Group 15 Customer Horror Stories

This is the one and only thing that I liked talking about with other ERAC employees that dealt with work after hours, exchanging customer horror stories. What stories do you have? I have so many but here is one of my top 10...

There was an elderly lady that rented a car from our office who ironically needed the rental car to take a driving test. Supposedly, she had a valid driver's license, according to my MT. Anyways, she comes back to a very busy office and started to complain as soon as she walked in, even though all of my employees were busy with other customers. We asked her very nicely that we will help her as soon as one of us becomes available. She didn't like that answer. She continued to make her way to the front of the counter and interrupted my customer and I in mid-sentence. Again, I asked her that I am already with a customer and will help her as soon as I finished. She said that I was rude and that I need to help her ASAP. My Mt came back from a drop off and took over my customer as I tried to get this lady out of the office.

The reason why she needed assistance so badly is because he needed to take her driving test at the DMV and she couldn't with our vehicle because it had a temp licence plate on it. She demanded the same exact vehicle. Well, luckily I did but it was black instead of red. She didn't want it. Her excuse was that it was not the same car and she had practiced with the other car for three straight days and didn't want anything different. I explaned to her that the paint on the car was the only difference. She still did not want it.

After waiting for ten minutes or so for me to find the same extact color vehicle, she agreed to take the car but made it perfectly clear to me that if she didn't pass her driving test, she would demand a full refund of the vehicle. I told her that I could not do that. She insisted that it will happen because she knows people in upper management. I said that hopefully we do not have to worry about that.

I had to go through every single button, dashboard light and function on the vehicle to assure her that she was in the same car which lasted about 1/2 hour.

And do you know how much my office received for this rental, $20 for 4 days fo rental. She took advantage of our "book every deal" rate.

this didn't happen in group 15, but here it goes.
lady booked a deal for a scar WES on friday at 5pm
she had a free WES coupon she had won at a raffle
being the typical ERAC friday, all the scars and fcars were booked for the weekend and the only vehicle available was a MVAR...i wasn't worried about it, i figured the free upgrade would be a bonus.
i was wrong...when the lady came in and i informed her that her vehicle would be a van, she burst into tears, telling me i wrecked her weekend and that i was a liar.
i patienly explained to her the circumstances, that a van typically cost more, but she wasn't hearing it. a full grown professional woman crying because her scar was a mvar.
being a friday at 5:30, my compassion for her was little...i could understand if i had no vehicle for her...but the nearest branch was 1.5 hours away and the van was perfectly fine and brand new.
I held my ground and said sorry, but a van is what you got.
she insisted on calling my ARM...long story short i ended up waiting till around 7pm for a scar from the closest branch. and of course i was instructed to apologize profusely and kiss the customers ass.
fugging disgusting

Originally Posted by Unregistered

this didn't happen in group 15, but here it goes.
lady booked a deal for a scar WES on friday at 5pm
she had a free WES coupon she had won at a raffle
being the typical ERAC friday, all the scars and fcars were booked for the weekend and the only vehicle available was a MVAR...i wasn't worried about it, i figured the free upgrade would be a bonus.
i was wrong...when the lady came in and i informed her that her vehicle would be a van, she burst into tears, telling me i wrecked her weekend and that i was a liar.
i patienly explained to her the circumstances, that a van typically cost more, but she wasn't hearing it. a full grown professional woman crying because her scar was a mvar.
being a friday at 5:30, my compassion for her was little...i could understand if i had no vehicle for her...but the nearest branch was 1.5 hours away and the van was perfectly fine and brand new.
I held my ground and said sorry, but a van is what you got.
she insisted on calling my ARM...long story short i ended up waiting till around 7pm for a scar from the closest branch. and of course i was instructed to apologize profusely and kiss the customers ass.
fugging disgusting

This blurb goes out the never going to get promoted assbag that wrote this. The only one that should be complaining is the customer. Maybe you should read about this website a little more before you write stupid shit like this. A minivan and a car are very different vehicles, a van is a lot bigger and harder to park. Also a van burns gas a lot faster and cost more to fill up. Some people dont like driving vans and have no need to drive a minivan around all weekend when they were promised a car. Also you are getting paid till 6 pm, so as a customer who was promised something and then you tell me you dont have it, after I already made plans for the weekend and drove up to your place to get the car, you better show me some compassion or I will freak out and start calling upper managment. This is also enterprise's fault because they book every deal and make reservations they cant keep, and run on tight occupancy. So as long your company continues to run its business this way you as an employee, working those shitty hours are going to have to deal with customers who are pissed off ,for all the right reasons, like they were promised a car and get stuck with a van they did not want. Here is something you should get use to, whether you like your job or not as long as you work for this company......THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. If you dont like that then I suggest finding a new job. I did.

