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Jan 04, 2005 -- Thrifty rental car redeems itself

In the fall of 2003, Clark trashed Thrifty Car Rental on the air. Thrifty was developing a pretty bad reputation for doing business, in part because J.D. Power & Associates ranked Thrifty as the worst company. Clark gave the company a chance to go on the air, and the representatives were very apologetic. They even said they played a tape of Clark’s original broadcast at a company meeting to impress on employees how important this was. They also asked Clark to try the company again – anonymously of course – and he has rented Thrifty cars four times since that challenge. All of his experiences were fine, unlike in past years. And apparently other people think so too. The new J.D. Power survey shows that Thrifty has moved from 9th place (last) to 4th place. Company representatives said they are more focused on serving customers and that is why they have improved. In case you're wondering, Enterprise ranked No. 1 in the survey, Hertz was No. 2 and Payless was ranked as No. 9 (the worst). National has just gotten out of a bankruptcy filing and ranked third from teh bottom. Also, when renting a car, rememeber that the stated rate price may not be the real rate price. You want to get the quoted rental price. And don't buy insurance products or add-on services at the rental counter. You may already be covered and they are not worth it.

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What others are saying

  • Thrifty Car Rental
    Several days ago I was quoted a price to rent a car from Thrifty - ALL taxes and fees INCLUDED! I asked to be sent an e-mail confirmation. None came - after two further requests, still no e-mail.

    When I eventually downloaded my confirmation, the price was $200 more than I was quoted.

    I spoke to a supervisor, and she said, "Sorry," the agent must have misunderstood what you were saying." There was no interest on her part to trace the confirmation back to the agent 'to make sure they wouldn't do it again.'

    I'm switching companies to rent my car and telling all my friends. I'm sure Thrifty doesn't care because I only rent cars once or twice a year at the most.

    Thanks for listening.
  • Poor customer service from Enterprise
    Enterprise may have been ranked #1 by J. D. Power & Associates, but my most recent experience with them has me ranking them at the bottom. I was in the midst of working out a complicated rental arrangement when the employee stopped talking to me, began answering the phone, including taking a personal telephone call, (there were other employees in the office) and completely ignored me. When I interrupted him by asking what was going on, and why would he ignore a customer standing at the counter, he ended the personal phone call, gave me a dirty look, tried to get me to go outside the building. When I refused and asked why he wanted us to go outside he said "because you're being unruly and emotional." Not a comment I bet he would have made to a male customer who questioned the discourteous way this employee was behaving. The topper - the employee then refused to rent me a car and said "I am not going to rent you a car." When I asked what he meant, he said I hadn't respected him. His entire attitude was that of the macho male who wasn't going to take any lip from a woman and he was going to show her! Maybe if I'd started crying or apologizing, he might have changed his mind...maybe that's the response he looks for when he attempts to belittle and humiliate the women in his personal life. But in the real world, assertive women don't cry to get their way, and they don't apologize when they aren't wrong to soothe a man's ego. I've sent a letter to Enterprise's corporate offices, and will give them the opportunity of addressing this incident appropriately...and if they don't, copies of the letter I've sent will be mailed to female legislators, female executives, and Enterprise's competitors. A company that supports any employee behaving disrepectfully based on a person's gender is not a company that deserves my business.
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