Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:44:50 -0400
From: Dan Cahoon
Subject: Small town blues
Both the delight and the curse of living in this area is the narrow choices for products and services. The delight is in the personal touch that comes with the knowledge that the people who run those businesses with which we use for convenience and necessity really care about their customers and are not in it solely for the money. The people who run the shops and other businesses in PBO and outlying towns are, after all, here for the same reason. We all moved here or stayed here instead of the big towns with all the amenities and choices.
I know I don’t like the way the big towns are interested only in my money. Living and giving is my kind of thing and the big towns seem to only take. PBO and other small places seem to give back a bit more. Maybe because the people here live and give as well. My friends from the big city (yes, I do have friends) ask me how I can cope with being so far from everything. Until this recent dip in my life, my answer has been “I am here because it is so far from everything”. I used to like the remoteness and hope to again some day. Big city people just don’t have what I have all around me.
One thing the big cities do have that I yearn for is variety and competition among merchants and service providers. I remember living in a place where I could rent a car when I needed it and could choose among 5 or 6 different companies. They really only wanted my money but bad enough that they tried to woo my patronage with civility and good customer service. Some of them were rude or terminally greedy and so dropped from my preferred list of rental providers. I could move on to the next company and find the level of customer service that I preferred.
This weekend I discovered one of the foibles of doing business with a company that abuses it’s unique position as the only horse in town. Enterprise car rentals (located next to PBO body shop) is in a good
location (especially for those in need of a vehicle when theirs is in the shop) and seems to fill a niche here in town. Renting a decent vehicle can be a hassle some times. One can’t get to the big dealers in Apex or Cary or anywhere else without some form of transportation. I have tried to drive two cars at the same time. It is difficult.
So to have a local car rental agency in town would be a plus right? Sadly, Enterprise rentals has a manager that puts money first and foremost, above customer service and community need. My recent experience with the local branch of Enterprise Rentals was disturbing and terribly inconvenient. I shall not use them again.
I had rented a vehicle from them while the car I was driving was in the shop. I needed a safe vehicle to transport my children the insurance company I was working with recommended Enterprise. They have
a contract with them and do that sort of thing all the time. The car I rented was better in many ways than the one in the shop (it was running, clean and didn’t belong to HER). I enjoyed a couple of weeks in the car and even considered buying a used rental from Enterprise (yeah, yeah, look how I drove the car, rentals get abused). No fear! I have seen the light. I don’t need a car that has been handled by Enterprise.
I had bungled the reservation process (a regrettably frequent occurence, I don’t do that sort of thing well, too trusting) and there was a proble with my credit card. Enterprise had been charging my visa for the rental until Met life could reimburse. Yesterday I learned from Met Life that Enterprise could have handled the entire charge without my payment, had they bothered to see that they were renting a vehicle to the person who rear ended me. We both had the same claim number. The manager at Enterprise assured me that Met Life had a good record of payment and because of a contract between the two, my rental should be hassle free.
Yesterday at 12:30 the manager called me at home (wish I had been out of town) to inform me (in an angry voice) that my visa was full and that he was coming to repossess the car I had rented. I asked him to give me a chance to rectify the situation (I have no other funds right now) but he said that “if the care isn’t returned immediately it will be reported stolen.”
I was upset and let him have it. Life has been kicking me in the butt lately and this was more of the same. Still, after giving him a choice selection of my hidden vocabulary (teachers know all the bad words too), I hung up and tried to call my insurance company. While doing so, a representative of Enterprise showed up to repossess the rental car. I begged him to wait so I could clear up the money mess (my claim adjustor was in a meeting and 5 phone calls either got dropped or redirected to clueless person after clueless person, I had to tell the same story at least 10 times). Apparently my distress alarmed him because he called the sheriff. The Sheriff was kind and I assured him that someone in my position is not allowed the luxury of getting into
that kind of trouble, I just needed a vehicle to be safe with my sons (one who is disabled). Nevertheless, the vehicle was taken away.
I did manage to straighten out the money mess I had naively created but at 4:00 pm my efforts to acquire a replacement rental ended when Met Life shut down for the day. Alamo told me that Met Life should be the one to arrange the rental reservation and I had learned my lesson about paying a rental agency up front. Money, money, money.
Enterprise cars shall get no more of my money. I didn’t deserve the treatment I received from them. I urge all who read this to reconsider using Enterprise for their rental needs. I know it is the only car rental agency in town but their hubris could end up putting you in the same situation as me, no car, kids who need safety, living in a remote rural area. I don’t want to rent from a company that is going to turn me in for stealing a car as soon as I owe them 42 dollars. Other companies would just file the claim and try to get the money from Met Life, perhaps even billing me for any amount. I have dealt with rental agencies that have worked with me in times of crisis, to their financial benefit as well as mine. Enterprise PBO is not that kind of establishment.
Beware! they just want your money and know you are stuck with them. Don’t rent from them. It isn’t worth it.
So…….anyone out there have a car I can rent? Met Life says they will pay. It is okay right now, my kids are away but I need to go to New Bern on Monday. It is a long bike ride.
Sorry about the complaining. I know how much it upsets everyone when I am not happy. I will paste my smile and hope for the best.
Dan Cahoon
Moncure, NC 27559
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