[takeaguess@who]

okay to your little horror story.... about the scar and mvar... if it was me i wouldnt want no stank ass mini van either.. that is not an upgrade unless i got three kids and im driving'em around to soccer games.... the customer should get what they asked for...ie... the whole point of a reservation... you dont make a reservation at a restaraunt for 5 people and walk in and have them say ohhh we only have a table for four available... wouldyou take that? no didnt think so you made a reservation for 5 at a table for 5 not a reservATION for five at a table for four... yes erac might consider a minivan an upgrade from an scar.... but honestly who wants to drive around one of those...and stop bitching its your job, yes you should kiss the customers ass you are in cutomer service dickhole... think about that one... why dont you try putting yourself in the customers shoes.... look at it from a different perspective... and suck it up and grit your teeth... thats how the world revolves....

Here is one...

Customer needed to be picked up from the local dealership across the street. Bring her back to the office and asked the same question you ask every other customer, "May I have your driver's licence and credit card please for a security deposit." The comment that comes out of her mouth," Why do I have to give you a credit card, the dealership is paying for the rental." I explained that the reason that we require a security deposit is that in case something happens to the car or you forget to replace the gas, we can use the deposit to pay for those type of things. She said and I always love this response, "Why do I have to pay for gas?" I explained to her that you only pay for the gas that you used, just like if you were driving your own car. Here is where it got fun...

She refused to give a security deposit, pulled the old I have been here before numerous times and never had to put down a deposit. I looked at her history through out the entire group, no record of her renting a car. As an assistant manager, you are responsible for pretty much every rental that goes through your office, so I am getting red flags everywhere to not rent this car to this lady because she clearly does not qualify. Sure enough, the AM was in the office, called me in to talk.

Told me to just make a copy of her license and make her fill out a Cash qualification form and rent her the car. He pushed the rental because he wanted to make friends with the dealership and we were at a very low occupancy that day. I was very stern in the fact that this lady will cost us money. He said the delearship is paying for the rental and we have her info in case we need anything.

I came back out, rented her a brand new Nissan Maxima because we have to give a Fcar or higher for $30/day and we only had small cars and mini vans which she refused to drive because she did not feel comfortable driving (she drives a Nissan Murano). And you guessed it, no chance of even selling package.

Anyways, what happens, she drops the car on the delearship lot after hours with an empty tank of gas(she had 3/4 of a tank) and to top it all off, her warrenty did not cover her rental because it was a non-warrenty repair and the delearship refused to pay for the rental. 4 days + $32 in gas = $158 rental that the office ate. Never got a hold of her to pay for the rental. Too expensive to send her to collections, so I pretty much paid for that rental out of my pocket.

Here is a good one...

Corporate employee wanted to rent a car for the week to take his family on vacation. Wanted a large SUV like a Durango or Expedition. Called my manager, booked the deal at $30/day for 7 days. Now, this week was during Thanksgiving so you know we could of gotten at least triple that but because he knew he was getting DW/Pai/SLP with the deal, he booked it. He is a corp guy who gives us business, we have to satisfy them.

Came in, rented the car with a cashier's check for only $200 and said will pay for the rest when he comes back.

Never came back in seven days...came back in 21 days (kept extending the rental) So 3 weeks of full boat at $30/day, not a bad rental...if he paid. Dropped the car overnight, SUV completely trashed and no payment. We called his work, he was fired. Called his cell phone,home phone,and relatives on his CQ form...no answer or disconnected. $1186.29 in rentals, no payment. Sent to collections, no money. My commision check was great that month.

You know, when you just underwrite a contract CORRECTLY and consistently, EVERY time, this job is a piece of cake. Follow the underwriting guidelines to the "T". Unknowing to admin, I stopped doing CQ rentals. Only 100% reliable corp acts with direct billing, would I allow without a credit card. Never had any serious problems as a result.

The only hassle is trying to explain to your ARM why you wouldn't rent Mr. BrokeAss a car. I would go tell them to see another branch if they wanted to cash qualify. Fuck, the 2'oclock count, I wanted to maintain my sanity. My fleet still grew, and with "desirable" customers, although perhaps not as much as it would have otherwise, but then I didn't have to deal with the bull 99% of branches dealt with. My positive mental state was worth much more than the $1 I was losing out on, on my take home pay, given being promoted further was a pipe dream anyway. A credit card provides a lot more security then just the small auth you were able to take from it. While the average manager is killing themselves trying to collect from deadbeat renters and accounts, we actually had time to market, get cars cleaned and DO NOTHING!
Employee training got done, and employees were happier, as a result customers were happier. Fuck I sound like Andy Taylor - shoot me now!

