Trouble with national in Lancaster PA
 

Hi Flyer Talk community, I am hoping that someone here either works for national or has access to someone who does, I have been trying to resolve this situation for 6 weeks, and I am about at the end of my wits, just trying this to see if I can get this resolved. I made a long term rental reservation (10 months) for a premium vehicle, at the lancaster pa airport location (in the past at non aisle locations I had driven everything from a Cadillac Escalade to a audi A9 to a Lincoln SUV and anything and everything in between all for the same price as the contract as benefitting my status as an executive elite member).This time things started off very very differently, the morning of my pick up date, I get a call from the location advising me that they did not have my reserved car class available, normally this would be fine as the branch would offer me any of the cars available, this time the person insisted that the only thing he can have for me is a full size car (chevy malibu which honestly should be classed as a midsize not a full size) when I tried explaining to him that as an executive elite member I am gauranteed my car class or something higher he said he refused to budge from his stance on the only availability is a malibu, when I informed him that I was actually arriving in a ford expedition from NY and would happily keep it is where things started getting heated, he told me in no way will he allow me to "upgrade" to that and that if I do swap to a larger class now or in the future, he will charge me $85 a day, when I tried explaining to him that as a I know that has never been the way it's done, he again refused to let me talk. (As an aside he called me at 8 am, my reservation was at noon, he should've been able to get me something to make me happy, but he didn't care).I hung up and told him I will see him soon. When I arrived at the location more strange things happened, 1st, there were plenty of vehicles in the lot, including a infinity Q80 I would've happily taken, along with the aforementioned malibu (incidentally this had NJ plates, maybe he just wanted to get rid of it).At the branch the person in charge was acting very strange, he would barely move, and repeated everything he had already told me on the phone over and over, when I asked to speak to a manager or a area manager he claimed not to have their contact info (even though he claimed he was the branch manager) when I asked how is that possible he didn't really answer only saying he has no phone, later before I left I realized something I had seen and didn't make sense, he had placed his phone behind himself on a shelf hidden behind a picture frame with the lens sticking out to record me, without informing me he is doing it, or asking for my consent to be filmed. Absolutely ridiculous.After arguing for 45 mins, I finally said just give me the malibu and left. I traveled to boston, where I went into the airport and told them my experience the location didn't have many choices but gave me a Mazda CX-5, so that was a bit better, and when I came back to NY, I went into the westchester airport where I do a lot of my rentals and they always treated me nicely, spoke to Byron there, and he offered me a Nissan Armada, which is the car I am in now. This all happened in the first 48 hours, then the fun started, first I get a phone call from a person who introduces herself as Aimee, she proceeds to tell me that she is trying to authorize my card for the $85 a day and it's not going thru, I replied that I am not authorizing that charge and that is not what my contract is for, and you can unilaterally decide to upcharge me, she replies if I don't immediately return the vehicle she will declare it stolen, I was speechless and said excuse me, she repeated the same thing, I was so shocked by this that I immediately called the customer service line and told them everything that had happened up to that point, which is when this case started.I was very shook up by this threat so I called the local PD in lancaster, just to understand what are my risks, the police officer was very nice and told me not to worry, if I have a contract with me then the only thing the PD will do is tell the branch it's a civil matter and take it up with the courts or corporate, meantime both Aimee and a new person Micah sent me emails with the same threats. I tried reaching out to Micah but was not successful, on Wed oct 14 I decided I had enough dealing with this location and will attempt to find another long term rental somewhere else, when I went on to the app I realized I had been put on the DNR list, with a 717 number to call, I did and left a message for a Jaharee(I believe I spelled that right) she is the customer relations VP or something like that in the PA corporate office, she called me back later and I repeated the whole story to her including forwarding all the emails to her, she was incredulous about how I had been treated and promised to speak to Micah and come with a solution and call me back by the end of the day. She never called back, instead Micah called on Thursday the 15th, same threats again, and threatens me that he will not renew the contract on Sunday the 18th, and by Monday I will be driving a stolen vehicle. What's even stranger is that they renewed my monthly contract and charged my CC the rate I initially reserved, yet I'm still on DNR and this Micah person refuses to remove it, I've tried leaving messages multiple times begging for anyone in corporate to return my calls, and can't get anywhere.
at this point I have given up and made a premium SUV reservation they enterprise, but I am sure they won't rent to me as I am on DNR, I have 3 weeks to resolve this.
if anyone has any ideas for what to do next pls let me know

It is almost impossible to read through your post. People here are generally willing to help, but it is hard to figure out what went wrong and how it got to the point of you being added to the DNR.

Can you perhaps repost with just the details which matter and what exactly it is that went wrong?

1. Revise your post to remove any unnecessary information.

2. Use the “return” key to break your post into paragraphs.

3. Email the updated, concise, fact-based post to National Customer Care.


I had a less-than-stellar experience recently and the corporate customer care team made it right when the individual location refused to. Best of luck to you.

If I were in your shoes, I would have told whomever called at 8 AM apparently they'd be better off if you cancel the reservation, so you'll just return the Expedition from NY and take your business elsewhere for the next 10 months. Only then tell National customer service how much business they lost, and why. It will be too late for them to win it back this time, and it will be too late for you to rent from your preferred vendor, but it would have avoided all the aforementioned issues.

Here's another potential issue: Is Lancaster a franchise? I know National bought most of them out several years ago, but a handful remain. That could explain why they don't want to lose "their" cars, although if the Malibu has NJ plates, it was obviously a one-way from somewhere else, and might skew their accounting.

To answer your question, what do you do now? Immediately return the car to National in Lancaster, post about it on National's social media accounts and Yelp/Google Reviews, dispute any and all charges with the credit card company, status match to Avis, and send all your future business there.

Lancaster is a corporate location; it is an Enterprise location that also markets itself as a National location services National reservations. But it operates 100% like an Enterprise. You will not have the typical National experience there.

There is one of these in Elko, NV also. It is infamous for charging a cleaning fee for "dirt in the car." Isn't it their job to vacuum?

What was the rate you reserved this 10 month premium rental at? Just curious. Knowing how Enterprise works, something tells me you got them on a glitch rate. Not really your fault if the website let you book it the website let you book it...

This "Micah" person you talked to is the "Area Rental Manager." This is not the same thing as an "Area Manager," it is a much lower position. It shouldn't be too hard to get above him.

Unless you were really under the barrel I would not have taken that vehicle you didn't want from Lancaster in the first place.

Looking at reviews online for the Enterprise and National locations at 500 Airport Rd, Lititz, PA which is this Lancaster Airport, the reviews are quite troubling and have been for some number of months.

Yeah, this definitely sounds like a shady Enterprise operation rather than a standalone National location.

It really should be none of their business if you exchange your car elsewhere. For 10 months, you should pick any National in the region for the lowest rate.