop off pissed customers, smile & nod as they bash ERAC.

After seeing this same "reservation" snafu over & over & over... again, I have come to the conclusion that a reservation holds a RATE, not an actual CAR. We all know that if you walk into any rental car place (not just ERAC) when there are 2 cars left in the entire city, rates are going to be sky high. Same thing with hotel rooms, concert tix, etc. When supply is low & demand is high, prices go up. Don't have to be a mental giant to figure that out! So when you reserve a "car", all you're really doing is ensuring that you won't get reamed as bad on the daily charges, and (of course) also reserving the right to *be* that asshole customer we all love so much when the car isn't sitting & waiting for you when you show up at the time you planned on.

No, it shouldn't be this way. In order to maximize profit, ERAC makes it this way. Unethical? Probably. Immoral? I'd say so. A good way to make some $$$? You bet. Do I want out of the Kelly-green cult? *HELL YES* (& am in the process of starting my own business!) Just a slightly different point of view for all to ponder.

[Surly Pete]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I've been working for ERAC for almost 4 miserable years now... rental, insurance inhouse, admin, & driver. All the positions have sucked big time: Rental- long hours & stressful customer situations (ie: no more cars!)
Inhouse- micromanged to death & then some.
Admin- dress nice & work in the mailroom?!? you've got to be kidding! also
being around all the Level 3 Green-Bleeders is annoying at best.
Driver- pick up & drop off pissed customers, smile & nod as they bash ERAC.

After seeing this same "reservation" snafu over & over & over... again, I have come to the conclusion that a reservation holds a RATE, not an actual CAR. We all know that if you walk into any rental car place (not just ERAC) when there are 2 cars left in the entire city, rates are going to be sky high. Same thing with hotel rooms, concert tix, etc. When supply is low & demand is high, prices go up. Don't have to be a mental giant to figure that out! So when you reserve a "car", all you're really doing is ensuring that you won't get reamed as bad on the daily charges, and (of course) also reserving the right to *be* that asshole customer we all love so much when the car isn't sitting & waiting for you when you show up at the time you planned on.

No, it shouldn't be this way. In order to maximize profit, ERAC makes it this way. Unethical? Probably. Immoral? I'd say so. A good way to make some $$$? You bet. Do I want out of the Kelly-green cult? *HELL YES* (& am in the process of starting my own business!) Just a slightly different point of view for all to ponder.

I think you're close to the mark, here. A rezo at ERAC doesn't actually book a car. It simply adds your name and the rate you were quoted to a date and time. This helps the branch know what they need for cars that day, and when. This system would work if BMs also knew when cars were coming back, but they don't. And it would work if ARMs came through on their promise to get more cars, but they don't.

We talked about this all the time at our branch: when the rest of the world says "reservation" they think that they are putting their name on a specific car and right now someone else is driving it but that person will return it in time to be cleaned and prepped before they show up. They think that while we have ten of that kind of car in our fleet we now have a reservation for one and thus can only take 9 more reservations if other people plan on booking at the same time.

But when ERAC says "reservation" it is more like an appointment: it's not attached to a fixed asset but simply to the idea that a customer expects to be in your office at a certain time and date and will want the kind of car specified in the note on the rezo list.

Admin's complaint on this site's front page says "you gave my car away" or something like that. He's coming at it in a legitimate way because he interprets the word reservation the way normal people do: that when he reserves a car, that reservation is for a specific four-wheeled entity.

Pro-ERAC people, though, can't see it that way and think Admin's complaint is unreasonable because they feel that his reservation doesn't apply to a SPECIFIC vehicle but rather to the concept of getting the kind of car he wants when he wants it and to an overworked, stressed ERAC person, that sounds like an unreasonable request. They ask him to be patient or to pay for or just take a free upgrade. To them, a reservation is an appointment to get four wheels, preferably of a certain size.

That's why he accuses ERAC of giving away his vehicle, while Pro-ERAC people say he's being unreasonable because he won't take the free upgrade (or the ride home or whatever).

ERAC could easily solve this problem by doing 3 things:

First, they can relax on the "don't look, book" policy and trust their BMs to make good, profitable decisions. This will free up the ARMs to stop micromanaging and overpromising and to actually do things like help build the fleet through sales.