Other than the CC company transaction fee, cash is trouble compared with credit. With CC's both the company and consumer have protection built into their respective CC agreements. If you fuck up a charge, it's a lot easier to fix. You don't have to worry about having cash go missing, doing a cashbox, getting robbed at gun point and losing your shirt. Sure cash is untraceable for the most part, but from a day-to-day front line business operations standpoint, credit cards are so much easier and forgiving. And because all VISA's provided secondary coverage (which I never told them), I knew that even if Mr BrokeAss came back and I knew there was no way he could afford to fix the vehicle (naturally he'd declined waiver), I knew the car would be covered. C'mon, would you rent your "personal" vehicle to someone with just a drivers license and a promise? Would you lend someone $20,000 if they couldn't even qualify for a fucking credit card? Even my dog was pre-approved.

If a cop asks you for your drivers license and registration, you don't ask him why he needs it. If a customer asks you why you need the credit card, you tell him BECAUSE "YOU DO". That's it! If he asks why again, tell him because without one he can't rent a car. If he says he's done it before, play dumb. Don't try to rationalize and justify to the guy with the grade 3 education across the counter why he needs one. Tell him, "I'm giving YOU a $20,000 car. What are YOU giving ME in return for security?"

I have used that line..."I am giving you a $20,000 car, what are you giving me in return for security?" 9 times out of 10 it works.
Customers do not understand that the company is not out to just take your money, that is stealing. I blame the dealerships/body shops because they know they have ERAC by the balls and they can request anything and if ERAC does not agree, Hertz and Budget will take it in a heartbeat. Especially when we run out of cars, dealerships/bodyshops do not care. They think we have an infinite supply of cars and can get one at any time. They do not understand that we are the same as then when people come without an appoitment and needs their car fixed, if they are booked, they tell the customer it will be a few days before they look at it.

[noeracforme]

Guy rented a Dodge Magnum from my office over the weekend. Came to the office on Monday and we see the car on the lot but no keys and car is locked. Gave benefit of the doubt that the customer will return with the keys soon. Call the customer to remind him that we need the keys in order for us to stop the rental or else you are still paying for the rental. No callback nor a visit with the keys.

The guy comes back on Tuesday, and introduces himself as the renter of the Magnum. We told him that we did not have the keys for it so he was responsible for the extra day. He said he didn't have the keys, he left them at the office. Our office did not have a key drop. We asked him nicely where he left the keys. He proceeds to go outside in front of our office and starts to dig through the bush. Seconds later he pulls out the keys. He left the keys to a Magnum stuffed into the bush in front of our office. He said that he left the car on Sunday but did not notice a place to drop off the keys. He couldn't come back on monday because he had a family emergency.

Now, what would you do in this situation. We called him at home, left a message and he never returned our phone call. So at least he would have to pay for that extra day. Once we told him that, you would think we accused him of shooting Abe Lincoln. He thought because he left the keys in the bush that he was off the hook. He didn't even call us to let us know, at least we would of gotten them and be done with it.

So what does my manager do, he backdates the contract and he gets off free of any extra charges. He said it was not worth it to argue over $35.

So lesson to be learned, you can drop off the keys to a car anywhere you want and you will not be responsible for it

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This blurb goes out the never going to get promoted assbag that wrote this. The only one that should be complaining is the customer. Maybe you should read about this website a little more before you write stupid shit like this. A minivan and a car are very different vehicles, a van is a lot bigger and harder to park. Also a van burns gas a lot faster and cost more to fill up. Some people dont like driving vans and have no need to drive a minivan around all weekend when they were promised a car. Also you are getting paid till 6 pm, so as a customer who was promised something and then you tell me you dont have it, after I already made plans for the weekend and drove up to your place to get the car, you better show me some compassion or I will freak out and start calling upper managment. This is also enterprise's fault because they book every deal and make reservations they cant keep, and run on tight occupancy. So as long your company continues to run its business this way you as an employee, working those shitty hours are going to have to deal with customers who are pissed off ,for all the right reasons, like they were promised a car and get stuck with a van they did not want. Here is something you should get use to, whether you like your job or not as long as you work for this company......THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT. If you dont like that then I suggest finding a new job. I did.

I'm the one who wrote this you toolbag
and i didn't work for erac then or now
it's not my company, it was not my policy to book every deal
try running a satellite branch 60 miles away from another
you lose your compassion for "customer service"