Rental Car Gas Convenience Scam

Generally Good

Enterprise has been a car rental choice for me due to the convenience. While I have never been “picked up” by them, a branch is close to my apartment.

The Scam

Okay, not really a scam, but using some shady verbiage and a very summarized receipt, you don’t really see the full cost of your rental until you return the car.

The Receipt

The receipt lists your daily rates for everything such as the rate for the car, mileage restrictions, and the many optional services per day which they strongly encourage you to pay. How much does it really cost to rent a car? More than the $30 you see on those sites if you need insurance, etc.

Since I said…sure I will pay $.30 less a gallon to have you fill up the car, the rate per gallon was listed. This was never told to me at the time of the rental, nor was the capacity of the car told to me.

Most companies take an extra deposit these days regardless of how you pay, probably to protect them if you do incur extra charges and use a bogus card. So when I was told the total was $215, I was okay. I was figuring I would get some back at the end. I was wrong.

The final reciept

The receipt I received on car return had everything itemized and totaled up. So I was able to see the car rental, airport and other fees, and a new line called FSO $78! WOW. I gathered what that was and confirmed by calling up Enterprise and briefly mentioned how their sales people are very good about leaving off details to make a sale. In fact I think they should be referred to Sales Persons instead of Customer Service. Perhaps they are already.

Summarizing ….The deal

So….thankfully there are many other car rental companies out there to choose from. Also, I did just find out that my credit card covers the “Collision Damage Waiver” so I won’t be paying any company for that next time.

Now looking at the receipt I can see the line for $3.92, supposedly a discount per gallon of gas, but still no tank capacity. If it take the total paid for the Gas on the receipt and divide by the cost per gallon, it appears that the car has a 20 gallon tank which I confirmed online.

One more thing. Expedia said the total would be ~$104, but if I subtract the Gas, it turns out that it really cost me $140 to start which seems quite high even with a tax approximation. I better give a call to Enterprise and maybe Expedia to straighten things out.

Moral

I did think it was too good to be true. Fill up the tank just before you return. No company does anything to be nice to you. In rare cases, it may be a side effect of them being nice to themselves. You would think it would be very nice if they offered to fill up the tank and only charge you for the gallons needed. In fact, I would pay $.30 extra a gallon for that convenience, but for a hole tank? The sales rep mentioned that he has heard of cars stalling in the return bay in the garage, but how many of us are that irresponsible to not fill up when the light comes on. I don’t trust the gauge to be accurate now that they are electronic and no longer are floating on the top of the fuel, not that that was any more accurate 🙂

Almost Forgot the Cool Car

So I did not even get to mention how excited I was with the car. I guess they got me for the Hybrid. Not only did I not use a full tank of Gas, but I did not pay extra for the Altima Hybrid. I averaged 35 MPG with the AC on all of the time which does not seem to shabby. I think that if I were to be driving in cooler weather, the car would get better gas mileage. I did notice it seemed to kick in the Gas over 20 MPH, but not sure if that is standard or if you are cruising at a steady speed it would kick in. The dash had an indicator when it was in “EV Mode.” I am assuming that is “Electric Vehicle.”

I saw a seemingly good and unbiased review online and definitely will consider this car should I end up needing one permanently. I have not tested other Hybrids, but this one definitely had the pickup to help me pass on a single lane road!

2011-04-072021-02-05

d. Sign Enigma v1

What does that sign mean?

There have been many new street signs going up in the District of Columbia and many more are being updated with labels. I was walking down a side street in NW between 16th and 13th above Meridian Hill Park and discovered the following sign. I attempted to contact d. and chose the correct category “Parking Enforcement” and was provided the following voice mail reply. If anyone can help me understand what the “Except Tuesday 7 AM – 7 PM” means it would be much appreciated.

Voice mail response to my inquiry….

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Which should not come to parking enforcement in the first place, but since it did I will explain it to you. The except to is for permit holders for street cleaning. Tuesday is the only day you can park on that side of the street from 7 AM – 7 PM. That’s it. The signage is very clear. People get confused by multiple signs and not understand. There is nothing confusing about the signage and have to close this request since it has nothing to do with parking enforcement. Thank You Good Bye.

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There was a little more about street cleaning in the middle, but it was confusing to listen to. It was in reference to parking on the opposite side of the street from the cleaning.

Sorry

Sorry I contacted the wrong department, I will just call 311 next time to get to the right place, but I was not even told where I should have emailed or if they wanted me to submit a photo which I had told them I could email.

