Like most travelers, Bette Waterstreet doesn’t expect much when she rents a car. A clean, running vehicle that’s in the same car class she ordered will do just fine. But that’s not what she got when she rented from Thrifty in Ontario, Calif., recently.
“It was a junkmobile,” she says. “Absolutely filthy.”
Does Thrifty owe her anything for the inconvenience?
Yes. And no.
Yes, in the sense that it should have never handed a customer the keys to a dirty vehicle. Ever.
But no, in the sense that Waterstreet didn’t give Thrifty an opportunity to make things right when it could.
“They gave us a two-year-old car that sounded like a washing machine on the road,” she recalls. “I should have marched right back to the office, but couldn’t be late to a meeting.”
That’s exactly what she should have done. Thrifty would have probably been happy to swap out the old, dirty rental for a newer one — if it had been given a chance. More car rental companies are aging their fleets in order to save money, which means that an increasing number of customers are being given higher-mileage cars.
I suggested Waterstreet send a brief, polite email to Thrifty, explaining her disappointment. She did.
Here’s its response:
Thank you for notifying us of your recent experience with Thrifty Car Rental in Ontario.
Please accept my sincere apology that we didn’t have the vehicle you expected based on your reservation and for the poor condition of the vehicle you received. We are unable to guarantee a make or model of vehicle when reserved only a car class. Our available fleet is affected by late returns and vehicles that must be serviced and are briefly not available on a given day.
Your requests are important and we try to maintain a fleet that meets your preferences and needs. When a reserved vehicle is not available, it becomes our priority to ensure you receive a vehicle; however, I am sorry this did not meet your expectations.
As a gesture of goodwill, I have mailed you two rental discount certificates, which are redeemable at any Thrifty Car Rental location in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Caribbean, and Australia.
We appreciate your business and hope you will allow us another opportunity to fulfill your car rental needs in the efficient, professional manner you expect and deserve.
Obviously a form letter, but not a bad response. Assuming, of course, the vouchers are worth anything.
Turns out, they weren’t.
I got a follow-up note from Waterstreet.
I received two “big deal” coupons in the mail today. They are for $10 each. I wouldn’t waste my time with Thrifty for that amount.
I’m seriously annoyed at their business practices, but should I drop it at this point? Obviously, my friend and I would NEVER rent from them again, and they don’t seem to care about that with this silly, inconsequential, offensive offer.
I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and what I’ve decided to do is return the coupons with a short note.
Waterstreet’s anger is justified. A $10 gift certificate won’t even cover the refueling option on her next rental.
Lesson learned? When you have a problem with your rental, speak up.
And when it comes to apologies, don’t be thrifty.
(Photo: trbpix/Flickr Creative Commons)
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
No one disputes that speaking up at the time is the best option/ However, its not always possible. Sometimes where you have to be is more important than dealing with the travel situation at that point.
I understand not needing to be late and that you wouldn’t hearing the “washing machine noise” until driving, but if you don’t speak up right away, it’s sort of like eating most of a dish and then returning it to the kitchen because something wasn’t right.
If it wasn’t right and you knew it right away, then do something about it right away.
At least she ended up with something ….
I rented from Avis as a Preferred Service customer at the beginning of the month. Preferred Service is supposed to be like #1 Club Gold from Hertz just show up and pick up your keys.
I show up at the time I reserved the car. Guy in front of me gets an upgrade to luxury car. I get no car (I reserved a luxury sedan) told I have to wait 6 hrs or take a manual mini (for 3 adults with 3 large suitcases). No offer to walk me. No offer to give me the £25 required by their local policy. They “suddenly” find a stripped minivan to give me (downgrade from a lux sedan) an hour after I showed up at the desk. Hassle at turn in because the delay now puts me in a higher rate category.
Answer from Avis when I get back… We’re sorry. Hope you rent from us again.
I just got $30 worth of coupons from Dollar on my $200 after complaining my car’s headlights would not turn off properly, causing multiple jumps during my vacation.
There was no reason that vehicle should of been on the lot with a problem such as that.
I just mailed back that $30 with a “never again, Dollar” note.
I’m with Carver on this one. She already said that she couldn’t return the car immediately because she had a meeting. As infuriating as the car was, it would have been a lot worse if she had missed a work related meeting, putting her job (or performance review) in jeopardy. Hertz was flat out wrong, not the customer.
