There were few ways my rental car experience off-airport in Omaha could have gone worse, and there are very few products I say I’ll never try again – this is one.
Last Minute Trip, Last Minute Rules
Attending to a personal matter in Omaha with little notice, I booked a flight, hotel, and car rental. The miracle of points and miles is the ability to make anything happen when you really need it to without significant expense or inconvenience and I recommend to anyone that asks me about the loyalty space to leave a reserve to of 2.5x standard rates for an emergency trip home.
The flight was unremarkable (and priced about at that range, unfortunately), the hotel was a remodeled but otherwise unremarkable Hampton Inn, well located for my visit. But my typical rental car provider, National (owned by ERAC) was unavailable at the airport. I have some status with Avis and Hertz due to credit cards and reciprocal status but wanted to try the Drive Alliance angle for Enterprise companies. However, this required a nearby city location and not an airport rental. Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a deal to grab a Lyft to the downtown location at 23rd & Harney, and because of a credit, the ride only set me back $6.97 before tip.
Upon arrival, I was informed that my preferred car type was unavailable. For my trip a few vehicle types were offered, the cheapest being a mystery vehicle, but I opted for 2-4 levels above that for a Standard car and paid more for it. Not only was I told that the car I paid more for was not available, but that they only had minivans and there were zero other choices.
“Car choices aren’t guaranteed when booking within 24 hours.” There’s a little more context due, I know that car types are never guaranteed, but typically there’s more than just one type left.
“I don’t see that on my confirmation, can you show it to me?” She couldn’t, of course, then stated that “St. Louis”, ERAC headquarters, isn’t connected to their inventory. This opens a host of other questions. I searched the website, then I tried Google, then I enlisted AI and none of those options showed me specific adjustments described by the branch attendant stated by ERAC specific to the 24-hour booking period. I reached out to the brand on October 20th, it has yet to respond.
I had a choice to make, either take what they have or move on. As I was not at the airport and couldn’t just walk to another counter, I accepted my fate and moved to the garage.
“This One Smells Like Weed”
The most unsavory part about the Enterprise experience as it differs from other brands is the endless damage evaluation. Walking around with an iPad, the attendant points out a knick here, a scratch there – the perfect moment to take out the insurance or pay with a card that includes the Collision Damage Waiver just to avoid participation.
Then she opened the door.
I can’t say for certain that the vehicle was used to move pounds of marijuana across state lines – I couldn’t say that at all. But I could say for certain that it smelled so deeply of weed that I doubt any amount of cleaning could be effective.
“This one smells like weed.” I said, shutting the door.
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” She replied and moved on.
Really? Would you have noticed if I said it smelled as though a den of skunks had made their home in the stow-and-go or would you have to take my word for it? I don’t want to show up to family smelling like backstage at Coachella.
We moved on to the vehicle next to it, a California tag with 51,000 miles and a quarter tank of gas. She started the walk around again, noting that the chip in the windshield could spider but I wouldn’t be responsible if the windshield needed to be replaced upon my return. Cool. How about not giving me a vehicle where I might have a spiderwebbed safety issue?
I tossed my luggage inside, and addressed her one more time.
Not Understaffed, Unbothered
I had to address the fuel level, as I might not make it to my first stop without the low fuel light illuminating.
“A quarter tank?” I was borderline ready to leave but knew that I didn’t have time to start this all over somewhere else.
“We are a little understaffed.”
“Those two guys in the wash bay sitting down on their phones – do they work here?”
“Yes.” She said it to me unironically without connecting the challenge of the cleanliness, or the useless fuel level and how both of those service challenges might have been solved (in the case of the skunky van, maybe not) by the staff being asked to do their jobs.
They aren’t understaffed, they are unbothered, indifferent, and at a minimum unwilling to ask them to perform their duties, or more likely, incapable of actual management. It’s a crazy position to take with Enterprise’s excellent corporate structure and the fact that they give you the tools to be your own boss.
I guess some things are just better in the movies.
Not Again
In the words of our 43rd US President, “Fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” It was simpler times when that sort of turn of phrase failure was the height of presidential gaffes.
I don’t care that National’s ownership is the same (ERAC), I will continue to rent from them as long as their model remains the same and continues to deliver. But from Enterprise? Never, ever again. Maybe a “neighborhood location” has different rules, but the staff at the Downtown Omaha location exhibited a total lack of interest in my experience or their own jobs. Corporate didn’t respond to my survey nor to my request for comment. And while I would agree that I’m not Cooper Anderson reaching out to them, readers in the past have asked if the brand has a comment. They did not.
I shouldn’t have to drive around in a dented safety concern reeking of weed while I get gas immediately after departing the parking lot and somehow try to perfectly return with a quarter tank or pay $7/gallon. It’s disrespectful to your clients but it appears the great corporate structure at Enterprise may have given this branch the tools to be their own boss, and they were even less interested in doing that than I am in renting from any Enterprise location anywhere.
Besides renting from them in the first place, my greatest regret was that I didn’t get to try my credit card’s Collision Damage Waiver on for size, just in case I needed it.
Source: liveandletsfly.com
