Enterprise rent-a-car grand rapids michigan unreasonable dent deduction Grand Rapids Michigan
I rented a Camry on July 6th from the airport Enterprise site at Grand Rapids Airport. I kept the car for several days without incident, and never had any problems with it. When I returned it, they complained about a dent on the car. I had done a careful walk-around when I picked up the car, and only noticed (and photographed) a very small scratch near the trunk. The "dent" they pointed out was underneath the front bumper on an indented area for a parking light, and was trivial enough that you could only see it under certain lighting conditions and from a particular angle. The employee asked me for a vehicle report that I didn't receive at the time, and was unable to resolve the situation at the time -- she led me to beliieve they would check for a record of damage on the vehicle to resolve it. I got a call when I had left town from the manager telling me they had already deducted money on my credit card for the damage, and were contaccting my insurance company.
This vehicle had over fourteen thousand miles on it, and the damage was extremely trivial. I didn't notice hitting anything, but it was such a minor dent it was possible a stick or small rock did it. I suppose this could be argued either way, but I'm really not happy about losing money on such a trivial piece of damage. I was also unhappy because I'd been quoted $110 for the rental, and was charged an extra $65 for adding a second driver.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
boycebyerly
Durham,North Carolina,
Enterprise makes an attempt at making good: I'm just
#4Author of original report
Tue, August 13, 2013
I wanted to update my report, as Enterprise has made some steps to make good. Their social media department jumped on this right away. First, the branch manager called me from Grand Rapids to apologize and offered to follow up. He did so in two ways; first, he investigated the amount of the damage, and refunded part of what they'd charged me. (The initial deduction they made on my credit card was $500; the actual damages were about half that, and they refunded the balance on my Amex promptly.) Enterprise employee Sara Reininger also forwarded me photographs of the damage, which I'll attach if there's a way to do it with this website. You can judge for yourself the damage, and whether I should have caught it during a walk-around, and whether it rose to the level of something I should have been charged for. The upper part of the split photograph is zoomed in, and makes it look consequential, but look at the circled area on the lower section, to get a perspective on the actual size and location of the damage.
I will give Enterprise employees credit for handling this as well as possible. I still think the damage is not something I could have been expected to catch upon renting the car. Overall, I will downgrade myself from "angry" to "somewhat irritated." I don't like the initial call on this one, but they have been professional upon follow-up.
I would advise other consumers to check their credit cards for automatic coverage of rental car insurance; my Visa does have that feature, although the Amex, which I used, did not. (I don't think this is generally true; check your cardholder benefit specifically. )
boycebyerly
Durham,North Carolina,
ALREADY CHARGED FOR IT
#4Author of original report
Wed, July 31, 2013
I received a set of paperwork from Enterprise asking for my credit card and insurance information, with no documentation of the damage or what it would cost to fix. I sent it back asking for more specific information before I gave them open-ended approvals. Now, I opened my credit card bill, and realized they've already taken five hundred off my credit card process on the day I returned the rental as a down payment, before they even get going. This kind of stinks.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
St. Louis,Missouri,
Enterprise Cares
#4UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 11, 2013
Boyce
We’ve taken note of your comments and would like to have the opportunity to look into this for you. Please send us a detailed email to care@enterprise.com including the exact rental location information, your contact information, your rental agreement and any further information regarding your experience with us.
When emailing, please list Reference Number 130711-001824 in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,
Carol H.
Social Media
Enterprise Rent-A-Car