The “Forget the Alamo” post about my Alamo rental car debacle earned Enterprise corporate’s attention — and they contacted me late last week. (Enterprise’s parent company also owns Alamo and National.)
A company representative called me on Friday afternoon. He profusely apologized for the situation. Worth noting: he was emphatic the Sioux Falls location wasn’t oversold by 85 cards during the night in question. (85 cars was the figure an associate quoted me when I tried to check in.)
He said that unless there was a “massive glitch,” there’s no way that Alamo would overbook by so many vehicles. (So now I’m curious: who was throwing who under the bus — or rental car, as it were? 🙂 )
He told me there were, in fact, dozens of cars en route to Sioux Falls because of the Sanford Invitational, a PGA golf event.
I told him the employees with whom I interacted were as helpful as possible — and very kind. This after they probably suffered the wraths of many people that day.
He kindly offered to reimburse the $40 purchase I made through through Hotwire. At no point did he ask me to remove my initial post — or even drop hints.
The reimbursement was fine with me — and I accepted. After all, I did get a car the next day — but only after losing time and sleep. But what else am I going to ask for? Yeah, if you give me a brand new car to keep, I think we’re square. Nah.
An Enterprise spokesperson provided this statement:
Enterprise Holdings, like the rest of the industry, is seeing increased demand for vehicles for travel across all areas of the US. We anticipate strong demand will continue throughout the next several months. In addition to increased overall demand, other trends we are seeing are increases in the length of rentals and demand for specialty vehicles such as vans, pick-up trucks, convertibles, and large SUVs. We also anticipate business rental travel to begin picking up as well going into the fall.
If you’re planning travel, we encourage you to reserve a vehicle as early as possible. Providing flexible travel dates and branch pick up locations in your search may also help increase your options. In fact, enterprise.com has added a feature that helps to redirect customers to other nearby options – if available – during the online reservation process when they are booking if their selected option is showing no vehicle availability.
A key challenge right now is rising global supply chain challenges, most notable is the chip shortage which is impacting new car availability. Our relationships with our manufacturing partners remain strong and our Fleet Acquisition team is working hard to secure additional vehicles to meet the increasing leisure travel demand and support customers’ broader transportation needs
Will I Rent from Enterprise Companies Again?
I wrote that Hertz is my preferred rental car agency — and that stands. But I rarely rent cars, so it’s not that big of a deal. My wallet generally does the talking when car size isn’t a factor.
I usually receive nice upgrades through Hertz. That’s important when traveling with my family or a larger group. But when it’s just me or maybe one other person? Meh.
The post’s Comments section was full of interesting takes.
Reader Derrick Tennant is a professional comedian and travels all the time. He swears by Enterprise — but stays away from the company’s other two holdings: Alamo and National.
JP noted, “I’ve had the same experience with Alamo. I have nothing but nice things to say about National though.”
And, FWIW, Dave said good things about renting through Costco Travel.
So maybe I’ll avoid Alamo. But I’m up for trying Enterprise again (I’ve rented from there before). And maybe National.
Final Approach
I appreciate Enterprise contacting me and offering me a reimbursement. They accepted responsibility and apologized. That goes a long way. Whatever the overbooking (or personnel) problems were, I hope they get resolved.
Not everyone has a blog, though.
So remember that a good ole fashioned phone call to a corporate or regional office can go a long way — if your problem isn’t solved at a point of purchase. Or go through social media to try and get some help.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Congrats on the strong result of your hit count and earning a refund!
For what it’s worth, National is my preferred provider, which I have used 4 times in the last 15 months, all airport pick-up locations. There were plenty of vehicles each time.
I will add, though, that I have a scheduled one-way rental over Thanksgiving and my usually generous corporate rate was far less generous. By switching from mid-size (Emerald Aisle with my Preferred status) to specifically in the luxury category, I obtained something close to standard pricing of $35 per day.
One more tip when booking with Costco. Try selecting an off-airport pickup. My sister lives in the Twin Cities metro, and the car rental sites closest to her house are in Roseville a few miles north of downtown Minneapolis. Looking around the Holidays, If I book a 15-day rental for an intermediate car with a pickup at the MSP airport, Costco quotes $1,508 for the Budget at MSP. However, if I select the same dates and times, but specify a pickup in Roseville and a drop-off at MSP, Costco quotes $824 for the Budget location on Roseville.
Note that if you select different pickup and drop-off locations, you are limited to dropping off at an airport location. However, that usually works for me. But even if I did not have friends or family in the Twin Cities, the $684 difference certainly covers the cost of a Uber or Lyft ride to the off-airport rental location, and I still have the convenience of an airport drop-off and do not need to worry about catching a ride from an off-airport rental location to the airport.
When I visit my sister, I usually save a little more money by deferring the rental car pickup until I actually need the car. I also select a pickup time in Roseville that aligns with the drop-off time at MSP to avoid renting for an additional day.
$1,508
YES! My Enterprise came through. I sure hope they saw my comments endorsing their awesomeness and maybe that same corp rep can email me ( eh -hem ). I kid, but seriously Enterprise rocks!
Another tip you can book occasionally through Hotwire and it will assign to Enterprise. If it’s not prepay you can then call the branch annd make it a direct booking. OK, I’m exposing my travel geekiness too much here, but bottom line, use Enterprise for the people you will meet.
we recently contacted Enterprise as we usually get a Hertz rental from Denver airport & drop off at the Hertz Frisco depot, go skiing for a couple of weeks (don’t need a car, when staying in the resort & free county buses from Frisco transportation center to resorts) & vice versa to go home. Hertz seem to still be in a world of pain & seem to be very disorganised & appear to be closing the very busy, at least in winter Frisco depot, so found the next nearest rental car depot & it was Enterprise at Silverthorne. Enterprise is 300 yards in same street, as the free Summit Stage bus stop, which takes about 10 mins to go to Frisco. For some strange reason, they want a massive one way fee to pick up Denver(DIA) & drop off Silverthorne. Thought when a nearby competitor closes up shop & Hertz are big, then there’s a huge opportunity, not just for Silverthorne franchise, but also Enterprise as a whole. Many people who ski, have money & use rental cars regularly while travelling round for work.
Hey friend,
Don’t tell anyone but almost every rental I do with Enterprise I drop at a different location. Often states away. Never have I even been questioned about it and always getr that 5 star Enterprise service. They certainly charge a hefty one way fee, but I never ask for it and never pay it. I can’t promise it will work but can tell you it is 100% for me and I rent a lot. Always makes me nervous when I drop the keys in the night box in Birmingham for a car I got in Jackson Hole, but I always get a friendly email receipt with my original charges only. Go Enterprise : )
I have also had two issues with Enterprise and they have always made it right when I escalated (full refunds)
I usually also rent Hertz. As a President’s Club member they usually treat me well. With current rates my car for the upcoming weekend will be Avis. Sadly a $200 difference on a 2 day rental makes a difference. I just hope they have a car when I get there! At least I have status with Avis too.
That was nice of them to do that. Well done!