What does she want for compensation?! $20 sounds fine to me, especially since she didn’t actually experience any inconvenience (the car didn’t break down, she didn’t have to wait for it to be cleaned, etc.). And in my experience, people tend to grossly overstate a problem when they want something. I’d bet if you or I looked at that car, we would have thought it was perfectly fine.
Mailing free money back? I guess it’s her own loss…
Sorry, Thrifty made some sort of offer. No it was not that generous. She should have not left herselt in a time squeeze and expected more. I think she just wanted a freebie. sorry mo sympathy.
Sorry…. but she sounds like a complainer. Thrifty is better off. She was out nothing…. as someone stated before…. the car didnt break down. its ONLY 2 years old. I would venture to guess that most people have cars much older.
Congrats to Thrifty… they responded to a “form letter” complaint that really had no concrete proof that anything happened.
Oh My! What has happened to customer service and businesses? Receiving a “junk car” is just as bad as having to go through an automated answering service when you call your credit card company or any company for that matter!
I agree that it’s best to arrive at the rental car establishment early. You never know what could happen. Also, you may be a conscientious person by returning the car on time, but some people will not.
I’m of two minds on this one. I had a sort of similar experience in July. I picked up a car from Enterprise, to take on my trip the next morning. Even though their cars are supposed to be non-smoking, this one reeked. I said something about it and they said, “Well, we can’t stop people from smoking during the rental period, and unfortunately, detailing just doesn’t get the odor out completely.” Hmm.
Anyway, I got home with the car, and in just running a couple of errands in it that evening, noticed it was making an odd clanking noise. It *probably* wasn’t anything major, but my trip was 300 miles solo, to the next state, and as a woman alone, I wasn’t about to take a chance the clanking would get worse. The car had 33K miles, so it was getting near the end of its rental life.
I called Enterprise first thing the next morning, as soon as they opened. It was a local office and closed at 6 p.m. the night before, or I’d have said something then. Anyway, I called and they said they would be happy to switch the car. It was a downgrade, but they adjusted the rate, the car was clean, smelled OK and ran fine. Happy ending.
A $50 gift certificate would have been a more equitable compensation. That would probably cover one day on another rental, or at least taken care of all the surcharges. LOL.
I almost always arrange my schedule so I can pick up my rentals the evening before, just in case, but sometimes that’s not possible.
Thrifty could have done more, but Bette should have at least said something when she returned the car, if the office was open. They might have offered her some kind of compensation at that time, too.
I think I’d have chanced being late to the meeting, and just said there was an issue with my rental. Most business people would have had no problems with that reasoning.
Aimee,it was thrifty- not Hertz. She recieved the car made her appointment what is the problem?Big deal – Now that is what is called greedy.
Let me insert “A $50 gift certificate *from Thrifty*” since I was happy with my Enterprise rental. Fingers got ahead of brain on that one. LOL.
This sort of take what we give you or tough luck is becoming pervasive throughout all transactions. There was a sign at the doctor’s office yesterday, if you are more than 15 minutes late for your appt, we will have to reschedule. OK but the doctor was 25 minutes late to see me. Same thing all around, the one with the goods makes the rules and it depends how much we want it and how much time we have to waste. Need to get to a meeting, the whole purpose of the trip, then accept a dirty car. Have the time and energy to make a fuss, but have to wait a couple of hours for what should have been given.
All service providers know they can get away with whatever, whenever so even a boycott of a specific one does little because the next one will have their bad day too. Society as a whoel needs a make-over.
This story has one important thing in common with the myriad rental-car disaster stories that Chris has run recently, and with my many dealings with the travel industry over the last 10 years on the road. Thrifty, and Hertz, and Budget, and for that matter USAir, and United, and now that I think of it, Comcast, and AIG and Verizon and US Bank and… are perfectly indifferent to whether you ever do business with them again. Thrifty responded to Bette’s disgust as though it were a marketing opportunity. No wonder she’s angry, but that’s typical. Thrifty wasn’t giving anything back, even though it failed to deliver the product it promised, and for which it charged. Indeed, if Bette reads the fine print on her discount certificates, I’ll bet she discovers they actually are worthless because they have so many conditions and requirements attached to their use. United has treated me in exactly the same way, even though I was a frequent flier with 70,000 air miles the day they stranded me in Washington D.C. after a weather-related flight cancellation. United was obviously , blatantly, utterly indifferent as to whether I, or any other passenger, frequent or not, ever did business with them again.
