Zipcar Ceases To Zip For Temporarily Stranded Customer
We've always heard good things about Zipcar—the biggest complaint from friends here in NYC is that reserving one in the summer requires a lot of patience. Jen and her friend, however, just had an experience that was so bad that Jen finally had to dispute the charges on her card, and now she says she'll never do business with them again. Based on her encounter with them, we think she has a good reason to feel that way.
Here's what happened:
I had my first and only rental with Zipcar on August 8, 2009, and I will never use Zipcar again. The poor customer service I experienced during the reservation and after, when I attempted to contact Zipcar multiple times to get a refund, means I will never recommend Zipcar to anyone I know.
Here's the summary:
I rented Mazda 3 McCory from a garage in Sunnyside, Queens, NY. When I received the car, it was covered in bird poop. My traveling companion and I were going to a wedding, and we didn't know if we'd have time to clean the car before the ceremony. (See a picture of the car here: http://yfrog.com/0gzipcarj) We ended up finding a car wash in rural Connecticut, but I was told without a receipt, I wouldn't be reimbursed for my expense of cleaning Zipcar's vehicle.
The car died three times. The first time, I was in East Hartford, CT, pulling out of a parking lot. This was after two hours of driving from New York City, so the battery should have been fully charged. The engine suddenly shut off, all of the warning lights on the dashboard came on, and the gas pedal stopped working. I had to coast over to the side of the road and turn the car off. When I restarted the engine, it worked fine.
The second time the car died was while we were driving in downtown Hartford, CT. We had left the car in a parking lot during the one-hour wedding ceremony and then driven it on I-84 to Hartford, so we assumed the battery issues were over. However, upon making a right turn in Hartford, the car died again, exactly the same as it did the first time. I had to pull over in traffic to turn it off and then on again to keep moving.
When we reached the reception hall around 4:30 pm, I called Zipcar and told them the car had died twice already and I was worried it had severe electrical problems. The female rep told me that previous users had been reporting battery issues with the car, but that the last report was July 22, so she "assumed it was fine." This was on August 8, a mere three weeks later.
We parked the car and went into the wedding reception, where we stayed for about four to five hours. When we came out to leave for the trip back to NYC around 10:30 pm, we found the car totally dead. It wouldn't even respond to my Zipcard to unlock. The rep sent an unlock signal, which didn't work, then suggested we find someone to jump it (I explained that was impossible because we couldn't get into the car to unlatch the hood).
It is now 11 pm, and we are two girls stranded in the middle of downtown Hartford, CT, a very unsafe area. Zipcar tells us they're sending roadside assistance, but that it will take 45 minutes to an hour to show up. We're both wearing dresses from having been at the wedding reception, and I feel like we're just screaming "Mug me!" while we're forced to wait for Zipcar.
I call Zipcar back to ask if we can stay with friends in the area overnight and get our problems sorted out in the daylight. The representative, Kevin, is completely unsympathetic and borderline rude. He tells me it's my responsibility to get the car back to NYC by the end of my reservation (9:30 am the next day), and if I don't Zipcar will fine me $50 for each hour I'm late. That's it, no bending the rules, no empathy.
Around midnight, Zipcar's roadside assistance shows up, breaks into the car and gets it started. The engine makes a whirring noise the entire two-hour drive back, and the car struggles to get above 60 mph. We're afraid to stop at a gas station in case it won't start again. Approximately 30 minutes into our drive home, we get a robocall from Zipcar asking how our roadside service was. We press "2" to indicate we still have concerns and are promptly put on hold for 10 minutes. At 12:30 am. I tell my friend to just hang up because I don't want to deal with holding while I'm worrying if the car will even make it back to New York.
That's just the bad experience with the car. Here's my experience trying to get a refund:
Sunday, August 9 - I call Zipcar and explain the whole story. The rep, Lacey, writes out my complaint and says someone will contact me in three to five business days. She gives me the number for the New York area office as well.
Monday, August 10 - I call Zipcar and talk to rep Andrew, and I'm told to wait for them to contact me. I try calling the NY office number (212-691-2884), but the phone tree won't let me talk to anyone, not even an operator, without a specific contact name. I try for the head guy, Joel Johnson, but end up getting John Eaton in member services instead. I leave a message with John Eaton and my phone number, asking him to call me back.