Second, they can program RALPH to maintain a running list of AVAILABLE car classes to show up on the reservation screen so that when someone calls to book an SUV the newbie MT can see that there are still 6 SUVs available that day because of the 10 SUVs the branch owns, 4 are currently out or are booked over that time period (and the BM will know what kind of buffer is appropriate at their branch).

Third, ERAC needs to operate their pricing in an auction style, similar to how most airport rentals are priced, where the price for non-negotiated (i.e. retail, not shop or corporate) goes UP as the number of available cars in the group declines. They do this a bit now in some groups but it could be done on a daily basis. Believe it or not, RALPH has the capability.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Surly Pete

I think you're close to the mark, here. A rezo at ERAC doesn't actually book a car. It simply adds your name and the rate you were quoted to a date and time. This helps the branch know what they need for cars that day, and when. This system would work if BMs also knew when cars were coming back, but they don't. And it would work if ARMs came through on their promise to get more cars, but they don't.

We talked about this all the time at our branch: when the rest of the world says "reservation" they think that they are putting their name on a specific car and right now someone else is driving it but that person will return it in time to be cleaned and prepped before they show up. They think that while we have ten of that kind of car in our fleet we now have a reservation for one and thus can only take 9 more reservations if other people plan on booking at the same time.

But when ERAC says "reservation" it is more like an appointment: it's not attached to a fixed asset but simply to the idea that a customer expects to be in your office at a certain time and date and will want the kind of car specified in the note on the rezo list.

Admin's complaint on this site's front page says "you gave my car away" or something like that. He's coming at it in a legitimate way because he interprets the word reservation the way normal people do: that when he reserves a car, that reservation is for a specific four-wheeled entity.

Pro-ERAC people, though, can't see it that way and think Admin's complaint is unreasonable because they feel that his reservation doesn't apply to a SPECIFIC vehicle but rather to the concept of getting the kind of car he wants when he wants it and to an overworked, stressed ERAC person, that sounds like an unreasonable request. They ask him to be patient or to pay for or just take a free upgrade. To them, a reservation is an appointment to get four wheels, preferably of a certain size.

That's why he accuses ERAC of giving away his vehicle, while Pro-ERAC people say he's being unreasonable because he won't take the free upgrade (or the ride home or whatever).

ERAC could easily solve this problem by doing 3 things:

First, they can relax on the "don't look, book" policy and trust their BMs to make good, profitable decisions. This will free up the ARMs to stop micromanaging and overpromising and to actually do things like help build the fleet through sales.

Second, they can program RALPH to maintain a running list of AVAILABLE car classes to show up on the reservation screen so that when someone calls to book an SUV the newbie MT can see that there are still 6 SUVs available that day because of the 10 SUVs the branch owns, 4 are currently out or are booked over that time period (and the BM will know what kind of buffer is appropriate at their branch).

Third, ERAC needs to operate their pricing in an auction style, similar to how most airport rentals are priced, where the price for non-negotiated (i.e. retail, not shop or corporate) goes UP as the number of available cars in the group declines. They do this a bit now in some groups but it could be done on a daily basis. Believe it or not, RALPH has the capability.

This is another well-considered response.

However, I must chime in on something. I completely understand that when I make a reservation for a specific car class, I'm not actually reserving a specific individual vehicle. Despite the fact that some customers expect a certain model or even color, I've always known that a reservation is for any randomly-selected vehicle in that class. I'm actually not much of a car guy these days (although twenty years ago I fixed cars for a living) and don't even pay attention to the make and model of the car I rent; it's just a tool for doing business. It runs, it's got gas, the rest I don't care about.

When I say on the site about them "giving my car away", what I mean is that at some point there was only one car in that class left on the lot, and the computer system clearly showed that I had a reservation for a car in that class, and while any reasonable interpretation of the word "reservation" would mandate that they hold that car for me, they chose to give it away.

I consider all cars within a specific class to be perfect substitutes for each other and I've never cared which one I've received. Life's too short to worry about the small stuff like this. If it runs, I'm happy.

