Please Can I talk with someone who has some common sence!

[NativeRage]

ok heres the deal. You are hired based on a willingness to work...hard and drive to succedd. First as an Mt, then AM, then Gm and so forth. whithin each position youa re "competing" with everyone else as you move up the corporate ladder. You will work long hours and washing a car in a 3 piece suit (yours) is mandatory. You will be forced to make split decisions about custmer complaints. The phone at the office is always ringing, always always always. Callbacks will get on your nerves and you will slowly feel like tyou are in the land of the dead due to being tired. You will get speediong tickets and parking fines that are not covered by ECARS. You will lose your wife to a man that has more time then you will. You will move ahead if you want it to. It is workable.....

As a former employee, I can say that you WILL learn some things from ERAC. I learned a lot as it was my first "real" job. I was not averse to hard work. I had promises made to me by my immediate superiors that were not kept and deals that were originally worked out were taken back after I had fulfilled my end of the proposal. This was the main reason I left.

You were asking about a franchise. ERAC is not a franchise business. You can manage a store, but you will not be able to personally own it. They say things like "take personal ownership of your branch", etc., but they mean that in a figurative sense. Like "Come to the branch on Sunday to get customers switched out who aren't happy to get that 100% ESQI" is what they mean, not you get to own it, you just get a percentage of the profits, if the branch makes money.

If you have family, this may not be the job for you. I have a wife and kids and was unable to spend much time with them. 6:30 or 7 was my standard arrival time at home, and often times much later. I was "encouraged" to go to after hours events, and being in a rural area, these were often held an hour away. Sometimes they were spouse friendly, but almost zero were kid friendly. Like a previous poster said, this DID strain my marriage and was another reason to look for greener pastures.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi Thanks for the perspective.

<Do you want to rent cars for a living.......?>
That's a good question.
The Job I am doing now is a glorified "tracer" I am Tracing someone elses work. So that's what I do for a living, and it ain't that glamourous. I have done many jobs that were below me, and I have a good understanding now what I DON'T want to do.

I am taking an outsider's look in at Erac with no personal experience of my own, working there and so there is a difference between reading about what it's like to "rent cars" then to actualy experience the job day to day.

I am looking at the long term at working at Erac. How will and can it benefit myself. Even if it turns out to be something I will not make a "living" at, if I can take away one good thing that I have learned, then it's worth it.

Can every one of you who quit Erac out of frustration say you learned one good thing?

What would I "do for a living" if I had the choice...probably sit on the beach and drink martini's, write and play video games on my laptop...yadda yadda. But that ain't the real world.

Sales is tough, because it's front line work, dealing with customers is tough, because customers are fickle.

I understand that Erac has a system, every company has there own system that they feel "work" for them, I don't assume to walk in there and tell them how "they" should run thier company, what do I know about running a enterprise like Erac? "thats just foolish".
I'd rather just start my own business if I wanted to "play by my rules".

If I had to pick up a customer who had thier SUV totaled, I'd sympathize with them...but it's not like I'm imposing on them, THEY called Erac...they want help, we are servicing them. Thick skin, don't take it personally.

Thanks for the insight.

-Angela

Personally I don't care what you do with your life. Join up with them I won't even say I told you so, or that you silly for doing it after these posts.

But in this post you start preaching to people that did this for years about thick skin, and every company having there own policy.

"If I had to pick up a customer who had thier SUV totaled, I'd sympathize with them...but it's not like I'm imposing on them, THEY called Erac...they want help, we are servicing them. Thick skin, don't take it personally."

Do you know the business now? Or are you still asking for advice? Did you read a couple of posts and now you know everything?
What you don't know is sometimes the bodyshop/dealership/or insurance company calls to make there reservation. So THEY DID NOT call ERAC. So when you show up with your Chevy cavalier to rent them and then ask them for a credit card which they no nothing about because they were promised the world then it does look like you are imposing on them. So yes you may grow thick skin, but once you grow it its tough to get rid of it. For $9.12 an hour go somewhere else.

Once agin your life do what you want.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

As a former employee, I can say that you WILL learn some things from ERAC. I learned a lot as it was my first "real" job. I was not averse to hard work. I had promises made to me by my immediate superiors that were not kept and deals that were originally worked out were taken back after I had fulfilled my end of the proposal. This was the main reason I left.

You were asking about a franchise. ERAC is not a franchise business. You can manage a store, but you will not be able to personally own it. They say things like "take personal ownership of your branch", etc., but they mean that in a figurative sense. Like "Come to the branch on Sunday to get customers switched out who aren't happy to get that 100% ESQI" is what they mean, not you get to own it, you just get a percentage of the profits, if the branch makes money.

If you have family, this may not be the job for you. I have a wife and kids and was unable to spend much time with them. 6:30 or 7 was my standard arrival time at home, and often times much later. I was "encouraged" to go to after hours events, and being in a rural area, these were often held an hour away. Sometimes they were spouse friendly, but almost zero were kid friendly. Like a previous poster said, this DID strain my marriage and was another reason to look for greener pastures.

