Passed the 3rd Interview - Read for tips and reviews!

[ExERAC656]

the jist of my interview (yes i only had one) was:

why do you want to work at erac?
- because you guys are hiring and i need a job

where do you see yourself in 5 yeas?
- owning my own business

what is your dream job?
- anything where i can make a lot of money in a short amount of time then retirement.

can you cut your hair, shave your gottee, and take out your earrings?
- what do you guys pay?

you're hired.

i only had to go through one interview because my area was so hard up for people and we had no area manager that the recruiter just hired me on the spot. i was told if anybody ever asked i went through three interviews. however nobody ever asked.

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by realitycheck

Huh? The first few sentences of your response don't really have much to do with what I was saying here. You're right. People can leave whenever they want. I know I have that right and I excerised it a few years back.

I also agree that working shit jobs make you appreciate what you have much more. As for the last part of your response, that one less rep that saw this site and decided not to go with Erac is already replaced by another bright eyed hungry college student who probably doesn't know any better. For that one guy who read this board, there are probably 10 others just like him that will choose to go green. Enterprise knows this, so this board is merely an itch to their current recruiting abilities. That may change the longer this site stays active. I doubt the customers at that one branch had to wait any longer than they would have had that guy accepted the job. Besides, a helluva lot more customers are waiting for their cars to come right now because Enterprise runs its business the way in which it currently does.

You mentioneed previously that I must have had a manager that protected or "was an umbrella protecting us" from what was said at meetings or whatever. That was what I was reffering to as "secret". I came from a group that was severly short staffed and it was not due to pay but to the fact that the main area was a shithole and was getting too expensive to live in the state.................That one employee would have meant a lot.......I know this website is like a fly on an elephant but it does make a big difference in some places.

[FailingEnterpriseAdmin]

Originally Posted by slave no more

Admin,

Quick question for you. I believe you setup this website in order to "change" ERAC but by not allowing them to hire new people and properly staff their branches giving them the opportunity to get more cars to rent wouldn't that be counterproductive.....or are you now intent on just shutting down ERAC? The easiest way for them to change is to bring in new blood, have the new hires work less hours and then guess what, they can improve on other aspects of the business.....now I am behind you on the ERAC sucks thing but for change to come about they need to hire hew people.....when a pro sports team "rebuilds" becuse they suck they don't skip the draft and stick with the same old players...they get new ones....just some food for thought.

The reason the branches are short staffed is because of profit-maximization, not a general shortage of candidates. I'm just hoping they'll change their ways and rejoin the mainstream American business community. No way do I accept that telling the truth about Enterprise, and having candidates hear that truth, is someone preventing Enterprise from doing what it needs to do.

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by FailingEnterpriseAdmin

The reason the branches are short staffed is because of profit-maximization, not a general shortage of candidates. I'm just hoping they'll change their ways and rejoin the mainstream American business community. No way do I accept that telling the truth about Enterprise, and having candidates hear that truth, is someone preventing Enterprise from doing what it needs to do.

Not to argue with you but how long did you work for ERAC? I was there for 6 and a half years and went on enough recruiting trips to be a recruiter myself. In the area I was in we were shortstaffed due to people relocating and transferring NOT QUITTING. We had a record retention for the company the area was a shithole....I left because of the same reason....I just left the company because I was not about to transfer as an MA and have a giant paycut....my bachelor lifestyle could not take it :-).......Yes they try to maximize profits but what company doesn't...and yes sometimes at the expense of the customers.....they are not perfect, they never will be and will never have enough cars to satisfy everyone who comes into the branch with a reservation but don;t sit here and tell me that HLE is better because they have more cars.....they have less cars and less reservations as well meaning what.....MORE AVAILABILITY!! Maybe thats why they were sold due to a poor financial outlook....I am not sure but to get back on topc all areas have different problems.....ERAC in my area paid well above the median income for the area and probably too much for a customer service/slaes entry level position....too bad my hometown was a dump and the surrounding areas were way too expensive for people to live in. I do think however that you do a good service for people to get outside opinions and again I KNOW THIS IS NOT GOING TO EFFECT ERAC THAT MUCH.....but I still think that letting people find out things for themselves is more beneficial than taking anothers word. You think Buzz Aldrin would have been satisfied by just taking Neil's word that the moon was made of green cheese? :-)

[ExERAC656]

question for you slave,

if you were to go buy a product, got it home, took it out of the box, and it didn't look or work like it was advertised and your friend said tell me how it works because they were thinking about buying one would you:

a) tell them that it was what you were expecting but they should buy one and try it out for themselves

b) tell them that they should not waste their time or money because it wasn't at all what you thought it would be

i am inclined to think the majority of us would do option b. similar here at failingenterprise.com. admin or any poster is just telling it like it is. ie... it doesn't do what it was advertised to do.

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by ExERAC656

question for you slave,

if you were to go buy a product, got it home, took it out of the box, and it didn't look or work like it was advertised and your friend said tell me how it works because they were thinking about buying one would you:

a) tell them that it was what you were expecting but they should buy one and try it out for themselves

b) tell them that they should not waste their time or money because it wasn't at all what you thought it would be

i am inclined to think the majority of us would do option b. similar here at failingenterprise.com. admin or any poster is just telling it like it is. ie... it doesn't do what it was advertised to do.