So what’s the problem? Here are some guesses.
CEOs earn too much money and they skip from company to company, rather than coming up the ranks. They don’t know anything about their actual business, and consequently they run it into the ground. (Robert Nardelli, anyone?) Every one of the corporate suits who has paraded his myriad failings across the pages of my newspaper lately has been staggeringly entitled and arrogant. That is the attitude that underlies Bette’s experience.
The government should be involved, but not the way they are now. AIG’s customer service isn’t any better than United’s, or Thrifty’s or Budget’s. They too, smirk and tell me to “vote with my feet and my wallet,” when I protest. Unfortunately, my feet and my wallet say one thing when I’m in control, and another when my elected representatives are in control. Would I ever do business with AIG again? Not only would I do business with them, apparently I’d give their executives million-dollar bonuses! None of these worthless CEOs is at all worried, and why should they be? Lehman Brothers was a fluke, right? If Thrifty’s CEO runs the business into the ground, one thing is for sure: he won’t suffer.
And finally there’s the consolidation of business despite the growth of population. I now do almost all my business using web conferencing for one reason: the travel experience is so excruciating. And yet, on the rare occasions that I now get on an airplane it is always “completely full.” Why should United care that they lost a frequent-flier who did tens of thousands of dollars of business with them a year, and who works for a company that does tens of millions of dollars of business with them a year? The population of the U.S. is growing fast. No matter if a company alienates a customer. There’s someone young, naive and eager to take her place.
And me? I buy less, write my elected representatives and fume. What else can I do?
Gerry
The car was running, wasn’t it? Maybe it was loud. Maybe it was dirty, but it still got her where she was going on time.
I’ve gotten less than optimal rental cars too. If I didn’t have time to go back and complain, I just used them and dealt with it. If I did, I asked politely for a different car and I’ve usually been upgraded when that happened.
Thrifty did everything right. The Op sounds impossible, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with her.
Yes, the car was only 2 years old. A two-year-old rental is nearing the end of its rental life. My personal car is eight years old and has over 100K miles on it, but I’d take it cross-country tomorrow. Why? Because I know who’s been driving it, I know its maintenance record and I know what it’s been through. You don’t know any of that when you get a rental, and it’s a fact that some people drive the h*** out of rentals, but baby their personal vehicle.
Thrifty shouldn’t have allowed that car out of the garage. It should have been on their sale lot to start with. If it had broken down, they’d have been responsible for picking it up, providing Bette with another car and getting the car repaired. It shouldn’t have been rented. Period.
You trust that a rental company does at least minimum maintenance on their fleet and that these cars are safe to drive. Getting one with that kind of noise makes you wonder about the safety issue. And if, God forbid, someone is badly injured or killed because of a major mechanical breakdown, the rental company is going to pay a heck of a lot more than the $20,000 for a new car in the ensuing lawsuit.
I still say Bette should have talked to a manager when she turned the car in, and alerted him/her that this noise might be a major safety issue. I suspect some compensation would have been offered at that time.
I don’t think she was being greedy, though. She didn’t ask for some kind of unreasonable compensation, and was pleased with Thrifty’s response, until she got the compensation and found out how they cheaped out on her.
I can see both sides of this situation:
1. If the car was a dirty as she stated, then Thrifty should not have provided a customer with a dirty car. That’s a given. For that, she is probably entitled to some form of compensation.
2. Did she mention or complain about the condition of the car when she turned it in? I’m not seeing it in this article — am I overlooking it? If she was unable to raise the issue prior to leaving Thrifty due to lack of time, then she could have when she turned it in.
3. This is one of those times when taking a cell phone or digital camera with you and taking a photograph of the condition of the car shortly after pickup would have helped. It would have provided some additional documentation to prove that the condition of the car was not up to standard. If she had included those images with her contact with Thrifty customer service, she may have received more compensation. As it was, it’s a “she said – Thrifty rep said” situation, with no hard proof that the car actually had the stated problems.
