zipcar
You can file/dismiss this as rant, or warning for the people who come on this board asking whether they should join zipcar.
I had a reservation for 9 am saturday, returning sunday evening. First of all, this is not the perfect use of zipcar, I am aware of that, and it certainly wasn't any cheaper, but I like Zipcar for some reason, not to mention I pay a membership fee, so it would be silly to always use Enterprise, etc, even though i have had to do so several times when no cars were available.
To make a very long story short.:
I pick up the car, load up the car, go to start the car, car won't start. Call Zipcar, they do their basic reboot of having you hold your card up to the scanner several times. Fine, it works. I go pick up a bagel on my way out of town, get in the car, car won't start. I try the reboot, no dice. I call Zipcar, the guy tells me to do the same thing over and over again, has no idea why it won't work, at one point says "well, when you called the last time, what did they do that fixed it?"
He has to call a tow, they have no available cars, and all the emergency vehicles for situations like this are taken. He tells me that this is the case every single weekend in nyc. The train is not an option, I have my bike, and am going to suburbs of Philly for a charity ride, and have family coming to Philly from the south. I call around, and Enterprise has a car, but I have to get there by 11:30 and it is now 10:30. I ask when the tow is coming, he has no idea. I say I have to go pick up car, he says that if I leave I will be charged an "abandonment fee" because they won't know what car to tow. I ask him how that is possible since they are on GPS satellite and he says that I can leave if I have to after an hour, and at this point throws in that he will "see what he can do about getting this reservation refunded."
Go ahead, flame away. I know, accidents happen/bad stuff happens, but to recap: the car didn't break down, their own computer system disabled it, they couldn't find me another car, they tried to hinder me from finding another car, with no guarantees of not even having to pay for this wonderful experience.
I had a reservation for 9 am saturday, returning sunday evening. First of all, this is not the perfect use of zipcar, I am aware of that, and it certainly wasn't any cheaper, but I like Zipcar for some reason, not to mention I pay a membership fee, so it would be silly to always use Enterprise, etc, even though i have had to do so several times when no cars were available.
To make a very long story short.:
I pick up the car, load up the car, go to start the car, car won't start. Call Zipcar, they do their basic reboot of having you hold your card up to the scanner several times. Fine, it works. I go pick up a bagel on my way out of town, get in the car, car won't start. I try the reboot, no dice. I call Zipcar, the guy tells me to do the same thing over and over again, has no idea why it won't work, at one point says "well, when you called the last time, what did they do that fixed it?"
He has to call a tow, they have no available cars, and all the emergency vehicles for situations like this are taken. He tells me that this is the case every single weekend in nyc. The train is not an option, I have my bike, and am going to suburbs of Philly for a charity ride, and have family coming to Philly from the south. I call around, and Enterprise has a car, but I have to get there by 11:30 and it is now 10:30. I ask when the tow is coming, he has no idea. I say I have to go pick up car, he says that if I leave I will be charged an "abandonment fee" because they won't know what car to tow. I ask him how that is possible since they are on GPS satellite and he says that I can leave if I have to after an hour, and at this point throws in that he will "see what he can do about getting this reservation refunded."
Go ahead, flame away. I know, accidents happen/bad stuff happens, but to recap: the car didn't break down, their own computer system disabled it, they couldn't find me another car, they tried to hinder me from finding another car, with no guarantees of not even having to pay for this wonderful experience.
Comments
-
For the record- Zipcars do not have GPS tracking systems in them. Car sharing is a funny thing- they want you to treat it as if its YOUR car, so if it breaks down during your res, then your responsible. I understand it wasn't the car breaking down, it was the Zipcar equipment, which makes this a really difficult business to run (and thrive!- they've been operating consistently in the red for as long as the company's been alive). It's hard to get everyone on board and go with the rules when the rules SEEM clear, but really are not when actual events take place. Member services does their best to keep to the rules, but they continually get broken when a new situation that they've never thought of, pops up. The result is a frustrated customer service experience on BOTH sides. I know.
Ahhh, yes- I remember those days well. Too well. I used to work for them. -
That sucks!