It actually depends on the reason why the product does not work to my standards. If I ordered something and it was broken I would assume that I could get another and return it realizing that with mass production somethings will go wrong.....If the product description did not match the product at all then I would call the company and complain about the advertisement and return the item. I see your point and I understand what you are saying but the point I make is that customer service issues happen everywhere especially in a company that does as many transactions as ERAC does. I do not defend the fact that they do "book don't look" and that there are promises made about salaries and stuff that they do not follow up to but you can;t sit here and tell me that ERAC is the only company that has complaints, or that overbooks, or that has overstressed employees because I can show you a HLE, a Avis, a Budget and a National that has the same issues........travel agencies, airlines, they all have issues........they also all have reservations. ERAC is no where close to perfect but if they are that shitty and unreliable and terrible then WHY DO THEY HAVE THE MOST CARS ON THE ROAD???? Enterprises that they "Pick you up" which they do and have a disclaimer that says "based on availability" and they also say they rent cars and they also say they have the best rates most of the times.......Mcdonalds also says they have crispy golden fries (50% they are old and cold), Trim Spa says I can lose 50 pounds in a month (most people don't) and I have not gained 3 inches to my penis!! (Opps shouldn't have used that last one) but honestly I agree with this forum.....I agree that there are problems but to expect anything other than the same issues to keep going on is crazy. They are a business trying to grow....they have been growing profitably and steadliy evey year and probably will keep growing but to expect them to change is crazy....they want to have 82% of their customers completely satisfied.....whats is 18% of 15 million.....a lot of unhappy people I would say!

By the way to answer your question I would find out what my friend was looking for and then tell him whether or not to get the item.

[ExERAC656]

the point i was trying to make didn't containg any assumptions or variables.

maybe this will make it a little more clear...

if you go to buy a computer and when you open the box the only thing that is inside is a calculator and a pencil; wouldn't you feel cheated and lied to?

this is similar to enterprise you are told you are getting this amazing job with limitless opportunity but then you have to go wash a car. i know this is a simplistic view, but that is basically what happens.

as for the other companies, sure they have problems. i have spent my fair share of time waiting for a room at a hotel that i reserved, or been placed on standby for a flight when i had the ticket right in my hand, hell i have even shown up at other rental car companies for my reservation and been told they didn't have any cars. but, this site, isn't about those companies and problems. i have said this before and i guess i will have to say it again, the site is called failingenterprise.com not failinghertz, failingavis, failingbudget, and etc...

i haven't ever done a google search for any of the companies and if they have sites similar to this one. i am sure they do, but they do not attract the same response failingenterprise does. sure erac is the largest rental car company in north america which gives them more opportunity to have a larger amount of complaints. but that doesn't mean they have to have the most complaints. infact it should mean they are far more equiped to handle the load of business and therefore satisfy more customers. that is simple supply and demand.

if erac would adopt an hoesty policy across the board when it comes to reservations... ie.. customer calls and wants to rent a car 2 days from now and you have 50 resos already, instead of saying sure not a problem, but saying just so you know i can get your reservation in the system but i can't promise we will have a car available on that day, the customer would be more inclinded to look for another option. but if you tell the customer we will have a car for you and when they show up and you don't have one... of course the customer has every right to be pissed off. you have made a promise and not delivered. if you have a reso at 3pm because you need to be on the road by 3:30 and the customer shows up and the car isn't ready until 4pm the customer has the right to be pissed off.

i don't know where the mentallity of; the customer is on my time schedule or should work around my availablity, that abounds with so many people at erac came from. hell i had that mentallity many times while i was in the trenches. i think it is in part that erac knows in many cases the customer is pretty much locked in with erac esp. if it is an insurance rental, or if in part it is an issue of the small market and there might not be any other options for rentals than erac, or if it just as simple as we are the biggest so fuck off.

[slave no more]

Again...........my ARM and myself when hiring people were upfront......you will be cleaning cars and helping upset people and such....we went over the pos and neg of the position........other groups are complete shit from where I worked....our retention rate was tops in the Co. but your points are all well taken. I would also have to say though that there is some embelishing going on with some of the stories and I just laugh when I see some of the stuff on the website that people say happened. ERAC is not perfect, nor is any other company but talking shit about them is most definitely fun!!

[ExERAC656]

Originally Posted by slave no more

Again...........my ARM and myself when hiring people were upfront......you will be cleaning cars and helping upset people and such....we went over the pos and neg of the position........other groups are complete shit from where I worked....our retention rate was tops in the Co. but your points are all well taken. I would also have to say though that there is some embelishing going on with some of the stories and I just laugh when I see some of the stuff on the website that people say happened. ERAC is not perfect, nor is any other company but talking shit about them is most definitely fun!!

i say bravo to you for being upfront and honest (not being a smartass)! you are in the small minority.

ahh.. people embellish shit all the time. that is just the way it goes. but if you look and read over the majority of the posts one should be able to pick out the pattern of erac being consitantly inconsistant.

[slave no more]

Originally Posted by ExERAC656

i say bravo to you for being upfront and honest (not being a smartass)! you are in the small minority.

ahh.. people embellish shit all the time. that is just the way it goes. but if you look and read over the majority of the posts one should be able to pick out the pattern of erac being consitantly inconsistant.

You are correct.....there are consistencies across the board and they do need to be addressed but unless retention becomes a part of the Exceptional Acheivement award then employees will always be shit on by upper management. I guess I take offense to the fact that people say "all" of ERAC is crap and I shouldn;t because they take the same view as I do and that is what they experienced. ERAC needs to change definitely but as I always say as long as they are making money and growing that changes is far away.