4. I also agree with what Chicky suggested – picking up the rental the day or night before you actually need it. I recently encountered a car rental situation with Enterprise. In August, I called a month ahead of time to schedule a car rental with Enterprise. I specifically requested an economy car with cruise control & CD stereo (stereo for the teenager.) Then I called again a week before the rental date to confirm my reservation, and to confirm with them what I had requested – an economy car with cruise control & and CD player. In September, they delivered a Ford Focus with the CD player – but no cruise control. I immediately brought it to their attention upon delivery, stating that I MUST have a car with cruise, as I was taking a 600+ mile trip the next day. Enterprise was great and gave me one the next morning on my way to my trip – so I was very happy with Enterprise in the end. They did go out of their way to fix the problem. But then again, we had time to resolve it. They even upgraded me for free, without me asking them to – I didn’t ask for any compensation. (Traded the Ford Focus they delivered for a Chrysler PT Cruiser and they didn’t charge me any extra – thanks Enterprise!) Scheduling rental car pickup a day early – when feasible – can provide you with time to correct a problem when you receive a car that you didn’t order, or are being forced to accept a car that is not acceptable.
5. As to the compensation – $20 really doesn’t sound like much to me – for most model cars, it’s less than what a 1 day rental would have cost. Even Mr. Elliott agreed – “Waterstreet’s anger is justified. A $10 gift certificate won’t even cover the refueling option on her next rental.” Why not simply give a “1 day free rental” for a comparable rental vehicle? That would have made more sense to me.
Hard to tell whether the car was really that bad. If the car is really dirty, whip out the cell phone, snap some pics, and then ask the rental company if they would like some free “publicity”.
Eric S, That is vindictive,and even suggests blackmail. She accepted the car as.is; No one held a gun to her head.She was running late; that is her fault. Shewas not injured in any way. At least she was offered something.
Here is a good one –
Savannah is a nice city – walkable downtown and most folks stay there. So – Hertz [and everyone else] has a little deal with the fuel option – drive less than 75 miles and there is a flat fee refueling option.
So far, so good, right? Just don’t be the next person to rent that car – because- they do not fill them up.
EVERY single time I rent in SAV I have had a car get out of the lot – and go down an 1/8 of a tank by the time I get to the freeway – which is about 3 miles away.
So – now I have started thus:
Rent the car – verify the mileage as state on the form;
Drive the car to the gas station at the freeway entrance and top off;
I can ALWAYS put in at least 3 and sometimes 4 gallons;
drive back to Hertz and get the fuel discount and another $10 off my bill for my trouble;
This way I KNOW I’m getting a full tank when I leave.
It is simply an unfair trade practice for Hertz to charge someone a refueling fee – not refuel the car – and expect the next renter to buy the fuel again.
I experienced two issues where the car rented was not acceptable….and coincidentally enough, both times were in Hawaii…two different islands though…
One time with Avis, we rented a Jeep. We arrived late and still had a 45 minute drive ahead of us to Princeville. The Jeep had a stench that wouldn’t quit! The next day we spent at the resort, so it was not until the 3rd day that we noticed that the Jeep was infested with bugs…we took the Jeep back and they gave us a new one…
The second time, my dad rented a minivan to cart the whole family around Maui. When we got to the resort, I heard that the brakes were making strange noises… I checked the van’s brakes, and noticed that the front disk pads were completely worn and it was metal on metal…we took the van back (in hind-sight, that may not have been the safest thing to do…) and got a replacement van…
Both times, since we brought it to the attention of the rental service, they accommodated us to our satisfaction! So yes…if there is an issue with your rental vehicle, let the rental company know…you may be surprised!
Ed
Sure, she got “what she paid for,” a car to get her from point A to point B on time.
What she didn’t get was a pleasant driving experience. Does nobody get that you need to make customers happy so that they become *repeat* customers?
Really easy to lose customers. Takes some work to keep them.
I can think of many reasons why Ms. Waterstreet was in a time crunch when picking up the vehicle – delayed flight, long line to pick up vehicle, business scheduling. Those posting saying she should have been there “early” have no idea what Ms. Waterstreet’s schedule was. In fact, her arrival time is immaterial. Thrifty was the one that fell down on its end of the business arrangement. The car was “filthy” and it ran poorly.
