WuLabsWuTecH

So recently, I rented a car from Enterprise for the first time (I usually use Hertz) and I have been very underwhelmed. They first screwed around and originally were not going to honor my rate and had to lodge a complaint at dropoff to get that fixed. When I picked up the car, I was offered a pre-pay fuel option. Usually I don't take this option, but the salesman said he was actually going to make me an offer I couldn't refuse. He offered me $1.50 a gallon and said, "It's 5 cents cheaper than anywhere around here right now! You can't pass this up!" I agreed, especially since this was going to be a tight turnaround for me with less than 30 min to get the car turned in, so I paid for 6 gallons of fuel. Incredulous at this offer (usually they offer something alongs the lines of $5-$10 per gallon for the privilege of returning it without filling it up) I actually asked him, "So I can bring it back empty?" and he confirmed I could.

Fast forward to a week later, I turn in the car. Because it has a computer on it, I knew how many gallons to put into it before driving to the dealership and when I show up, it's empty. The agent when I returned it gave me quite a lot of attitude about how it was extremely discourteous to return it empty and a whole long story about how they have cut hours and they don't have time to be refueling vehicles so now that car is worthless to him and he can't rent it out again. (Not really sure why he can't rent out one of the other 50 cars sitting on his lot--he wasn't really hurting for inventory). I pointed out that empty still has some gas in it and they were still making money but being in a hurry I didn't belabor the point.

Has anyone else had this experience? Do salesmen get upset that you don't fill up the car bringing it back? I figured that the car rental places make TONS of money on the upsells, so why say anything to a customer that would jeopardize them not getting the same upgrade in future rentals? Maybe this is just a particularly bad location, but my experience with Enterprise as compared with Hertz (my usual go to) has been subpar at best.

Auto Enthusiast

Did you remind the return agent that you prepaid for the gas? Time to file a second complaint, it sounds like.

WuLabsWuTecH

Yep sure did remind him I bought the fuel! He said something about how people return the cars with low fuel but it's "poor etiquette" to return it completely empty because they can't even go get gas with it and since they are understaffed, that car is now "useless" to them. I find it hard to believe they don't have a few gas cans sitting around just for situations like this... Even if I hadn't bought the fuel, they charge you some exorbitant price for gas like $9 per gallon, (which I actually think is borderline on being fair since they have to pay for gas and have someone go get fuel when they didn't plan for it to be empty) so they are still making a crap ton of money. They really souldn't be upset either way.

I updated the other thread. The guy kept refusing to let me talk to a manager but did adjust my rate back to where it should be (actually lower because he made a typo and I didn't feel inclined to point it out to him after the way he treated me). I never did contact corporate--I'll just go back to using Hertz for the foreseeable future.

Auto Enthusiast

What normally happens when someone pre-pays for gas and returns it almost empty as intended? Sounds like the low staffing wouldn't be an issue, but not being able to even drive to a station without running out of gas is. How is such a situation usually handled?

Often1

Who cares?

If you want etiquette lessons, sign up for an etiquette school. Ignore the guy. Move on.

The best thing to do is to simply proceed as though the guy had said nothing. It's much more effective than giving credence to him.

m907

I wonder why Enterprise still trains their employees to harass customers. This is the same company that runs National, which has the best customer service.

writerguyfl

Out of all the people in your tale, only one exhibited poor etiquette and it wasn't you.

Many companies have a misconnect between what Sales is selling and what Operations is able to handle. That rude employee should be complaining to his boss, not to you.

It's entirely reasonable for companies to have to cut some services due to COVID. What's not reasonable is to sell an add-on and then have employees complain when that add-on is used as sold.

btonkid12345

I’m confused by a few things the OP said -

1.) Was the car not full at pickup? You said you only prepaid for 6 gallons. They usually give it to you full and you prepay for the whole tank, but no car has a 6 gallon tank. Some Enterprise neighborhood locations have cars that aren’t full, and they usually just mark those empty for me.

2.) What ‘computer’ are you referring to that allowed you to calculate it being perfectly empty? I don’t understand how this is any different than visually observing the gage line

3.) Didn’t you say - either in this post or your other thread - that there is a gas station across the street from the location?

EHI looks for very sociable and extroverted employees, but a consequence of that can be - they need somebody to vent to, when they’re not busy at all.

Auto Enthusiast

At least once when I rented from a suburban Hertz office, the agent said the tank is 3/4 or whatever, and if I want to, I can prepay for the fuel remaining. Many neighborhood stores have cars that are less than full, either because the cars are moved around between nearby locations, cars are used to pick up customers, and/or cars are one-wayed in from somewhere else and there are no gas stations nearby (ex NYC).

WuLabsWuTecH

It was between 1/4 and 1/2 tank when I got it.

I call it a computer, but its a display in the console that reads out "x miles to empty" and "average MPG." Between those two numbers, I could calculate how much gas I needed to put in the tank to make it back.

Yep, it's caddy corner from the lot. Not sure why it was such a big "hassle" to get the car refueled...