Thieves At Atlanta Airport Branch?  Andy's Not Talking

Here's a letter I received from an Enterprise customer.  He sent it to Andy Taylor over a month ago and still hasn't received a reply.

(Enterprise attorneys monitoring this site:  could you please ensure this customer gets a response?)

December 16, 2005

Mr. Andrew Taylor
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Enterprise Rent a Car
600 Corporate Park Drive
St. Louis, MO 63105

Dear Mr. Taylor,

I know you are a very busy man, but I need your help concerning your Company. On November 25, I returned a car to your Atlanta Airport office with my wife and 11-year-old daughter. We immediately boarded the bus (it was waiting) and it took us to the airport.

Upon exiting the bus, we realized that two brand new coats (a ski type jacket of mine and a wool P-coat of my daughters) were left in the back seat of the vehicle. I immediately went to the counter inside the airport and told the attendant.

She called, and told us the coats were not in the car, and I would need to go back to the rental office. I boarded the next bus, and went back. The car had moved 20 feet, and was waiting to go through the car wash (it had already been through the vacuum station).

I checked the vehicle, and the coats were gone. I asked the folks working outside, and no one had seen them. I went into the office and checked lost and found, no coats. One of your employees told me that there were security cameras, and we could check them. Great! I thought. She then told me that the manager would have to check them, and that the manager was not in. I then suggested we call the police, and she assured me that was not necessary, that the coats could be recovered.  I told her I would be at the airport for the next two hours waiting for our flight, and she could call my cell phone.

After not receiving a call, I called Saturday morning and left a voice message. I did this again on Monday. On Tuesday, I began to leave messages for the Vice President listed on the back of the rental agreement. After repeated phone calls, (the last stating that ignoring the problem would not make it go away), I received a phone call from a Zack Smilak, Area Manager.

I thanked Zack for returning my phone calls, and he said he could look at the tapes. I asked him how long they held information (it had now been over a week), and he assured me that they were digital, and that there wasn’t a problem.

He called a few days later, looking at the tapes, and asking for descriptions of my family, the vehicle, and myself to find it on the recording. I gave him the check in time on my contract, but he could not find it, stating that it “likely was not on daylight savings time”. He also said that the image was black and white, there was a glare, but he would try.

He left a message for me the next day stating that he could not find anything definitive. I called him back and left a message stating that I would like to receive credit for the rental. I have at this point left two more messages for him, with no return of a phone call.

The point of this long-winded letter (and for that I apologize) is these:

• You have a thief at your Atlanta Airport location.

• The response time of your employees both within 20 minutes of the incident, and especially over the next few weeks was totally unacceptable.

• The fact that phone calls are not returned is not a way to run a service business, and you have offices that do not do that.

I am frustrated, disappointed, and a bit angry over how your employees have handled this situation from the start, and have learned a lesson that next time (Heaven forbid) a crime is committed that I will contact the authorities immediately.

If you choose not to refund the rental, that is fine. I have learned my lesson. What I would like in return is an answer on what steps will be taken either concerning your Company’s policies and procedures concerning something like this (assuming if your employees followed the rules), and what your procedures are concerning the returning of phone calls from customers and complaint resolution.

I am hoping that I hear from you, and that ignoring a problem, hoping it goes away, and “passing down the ladder” responsibility for customer satisfaction is not a corporate procedure at Enterprise. I have faith that it is not.

Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

Coy B. Sevier

More on Enterprise car rental at the Failing Enterprise home page.