Taken advantage of by Enterprise | Gripevine
I was renting a car because my car was hit by a drunk driver and was being worked on. I have full coverage with progressive and I informed the sales rep (Toby) that my full coverage insurance will be paying for the rental. I gave him my information and my debit card for my deposit we did that transaction then he proceeded to walk me to the car to show which one I would be renting. He had a clipboard with him and told me that he had to do a quick walk around to make sure that there are no scratches or dents before he gives it to me. He walked around the car, then said " it looks good, I just need you to sign and initial to show I did the walk around and you agree that the car is in this condition and should be returned the same way". While handing me the keys he showed me where to sign and I was on my way. I find out a week later that one of the places I was instructed to quickly initial was for their insurance and they charged me $125.00 for it! I called and explained to them that there was a mistake and that I informed the sales rep before renting the car that I had FULL coverage and I wouldn't be needing insurance through them but he went ahead and charged my debit card without my authorization anyway. I have never rented a car before and he told me that I was initialing that the cars condition was ok and pointed out where to do so.. It was just a little box and we had already discussed that I would not be needing insurance so I didn't think anything of it. They told me in a very dismissive rude manner that I signed it so they won't be returning my money. I felt like Toby completely took advantage of me. I just want my $125.00 returned to me.
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Location Griped About:
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
99 Eglin Pkwy, Ste 26
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548, US
Phone: (850) 243-4446
Website: http://www.enterprise.com/
Comments
Where have you been? Everyone know you should read everything before you sign it and refuse the rental car insurance!
Steve I have never rented a car before and he told me that I was initialing that the cars condition was ok. It was just a little box and we had already discussed that I would not be needing insurance.
since you have full coverage with progressive.i would take proof of the payment to them and explain to them what happened and see if they would refund your money since they would have had to pay it anyway.
since you have full coverage with progressive.i would take proof of the payment to them and explain to them what happened and see if they would refund your money since they would have had to pay it anyway.
thank you for the idea, I'll try that.
Judging from your detailed explanation of a very routine walk around practice, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that maybe some unscrupulous business person didn't so much take advantage of you as they seized on your naiveté... From the story you gave, the sales rep didn't really go out of his way to do much to try and trap you into the insurance as much as he put it on the invoice, glossed over it and you didn't really know what you were looking at.. Unfortunately your insurance company is likely to tell you to take this as an expensive lesson, ALWAYS read EVERYTHING before you sign it..
It was a very expensive lesson yes but what really pisses me off is that he pointed to a little box and said that I need to initial there to prove that he just did a walk around, not to buy insurance. We had just talked about how I would not be needing insurance. I told him that I couldn't afford to pay for their insurance anyway and made a joke that I couldn't afford this rental if it wasn't for progrssive. He even reassured me that progressive will be taking care of everything and I will get all of my deposit back. I think that is pretty damn shady.
So how was this resolved, did you get the $125 back?
I just had a horrible experience with Dollar Rent A Car - a different situation than yours, but from your story, both companies sound like they have regular practices to rip off customers who aren't on the look-out. That is, it's not random bad service; they have a instituted a business practice to cheat/trick/two-steps-away-from steal money from their customers. In your case with Enterprise, it's to gloss over the insurance charge under the guise of checking out the car; with Dollar, it's to have people inadvertently sign up for a "manager's special" which always turns out to be the worst car on the lot (admitted their own office manager), so that you have to pay more to get the car that you originally signed up for. Are all rental car companies this way? Does anyone know of rental car companies that actually practice good customer service?