Hi

That's too bad about not being able to spend too much time with the family, seems' like most jobs now a days entail so much overtime. I know how it can strain things at home, my boyfriend worked night shift, and me day shift...not fun.

Okay, so I am starting to understand now, so they basicaly train you to be a manager of the store, with some share of percentage of the profits. I just know that buying the franchise would entail that I spend thousands of dollars to open my own Erac. (if there were to happen)

As for spending extra overtime to partay with peeps after hours, it sure wouldn't happen often. Where I work now, they have a beer and pizza day every second friday and it's fun, but I really don't like drinking with my the people I work with. I drink with my friends, not my colleagues. However, many I work with are friends with each other, it's there main social outlet, and so it's one big "boys" club, and "couples club". So I guess that happens everywhere...*sigh.


Anyways, hope that your carreer is taking off for you where you are now, sounds like you are much happier where you are. Thanks

Cheers!

-Angela

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you have a good work ethic you'll love this job. Its tough but what job isn't, especially in customer service. The people that bitch here are mainly the ones that can't make it or are getting passed up for promotions. It is tough for anyone to get passed up, you just can't let it wear on ya. There are politics with any company. Many people get this job right out of college, so it is their first job...they are expecting a sweet job and don't realize that the shit that they are experiencing with ERAC, they would experience anywhere else. I've found that the people that appreciate the atmosphere at ERAC are the ones that have had other jobs and seen the dark side. All the new kids have high expectations, quit, then whine about their new jobs or lie about how "great" they are.

You have obviously been drinking a lot of the green kool-aid. I love how everyone still with the company says former ERACers couldn't take it. I was in the military for 4 years and separated when my enlistment was up. I served in Iraq..twice. So don't tell me I can't take dealing with customers bullshit. Or being passed up for promotion. When you look at the number of people hired every year vs. the number of people who actually make it to BM or above, you'll see that the percentage is very small. I work for a great company now and love dealing with the people I deal with on a daily basis. Unlike at ERAC when you're constantly calling people trying to get them to come in and pay more money when they are 500 dollars down and then having to go snap the car and nearly get shot trying to get it. NO THANK YOU!!! But I can say that working for ERAC is a great EXPERIENCE, not career, because once you leave you'll realize that there are so many jobs out there that are better than ERAC.

Originally Posted by Robert

I can give you a summary of the job without trying to interject opinion:

1) The hours are long. 50 hour minimum weeks are the norm and 60+ hour weeks can happen too.
2) Your job duties will basically consist of picking up customers from their homes, bodyshops, and dealerships. You will write these peoples rental agreements up as well. When the rental agreement is printed up you will take the customer to their rental and this is where arguably the most critical part of your future success will come. You will try to sell optional protection services, often called "dub".
3) Other job duties include answering alot of calls. These calls are usually requests for pickups or people making reservations. However, anything is possible when you pick up that phone. The veterans in here can attest to that.
4) Since most of the people in ERAC branches are under 30, there is obviously alot of drinking and socializing after work. If you are not the party type, you might not like the pressure to participate. And to be perfectly blunt, if you are attractive you will get hit on relentlessly.
5) Women do have an advantage at ERAC though, I do believe they want to promote women when and where they can. Just research it carefully before you make a decision. Most of the people on this site had bad experiences here, just read some of the threads on here.

Good Luck!

Hi Robert

Long hours, so it's almost like a boot camp? I was working 60 hour weeks at 2 jobs, had to drop the Tim Hortins Job, because bascialy I do work on weekends, and evenings at the current job I'm at now.
It's gotta be tough in winter washing cars though.

So it's like your a taxi cab as well. I have rented from Erac before and really like that aspect of it.

Another thing too, this happens everywhere, where you have a reservation, and you go, and there is no car. This happened to my mother this summer, we went to Hertz rent a car and our midsize wasn't available, so they upgraded us to a SUV for $15 dollars extra a day, it was worth it though, because it was a really nice and roomy. That has got to be the most FRUSTRATING part of the job though.
How do you handle that, when a customer comes in and the car isn't there?

I worked as a temp receptionist a couple times, and also at a tourism call center rep, (helping take hundreds of calls during the sept 11 attack)...anything can happen for sure.

Second day of my "security" job (yeah thats right...security) all hell broke loose when somene left their window open (in the winter) in an expensive condomium on the 4th floor, pipes burst. Fire alarm is going off, people from other high rise condo think it's a fire, i'm being yelled at to call several different people/companies...I don't know the numbers. Water and smoke are pouring out of the building. Guy starts panicking because he left his kettle on the stove, but I can't let him back up stairs because I don't have the key! Firestation calls, and is asking me if I should dispatch them or not. The supervisor is still yelling at me from across the room at the panels, but I can't hear a thing because the alarm is too loud....
and that was my 2nd day.
LOL

GAh...as for "flirtations" from guys. I got that everyday working at Tim Hortins, guys coming in asking for my phone number, and if I was single and yadda yadda...really ugly old, "trailer park" locals that would hang around all day...