The article doesn’t say what happened when she returned the car to Thrifty. She may have mentioned things at that point. She may have had “self check”, where she merely put the keys in a drop box. I wasn’t there, I wasn’t privy to the transaction, so I would be quite hesitant to pass judgment on this woman.
@Gerry:
“Indeed, if Bette reads the fine print on her discount certificates, I’ll bet she discovers they actually are worthless because they have so many conditions and requirements attached to their use.”
Incorrect. Vouchers issued by Thrifty Customer Care are valid for all U.S./Canada locations and are valid toward payment of all charges with no restrictions, including payment of taxes and optional extras. (The only caveat is that if the full value of the voucher is not used, the balance is forfeited–but they’re usually issued in $10 or $20 increments, so that’s rarely an issue.)
“CEOs earn too much money and they skip from company to company, rather than coming up the ranks. They don’t know anything about their actual business, and consequently they run it into the ground. (Robert Nardelli, anyone?) Every one of the corporate suits who has paraded his myriad failings across the pages of my newspaper lately has been staggeringly entitled and arrogant. That is the attitude that underlies Bette’s experience…If Thrifty’s CEO runs the business into the ground, one thing is for sure: he won’t suffer.”
Response from everyone I’ve talked to, inside and out, is that DTAG’s new CEO (appointed Oct. 2008) is a VERY positive move for the company and customers. The previous CEO, Gary Paxton, was not well liked by the people I talked to, and I felt the attitude you speak of. Not true of the new one. See this interview for more on him: http://www.businessfleet.com/Blog/Auto-Focus/Story/2009/08/Dollar-Thrifty-s-Scott-Thompson-Talks-Refranchising-Remarketing-and-Recovery.aspx
@Chicky:
“Yes, the car was only 2 years old. A two-year-old rental is nearing the end of its rental life….Thrifty shouldn’t have allowed that car out of the garage. It should have been on their sale lot to start with. If it had broken down, they’d have been responsible for picking it up, providing Bette with another car and getting the car repaired. It shouldn’t have been rented. Period.
You trust that a rental company does at least minimum maintenance on their fleet and that these cars are safe to drive. Getting one with that kind of noise makes you wonder about the safety issue.”
Welcome to the new rental industry. Even your favorite, top-tier agencies (Hertz, National, Avis) with whom you pay a huge premium will be running cars for three years and to 60,000 miles. With financing hard to come by and vehicle prices shooting through the roof as American manufacturers retool their production processes and stop practically giving their cars to rental companies, expect cars to be held for a LOT longer. See this editorial for details: http://www.autorentalnews.com/t_inside.cfm?action=article_pick&storyID=1684
In my experience, customers tend to vastly exaggerate issues. A tiny brake squeal becomes a horrendous screaming noise that you can’t hear the radio over. A little water from the car wash steaming off the radiator in the 0-degree weather becomes the radiator exploding. I have to take her description of the sound with a HUGE grain of salt as well as her description of an “absolutely filthy” car. It was probably perfectly clean but with a little dust from having sat out on the lot for a day. Or it could have been a rainy, muddy day. Or any other number of reasons.
Regardless, though, it got her to and from her destination perfectly safely without breaking down. If it had broken down, I’d be singing a different tune. But it was probably such a tiny issue that the previous customer and the Thrifty detailers didn’t even notice it (and remember, the only way for a rental company to know about problems is if they’re reported).
As to maintaining vehicles, you can read DTAG CEO’s comments on that subject in the first link I posted.
I used Ace in LA once and had 2 issues 1 the tag was expired so we got a ticket for that. 2nd the breaks were grinding the entire trip. That car should not have been on the road. My complaint fell on deaf ears with Ace and i will not use them again
I agree the aging of the rental car fleet is becoming a major problem. I’m “President’s Circle” with HERTZ and have been for a number of years. I used to get the newer cars — those with less than 5,000 miles or so on them. Some almost brand new. More recently, my Hertz cars have had 25k or 30k or even 40k+ miles on them.. were dinged/banged up; often dirty, and usually the “service engine soon or oil change needed” light comes on all the time. This on top of the fact that many of my rental costs have nearly doubled in some places… I often pay much more in renting a car than in the airfare to/from the location. I am also seeing that they are cutting the number of cars available significantly, so much so that several times I’ve gotten the last car or so in the early afternoon with lots of folks still to come in later that day. And forget the nice “free” upgrades I used to get… they are harder and harder to get as the rental car companies want the $$$ instead.