The fundamental underlying problem is that Enterprise offers and confirms "reservations" in the normal sense of the word in order to induce you to come down to the branch, and once you arrive (and your ride leaves), then your reservation is revealed to be only a "request" or something similarly non-binding. I'm no attorney, but I think this is within the definition of fraud.

Admin

[Surly Pete]

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

This is another well-considered response.

However, I must chime in on something. I completely understand that when I make a reservation for a specific car class, I'm not actually reserving a specific individual vehicle. Despite the fact that some customers expect a certain model or even color, I've always known that a reservation is for any randomly-selected vehicle in that class. I'm actually not much of a car guy these days (although twenty years ago I fixed cars for a living) and don't even pay attention to the make and model of the car I rent; it's just a tool for doing business. It runs, it's got gas, the rest I don't care about.

When I say on the site about them "giving my car away", what I mean is that at some point there was only one car in that class left on the lot, and the computer system clearly showed that I had a reservation for a car in that class, and while any reasonable interpretation of the word "reservation" would mandate that they hold that car for me, they chose to give it away.

I consider all cars within a specific class to be perfect substitutes for each other and I've never cared which one I've received. Life's too short to worry about the small stuff like this. If it runs, I'm happy.

The fundamental underlying problem is that Enterprise offers and confirms "reservations" in the normal sense of the word in order to induce you to come down to the branch, and once you arrive (and your ride leaves), then your reservation is revealed to be only a "request" or something similarly non-binding. I'm no attorney, but I think this is within the definition of fraud.

Admin

I appreciate your response and I'm sad to say that I educated plenty of my customers back in my day as to what a reservation was in the mind of ERAC. Not many people understand that the rezo doesn't actually attach itself to a specific car.

The problem with ERAC's understanding of your concern (and this is where I think a lot of pro-ERAC people get their backs up) is the "no look, book" policy. It does not take into consideration that there are several other people that want the same size of car and because of this they have overbooked. Perhaps you were the eleventh person to book a full-size car when there are only ten in the entire branch's fleet (they'd have no idea that you were the eleventh person when you booked). So, if a miracle happens and all FCARS come back at once, the first ten people get them and you -- the eleventh -- get the ubiquitous upgrade and the pro-ERAC person gets annoyed with you instead of with how their process works.

Or, more accurately, there are eleven FCAR rezos on a Monday morning, there's only ten FCAR rezos in the fleet, and five are due back that morning but two call to keep them out longer and the third shows up with damage and the fourth doesn't show up until Tuesday. So in the mind of an ERAC employee, you car hasn't shown up because someone hasn't returned it yet. They get upset when you tell them that they gave your car away because they think that you think that it was a specific car that they gave away so they all explain calmly to their customers that a rezo doesn't hold a specific car, as if that will make the customer understand why there is no car there at all.

Hope it doesn't sound like I'm defending ERAC, but it's an area I think that ERAC really needs to address in order to actually satisfy customers on a long-term basis.

"If a miracle happens and all FCARS come back at once, the first ten people get them"

The miracle Surly mentions was called "praying to the rental return gods" in my old group. The idea was that whenever you need a car, odds are that one would return right around the time you need it. As you may guess, it was a very strategic plan that was very well thought out to cope with the 'book everything' mentality (HA). However, I think it's safe to say that the return gods didn't always come through..kinda like how that other 'god' Andy underdelivers his fine company.

[GP51Sux]

Originally Posted by Surly Pete

Second, they can program RALPH to maintain a running list of AVAILABLE car classes to show up on the reservation screen so that when someone calls to book an SUV the newbie MT can see that there are still 6 SUVs available that day because of the 10 SUVs the branch owns, 4 are currently out or are booked over that time period (and the BM will know what kind of buffer is appropriate at their branch).

With the new computer system, there is a program that you can look up vehicles by size, and the date that someone needs that class. It will show you a bar graph that will have each unit in that class on it and when they are expected to return or are already reserved at that time.

A great idea!!! However, it is a huge hassle to get into the program and look at the info while having someone on the phone or at the counter. It is not a very user friendly program at all. The expected return dates are based on extension dates in callbacks, which we all know are usualy wrong anyways. I think ERAC tried to come up with a fleet management program and made a really minor league program.

I discovered this program without anyone telling me where or what it was. Then to put the icing on the cake, showed it to my ARM, and he had never heard of it! He called Admin up all psyched and they had no idea what he was talking about...... Typical ERAC!