I don’t think the signage or the response I received from d. was clear and would like to hear others opinions on the matter.

2011-03-312021-01-26

Dumb Comcast Commercials

Hopefully you don’t have Comcast, but if you do, you have probably seen their large number of Ads. What I think is really funny is that they run so many ads on their own network! Perhaps to get those watching at a bar to sign up when they get home, but honestly, this is the reason I don’t watch TV. You pay a fortune for cable only to see tons of commercials.

Getallthefacts.com

Hmm….I wonder if the Comcast site will give you pros and cons to both Verizon FioS and Comcast Xfinity. Seriously doubt it. I do have to say these comercials, especially the one where the salesman is in the hot tub with a couple and another where he is stuffing a doughnut into his mouth.

Bottom Line…Don’t let commercials influence you…there are always asterisks, super small print or quickly spoken language that makes them all the same 🙂 Do like State Farm Insurance recommends….ask your family and friends and check out reviews from “real” people.

Actors

Hopefully you did not think Comcast employed a Verizon tech to star in a commercial, but you would think the US Postal Service would take some of their massive workforce to star in their own commercials instead of paying the same actor who is the FioS dude in Comcast commercials.

I just thought it was funny to see the actor in both of the commercials 🙂

Bottom Line…

Dump your cable provider, save some money, and watch free over the air digital TV and your other favorite shows and sporting events online 🙂

2011-03-032021-01-26

Another Chapter Comes to a Close

Cost Plus World Market (10/2007 – 3/2011)

Last night was the last night at World Market. Having fallen in love with the low prices and unique items, I applied for a part time seasonal position 3 years ago and have been working there until last night. Ultimately I needed more time to enjoy life and with Uncle Sam taking so much in taxes over the past 3 years, it was time.

I still love the store and will be in to shop 🙂

When you work in Retail…

When you work in the retail market, you earn a respect for what goes on and tend to sympathize with the current working folk of a similar function.

Wegmans Sub Shop

For example, having worked in a Wegmans Sub Shop part time when living in Rochester NY I realize how annoying cell phones can be and rude customers are and try to not be that way myself. I do admit when a customer was on their phone, I skipped them and asked the following person in line if I could help them since a hand signal with a number only seems to work in Asian restaurants 🙂

Shampoo Factory

The Shampoo Factory was a full time job between semesters during college and gave me a new appreciation for those bottled products and you recognize all of those funny alignment marks for labels. I sat for days monitoring sealing of various salon tubed products and testing bottle cap tension,which by the way should be automated and not done by anyone for that is surely going to give you carpal tunnel!

While it was relatively mindless, just what I needed after 2 semesters at college, I would think if I were to do it on a regular basis I would probably become a zombie. Not that I think anyone is really cut out for this kind of work, but we do what we need to in order to get the bills paid and this job probably just barely serves that purpose for the full time staff there.

Waiting Tables

Granted it was a restaurant I was co-owner of, but nonetheless, when I go out to eat now and if the restaurant is busy, I don’t get frustrated if service is slow and I always pile up my dishes with food scraps on the top plate for the wait staff 🙂

Funny how I was introverted and still am to a degree, but when waiting tables, you do need to provide great customer service if you want to get a tip and I really did open up during this chapter of my life.

World Market

I have learned that some customers always are out to get a good deal and will in some cases “break” an item in order to get a discount. I recall one time when a customer showed me what seemed to be a problem with glue on a wreath. She said, they are all like that and wanted a discount. After we talked a bit more, it turned out that she had pulled off the supposedly loose flowers! She was like, “I can glue them when I am home.” I was thinking to myself, well, if you had not pulled them off in the first place….. Anyway, I did not give her a discount and proceeded to fix them with our own hot glue gun.

There are others that walk around the clearance section each time they are in, or offer to “buy it all” at a discount. Another funny time was when a customer came back to the wine dept and asked me for the bottle with the most savings and I showed them a $50 bottle which happened to be $13 off 🙂 That is what they asked for, but certainly they were looking for the Rene Barbier which normally $4.99 is often on sale for $3.99, but only a savings of a $1. Perhaps she should have asked for the largest savings percentage 🙂

There are so many stories to tell and not enough time in a day to tell them, but you get the idea…customers can really be a pain in the neck after that experience, I will do my best to not be in a bad mood, get impatient with long lines, or harassing management to give me a better deal. 🙂 I cannot promise however that I will not trample you when the store opens and holiday clearance goes on sale 90% off!