Enterprise Rent-A-Car review: Rental car - virginia beach store laskin road

After a terrible car accident totaled my car, I was authorized by Nationwide to spend up to $900 on a rental car through Enterprise. Despite returning the car on June 17, I have been charged $1761.74, which needs to be refunded to me.

On June 1, I rented a Chrysler minivan from the Virginia Beach store, RA#6M8MLJ with an estimated return date on June 8 on the Rental Agreement summary. On June 17 at 10:25 am, I called the Virginia Beach store and asked if I could have the fee waived because I needed to turn in my car at a different Enterprise. I explained that I bought a car at Auto Nation, which was close to the Dulles Enterprise location. I was thankful that the employee to whom I spoke stated Enterprise would waive the fee. If the employee did his job, there should be a record in the system that the fee should be waived and that I was turning in the rental minivan that day. After an exhausting day – 5 hours driving to Dulles Auto Nation and 4 hours waiting with my daughter to finalize my purchase, I asked David Satish at Auto Nation to ride with me to return the car to Dulles Enterprise. The finance manager at Auto Nation heard my request and let me know that Enterprise would pick up rentals at Auto Nation and in fact did so often. At 5:24 and 5:25, I called Enterprise. At 5:25, I and talked to an employee who verified that they did indeed pick up from Auto Nation. Relieved to be able to finally leave for the 4-hour drive home and get my daughter something to eat, I gave my full name, the type of car, and let him know that I would leave the keys at the front desk. I called back to Enterprise at 5:27 to confirm that there was nothing else for me to do. At that point, I had a reasonable expectation that Enterprise would pick-up the car as the Enterprise employee promised your company would. Given that Enterprise states that calls are recorded, there should be a record of these calls in your system.

I left Auto Nation to drive back another 4 hours to Virginia Beach thinking everything was settled, and the car would be picked up. I did not expect a confirmation from Enterprise because the first $900 of the charges were being paid by Nationwide Insurance. Based on the daily rate plus tax, that should have been about $794. Therefore, the confirmation should have gone to Nationwide.

On July 20, I checked my credit card, and I was shocked that there were $871.95 in total charges from Enterprise. I called the Virginia Beach store at 1:06 pm but the call was put on hold. I then drove to the Enterprise store in person and got there at about 1:15 pm. I asked for the store manager because I needed to find out why my credit card was being charged and was told Devin was not there. The employee to whom I spoke let me know the car was not picked up and asked which number I called for the pick-up. I searched and showed him my cell phone records, then called to verify it was the Dulles location. I called Auto Nation at 1:25 pm and was told that to their surprise the van I rented was still there. I was told that Auto Nation would make sure the van keys were there when Enterprise came the next day so my rental would be picked up. The employee said he would put in the notes and recommended that I work with Dulles. After waiting on hold, I left the store and drove home.

I then called multiple Enterprise customer service numbers as I was told that I needed to call different number by Enterprise employees to get help at 1:34, 1:37, 1:42 and 1:48, and 1:56. At 3:22 pm, I called Dulles again and was routed to customer service until I spoke with a wonderful gentleman who removed the charges after I explained the situation. The calls combined lasted 42 minutes. I verified a few days later that the charges of were removed from my American Express.

As a customer, here is what I would have expected from Enterprise:

1. The Virginia Beach store would log that I was returning the car to Dulles on June 17. If Enterprise did not see the car being returned in their system, someone would contact me.

2. The Virginia Beach store would call or email or text on June 20 to let me know that my $900 with Nationwide was up and my card would now be charged. If this had happened, the overage would have been $106 rather than $1761.74.

3. The Dulles Enterprise would have logged in the pick-up and picked up the car, and the recording can be verified. I recommend speaking with the employee working at 5:25 on June 17 about being sure to log everything into your system.

4. Since 1-3 failed to occur, I assumed Enterprise would pick up the rental from Auto Nation on July 20 in advance of the charges being removed from my credit card.

5. The removal of my credit card from Enterprise’s system on July 20 to close out the rental.

I assumed this was the end of it. I did not find out until September that Enterprise did not pick up the car until July 27 (accounting for ~$320 of the charges). In September, I was charged $1761.74. This was shocking for many reasons:

⦁ The amount of the charges only totaled $871.95. Where did the other $900 in charges come from?

⦁ My account should have been closed out on July 20. Why did Enterprise have my credit card on file two months later?

⦁ The fact that I was charged again after spending so much time on July 20 dealing with the situation

⦁ I found out was not picked up for another week, after I spent hours again on July 20 dealing with the situation.

I called when I saw the charge on October 4 at 3:50 pm, and I spoke with Devin who told me that someone needed to pay for all the time from June 1-July 27. He said he needed to investigate the situation and would talk with Auto Nation. I provided him with the name of my Sales Associate at Auto Nation, David Lea. The call lasted 17 minutes. I then talked with David Lea at Auto Nation on October 4 at 6:15 pm who said he would be happy to talk to Devin and did not understand why Enterprise did not pick up the van. He reiterated that Enterprise picks up rentals from Auto Nation often.

I called again mid-month and was told Devin would return my call. He did not. I called again on October 29 at 9:25 am, and the new Assistant Branch Manager to whom I spoke said he would text Devin and have him get back to me. I did not receive a call back.

I called again on November 1 and Devin finally returned my call to tell me that I “cannot just drop off the car at some random dealership” and that Enterprise would not refund my money. I did not drop off the car at a random dealership. I spoke with an Enterprise employee twice on June 17 for which I had a reasonable expectation that the employee representing Enterprise would follow-through and pick up the car. The charge on my credit card remains. Not only should I receive $1761.74 back, but Nationwide is also due $106.

As a customer, I made multiple calls in good faith to first let the Virginia Beach store know I was returning the car at Dulles and second to the Dulles store to arrange for a pick-up of the van at Auto Nation. The record of my calls is below. It is unfortunate that the employee at Dulles did not do his job to put in to pick up the car at Auto Nation on June 17 when I talked to him twice, and he confirmed the pick-up with me. However, I did what any customer would do by calling for a pick-up and assuming that the pick-up would occur. What happened to me throws doubt at Enterprise’s entire business model and the reason people use Enterprise – for the convenience of the rentals being picked up and brought to the customer.

As a customer, I would also appreciate some training on customer service for your Virginia Beach store manager, Devin, who only seldom returned my calls and did not keep in touch at all during this process.

I tried to work on this issue locally to no avail. I tried to dispute through Amex, but Amex only looked at the written agreement. I now understand that because of the Dodd-Frank Act, Enterprise has to keep all voice recordings for a period of 5 years, so you should be able to access the recordings at the aforementioned dates and times to verify my account. Due to the law of accord and satisfaction and with these recordings in your possession, I am due a full refund.

Please promptly return the $1761.74 to me, and $106 to Nationwide. I was assured by Devin that my credit card is no longer on file, so please send the check to my address at 2215 Oak Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451.

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