Enterprise : do NOT pick me up

Have you ever had a bad experience with a company and you thought to yourself, I am never going to do business with you again? You would rather pay more money elsewhere than to have to endure bad service and policies.

Unfortunately I had that experience this weekend with the rental car company, Enterprise. This post is not intended to slam Enterprise in any way; I only want to share my experience.

I was in charge of taking a group of students to a conference in Waco, TX and the only way to transport them was to rent a 15 passenger van. My first choice was to rent from Capps Van Rental here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex because they are so friendly and I’ve rented from them for years without a problem. My friend got me a deal at Enterprise and so I went to pick up the van at the scheduled time. All the paperwork was signed, copies of my license and insurance had been made and the last step was to pay for the rental or at least leave a deposit.

The worst thing happened

The employee asked for a major credit card. So I handed over my VISA debit card. They said that it had to be a credit card. So after the blood rushed to my face I calmly said that I didn’t own a credit card. He looked at me like “who doesn’t own a credit card”. So I said to him, I’m debt free I don’t own credit cards. I told him I have plenty of cash and again he tells me that the only way I’m going to rent this 15 passenger van was to put it on a credit card.

The most embarrassing predicament

He asks me if I know someone who has a credit card that can come and rent the van. After steam came out of my ears I started to think about the closest people to me that can get me out of this predicament. So there I was, Debt Free Hispanic, with $700 cash in my pocket, enough money in the bank to buy the van, yet I was calling my closest friends to ask if they had a credit card. I needed the van so I called a couple of friends and I’m sure they heard the desperation in my voice. I was hours away from picking up the group so we can be on our way to Waco, TX.

Finally my father in law had one that was not activated and he had to activate it in order to use it. So he came and bailed me out. Since he was going to be the primary driver, they had to redo all the paperwork and put me as an additional driver which was an added cost. I was going to drop it off on a day that the place was not open so they charged me a drop fee.

3 hours after I arrived to pick up my van rental, I finally had the van and rushed to pick up the group and the weekend went on as scheduled.

I now owe my father in law the amount he had to put on his credit card. I will NEVER rent from Enterprise again; I don’t care if they offer to pick me up. I do not do business with people who force people to use credit cards. Yes, I’m sure they have been burned by other people and now they have strict policies and that’s fine, if you choose to rent from Enterprise, more power to you and have fun jumping through hoops of fire.

I’ll stick to Capps Van rental which accepts Cash, Debit cards and personal checks. I may pay more but you cannot put a price on good customer service and having more than one payment option which is credit cards.

Cash Rentals

We will allow cash rentals under the following guidelines: Cash rentals are accepted for the 12 or 15 Passenger vans only. The rental must be 3 days or longer Renter must be at least 25 years of age with valid U.S drivers license. The rental must be prepaid at the time of pickup A refundable cash deposit of $250.00 will be required in addition to the rental rate Renter must present proof of insurance in their name and insurance must be verified by a Capps employee.

Additional Drivers

We allow up to 2 additional drivers at no charge. Additional drivers must meet the same requirements as the Renter and be present at pick up or come by prior to the rental.