Taranjit
First impressions are huge for me. If a company that offers a service does not make a good first impression, I am most likely never going to come back, and it will take a lot of convincing for me to even consider giving it another try. I will find another place, even if it is a little for money, and use their service.
Enterprise, well this particular location, put a bad taste in my mouth for this rental company. The service I was offered was not pleasant, especially compared to how the other customers around me were treated. As some of you may know from past posts, my car was hit by a deer and my insurance company had arranged the repair appointment and rental appointment. The enterprise van had come to pick me up from the collision body shop where I had dropped my car off for repair.
So far, my experience was going well. My first thought was how nice of them to come pick me up and bring me to the rental place. The driver was extremely nice and helpful. He joked and made us laugh during our short 10-minute drive over to Enterprise. But, when I stepped in through the doors, the experience just went downhill from there.
I see there are a few people waiting in line ahead of me, so I wait my turn. No big deal. One by one, an employee greets the customers in front of me, asks for their name, and what brings them in today. The expected questions. But when my turn comes, the free employees make eye contact with me and then just go back to their desks. What?! Is no one going to come ask if I need help? Am I invisible or something?
Finally, one employee comes up to me. No hi or hello or any sort of greeting. Just walks me over to the counter. The guy doesn’t even ask me much of anything. He asks for my driver’s license and takes it to make a copy. Then when he is gone, another employee comes up to me and asks if someone is helping me. Now they come to ask me if I need help when I am already getting helped? Thanks, but don’t need help now.
The guy helping me returns and starts arranging a rental. And unlike the employee next to him, he didn’t bother to explain how the rental process work or anything along those lines. I, being a first-time renter, was going into this blind. I didn’t know what to expect or know a letter about the rental process. You would think he would have explained something. At least told me one thing. Nope.
The more I heard how friendly and helpful his coworker was, the more I wanted him to help me. I would be willing to wait longer if it meant I could have his coworker help me out. Is that me or do you do the same thing? Kind of like when you are in the grocery store and you are about to get into a checkout line, but then you see the cashier at that station and decide to go to a different one because you do not like that cashier. I can’t be the only one, right?
After this guy entered all my information into his system, he realized they did not have a rental ready for me at the moment. Before I had gotten there, my insurance company had informed me that they had told Enterprise that I would be there at x time and they told her a car would be ready for me when I got there. Obviously, enterprise did not get the memo because when I got there, there was no car available for me. So, I waited because I had no choice.
Finally, after watching customers who came after me leave with cars, the employee who was helping me came over to me to tell me that he had a car ready for me. About time. What was the point of making an appointment? Anyways, he takes me out to the car and leads me in a walk around the car. He informed me that the point of this walk around was to look for any sign of damage to the car bigger than a golf ball. Anything smaller than that does not count. So, does that mean, any damage, if it were to happen, not like it was going to, but if by accident, then it would be okay?
I doubt that would be the case, but I was glad that he was noting done the damage that was already on the car because I did not want to be blamed for anything that had already been on the car. And then he handed me the key to the red Chevy and told me I was all set to go. Wait, that was it? This guy really wasn’t big on explaining anything was he?
The first thing I noticed when I sat in the car was this was not the size of my current car. I was told the rental I would be provided would be the same size of my current car. This car was much bigger. It had to be the full-sized sedan versus my car which was smaller. This was going to take some getting used to. But I didn’t stress too much about it because I had a class to get to and if I waited any longer, I would be late.
When I got back into the rental after class, I noticed something I hadn’t notice before. Or maybe I was too stressed out about being late to class that I overlooked it. But I had notice the district smell and I would not be able to ignore it now. It kind of smelled like a smoker rented the car before me even though the car said no smoking inside.
I called Enterprise back and informed them of the smell. They guy who answered, different than the one who gave me the car, asked why I didn’t say anything when I took the car. Look dude, I was in a hurry. I had a class to get to. But obviously, I didn’t say it like that. I explained to him how I was running late for class, especially after having to wait so long to get a rental that was supposed to be ready for me when I arrived. He was like, okay, just bring it back and we will give you another one.
I get back to Enterprise and no one had any clue as to what I am talking about. Where was the guy I spoke to on the phone? He didn’t bother to tell his coworkers to expect someone coming in to exchange a rental. You would think that was the least he could do. This company. I swear. So, I waited for someone to come and help me, but the few employees who were there looked up at me from their desks, saw me, and didn’t even bother to come over and ask what I needed, but just returned back to what they were doing. Talking with each other.
Déjà vu from my experience earlier that morning. Finally, one guy decides to come over to me. And it was the same guy who had helped me that morning. Nooooo. Why was this happening to me? Long story short, we went through the rental process again and he brought out another car. A light gray Jeep Renegade. Much smaller than that Chevy. And it was not stick out in a crowd red.
We did our rounds around the car and he handed me the key, saying its push start. He asked if I ever drove a push start and I told him no. And then he was like, well you are going to learn today. And then basically told me how you start the car and that was it. He didn’t give me any other pieces of information. No how to stop the car or what do to if I accidently made the alarm of the car go off (a story for another time). He handed me the key and then walked away after that one small explanation. Enterprise, I don’t think I will come back to you for a rental.
