Complaint Review: Enterprise Rent-A-Car - Charlotte North Carolina

I rented a vehicle from Enterprise Rent-A-Car in November of 2013. The vehicle was picked up at 1130pm and there was a half-hearted walk around done by the rental associate. The rental was incident free. When returning the vehicle, the rental associate inspected the vehicle and identified damage to the back door, which I contested. The associate told me to not worry about it because my rental included a damage waiver. There were no other damages discussed, nor did I sign off on any of these damages on any check-out form. I have 11 other witnesses who observed this vehicle return happen.

About a month later, I am contacted by enterprise Damage Recovery Unit to discuss the damages. I explained to them my thoughts about the door - that it could very well have been pre-existing, and whatever the associate was referring to was so small, it could not be seen unless one were specifically looking for it. It was at this time, that I was informed of another claim for alleged damage to the roof of the vehicle.

Due to confusion on my part, and a travel page by my employer that did not identify specific discount codes for personal use and business use, I learned I had used the business travel code, which was for business use only. This resulted in the damage waiver becoming invalid, and me being responsible for the damages on the vehicle. Just prior to going away on vacation, I again spoke to the Damage Recovery Unit, who told me that prior rental agreements showed damage to the vehicle's back door - and there is usually some "wiggle room" with damages to the roof.

What occurred next speaks to the trustworthiness of the associates at the charlotte branch. While I was vacationing out of the country, the branch manager attempted to contact one of the authorized drivers (not the renter on the account) on the rental (who was also out of the country with me) and left two voicemails for him asking to have his call returned. I emailed the Damage Recovery Unit to ask about this and was informed that the account notes indicate that the customer on the rental was spoken to - and the decision was made to pursue the damage amounts. This was an outright lie and I detailed this inaccuracy in an email to enterprise. I then spoke to the branch manager who told me that he reviewed the prior rental agreements, and they showed no prior damage to the vehicle (this was also a lie), but that he would get back to me by the end of the business day. I never heard back from the branch manager and instead was contacted by the Damage Recovery Unit, who informed me that prior rental agreements show damage to the back door and they would be removing that part of their claim. I finally spoke to a regional manager today who was not able to explain the outright lies I was told by associates at the CLT Enterprise Branch, and that they would be pursuing $1200 in damages to the roof of the vehicle - damages that were never addressed while dropping off the vehicle - nor were they included on anything signed by me while dropping the vehicle off.

This "investigation" by Enterprise has been one lie and inconsistency after another....How the accounts of the employees at this branch can be trusted by management while deciding to move forward on a 1200 is beyond my understanding. Bottom line - this damage did not occur during my rental - it was not discussed when we dropped the car off, and just magically appeared on a claim after I was on a plane back to Massachusetts.