Wednesday, August 12 - I called at 8:30 pm and spoke to Stephanie. She tells me Zipcar has contacted me already, and forwards me the e-mail they sent "me." It turns out Zipcar has their wires crossed, and the e-mail is directed to the person who rented the dead-battery Mazda after me. The e-mail says they're offering him/her a refund of the difference because they had to switch him/her to a different car. I tell Stephanie that's not me, that's not my e-mail, and that's not even my reservation date. She apologizes and says she'll try and get things sorted out with the New York office.
Monday, August 17 - I dispute the $145.05 charge on my credit card.
Tuesday, August 18 - I call Zipcar to tell them I want to cancel and speak to Lee at 7:00 pm. Lee says I was refunded the difference, and I have to explain again that the refund they issued was not to me and that person is not associated with my account. Lee tells me I can cancel online and to leave comments.
I hope you now understand why you've lost this customer.
Update: Zipcar has responded to Jen's complaints and refunded her money.
(Photo: jm3)
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Comments:
Does ZipCar really charge $145 to rent a car for a night, or is that including any extra charges? Her letter does not say.
I've paid that much to rent a car for a whole week from a real car rental company.
Wow, this is crazy: I had the SAME car with the same problems on the 12th of August. McCory from Sunnyside. Car stalled on me THREE times in the middle of the highway. Apparently Zipcar didn't feel the need to take the car out of the loop after you reported the problems.
Wow. Seriously, wow. What terrible service, not only with giving her a car that had the gremlins, but then by refunding the wrong person.
Also, why would they rent out the same crap-car that has been continually dying? There's no way they fixed the issues in a mere couple of days, so I can only assume one thing: They must be hoping someone gets in a deadly crash on the highway due to engine failure and they get to fight a lawsuit.
I agree she has reason to complain and dispute the charges but the whole 'mug me' comment bugs me a bit.
@FDCPAGuy: Have you ever been to the downtown Hartford area? I'm a 6' 200lb guy and I wouldn't want to be in the middle of some parking lot around midnight alone in downtown Hartford...
@Employees Must Wash Hands: Zipcar charges a $50 yearly rental fee for occasional drivers and then it's $77 a day, or $8 an hour in NYC/NJ.
There are other plans as well, but all of them involve a fee for the month.
It looks like the OP rented the car for a day, and then got dinged the $50 late fee for not having the foresight to know her rental car was going to spaz out three times and make demon noises. Zipcar's sucking more and more. The first step was these outrageous rental fees.
@Employees Must Wash Hands: I was going to touch on this. If you needed a rental car, why didn't you get one for like $49 from Budget or something?
I completely understand having Zipcar if you live in the city and need the convenience, but a one-off trip like this screams standard rental to me.
@Moosenogger: Yeah, really. Terrible, terrible service.
At least she was able to file a chargeback!
Time for an EECB?
@FDCPAGuy: Ever been in downdown Hartford after dark? Anyone in any kind of dress, local or not, male or female, might as well be screaming "mug me".
It is now 11 pm, and we are two girls stranded in the middle of downtown Hartford, CT, a very unsafe area. Zipcar tells us they're sending roadside assistance, but that it will take 45 minutes to an hour to show up."
Wow, that is REALLY dangerous. Crime in Hartford has been pretty bad this year, to the point where at least one downtown club has been shut down because of all the fights, stabbings, shootings and assorted mayhem it's attracted (inside AND out).
Glad to hear the OP made it out OK.
I'm kind of unsure what to make of Zipcar. I've never used it, but I can see how it's really great for urbanites. I personally would consider renting from Zipcar for an hour because I take public transportation and sometimes I just need to hop in the car when I get off work and run errands, but whoops, no car. So I can see the benefit. And the $50 annual rental fee really isn't that bad. And the hourly fee includes gas and insurance, so that's even better.
The way I see it, there's so many benefits that I wonder where the monster of bad customer service lurks... and now I read this story, and I know. It lurks in Jen's rental car.
