C2 in local news

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GPC2's C214 and C286 were the respective subjects of this Feb. 26 Toronto Star newspaper article about rental woes.

www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs...0599119419

not surprised....look at the two managers running the branches.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Feb. 26, 2005. 01:00 AM

Lessons learned in rental-car woes

ELLEN ROSEMAN

Renting a car can be a challenging experience. What if there's a dispute about who's responsible for payment?

Michael Wan was in a jam when an auto-body shop wouldn't pay the bill for a 43-day rental while his own car was being repaired.

Wan had been chasing John Lyons, president of 50-year-old Lyons Auto Body Ltd. in Mississauga, for almost a year when he contacted us.

We, too, had trouble pinning Lyons down. Once we did, he quickly agreed to cover the cost.

Wan came to Canada from China in October 2000 and doesn't speak English fluently.

Now working at Bell Canada, he was unemployed when he had a car accident in a snow storm last winter.

To reduce costs, he had removed the collision coverage on his car insurance policy.

Lyons was busy with other work and took time fixing the car. After three weeks, he offered Wan a replacement vehicle and called Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Mississauga.

His car sat at Lyons Auto Body for the next six weeks.

"Every time I called John or went to his office, he always had all kinds of excuses why my car hadn't been fixed," Wan told us.

"But one thing never changed. He always said, `Don't worry. I will pay the rental.'"

Wan finally picked up his car in late March. He paid for the $4,500 repair job with his MasterCard.

Later, he found a $1,020 charge on the same card for the rental. He disputed it as unauthorized and had it reversed.

But Enterprise went after Wan for payment when the company couldn't collect from the body shop.

He was told his name was on the rental agreement, so he was responsible, despite a note saying "bill to Lyons Auto Body."

Jennifer Reed, vice-president of MasterCard Canada, said Wan had already disputed the charge and had it reversed. There was nothing more the card issuer could do.

We kept calling Lyons at his private number (which Wan supplied). Lyons kept saying he'd call back.

"We're swamped," the body shop owner said this week.

But, after reading Wan's emails, Lyons called us back within a half-hour.

"I'm dealing with Enterprise now and he won't hear from them again," Lyons said.

He blamed a misunderstanding about who would pay for the rental, but agreed that 43 days in the shop was "way too long."

Jason Anslow, Enterprise Rent-A-Car's branch manager, confirmed the case had been settled. He said communications broke down.

"This experience has totally changed my idea about trusting people," Wan said.

Maybe that's a good thing. In future, he'll make sure everything is in writing instead of relying on verbal assurances.

Sandra Mendonca also faced collection efforts from Enterprise Rent-A-Car after she rented a car for a weekend last April.

She used a ScotiaGold Visa card that covers collision damage in a rented vehicle, so declined Enterprise's insurance coverage.

But the agent made a mistake. He checked off the boxes showing she was taking Enterprise's insurance, then drew arrows to the boxes showing she'd declined. He initialled the changes.

That weekend, Mendonca had an accident in the rented car with her husband and young son. Luckily, they all escaped with minor injuries.

She submitted a claim to the Bank of Nova Scotia's insurance carrier. The claim was rejected on the grounds that she hadn't declined Enterprise's coverage.

What Scotiabank calls "the office of the president," the next step on the ladder, also refused to help.

Meanwhile, Enterprise sent a letter last September, holding Mendonca responsible for $6,770 in damage to the car. She refused to pay.

In December, the family was fielding collection-agency calls. The amount owed had grown to $7,500. Earlier this month, Enterprise served papers for a small claims court action.

This week, the Mendoncas received good news. Their appeal to the Scotiabank ombudsman had been successful.

"We did very careful research in this case and contacted all the parties involved," Scotiabank ombudsman Bill Bailey told us.

His conclusion: Sandra Mendonca was indeed covered under her Visa card.

This story shows that clerical errors while filling out forms can't always be explained away.

Better to rip up the piece of paper and start over. That's what we'll do next time it happens to us.

[EX24VV'er]

Wow I wish they could publish ever story like this. It would be the biggest book ever!!!! I know my old region had a huge DNR file full of stories like this, as well as in the Loss Control program. We used to read them at admin just for fun. Ahh good times.

Just keeping this thread at the top where C2 deserves to be.

FYI for those interested about the R.O.B. Top 50 companies to work for and you feel intemidated by HR's demands for you to fill out the survey or you never got a survey, you can email ROB@globeandmail.ca direct and share your views (pro or con) of the company or even give him this web sites link.

[EX24VV'er]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

FYI for those interested about the R.O.B. Top 50 companies to work for and you feel intemidated by HR's demands for you to fill out the survey or you never got a survey, you can email ROB@globeandmail.ca direct and share your views (pro or con) of the company or even give him this web sites link.

What the hell are you talking about Cartman? So help me god I better not see this same message spammed across this board or I will hunt you down and kill you spammer!

Have heard more freaky stories about Lyons Auto body than these man ... you dont know what they do with cars when they are being fixed ... some customers are told that they will get the car fixed in 3 months ... while in the mean time they make sure they fix it ... how they do it is the secret ...