Whatever...

Thanks again though.

-Angela

I'm calling a spade a spade
this "angela" is a perfect fit for erac
she seems bimboish enough to scam her way above (with bosses/service shop studs)
her intelligence is subpar, "sence" and "muchly" lolollolllollollloll
if i'd guess, proly got a 2 yr degree in Arts of some sort
proly has average/below average gpa.
the perfect fit, she could honestly become bm within a year.
i'd take the job if i were you.
I'll know you'll refute this with bullshit accolades, but i'm not buying it.
right on the money IMO

Winter is rough to wash cars, but summer can be worse, in some places. If your a guy, you get the "pleasure" of going out behind the office and washing cars in a long-sleeve, cotton white shirt with a tie, usually with little or no shade and on hot concrete/asphalt. Ladies have it a bit better, since they can wear more of a variety, but you can get to smelling NASTY after just washing one or two cars in the summer. Not to mention the fact that you can get too hot, dehydrated, etc. In other words, its bad if you have a busy day in the summer and all your drivers are out on runs.

And yes, I am much happier in my new job(s). I do two, like you. I have a government job during the day (killer benefits/retirement) and still hold a retail job in the evenings/weekends for extra cash. Both of these jobs combined don't equal the hours and the stress I was under at ERAC. Its an experience for anybody, that is for sure, but it certainly takes a "special" kind of person to want to do it for a career. Of course the biggest factor is your Area Manager/Branch Manger. If these two are good, it can be a good experience. If you have an inept AM that never helps your branch, and a branch manager who doesn't back up employees and treats them like shit, then you can have a really shit experience. The straw that broke the camels back for me was my "new" manager was a real dick, but I requested time off, and the DAY BEFORE I was supposed to leave, the BM called my Area Manager who had gave some new hire the Fri-Mon. off a couple days ago at another office, and therefore I couldn't go on my vacation, even though I had it planned out weeks in advance. After that I said FUCK Enterprise, if I'm not worth the time to even get my vacation time straight, then I was tired of wasting my time. I had another job fall into place a couple weeks later and dropped a 2 week notice on my BMs desk.

Give us a link to your MySpace/Facebook Angela. :)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi

That's too bad about not being able to spend too much time with the family, seems' like most jobs now a days entail so much overtime. I know how it can strain things at home, my boyfriend worked night shift, and me day shift...not fun.

Okay, so I am starting to understand now, so they basicaly train you to be a manager of the store, with some share of percentage of the profits. I just know that buying the franchise would entail that I spend thousands of dollars to open my own Erac. (if there were to happen)

As for spending extra overtime to partay with peeps after hours, it sure wouldn't happen often. Where I work now, they have a beer and pizza day every second friday and it's fun, but I really don't like drinking with my the people I work with. I drink with my friends, not my colleagues. However, many I work with are friends with each other, it's there main social outlet, and so it's one big "boys" club, and "couples club". So I guess that happens everywhere...*sigh.


Anyways, hope that your carreer is taking off for you where you are now, sounds like you are much happier where you are. Thanks

Cheers!

-Angela

Hey Angela,

FYI, Enterprise is unlike some other rental car companies because it is not a franchise. It is still owned by the Taylor family, so you will never be able to actually own your own store.

I worked at ERAC for 14 months, I enjoyed working there for the most part until the end. The hours and weekends finally got to me. If you work in a good office it's a good experience, but if you work with jerks it will be hell everyday.

And about the happy hours, it all depends on which area and region you work in. I worked in a area that we maybe had 1-2 happy hours per month, and there was never any real pressure to drink heavily. Most people just had a beer to unwind after work. If you couldn't make it, it was no big deal.

We had a couple attractive girls in our area, and I don't think anyone ever gave them a hard time really. My suggestion is if someone were to do that just lay down the law the first time and explain its unacceptable, and hopefully that will be that.

While you will meet some jerks on the taxi pickup service, you will also meet alot of really cool people. Some of my customers used to make me laugh like crazy, and its amazing the shit they will talk about after only knowing you for 5 minutes.

The lack of cars is fustrating. I worked in a office that jumped from 180 cars to over 300 cars in a period of under two months (no joke, we landed two huge dealerships at the same time) So occasionally I was caught telling people that we didnt have any cars. Not fun. Most people will take the free upgrade without a problem, some will give you grief for it. You have to be smart too, if you work in a small office, always know the amount of specality vehicles in the fleet. This way you don't overbook them. It can be very difficult to find a branch that has an extra mini-van on a friday night!

All and all, ERAC was good experience and I'm happy that I did it. It makes me appreciate my current job 100x more than I think I would have.