Let's face it, there are very few scenarios when you need to rent a car and you're happy about it. Was it the best experience? No, but neither was the reason I needed a rental. Do I recognize that some of the things that could've gone better are out of their control? Absolutely. If I have to, will I consider using them again? Yes, but cautiously.
The office is very convenient on the intersection of University and Ector (opposite from the Aldi). Enterprise offices have decent weekday hours of 7:30am to 6pm, but I really wish they had a short window of Saturday hours. Be mindful that picking you up may be reliant on if the pickup location is closest to them or another Enterprise, which is extra tricky now with the car shortage.
I'm making the reasonable assumption that they are under staffed. I've had interactions with this location by phone on 4 separate days, multiple times a day, over the course of a month. Most of those times the hold times were quite long. I spoke to the same gentleman every single time regardless of the day or the time of day. When at their offices he was the only one working the office, checking people in, answering phones, walking people out to inspect and sign off on the cars- and there were 5 customers present and phones ringing. I do think he's doing his best.
The first time I spoke to this gentleman was over the phone on 7/1/21. My car had been crashed into while parked and my insurance company made a reservation. I spoke to all 3 offices who were sold out until the middle of the following week due to the shortage and the holiday. The gentleman here was the only one to give the helpful suggestion I be put on the waiting list. At the very end of the next day a car was returned to a different office that I was able to snag.
On 7/28/21 I realized I needed to take my car back to the shop as the repairs were not correct. Prepared from my last experience, I spoke to this gentleman again, explained the situation and arranged my plans based on their availability. We worked out a time window for that Thursday, 3 days later. I was instructed to call when I was almost at the agreed upon location and they would have a car dropped off to me and have me sign the pad there. I was very happy with that arrangement.
Now the day of didn't go as planned and ended up taking 1.5 hours instead of 10 min. I know the miscommunications were partly because this gentleman is working the office, phones and putting customers in cars all by himself. Hell, he probably had someone staring him down when we worked out the details and was only half listening. I'm not angry, but I was extremely inconvenienced and share this to set your expectation when dealing with them.
I called halfway during the 2 hour window that was agreed upon to say how far I was from the location. At that time I was told I had missed my reservation and it was implied someone had been at the location waiting on me an hour ago. Strange since nobody called me if that did happen, and you know, that wasn't what was discussed.
I was told that now I would need to have the shop call them when I arrived and they would instead send someone to pick me up and take them to the office since they didn't have the 2 people to make a drop off work. I was annoyed at the miscommunication because I was so careful about the arrangements, but compliant because the staffing issue is understandable.
Except that I got very hot and cranky waiting for an hour. Long story short they went to the wrong shop location first and instead of calling to see where I was, returned to the office until I called again 30 min later and a 5 min hold.
Their explanation was that the location they went to is the one that store is partnered with and the one I was at was partnered with a different office. I'm sure they were trying to explain the mistake so I wouldn't feel abandoned, but with the 3 offices shuffling people around due to the shortage that's a moot point and not up to the customer to know! That's up to Enterprise to adapt to or communicate.
I mean I told them the exact location, including street name, on Monday when making the arrangements,. If that was the real problem instead of not listening, he would've said so on Monday or made me work with that office instead, right? Anyway they were apologetic and the person who picked me up was very friendly and tried to make the ride more enjoyable.
The handoff of the car was super fast and not very detailed, I understood his need to rush. The car itself was problematic and I anxiously retrieved my car from the shop the following Monday in part because the rental was acting odd and I worried I might be stranded.
I didn't call to report it due to the shortage, any other time I would've given them the chance to make it right and switch cars. I know from the previous experience that Enterprise has nicer/more comfortable vehicles, but this one needed maintenance and indicated impending power issues that made me nervous. read more
