Enterprise Rent-A-Car — Local services in San Bruno

We hired an Audi A4 Quattro at San Francisco Airport. Initially it was a great car to drive. However, within a few hours a warning light came on to let me know that the brake pads had reached their limit and needed replacing. I messaged Enterprise and they said they would inspect/replace the brake pads when the car was returned - so I had the car for 10 days with dodgy brakes. Six days into the rental we were staying in a remote lodge close to Yosemite National Park. I started the car after breakfast in order to drive into the park on our first day there and another warning light told me that the coolant level was low. The maintenance people at the lodge had a look and it became obvious that the reservoir had a serious leak. At 9am I made the first call to Enterprise Customer Services. They told me that they would organize a tow for the car and a taxi to take me to the nearest Enterprise branch to pick up a replacement car. What followed was unacceptable. Because there was no cell phone signal at the Lodge I had to make regular calls to them to track progress. Unfortunately there was NO progress for 6 hours! I was passed between Enterprise and the call centre called Urgently (who ironically were supposed to be organizing the recovery of the car). Every time I called they told me that a provider was "being sourced". In addition, the tone of some of the "help" desk reps was not great - they made me feel as if it was my fault that the car had broken down and that a replacement couldn't be sourced! No one took ownership for sorting the problem. By 2pm I decided that I had to organize things myself. I contacted the nearest Enterprise branch in Sonora (26 miles away). The branch closed at 5pm and they were closed all weekend (it was a Friday afternoon), so I booked a Sonora taxi to come and pick us up from Yosemite and take us to the Sonora branch. We got there at 4:55pm - it cost me $350. The Enterprise branch manager at Sonora was very helpful - he had no cars available at the branch but drove us over an hour to the branch in Lodi where we collected a replacement car. We finally arrived back at the Lodge in Yosemite at 11:20pm, 15 hours after the incident was reported. A days vacation completely wasted. Thankfully the remainder of the trip was uneventful. However, we had to open a second rental contract for the replacement car and were therefore due a refund. That took several more phone calls, emails and a complaint to the CEO before I was finally contacted by the branch manager in San Francisco, 4 days after I had dropped the car back. Over the course of the rental I made well over 30 phone calls to Enterprise and Urgently. In summary, I would like Enterprise to take note of 3 significant issues that became apparent through this experience: Rental cars are clearly not being properly checked and serviced before being rented to the next customer at San Francisco Airport. This may well be the case at all branches (our second car had zero screen wash in the reservoir). Customer Services was completely ineffective in my case. It is not acceptable to tell a customer that they are unable to source a replacement vehicle or a taxi. There should be an escalation process to resolve issues swiftly. And too many of the customer services reps had a poor attitude. Do your job and take ownership of the customer's problem. Enterprise branches are not working together as a single unit. Why couldn't the manager at LA Airport (where I dropped the second car) sort out the appropriate refund for me? Why was it not possible to contact the SFO branch manager directly or indirectly? Seems to me that they are all protecting the revenues of their own branch, to the detriment of the customer and possibly of the Enterprise business overall. You may decide that this simply a rant from an unhappy customer - which it is to some extent. However, it seems to me that Enterprise Rent-a-Car in California has some...

If I could give this location zero stars, I would. Honestly, even that feels generous.

Within 12 hours of getting our rental, the car broke down — not in a city or near a service center, but deep inside Yosemite National Park. We had paid for roadside assistance, but when we called (after being on hold for over a half an hour), we were told there was absolutely nothing they could do, by a staff member who was almost impossible to understand and had no idea what she was doing. No help. No solution. Just “figure it out yourself.”

We were stranded in the middle of nowhere, with barely any cell service, no one to call, and their only suggestion was to somehow find a hotel on our own. This is with no transportation and no support — just a useless phone call with an employee who clearly couldn’t care less.

We ended up having to call 911 ourselves and arrange for a tow truck, then pay for a last-minute hotel, all out of our own pocket. Leaving ourselves stuck in a hotel, with no clothes, all of our possessions over an hour away in another hotel (we’re also paying for), and none of our necessary medications. Enterprise offered zero help during this entire nightmare.

And it didn’t stop there.

They promised us a replacement car overnight — that was a lie. Then they said it would come by 8 a.m. — another lie. Then 11 a.m. — yet another lie. We didn’t get a replacement until nearly 2 p.m. the next day, and to top it off, the car they gave us was not even close to the one we had paid for. This is all after being promised a 4-6 hour window to receive our car, 15 hours later we still find ourselves waiting in the hotel lobby, and not very hopeful. Therefore completely wasting our only day on our trip in Yosemite.

So thanks, Enterprise — for: • Ruining our trip • Leaving us stranded with no help • Costing us hundreds more in towing and hotel fees • And offering nothing but a laughable one-day refund for your complete failure

Don’t bother paying for roadside assistance — it’s meaningless. Don’t expect decent service. And if you’re thinking about renting from Enterprise, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere unless you’re okay with being lied to, ignored, and left completely on your own when things go wrong.

On the oh-so-slim bright side here are some cool photos taken right before and while...

Disgraceful Customer Service — I Was Shocked and Disgusted If I could rate this place lower than one star, I would. As someone who was standing right there and witnessed everything, I am still in disbelief at how my husband and I were treated — especially by Alex and Salomon. My husband simply asked a question about whether his temporary driver's license and voided card were acceptable. Alex immediately became rude and defensive, refusing to show any written policy and instead dismissing the question as "common sense." Her tone was hostile and completely unprofessional from the start. Even after my husband said there was no issue and that his father (who was present) would provide his valid license for the reservation, Alex said, “Cool, I’m still getting you a supervisor,” with an attitude that felt petty and unnecessary. Then, things took a turn for the worse. While Alex went to get a supervisor, Salomon, who hadn’t been involved until then, started yelling at my husband. He accused him of causing problems, cursed at him, and even laughed at him while he tried to explain the situation to the supervisor. The supervisor had to repeatedly ask Salomon to stop so she could hear us, but he wouldn’t listen and continued to escalate things. It was incredibly upsetting to watch someone speak to my husband that way, especially when he remained calm and respectful. All of this hostility stemmed from him telling his father they were giving him a hard time — which apparently offended Alex enough to spark this entire mess. We never asked for exceptions. We simply wanted to handle the situation and move forward. Instead, we were met with power-tripping employees who seemed more interested in belittling customers than helping them. This experience was truly appalling, and I wouldn’t recommend this location to anyone. No one should be treated the...