June 6, 2019
The Car Rental Caper: The Best Laid Plans ...
Ahhhh .... car rental.
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Months ago I had reserved a mini-van to drive us, our bikes and gear from DC back to Pittsburgh. Knowing that its best to "Trust, but verify," I had called Enterprise about two weeks before our departure to verify that van would be waiting for us. "Absolutely sir! If you reserved it we'll provide it!" Excellent. The day before we were going to pick it up I called again, to the actual location in DC. "You bet sir, it will be there for you!" Excellent, again. All is well.
Thursday morning we had breakfast and coffee, loaded the panniers on the bikes and rode the short three mile route to the car rental place. I'd pre-loaded the route in the GPS and it was smooth sailing. Not much traffic and mostly bike paths to get there.
I walked into the office, and identified myself. The young man at the counter pulled up my reservation, grunted, and said, "I'm sorry sir, I tried to call you twice this morning to let you know we won't have a mini-van available until 1 PM today." What went through my mind is unprintable. To my credit, I didn't say what went through my mind. There was, however, most certainly an audible disgusted grunt that escaped. I decided it was fruitless going full-on "offended customer" and proceeded to problem solve with the young guy, who really had nothing to do with the issue. He was just a lackey.
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He had a Tacoma pick-up truck as the next best (and only) option to carry two bikes. Marg and I spent the next 45 minutes getting the bikes secured with bungie cords in the bed of the truck and they looked rock solid, and we were off after an hour and 15 minutes of preparation. Less than a mile down the road (and on the highway) all hell broke loose as the bikes started leaning outward, looking like they were trying to crawl out of the truck ... "nope, we aren't riding back here thanks," they said. Some emergency maneuvering got us quickly to a side street and we took another 45 minutes to apply plan "B" .... Marg's bike and the gear in the back seat of the cab and my bike laid down flat and bungied down to within an inch of its life. That was the secret sauce.
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In Pittsburgh, I knew the return spot was very close to our car, so plugged the address into my phone and off I went. After a couple turns I spied the "Enterprise" sign above a doorway and immediately beyond saw an entry into the multi-floor parking garage the rental place was located. "Aha!" I thought. Just drive into that ramp and there will be a sign directing me. Three minutes later at the very top of the parking garage, with no signs in sight, I called the office.
"Oh yes, that's the wrong ramp. Go down, take four left turns and the entry is on 12th street." Got it. Back down, down, down I go, exit the building into rush hour traffic, take a left, left, left, and another left turn and sure enough found an Enterprise sign saying "take this exit and go to the 5th floor." Yes! Up I go to floor five and look for the designated Enterprise slots. Nothing. No signs, no directions. Nothing. Back out comes the phone. "Oh yeah, says the same girl as before. Just park anywhere up there. No problem." *click* Well, OK. I guess they have their ways of finding their cars up here. Down I go to return my paperwork. No one at the desk for .... oh ... 10 minutes until a well groomed young man appears and we make our final transactions. It was quicker to walk back to Margaret and the car, into which she had already loaded the bikes and the gear (what a woman!) and off we drove.
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