One month ago today, I sent the following e-mail to Enterprise customer service. I used the e-mail address [email protected] which is listed on a corporate website for Enterprise where they brag about their high JD Power and Associates rating for customer service. They specifically list this e-mail address for customers to contact them if they have not received suitable service through normal customer service channels. I have not heard from Enterprise in a month. So not only did they fail to address the specific issues that I had which is why I contacted this supposedly special division in the first place but then they completely ignore this contact as well. I have never had any reason before to contact Enterprise but I am stunned at how inept they seem to be at dealing with issues that are beyond their normal customer service script.

Here are the details:

I am writing to you after spending over a month attempting to receive one answer to one question about a rental experience with your new Enterprise Plus loyalty program. My company rents hundreds of cars from Enterprise every year. We have 4 parking spots dedicated to Enterprise, with a reserved Enterprise sign in our parking lot. I know Enterprise to be a cut above the rest when it comes to customer service. Unfortunately, in this situation, customer service has been nothing short of a disaster to deal with.

My contact with customer service started on March 15, 2012 with a simple question. Why did rental #xxxxx show up in Enterprise Plus account #xxxxx as 0 points and no qualifying rental days? Today, over 1 month later, I still do not have a clear answer to that question. Along the way, I've interacted with Enterprise employees on over 10 occasions. Those interactions and the conflicting information provided, has created more unanswered questions.

Contact #1: My interaction began with a CHAT session on March 26, 2012 at 9:32am CST (reference #xxxxx) with Mr. X. His answer to the question above was that any time a rental is rented with a business contract ID it is not eligible for credit or points under the new program.

I was surprised by that answer since no other travel related loyalty program that I use has such a strict restriction, but nonetheless, my next call was to National Customer Service. I intended to credit that rental to National as I've always done before Enterprise had a loyalty program and forgo the new Enterprise Plus program completely.

Contact #2: I called National's customer service phone number on March 26, 2012. I did not write down the agent's name. I told her that I wanted to add rental #xxxxx to my National account history. She informed me that I could not do that because she shows that rental is being claimed under the Enterprise Plus program. I told her that I just chatted with Mr. X and provided her with Mr X's response. She told me that Mr X was incorrect and the only reason it was showing up as zero credit and zero points was due to an internal technical problem.

Obviously, I have no way to officiate a dispute between Enterprise employees, nor should I be put in that position.

Contact #3: After receiving conflicting information from those two employees, I sent in an email customer service request (incident #xxxxx). Employee Mrs X responded to me that indeed I do NOT receive credit for business contract ID rentals, but not because of Enterprise. She informed me that my company policy did not allow me to earn credit because it was not fair to other employees. While I appreciate her concern about the fairness of our own company policies, and with all due respect to Mrs X, I headed the committee that wrote our internal travel policies and we have no such policy. At this point, I've received 3 different answers from 3 different employees for the same question.

Contact #4: I initiated a social media contact with Enterprise using Twitter on March 26, 2012 because of my frustration with receiving 3 different answers from 3 different employees on my single question. Mr X responded to me and indicated to expect a manager from the loyalty team to follow up with me "in 2 - 3 business days."

Contact #5: After 6 business days passed, I received no follow up from any Enterprise employee. I used social media again to make a Twitter contact with Enterprise and indicated that 6 business days had passed and I did not receive the follow up that I was told to expect in 2 - 3 business days.

Contact #6: After not hearing from Enterprise as promised, I used Enterprise Chat on April 3, 2012 and spoke to Mrs X. I explained the history of the situation to her and that I was expecting a follow up to me as Mr X had promised. She looked into it and told me that I was "first on the list" for a manager that was expected in within the hour.

I heard nothing.

Contact #7: I initiated another Enterprise Chat request on April 4, 2012 and spoke to Mrs X (incident #xxxxx). I explained the history to her. She again promised that someone would be in touch with me.

Contact #8: The next day, April 5, 2012, I received a phone call and email from Mr X. He indicated that I will receive credit for xxxxx and yyyyy (by that time I also had a second corporate ID rental). He indicated that the problem was due to a technical "sync" issue as the explanation for why my online Enterprise Plus account shows 0 credits and 0 qualifying days for xxxxx. He said to expect the points to show up in "mid-April." As an aside, despite knowing the history that I've outlined above, there was not a single statement of apology offered by Mr. X to me.

Contact #9: I rented Enterprise rental #xxxxx on April 9, 2012 at Phoenix Mesa Airport. I booked this rental on Enterprise.com using the Leisure reservations link by logging into my Enterprise Plus account. There was no corporate ID associated with the reservation. When I picked up the car at the airport, the desk agent said "We have your Emerald Club number on the reservation Mr X." I indicated that this was not supposed to be an Emerald Club reservation - that I wanted this in my Enterprise Plus account. The agent said to me "those are one in the same now sir." I believe that to be totally incorrect information.

Contact #10: After returning the car, I confirmed that rental #xxxxx was showing up online in my National history and there was no sign of it in my Enterprise account. I phoned National customer service on Thursday, April 12, 2012. This agent told me that the rental would earn points credit under Enterprise Plus but would also earn credit for rental days under National. He said that this rental would show up as points in my Enterprise Plus account within 48 hours of the car being returned. Obviously that makes no sense that one rental would be split between two agency's loyalty programs. After 10 contacts with EHI staff, at that point I was simply tired of discussing these issues since I have no faith in any answer that I receive at this point.

It has been 144 hours since that rental was returned and nothing shows up in my Enterprise account for that rental.

Contact #11: Upon returning from my unexpected trip to Phoenix, I replied to Mr X's email on April 10, 2012. I acknowledged his earlier email stating that rentals xxxxx and yyyyy (and all future rentals under the same contract ID) should receive credit. I also asked about rental #xxxxx and why it credited to National as it did. It has been a week since that email was sent and I've received no reply from Mr X.

Contact #12: Several days ago, I logged into my Enterprise Plus account. I was presented with a new terms and conditions to accept. In that terms and conditions it states "Points will not be earned for Qualifying Rentals tied to corporate IDs for corporate accounts that do not allow employees to earn currency associated with reward programs." This is yet another piece of new information that I have no way of knowing whether it supersedes all of the previous information I've been given or not.

As of today, I have canceled all future Enterprise rentals and booked them with Hertz. I do not have a choice of a rental company for rentals originating from my office location - those will continue to be Enterprise. However, I do have a choice for my airport and leisure rentals. Those rentals, when I have a choice, will no longer be from any agency under EHI's control until I receive a definitive contact from someone at EHI that can provide complete, truthful and timely answers to the questions that have been raised in this customer service disaster that I've outlined above. Without question, Enterprise is the most cumbersome rental solution for business travelers at airports because of the lack of a "direct to car" rental system. That sacrifice is worth it when outstanding service is received. The service that I have received in this situation is unbelievably poor and in no way justifies the lack of "direct to car" service at airports.

Thank you.