If they do no refund your money quickly, file a complaint (online is probably fine) and I'm pretty sure they'll refund you're money. They've given me some generous credits when the car I wanted was returned late and a similar was not available. Just try to be nice, state the facts briefly, but clear that you expect compensation. -
Thanks for the reply, and certainly a knowledgeable one. I just have one big problem with it (maybe two):
"they want you to treat it as if its YOUR car, so if it breaks down during your res, then your responsible" is ridiculous, especially when they cause the breakdown. I think a large selling point to a lot of people is precisely that you are not responsible for the car in terms of storage and repair. The key stays in the car. They can unlock the car. They have a license plate and a street address, what exactly do they need me for? And, why would I ever rent from them on a weekend again when a)they aren't cheaper, b) they told me there aren't emergency vehicles available in case something happens, and c) it was their own system that shut it down that they couldn't even fix -
Thanks opossum.....Yes, they did refund the reservation. I have always found the customer service to be excellent. They really excel there, but that was one thing I told the guy on the phone, he kept repeatedly asking "do you feel I have done all I could to help you", and I told him over and over that yes, he was great, but that makes me wonder about Zip all the more. I do feel HE did all he could, but the system just has some rules that are difficult to navigate, and hard to justify unlessZip is offering a much better deal than others, which they were at the start, but after the recent rate hike, it is competitive at best (on weekends)
-
I have had similar problems in the past., though not nearly so extreme. While they may not have GPS, they should be able to do a remote start. It is annoying, because you have to wade through the automated system at least a little, and explain to them that the car you rented is not letting you in or whatever, and it's a waste of time. I was given partial refunds, but they have been far from generous, and they made me wait to talk to a manager.
-
flaco wrote:
Well, yes and no. You have to still treat the car as if it were yours (it's not car rental its car sharing. I know I know, but that's the company line and if you are likely to just abandon the car then maybe your not the car-sharing type.
"they want you to treat it as if its YOUR car, so if it breaks down during your res, then your responsible" is ridiculous, especially when they cause the breakdown.flaco wrote: I think a large selling point to a lot of people is precisely that you are not responsible for the car in terms of storage and repair.
Well, that's not entirely true either. You are responsible for any damage that happened during your reservation (yes, even a flat tire, although when I left they were talking about changing that policy). Car sharing, not car rental.flaco wrote: The key stays in the car. They can unlock the car. They have a license plate and a street address, what exactly do they need me for?
Car SHARING, not car RENTAL.
Deal is, they have an incredibly small fleet of guys who take care of WAY too many cars than they can handle. That's the major problem in the NY region.
flaco wrote: And, why would I ever rent from them on a weekend again when a)they aren't cheaper, b) they told me there aren't emergency vehicles available in case something happens, and c) it was their own system that shut it down that they couldn't even fix
Why indeed, flaco! They aren't the inexpensive choice anymore (those days, long gone). They usually set aside 5-6 cars for emergency for the weekends, they were probably all gone by the time you had your issue. And they probably weren't going to let you leave one car on the side of the road and go to another one. As for the electronic equipment- yes, its not perfect, shit breaks. They need a guy to physically go to the car to work on it. By the way- those guys? Take the freakin SUBWAY to get to the cars. It's very silly.
Bottom line- if you have something you HAVE to get to, don't rely on a Zipcar. -
That all makes a bit of sense, but only if car SHARING offers something car rental does not. As far as I can tell, it is really only that you can pick up the car from a garage w/o dealing with paperwork.
-
Nothing is perfect, and flaco I think that your experience sucked and I agree that you should be upset and telling all of us about it. Something similar happened to a friend of mine up in Boston several years ago (when the service was a lot newer). His Zipcar suffered a breakdown, the towing experience was a nightmare. Not only did he miss the event to which he was trying to get, he also had a very frustrating afternoon of just trying to get home.
An easy way for Zipcar to solve this problem (especially in the NYC region) is to have an agreement w/one of the major rental car companies. If you experience something like flaco did, then Zipcar should be able to guarantee that within 90 minutes of the problem they will be able to either fix the car or get you to a different car via the rental place.