I had a similar experience in Chicago many summers ago during the United Airlines problems. Twice Avis dropped me at a dirty and unprepped car. I too was in a hurry (needed to get to Cleveland and my flight had been cancelled), but went back into the office and into the preferred customer line (which I was not). To their credit they immediately upgraded me, put me in a car just outside the door and I was on my way. Their agent’s willingness to make a decision and solve the problem earned my business for many years afterwards even if the cost was a little higher.
@Chris: I am not cracking on Thrifty as a company here, and I certainly agree there are generally at least two sides to every story.
However, car prices in my area, at least, have leveled off, especially for Kia and Hyundai. You can get a brand new Kia Rio for $11K. My sister paid $23K for a Sportage. I was with her when she bought it. And I’m sure car rental companies get a discount.
There is no excuse for not maintaining vehicles. Period. None. This is non-negotiable. I don’t care what agency is doing the renting. I don’t know how severe the noise was that Bette heard. And while I’m sure she’s thankful it got her to her destination and back, if you’re petrified the whole way that the motor is going to fall out, it doesn’t make for a pleasant trip. Not good for business, either. And if she wasn’t exaggerating and the noise was bad, it was a maintenance issue, and there’s no way around it.
My main point all along has been that Bette should have (if she didn’t) very strongly pointed out the noise when she returned the car, if that was possible. She might have had to do the key drop thing, or whatever, which prevented her from doing so.
I work for a newspaper. I know first hand how annoyed people can exaggerate and turn a small issue into something that will, no doubt, affect Western Civilization as we know it.
But assuming her story is even 75 percent correct, Thrifty owes her more than $20.
Rental cars in Denver are absolutely filthy, especially in the winter and spring during ski season. Cars aren’t washed in cold areas (Manchester, NH, Boston, MA, etc) during the winter but most car agencies leave a note explaining why (ice buildup on doors and windows). I’ve had cars with garbage in the glove compartment or gum in the cigarette ashtray. While car companies shouldn’t rent cars that are filthy, sometimes it can’t be helped or it’s missed..
However, if there’s a mechanical issue, that’s when I demand a replacement. I rented a car in Providence from National and heard wind noises and metallic rattling in MA. I pulled over and found that a body panel near the windshield was loose and only shook above 50mph. Relatively new Ford Flex, with under 4000 miles. Returned it because I didn’t want to get charged $$$ if it flew off the car.
Chevy Malibu rented in Salt Lake City; as it got darker, I realized that the third brake light stayed on continuously – whether I was hitting the brakes or not. Returned it.
Depending on the location, since a rental car can go for $40-$80 a day, $20 in vouchers could be pretty insulting.
@Ames: Don’t get me started on my doctor’s new rule about having to cancel with a 24-hour notice or else get hit with a $25 fee. Gee, then how about having an answering service instead of a system that doesn’t allow for messages? I make an appt for, let’s say, 9am. Gee, would it be so bad if you saw me at 9? My time is worth something too. I do what the airlines are allowed: give ‘em 15 minutes and then start walking (pacing is more like it) around the office and eventually ask when am I going to be seen?
I agree with the rest of your comment too.
As for Thrifty here, 2 years old in and of itself is not a problem. But don’t they check their cars for problems? What about the previous renter of the car? Didn’t that person note the problem when they returned it (or maybe they gave it back right away)? I can’t imagine the problem just started when the OP drove the car.
And if you’re going to give somebody $20, then refund them the money, don’t give a voucher. A voucher just says that you don’t care about this problem enough to even discount it.
What, pray, happens if you accept the car and it is running kinda’ rough and later on in your rental it shows signs of needing attention and you keep on driving it anyway. Then when you return the car, it needs, say, new brake rotors/drums as opposed to just new brake pads/shoes. In other words a repair that is now major?
Having recently rented from Thrifty in Raleigh, I can guarantee you that it will be a very cold day before I EVER rent from them again. Their tactics are pathetic and their efforts to delay the customer as long as possible seem to be well-tuned. I just had the opportunity to rent from them in Honolulu. Did not even think twice about using them, went with a better company instead. Hats off to Ms. W. She gave them more opportunity then they deserve.