@Employees Must Wash Hands: @KStrike155: Zipcar's original target market was not people who rent from Budget or Hertz. It's for people who don't want to own a car at all, and thus have no insurance (liability or otherwise). I'm not sure if Zipcars are still covered by corporate liability, but at one time, you paid only the fees and if you crashed, you were effectively covered by them.
@FDCPAGuy: Men and women have different safety concerns. I don't see her discussing how she and her friend felt at midnight without safe transportation in the middle of an unfamiliar city as out of line.
@KStrike155: The OP didn't mention her age. If she is under 25, budget will charge her an additional $25 day whereas Zipcar doesn't have such a surcharge. Also, Zipcar includes gas in the cost of the usage. Once gas and the underage fee is factored in, a $49/day budget rental could work out to being $10-$15 more than $77/day.
Rural CT, somewhere between NYC and Hartford? I'll call bullshit on that. I've SEEN rural CT, and it's not along 95, 91, or the Merritt.
Other than that....wow. This is pretty insane. ZipCar needs to get their act together. I love the suggestion to get a jump, when she can't open the hood...
Dispute the charge and be done with it. If they continue to rebill it call 311 and ask where to go for the consumers dispute or citizens arbitration.
I find that all people under abou ~40 tend to think the world is coming to an end if they are inconvenienced. Yes the OP has a reasonable request that she be refunded her entire payment, yes I think the 'mug me' comment was a bit over the top. Call a cab, get to a hotel and let zipcar deal with their problem.
@Employees Must Wash Hands: Also, keep in mind that the Zipcar rental price includes gas and insurance (and sometimes parking). A typical Zipcar renter wouldn't already have insurance that would cover a rental car.
@KStrike155: Hmmm depends on which part. I'm a girl, I've done more than a few nights in downtown Hartford, and I've never felt like I was going to get mugged...
I don't blame her for putting it in there, though. Unfamiliar city, late at night, broken down car...that could get scary.
@katstermonster: As a city dweller, I'd describe many of the towns along I-95 as "rural." Yeah, maybe it's not technically rural if an interstate highway runs through it, but then again, maybe it is if it has three stop lights and a population of less than 10000. Her story seems perfectly plausible to me.
The sign is a lie.
Seems like the OP has some other issues other than the Zipcar. Zipcars are meant for short, 1-2hour in-the-city trips. Their entire infrastructure is built around that premise, and their pricing reflects it. It is much, much more economical to rent a car for any day-long or overnight trip. Just comes down to stupid consumerism on her part.
Very stupidly handled for Zipcar however. I use 'em in a newer city (Vancouver) and the service and cars are generally excellent.
@humphrmi: As a former fleet manager (not Zipcar someone else) - I totally agree with your comment. These "shared" vehicles get 6 months to a year in service and then require constant upkeep. What a horror story.
@pax: I used to think that, too...then I spent some time in Litchfield county. Sure, rural by Queens, NY standards. Not even close to rural in the grand scheme of things. I suspect the OP may have been exaggerating slightly for effect.
Something here does not make sense:
It is well over 100 miles from Sunnyside to Hartford. Zipcar allows 180 miles per day. Why would she rent from Zipcar, especially with the intra-city driving she was making? But that would account for the extra billing amount.
Also, the car is not "covered in bird poop." A few splatters.
@humphrmi: The Mazda3 has only been in production since 2004, so it can't be THAT old. But then again, 5 years old is probably ancient for a fleet car...
@pecan 3.14159265: Ask, and they will waive the fee. Just tell them you do not pay any fees to Mint or Connect by Hertz. Worked for me.
Note: I do agree that their customer service is shockingly bad.
These "communal" type companies do work well in other countries. People are generally responsible and courteous to other users.
It doesn't work here because, to be frank, there are many people here who just don't give a fuck about anyone else.
I know someone will automatically say "blah blah Europeans are arses." Fine. But they do handle these kind of arrangements better.
@FDCPAGuy: It was a valid thing to say, because she and her friend felt extremely unsafe there, and then conveyed this to the customer service person, who was ridiculously insensitive. Who wants to be stuck next to a broken down car in an unfamiliar place at midnight? Not I.
