damaged vehicle

Dear Enterprise,        

    My name is Cory and I have been a loyal customer over the past 7 years.  My wife and I rent about 8 vehicles a year from your company. In addition to the vehicles we rent my wife runs a bed and breakfast where she has to constantly suggest car rental services to travelers.  She on average helps 10 people a month find a good rental car.  We had used Enterprise and it’s sister company’s for all of those bookings personally and for the bed and breakfast.  It was until I rented a car in April.
     The car was not ready when I arrived at the facility.  I waited 30 minutes only to receive a rental that was not clean on the inside or the outside. On the outside you couldn’t tell if the car was scratched or just dirty. On the inside the car smelled of smoke, the steering wheel and virtually every place I had to put my hands was extremely sticky.  This was very frustrating and to top it off I was told by the person that called me for a customer survey that I would receive a call the next business day about how it could be made up to me.  That call never came, but I did receive a $1,100 bill in the mail in early May.  The bill stated that I had cracked the bumper.  A photo showed that bumper was completely split in two.  This did not happen while I was driving the car or had it in my possession.  I know that when I pick up the car I signed a paper that says I did not see any damage and it was not on the paper, but when I dropped it off the car was inspected and nothing was mentioned or seen by the rental agent.  I was even at the location for 30 minutes, because I dropped it off at a different location than the original pick up, there was clearly time to let me know or for the damage to be seen while I was present. (I understand that dropping off at a different location takes time and I am not complaining about my wait, I appreciate the option)  

    Since May I have been disputing this claim.  Each person I spoke with the first two weeks was great and they slowly sent me to the next person in charge of them.  The higher I got on the management team the worse the service I received.  A week would go by for each manager to call me back for them to only tell me I needed to speak to their manager.  I would then call that manager and they would call me back in a little over a week.  That happened until I spoke with Jason Cowan.  Jason told me he get to the bottom of my issue and was very nice, that was in early June.  I then called him every week for the next month and a half and he never called me back to notify me of what was happening.  I then receive a letter in the mail saying that I have not responded to the claim.  Then to find out Jason has claimed that he spoke with me on July 8th and has sent me back to claims.  I have tried to reach him and his boss several times and left several messages since that time and still no response.  Also each manager that I spoke with I complained about my original survey complaint and they said they would help me with that too and nothing has happened with either.

    Let me restate and make clear, this car was not damaged when I dropped it off.  The car was inspected by an agent at the time of my drop off and there was no damage to be seen.

    In the mean time my wife and I have rented 3 cars personally and have helped 22 people rent from other companies since the beginning of this ordeal. I have loved renting from your company for many years, but until this situation is resolved we will no longer be renting from your company.

claim no.03796444

Cory Martin

Dear Enterprise,

    I am contacting you for the second time.  I am including my original email to you.  I know you are a very busy man, but I am at my wits end.  I have no idea what else to do other than contact you.  I continue to receive an$1,100 bill from your company for damages to a car that I did not cause and they were not present on the car when it was dropped off.  The car was inspected by the attendant when I dropped it off and nothing was seen by me or the attendant.  A month later I received a bill.  I don’t know how I can be charged for something that was never brought to my attention.  With that line of thinking I could be sent a bill for anything from your company and be threatened with legal action if I do not pay it. I.E. I could be charged a smoking fee (I don’t smoke) just because your company said the car smelled like smoke or anything else.

    Jason Cowan did finally call me back after I sent you an email last time.  He was extremely angry from the moment I got on the phone with him.  He escalated our conversation to an argument immediately.  He told me I was taking this personally and saying that I was crazy, paranoid and creating conspiracy theories. He mentioned that he called me on his cell phone so the conversation would not be recorded.  I asked for his managers phone number, because of how rude and unprofessional he had been.  Mr. Cowan proceeded to tell me to call 1800 rent a car and I would be able to talk to Jason Cowan in two weeks (yes, himself).  He told me he was the boss and that there was no one above him.  I know this is not true, because I spoke with Ryan Williams and he gave me a phone number to Mr. Cowan’s boss, but I have not received a phone call back from the (314-512-5000) number.

    Please help me resolve this issue.  Since I have been sent the bill my wife and I have rented 5 cars from other companies and sent 43 visitors to our bed and breakfast to other rental companies, totaling  over $6,000 in lost rental fees to your company.

Thank you for your valuable time.  $1,100 is a lot of money to me and my wife and we would appreciate any help you can provide.

cory