Like you write, the whole "abandonment" thing is crap. Tell the operator you're leaving a blue Mazda whatever parked on St. Mark's near the intersection of Vanderbilt. The tech who goes out should be able to find the car (emblazoned w/a Zipcar logo), confirm the VIN, and then deal w/the car (one assumes that Zip can unlock and start the car remotely in this situation.)
The thing to keep in mind (for both Zipcar and the user) is that these things happen infrequently, and even if I owned a car I might have to deal with something like this from time to time. -
BKChickie wrote:
You can't have an "agreement" with the competition. :roll:
An easy way for Zipcar to solve this problem (especially in the NYC region) is to have an agreement w/one of the major rental car companies. If you experience something like flaco did, then Zipcar should be able to guarantee that within 90 minutes of the problem they will be able to either fix the car or get you to a different car via the rental place. -
Zip Car's biggest flaw is fleet maintenance and dealing with breakdowns. And, as their cars are not all brand-spanking-new, these issues will only get worse.
Case in Point: The zipcar I took to Boston had a squeeky wheel that got worse and worse on the drive. It got to the point where I felt it was unsafe to drive, with heavy vibrations, etc. I call from Boston (where they have tons of cars) and they said that the only option I had was to either wait for a NYC tow company to come get me, tow me back to new york and get another NYC zip car or to drive the thing back myself. There was no way for me to drive 5 minutes to an available Mazda and swap them.
Compare that to when I rented from enterprize several years ago for a roadtrip through the south west. Days into the trip, I hit a rock on the road and get a flat tire. I put the donught on and call the cpompany. They have me drive to the nearest enterprize and give me a new car within minutes of arriving. That is how you manage a fleet. You use the fleet you have to solve customer's problems.
I now will no longer use Zipcar for anything more than a day trip, and therefore might not be a member much longer. -
Agree with Madman and BK Chickie, and actually you can very easily have an agreement with competition, companies of all types engage in these frequently. I still say "sharing"is only mentioned when bad things happen (such as, credit card won't cover insurance, because they are car sharing and not rental) and have yet to hear the positives of this "sharing". Used to be the flexibility of renting for hours at a time. Great idea, but the big rental places have picked it up. So, w/o this the only plus I see is the convenience of local garage and not having to fill out paperwork. Don't say free gas. Yes, that is nice, but only really adds up in multi-day trips and zipcar prices flat out lose to competition in those anyway.
-
flaco wrote: Agree with Madman and BK Chickie, and actually you can very easily have an agreement with competition, companies of all types engage in these frequently. I still say "sharing"is only mentioned when bad things happen (such as, credit card won't cover insurance, because they are car sharing and not rental) and have yet to hear the positives of this "sharing". Used to be the flexibility of renting for hours at a time. Great idea, but the big rental places have picked it up. So, w/o this the only plus I see is the convenience of local garage and not having to fill out paperwork. Don't say free gas. Yes, that is nice, but only really adds up in multi-day trips and zipcar prices flat out lose to competition in those anyway.
Hey- I'm not saying anyone's wrong here (except the part about having an agreement with the competition- name one, flaco). This is why it was SO hard to work for them- I got complaints constantly about members asking for their money back on one side, on the other, the company trying to make money. It was impossible and frustrating in every way. I lived and breathed that company and worked my ass off, and always went home feeling like I'd accomplished nothing. -
Whatchuwant wrote: Hey- I'm not saying anyone's wrong here (except the part about having an agreement with the competition- name one, flaco).
I can think of one travel-related....airlines will occasionally book you on a competitors flight if they screw up your flight and can't get you where you need to go. In a similar vein, "alliance" style frequent flier programs are essentially agreements btwn competitors. -
a small time example: when the (live) theatre i worked for in chicago had a ticket snafu that left lots of subscribers confused, we got tons of vouchers for the local movie theater to give to patrons who showed up on the wrong night. this despite the fact that we had gone to great lengths to get the correct information to them months in advance. the movies were in a sense our competition, but it made more sense to spend the money to keep our customers happy.