@twophrasebark: I had a Zipcar rental today (Toyota Prius) and there was trash in the center console (including directions to a garbage dump!) and a CD left in the player: A bootleg of Doggystyle by Snoop Dogg.
At least there was gas and wiper fluid.
But the "Maintenance Required" light was on, which I reported, and they told me "is just an indication that the car is due for a 'check up' and is nothing to be concerned about." Indeed, that car is available to rent this very second.
I guess Zipcar knows better that the Prius' computer.
@katstermonster: You yourself say that these places are rural in comparison to Queens. To the OP, those places are rural because she was coming from Queens. If she's grown up in NYC or has never been anywhere really rural, these places would look exactly like that. Not an exaggeration if it's what she really thinks because she has no other frame of reference.
I'm not blaming the OP. This was a shitty experience, and she is right to be upset. THAT SAID
I'm not sure why she got so upset (at first) with the customer service response - she got asked to wait a few days, and instead she was calling back the next day without giving the company a chance to deal with it.
It looks like they got confused in their response to her somehow as well. But it also doesn't seem like they ever responded to her problem specifically.
I think charging back this early in the process was a little drastic. I also wonder if the times she was calling in didn't slow the process down some (NOT when she was having car trouble obviously, but when she wanted to file her complaints/cancel etc.). Even with services that are open for calls beyond normal business hours some things aren't handled (or are handled poorly) outside 9-5 M-F.
Not that zipcar didn't screw up, I just think there might be a little overreaction on how they';re handling it after the fact.
@Topcat: Zipcar has options for entire day rentals. If their system was not built to handle this, they should not offer pricing or advertisement for it. Also, they offer multi-day rentals.
@katstermonster: I don't think it's exaggeration if that's what she really thought, and had no frame of reference to think otherwise. You said they were rural by Queens standards, so it makes sense that she may categorize them as being really rural if she was from NYC, grew up in cities, and had no concept of how rural things got in other parts.
I've rented a lot of cars from ZipCar and although I've never had one die on me (thankfully), I have had a number of them with flashing maintenance lights.
I've taken the time to report the maintenance problems to the company, but until they get more stringent with the garages that house the cars, this is more likely to happen. The attendant that pulls the car out for me (as you do in Manhattan, as you can't pull it out yourself), sees the light as clearly as I do, but never report it to the company.
It would also help if ZipCar posted the age and/or mileage of the car you're renting -- you can't tell this from the site. I've driven cars with less than 500 miles and others with close to 70k and all things being equal, I trust the newer car.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: No, Zipcar offers 180 free miles. After 180, it's .45 cents a mile. It's about 115-120 miles to Hartford, so they were looking at $22.50 extra.
My two cents about Zipcar:
I've used Zipcar in Boston for almost 3 years, and love them. Good rates, you don't pay for gas or insurance, and there are cars all over the place. It's also fun to drive a variety of cars.
I've had an instance or two where there was mechanical car trouble; a few times where I couldn't get the car back through my own fault; and one unfortunate instance where I wrecked a Mini Cooper in the middle of nowhere, MA. Each time I found the CSR's to be very patient, helpful, and understanding. The few times I've had billing issues they've been resolved to my satisfaction.
As a company, they're also always looking to improve the 'zipcar experience' as they call it - they recently added EZPass tags to all their cars in Boston, as well as providing iPod cables for cars with auxilary ports (a small thing, but awesome nonetheless).
The CONS -
As someone said earlier, members are not always great about being respectful of other members, in terms of keeping the cars clean, etc.
Their CSR staff is not large, as hold times can be significant at times. Seems to me that this is on purpose - the whole reservation process is meant to be almost completely phone or web-based.
Also, I'm pretty sure all roadside assistance is contracted out, so if ZIPCAR has trouble getting a hold of someone to come get you, you're SOL. I waited 4 hours when I killed that MINI. Another instance, a car broke down during a terrible storm up hear, and it again took hours to find a tow truck driver who was free.