[Surly Pete]

Originally Posted by GP51Sux

With the new computer system, there is a program that you can look up vehicles by size, and the date that someone needs that class. It will show you a bar graph that will have each unit in that class on it and when they are expected to return or are already reserved at that time.

A great idea!!! However, it is a huge hassle to get into the program and look at the info while having someone on the phone or at the counter. It is not a very user friendly program at all. The expected return dates are based on extension dates in callbacks, which we all know are usualy wrong anyways. I think ERAC tried to come up with a fleet management program and made a really minor league program.

I discovered this program without anyone telling me where or what it was. Then to put the icing on the cake, showed it to my ARM, and he had never heard of it! He called Admin up all psyched and they had no idea what he was talking about...... Typical ERAC!

Not a shock that no one had heard of it: it flies in the face of the "no look, book" policy.

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.

But yet someone, somewhere believed in these employees that 'suck' and offered them the job. Why is it acceptable to ERAC to lose employees so frequently? If ERAC truly spends that much money on new hires, then maybe they could re-direct their spending to develop a fleet management program instead. By your logic, they are bad employees that are going to leave anyway and it's a waste of money to spend training them. But yet again, they made it through the interview process and got the job. Surely no one at ERAC says, "Well, we hired another one to fill the gap. They'll quit eventually and we'll get someone else." Please tell me what is said is more along the lines of, "New hire starting tomorrow could be really good. Really excited this person is coming on board. They are sharp, intelligent and should catch on really fast. Make sure we spend time training them so they can have a good, solid impact early." AT LEAST that is the fantasy version of it. Otherwise you are admitting that you repeatedly make mistakes in the hiring process, and furthermore you are casually admitting that you were (YIPES) wrong in a decision you made with a candidate. When do they go from being a solid new hire candidate that you are excited about to an employee that 'sucks'? I'm curious about that. Doesn't ERAC hire the 'best of the best'? Isn't it a 30:1 ratio of candidates to hires? But yet so many quit and are labeled as 'suck' employees. If the 30:1 (or even 20:1) ratio is accurate, how can you make so many mistakes in picking the 'right' one out of 30 (or 20). You supposedly have plenty of candidates to choose from, yet consistently ERAC selects the wrong one. WHY? Maybe, just maybe, it's because of the flawed business model that ERAC practices. It's easy to call the former employees names in order to justify someone staying, but wouldn't it be better to acknowledge there is a problem and try to fix it. I mean, we are talking about retention. And I think the VAST majority of people who quit would tell you they were not surprised by the physical labor aspect, because it is told to just about everyone who interviews. As a matter of fact, recruiters and higher managers almost negatively sell the job in order to properly inform candidates during the interview process. I've rambled way too much on this subject, but one last thing. Ask yourself this: How many people do you know that work at ERAC? And how many people do you know that USED to work at ERAC? WHY?

Finally, the reservation thing can very easily be fixed. A computer program and the ability to tell customers the truth would solve the problem, but that takes work. It's not easy, therefore it will not get done.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Finally, the reservation thing can very easily be fixed. A computer program and the ability to tell customers the truth would solve the problem, but that takes work. It's not easy, therefore it will not get done.

It doesn't get done not because it's difficult to do but because it would reduce fleet utilization. The additional profit they get from intentionally overbooking and dishonoring reservations still appears to them to be greater than their reputational and HR costs from having FailingEnterprise publicly pound on them every day. That is, of course, if the senior managers even know about the Internet and FailingEnterprise.

Admin

I really am offended by peoples comments such as above stating that all people that leave ERAC suck...That is total lunacy.

Its along the lines of someone dumping you in a relationship you were happy with then you get sulky and never speak to them again whilst telling everyone how happy you are to be single again!

I was the top seller in my entire region for 4 months straight,aced the grill and brought in clients we never had as well as saving ones we were about to lose.I progressed upwards and then after a year and a half I quit...why?

Not because I am a loser but because the job was crap! The promises were lies....what I was told would happen never did.I was working 70 hours a week and I hated it. If you want to get angry fine but dont call everyone an idiot....you just end up looking like one yourself!