AIBU to think Enterprise Car Club is really unreliable?

[vellaibella]

Maybe I've just been unlucky.

Second time I've tried to use them for van hire, and it's the second time they've cancelled a confirmed booking less than 24 hours in advance.

I've phoned them and am getting a very "soz there's nothing we can do" response.

Trouble is I'm using it for work - I work as a wedding caterer - and right now I'm facing having to call a bride to tell her that her (repeatedly delayed due to lockdown) wedding is going to have much less food than she anticipated (still some, thankfully there's another company involved). No doubt I'm going to get bad reviews splashed up my social media after this.

Awful awful awful customer service

But I would find another van somehow rather than let their failure damage your business.

This

there are other hire companies you could try.

Hertz offer hourly van hire which is normally simple and easy

Enterprise have emailed me very month for the five years since I hired a car with them, telling me I have one loyalty point. So in that sense they're reliable...

Easier said than done at such short notice.

I'm ringing around other companies as we speak and I'm not having much luck

Don't be so ridiculous. Be creative and find a solution. There will be something out there. I would be furious if I was the bride and she will be blaming you, not a van hire company.

That is poor, but I have to say if they d let me down once they wouldn’t be getting my custom again. Any reason you didn’t book with someone else earlier? In the meantime, have you tried local taxi firms? They often have minibuses, which might be suitable for transporting large quantities of food?

Unfortunately the key reason I need a van is because the order requires a specialist bit of kit that's 2.5m long and very heavy. It's not something you can fit in a car at all - if it was just the food I had to transport then I'd turn up in my hatchback instead.

How about a removal company?

Or put a shout out on your local FB page

I'd go for a shoutout on FB.

I assumed it was too big for a car, but the 6/8 seater taxis are often those Mercedes minivans, which are the same vans but with seats and windows. And sometimes the seats can be removed. Maybe they’d consider doing it for you. I’d at least ask, rather than let down the bride and groom!

Just to update, enterprise fixed the van in time in the end and I got to the wedding with the bride and groom being none the wiser

Enterprise Car Club might be alright for moving an old sofa or similar, but they can't be trusted with anything business critical.

To cap it all off I got the van back and found someone had parked in the reserved spot, and I spent 15 minutes on hold to customer services trying to find out what I was meant to do (all other parking was pay and display/residents/double yellows).