Mad.

Sent to customer service at Thrifty.com 08/02/05:

To whom it may concern,

I had a negative experience with the North Academy location of Thrifty in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is my first experience with Thrifty. If I ever choose this company again, it will not be at this location.

I rented a car from Friday, July 29th to Monday, August 1st. I had originally scheduled pickup of the rental for the afternoon. I called about 11 a.m. that day to ask whether it would be possible to pick up the rental early; I was told that when I would be arriving, half an hour later, the rental would be ready. When I arrived, the woman at the front desk was unaware that I would be arriving early -- the car was not ready. I only had to wait for ten minutes, not an unreasonable amount of time, but not was was said over the phone. While waiting for the car to arrive, the woman who had been working at the desk complained about the lack of communication to her manager, using sarcastic language and tone in front of me. When the woman at the desk started entering my information, she interrupted me to take a personal phone call, which did not sound like an emergency.

When I dropped off the car, the gentleman at the desk seemed very impatient to have to stop doing what he was doing (I did not see what it was) to help me. Later, after I had left the office, I heard him swearing loudly across the parking lot, using the f-word.

A few hours later, when I had returned home, I had received several calls from this same gentleman asking me to call back to the office. When I returned the call, he said that there had been damage to the car, that the rear windshield had been damaged. I told him that I hadn't noticed any damage to the windshield. He became very sarcastic and said something to the effect that he didn't know how I hadn't noticed the damage to the windshield -- I felt like he was accusing me of lying to him. (I wonder now, that if the damage to the windshield were so obvious, why he did not see the damage when he went out to take the mileage. I had thought that at that point he had inspected the car.) He demanded that I return to the office to sign an accident report. I told him that I would be unavailable that evening, and he demanded that I come in first thing in the morning. I told him that I would be at work. He then asked me when I would be available, and I told him that I would come in as soon as I had finished work, at approximately 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon. I told him that I would like to see the damage to the car.

When I arrived at the office, the woman at the desk had not been informed that there had been any issues with my rental and was not expecting me. The car had been rented out again; I was informed that I would not be able to see the car until Friday, when it was scheduled to be returned. When I reviewed the accident report, the information was that the front windshield on the passenger's side, rather than the rear window, had been damaged. I signed and dated the form, provided my policy number with Geico, and added a note that not only had I been unaware of any damage, the information that I had been provided on the phone call was different than the information on the report.

Again, I did not observe any damage to the car when I returned the car; I do not believe there was any damage to the car when I dropped it off. I find the gentleman's behavior, both in not informing me of the damage to the car while I was in the office and in swearing in the parking lot, very suspicious.

When I spoke to the manager, I told her that I was uncomfortable about this situation, and uncomfortable with the way the gentleman had treated me. She told me that she had been standing next to the gentleman during our phone call and that he had told me that the damage had been to the front windshield, which was not what I recall from the conversation. In no way did she acknowledge or apologize that the gentleman used an inappropriate tone with me on the phone.

I feel very frustrated with this situation. I do not feel that I could expect -- or that anyone else could expect -- good service from this location because of the pattern of behavior that I saw. I do not trust the ability of this office to handle communication effectively. I do not trust the ability of this office to handle themselves courteously with their customers. I do not trust the ability of this office to salvage a negative situation. I do not trust the ability of this office to ensure the integrity of its employees.

I have contacted my insurance company, Geico, about this issue. I am not looking for any kind of recompense or resitution; I trust Geico to handle this situation equitably and fairly. If they pay a claim to your company, it is because they have assessed the situation and chosen to do so. I wanted to let you know about the behavior of the employees in this office because I cannot believe that such a systematic disregard for customer service is part of your company values.

Please let me know if you need additional information. I did not take the names of the people in the office. I would prefer to be contacted via email, if necessary.

Thank you for your time,
DeAnna Knippling