-
Yea, car sharing companies don't do that- they don't share with others (how ironic!).
You know, this is a business that's still in its infancy comparatively with the examples you all brought up. And the fact is, a ticket to the theater or a comp ticket on an airline doesn't compare to giving someone a $25,000- $75,000 piece of equipment that you are free to go anywhere with. Just not the same. -
Subject: cooperation
Yeah, there are tons of examples in all areas of business. The restaurant industry, hotels, hell, I've had rental car companies at least call other rental car companies for me. Maybe not an agreement, but certainly cooperation. I think most companies realize that if you try to help the customer it generates good will and return business rather than driving (no pun intended) them to the company you refer them to.
hey, I worked in chicago theatre too!!! -
Well, I'm familiar enough with them to know it ain't gonna happen.
-
Hotels sometimes oversell their rooms. When the guest tries to check-in the hotel explains the sold out situation and then the front desk agent will book them a room at another nearby hotel of the same caliber. It's called being "walked".
Airlines are constantly having problems with equipment, oversold flights, no crew, etc. The airline is responsible for getting the passengers on the next available flight. If they can not do this using one of their own fleet then they book a flight on a different carrier. It's called "reprotection". The airline must protect the flier on another flight despite whether it is their own or another carrier.
Zipcar needs to get it together and join the rest of the travel industry if they want to succeed. Customer service goes a long way. I cancelled my Zipcar membership after reading this thread. -
This is my favorite:
"Gas price increases over the last few months have forced our hand, and we need to make adjustments in order to keep up. We thought it was important to tell you up front.
The truth is that the jump in gas prices is unlike anything we've ever seen. It's affecting commuters, travelers, and even your neighborhood car-sharing company.
As of Monday, August 18th.."
and here we are, 25% cheaper gas since last year that has held steady but the rates keep creeping up.
Though truthfully i'd reinstate my membership if they doubled the prices if that meant there'd actually be more availability of vehicles "when you want them"
The problems everyone list are similar to ones i've had.. i had to cancel from the countless headaches.. but i agree, customer service has always been top knotch.. i feel bad for all the calls they must take! -
This discussion reminds me, though, that I recently had to rent a car on very short notice in the middle of the week. Enterprise's (and I assume other rental-car companies) weekday rates are about 1/3rd of its weekend rates (unsurprising, given the expected demand for rental cars on Sat/Sun).
So, after this experience, I'm not sure that Zipcar's daily rate saves you any money if your rental period does not include a weekend.
Also, after reading these posts, I'm not convinced that Zipcar's are well suited for the out-of-town trip.
While I haven't had any direct experience w/Zip's customer service, I will say that I'm to the point where I'll pay more if I know that I can be guaranteed to get helpful, nice customer service. That's why I try to rent cars from Enterprise whenever I can. Those people are are ALWAYS helpful and polite, and they know what they're doing.
Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
- 40K All Categories
- 27.1K Neighborhoods
- 5.1K Crown Heights/Prospect Lefferts Gardens
- 7.1K Prospect Heights
- 2.3K Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy
- 8K Park Slope
- 549 Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
- 442 Flatbush/Midwood/Ditmas Park
- 657 BoCoCa (Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens)
- 151 Red Hook
- 104 Gowanus
- 304 Bay Ridge/Bensonhurst
- 130 Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay
- 270 Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO and Downtown
- 598 Windsor Terrace / Kensington
- 673 Greenwood Heights and Sunset Park
- 749 Brooklyn and Beyond
- 6.3K Stuff
- 86 Brooklyn Back When
- 1.2K Brooklyn Pets
- 257 Brooklyn Kids
- 241 Brooklyn Eats
- 51 Brooklyn Booze
- 3.6K The Lounge / Random Stuff
- 611 Brooklyn Politics
- 122 Brooklyn Sports and Fitness
- 111 Brooklyn Photos
- 339 Site Issues
- 8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- 6.2K Listings
- 1.1K APARTMENTS and REAL ESTATE
- 1.3K Sales Openings Events
- 2.3K The Classifieds