To Sum Up -
My condolences to the OP, as it definitely seems she had a pretty crappy experience, but I don't think it's reflective of Zipcar in general. I would and often do recommend them to friends and family
@coren:
I agree with you. But a company shouldn't take 3-5 days to deal with a complaint if they want to keep that customer. I figure it's to either let the steam blow over and hope they don't want to deal with it, which shows poor customer service to me.
@humphrmi: maybe I know... I can tell you those cars are under routine maintenance and are replaced at regular intervals and resold...
@PsiCop:
I had rented a zipcar about two years ago and it was one of the first good snowfalls of the winter. All the major roads had been cleared, however one shopping center did a poor job of clearing the snow and left a good amount of snow/slush left. I was stopped at a light to exit the center with the snow beneath me and the light turned green- I therefore depressed the pedal to accelerate and I went nowhere. The front wheels had created a little divot and because it was cold, I guess the wheels melted the snow and then it refroze forming an ice divot that I could not get out of. I called zipcar and told them that I was in the middle of an intersection and needed a tow truck. They said it would be 1.5 hours (never mind that I was in the middle of a dangerous intersection!). Luckily this extremely kind couple helped me (after waiting about 45 minutes) and taught me a trick to use the mats of the car to get some grip.
What made me angry is that they would not extend the reservation (just like the submitter).
@humphrmi: My thought is that these non-car owners beat the hell out of these cars on a daily basis. There's really no other way that these modern cars would break down (Mazda 3 is not an OLD car 2003-present). Zipcar is for intra-city travel not driving out of state or over 100 miles; why would you choose zipcar with competitors like budget or enterprise (that are likely cheaper)?
@TinaBringMeTheAx: "Oh my God, I can't show up anywhere with bird poop on my car!" I worked in brooklyn and got caked with seagull poop every day. Why would (or should) zipcar pay for a carwash because op is a douche?
@meechybee: I'm sorry but people who DON'T own cars don't even know what these lights mean. Check Engine Lights aren't catastrophic failure warnings, they're failure of a certain part (O2 sensor, MAF, loose gas cap, misfire, etc). It may be bad to drive a car with a CEL but it's not necessarily dangerous nor does it necessarily affect the performance of the car.
The problem is that zipcar has lots and not agencies, meaning they are unstaffed. It RELIES on customers to tell them when there's a problem with a vehicle. Obviously this isn't happening.
-_- To the OP: I understand your situation was frustrating, but when a representative like the one you spoke to after your troubles does everything they can to help you, I.E. submits a case to be further investigated and says it will take 3-5 days THEY HAVE DONE ALL THEY CAN AND CALLING EVERY DAY THERE AFTER ONLY ANNOYS THE REPS AND RUINS THEIR STATS. If their support is anything like AT&T, every one of those reps you talked to just had their stats wrecked because you decided to call back when you were told exactly what would happen.
I'm sorry your experience sucked, and I'm sorry that some of the people you spoke to during your reservation were rude and crappy. But seriously. It sounds like Lacey did everything in her power to help you and you just turned around and (pardon the french) fucked her.
@coren: Indeed! Having worked in customer service myself, and always always always trying to do the best for the customers and not the company I always felt betrayed when I told the customer that I have done everything in my power and they'll just have to wait and they don't fucking trust me. I understand they want it resolved ASAP but there's ways of doing things and sometimes you just gotta wait. Calling back constantly only makes you, the customer, more frustrated, and in most cases you're absolutely wrecking the stats of all the people you talked to - even if they were stellar otherwise.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: Not defending zipcar but...yes...mechanics know better than people who don't own a car. The Check Engine Light is not a "the car is about to die" light. Anyone who's ever worked on a car knows that these warning lights aren't usually a reason for concern until it's time for an emissions test or the engine is having problems.
Having never rented from Zipcar, I am probably talking completely out of my arse right now, but here's what I suspect is happening:
A few years ago, Zipcar was cool. Live urban, don't buy a car, don't even buy insurance, we'll do all that for you, and provide short-term loans of brand new, trouble-free cars. Everyone was happy.
Now, they have a bunch of old(-ish) cars, and have probably spent all their profits on location expansion, and have no money to buy new cars. So now everyone's renting POS cars, getting frustrated, and Zipcar isn't so cool anymore.