Terrible service from start to finish
Terrible service from start to finish. I had booked online using my Blue Light (Emergency Services Worker) discount card, and paid in advance. My flight to Paris was cancelled so I phoned Enterprise to ask if I could collect the car at 7am on Sunday instead of 3.30pm on Saturday. I was told no: I'd have to rebook. I rebooked, arranging this time to pay on collecting the car. I was also told that Enterprise couldn't refund my original booking and I'd have to do that through my Blue Light Card. I thought this sounded odd, and indeed it turned out to be impossible. I rang Enterprise again, got the same guy - I recognised his voice. When I started to explain, the line went dead. Funny, that. I rang again, got a different guy. He told me I COULD keep my original reservation as it was within the time-frame, and that he would put a note on the booking so that when I turned up at Paris Orly I wouldn't be charged again. I turned up at Paris Orly. No note on the booking, and the rudest, most obstreperous guy in charge. I kept explaining that I'd paid and he said he could not see that I had not been refunded. I said I could show him my account online - 'non'. I said couldn't he phone someone in accounts? No this wasn't possible. I asked him to put in writing that there was no note and no way for him to confirm that I hadn't been refunded, so that I could get a refund for the second payment. He refused. He kept telling me I should be grateful that he was trying to help, when he wasn't. I would have to pay over Eu1,000 for a week's car-hire. The costs were opaque and he didn't explain them. My original booking had cost Eu450. Then he told me I was disgusting, that all the English were disgusting and treated everyone like slaves. He said he wouldn't rent me any car at all, ever. He walked off. He eventually had to come back, of course, at which point I apologised (for nothing) just to pacify him, and said if he wanted me to leave he would have to rent me a car. Finally he did. I had to split the payment between two cards. The whole process had taken 2 hours. When we reached our destination I emailed Enterprise but got no response. I finally phoned and spoke to someone who could view the Paris Orly contract and said he could not understand how it had been calculated, and promised to do something. Nothing was done. I returned the car, having of course photographed every inch. I carried on emailing and phoning Enterprise but never got any answers. Then, 5 days after my return, the cost of my original booking was finally refunded. No email or explanation, let alone an apology. The next day - 6 days after my return from holiday - Enterprise took a payment of £627 from my account. No explanation. (I had paid a hefty £20 per day insurance to reduce any excess to £0 so it wasn't that. In any case I knew there was no damage.) I emailed yet again - nothing. I phoned and was promised a return call - nothing. I then looked back over my accounts and realised they had never taken any payments on the day I hired the car - despite the contract confirming that the split payments were 'approved' from each account. So in the end I've only paid around £200 for the car hire, but I have paid so much more in time and stress. Plus I feel it cannot be legal for a company to take random amounts of money from my bank account at any random time without any warning or explanation. All in all it has been a nightmare and I would never trust Enterprise again.
13 July 2024
Unprompted review
