National Car Rental — Local services in San Bruno

Hi Suzan,

I hope this email finds you well. Although I am not well. I have been profiled for whatever judgmental reason Jeremey had. Whether is was my race or form of payment. However I have never received this bad of service from anyone at National where I was the renter or an associate of the renter.

I am currently traveling for work. I have had a long journey. Upon arriving I realized my work load would not be feasible with Uber so I decided that a rental would be more suitable. I attempt to make a reservation. I couldn’t not get logged into my emerald rewards, I am sure you can relate to the frustration. So silly me thinking I could arrive to my “favorite” rental company and everything would be taken care of. When I arrived, I mentioned that I could not log in to make the reservation but that I was emerald. The representative advise I go outside and someone would take care of me. I went outside and the greeters met me, letting me know I could choose and car in the emerald aisle. Walking to the aisle, I noticed an upgrade option for $75. So I walked back to the greeters and mentioned that I would like to upgrade. Jeremy stepped in and asked “did someone help me in the front?” I said “no they sent me here.” Jeremy asked for a moment to grab someone to help me and he proceeded back inside. After waiting 10 minutes, the initial representative I briefly spoke with upon arrival came outside to help. I mentioned that I had not made the reservation and that I wanted to upgrade but I was paying with a debit card. She mentioned that it may not be possible and she would see what she could do. She proceeded back inside. I waited in the garage for 30mins. I walked inside to see the representative that was supposed to be helping me was inside helping other customers. I just thought to myself maybe she got stuck and will come out after. So I returned outside. I saw Jeremy return outside and continued helping other customers. So after 10-15 more mins I returned back inside to a line of customers. I patiently waited in line, only to get to the front of the line and a different rep acknowledge me, only for the original rep to mention “Jeremey is supposed to help you, I was wondering why you were back in line.” There going another 15mins. Any other individual would be furious at this point. However I returned outside asking the greeters for Jeremy. They said he was with a customer. I then saw one of the greeters go to an office next door and Jeremy come out of there. In my head I the , “ so he wasn’t with a customer.” However I proceeded with Jeremy showing him the message I was receiving on the app and that I would like to rent a vehicle. Jeremy mentioned that I could not upgrade with a debit card. No worries. Let proceed, I need to get out of here check into my hotel (The W) and get some rest. I gave Jeremy my id and debit card while requesting he pulling up my emerald number so that I can save it in my contact list. Jeremy was able to provide the rewards number. Jeremy asked for my returning itinerary as any other employee would. I showed Jeremy a screenshot of the itinerary as it was purchased by our office manager. However the screenshot shows full itinerary, dates, location, web browser and my name. Jeremy stated that this doesn’t suffice. So I called my office manager at 8:30 at night to request that the email be forwarded to me for the rental. Luckily he answered. I then showed Jeremy the email. Jeremy then scan the entire email invading my privacy stating “ I could not rent at SFO and return at SFO if my returning flight was from Oakland. I begged Jeremy to help me out. I just needed a car as it was getting late. Jeremy stated there was nothing he could do. So I said “f Devontay huh”

I can’t...

In general I'm pretty happy with National at this airport. It is one of two choices offered by my company after years of Hertz and I particularly like the fact that you can pick a car. On most occasions anyway. In other cases it's actually better if they have a car ready to go specifically for you like with Hertz Gold. I recently became an executive level renter (not very hard to achieve so I'm not bragging) and on the second trip all they had were regular emerald isle 4 banger econo boxes. In other words, no executive benefit. The regular emerald cars are fine but still. Then the last time there were only minivans and giant SUVs available. Supposedly Monday is busy (I believe that) but they know how many people are coming so I'm not sure about this facility's ability to manage their cars.

Now the Tahoe I picked was very luxurious which was nice but it was also broken which is not nice. The two remote dongles both didn't work. The remaining oil life was 0% (meaning poor maintenance) and every time I open the car it complains someone tried to break in. ALL of those items should have been noticed by the driver who washed and recycled the car. ALL of those items should have been addressed before putting the car back in service. Not to mention that the windshield is always dangerously dirty on the inside when I get these cars. Someone wipes them with a rag and makes it worse. I have resorted to bringing my own microfiber cloth to clean it. UPDATE: windshield was very dirty again with my last rental. When drove towards the sun it was impossible to see. It appears they try to clean the windshield but use a dirty rag. Or maybe they don't try and it just accumulates. I don't know.

Drop-off can be very very hectic. Again it seems there are surprises with the inflow of cars. I realize you can't know exactly when everyone returns but you have to be staffed to deal with the influx. Luckily I have drop-n-leave enabled but still. I prefer to get a paper ticket and not even seeing an attendant when you pull in is not so cool.

OK, I started with 4 stars but I'm making it 3 stars now. I think there is some room for improvement. Happy enough to keep using them for my business...

I usually rent from Enterprise (my favorite) and Hertz (least possible favorite). Last week I used National for the first time. I always rent for business purposes, and my company always gets "executive level" rewards in whatever relevant program. So it's supposed to be a good experience, but generally only Enterprise gets it right.

My first experience with National was "OK", hence the 3 stars. I got to use the "emerald aisle" to select a car, which is a neat idea but didn't really work out in my favor. My flight arrived late-ish as scheduled, and it was about 11-11:30 pm by the time I hit the rental area. The helpful National folks pointed me at the aisle befitting my status. It was heavily populated with toyota corolloas, some small / similar-sized hyundais, a bunch of nissan altimas, and a buick. There were some large SUVs in there, but those don't park well in Mountain View, so ... I went with the buick.

The car itself was OK, but the rental agency didn't do their job here: it had ZERO gas (was heavy in the red), and I later found out, was surprisingly dirty inside. The car had been recently washed tho, so I was surprised to learn about the gas and dirt.

I informed about the gas on the way out, and after a few minutes was assured that I wouldn't have to pay for any gas (haha) and could return it empty. So I was all the more happy that my first stop out of the airport, now at or near midnight on Sunday, was to find a 24h gas station.

I met up with a co-worker who got a much nicer car, earlier in the day. He was the one who noticed what he thinks are cigarette ashes in the back of the car, and was surprised that my selection was so thin. Ick.

Funny thing, apart from telling the agent giving me the car (about the no gas) and receiving it (about the dirtiness of the car) I haven't been able to provide this feedback directly to National. But National did send me a helpful link to provide THIS review.

Maybe next time will be better? If this happens again, I'm going back...