zipcar is deceptive please read
zipcar has to be the worst car rental company i have ever dealt with. their cars are filthy and they are deceptive and make up their own rules. I have never rented a clean car they smell and have animal hair on the seats and garbage in the cars. If you return the car even…
zipcar has to be the worst car rental company i have ever dealt with. their cars are filthy and they are deceptive and make up their own rules. I have never rented a clean car they smell and have animal hair on the seats and garbage in the cars. If you return the car even a minute late they charge you a 50.00 late fee. they also charge your card in increments where the invoices are confusing if you have a 80 buck rental they will charge your card 4 or 5 different payments on one rental. they say they pay for gas but in the ny cars the gas card id always missing and then you pay out of pocket they tell you to fax in the receipt but when i faxed the receipts they said that i was faxing too many receipts and closed my account. My son has asthma and i had to clean the car from the animal hair and they told me after they closed my acct they would only reopen it if i didn’t fax anymore receipts. I was angry with them but no one seemed to care. The office on 32nd and bdway has rude managers who don’t care about customers. Joel Johnson general manager there and Jessica O member services manager there are not helpful at all. Jessica told me that if my son has asthma don’t put him in the car. The weekend rates are horrible around 165 bucks a day and you have to reserve far in advance. Don’t expect a clean car or a gas card in the car. The cars have major mechanical issues and are unsafe to drive. A few cars have broken down on me with my kids in the car and i had to change a tire on the highway cause roadside assistance told me it would take hours to come. I got no compensation for the mishap or even an im sorry. Jessica told me that no one asked me to change the tire. So then I called the so call corporate office and dealt with Peter director of member services who claims that he takes complaints seriously his number is 6179954224 since they don’t like to deal with their customers I am giving the number. Anyhow he told me he was keeping my acct closed because i expect too much wanting clean cars and expecting them to fix every problem. the funny part is they never fixed any problem. they tell you fax receipts call if there is damage to the car or there is a breakdown but when i follow the rules they penalize me and closed my account. I am warning everyone to use the service at your own risk just remember that you are not insured and you end up paying a lot for rules that they make up along the way. the cars are disgusting inside so just see for yourself. Remember the names Joel Johnson from 32nd street and definitely Jessica she is rude and could care less about kids. She was the one who closed my acct to begin with. People need to know the truth don’t let them fool you cause at the end you will pay way more then what they advertise now I am taking them to court for treating me like crap and closing my acct just cause they felt like it. People like zipcar can’t treat us like animals when we are paying for the rentals. see for yourselves that everything i am saying is true.
ZipCar Sucks… Every card I rented was dirty as well and I only rented the BMW’s I joined with the no monthly fee plan then changed to the 250.00 fee and then downgraded to the no monthly fee. The insult came when after I downgraded I was charged the fifty dollar annual fee again. I attempted to put gas in the car using the gas card and it didn’t work. I called them and they said it was a minor problem with the cards, so I paid out of pocket and they took two months to refund my money back after I had to fax the receipt ten or more times. I enjoyed them for a while til the re-charge on my account. After that I done some research and found Connect by Hertz. Cars are cheaper, rentals up to a week and they rent the Benz car and truck. The gas card works and when washed the car I was refunded within ten minutes of them receiving my fax. Thank God for competition. So if you want to save some money and not have to worry about booking a car, come to connect where you have over 200 cars to choose from and no hassle. A friend of mine had a bad issue with a parking attendant who would not let her take out a car because it was brand new after 45 minutes of going back and forth with the attendant she had to call the police who spoke with Zip Car first then Ordered the attendant to release the car. Who needs those headaches.
ZipCar Sucks… Every card I rented was dirty as well and I only rented the BMW’s I joined with the no monthly fee plan then changed to the 250.00 fee and then downgraded to the no monthly fee. The insult came when after I downgraded I was charged the fifty dollar annual fee again. I attempted to put gas in the car using the gas card and it didn’t work. I called them and they said it was a minor problem with the cards, so I paid out of pocket and they took two months to refund my money back after I had to fax the receipt ten or more times. I enjoyed them for a while til the re-charge on my account. After that I done some research and found Connect by Hertz. Cars are cheaper, rentals up to a week and they rent the Benz car and truck. The gas card works and when washed the car I was refunded within ten minutes of them receiving my fax. Thank God for competition. So if you want to save some money and not have to worry about booking a car, come to connect where you have over 200 cars to choose from and no hassle. A friend of mine had a bad issue with a parking attendant who would not let her take out a car because it was brand new after 45 minutes of going back and forth with the attendant she had to call the police who spoke with Zip Car first then Ordered the attendant to release the car. Who needs those headaches.
I used them once and canceled my membership the next day!
better yet, the customer service said nothing, no appology no “I will refund your money” and that was it!
When I picked up the car it was dirty the brakes made a horrible sound and there was popcorn all over the inside of the car, receipts, dirt and oh boy a smell ….
The price was way too high. I usually deal with Enterprise in Bensonhurst. The people are grat, the cars are clean. Once I even said I had to buy clorox wipes cause the inside was a bit dirty and they reimburssed me for it!
The lower the prices and give you upgrades if you are a loyal customer too.
I love them, especially Christine and Rich
Sounds like it was a win-win situation that your account got closed. Seems like Zipcar wasn’t for you. I’ve been very happy with their service to date, sorry that you’ve not been.
I understand that it is car sharing and not car rental, that i s not my complaint and as for someone saying that my kids made the car dirty they need to read what i wrote. I teach my kids who are 5 and 7 to be clean and clean up after themselves so grown adults should as well. As for a train or a bus 2 bucks is a lot different for then 75 bucks on weekdays and up to 165 bucks on the weekend. I didn’t ask for much an apology from them would have been acceptable. As for people who deal with the dirt that is on you guys but that is just nasty. How can you sit in someone else’s mess? I did read the policies and it says the car are cleaned weekly as well as people must keep the cars clean. I have spoken to several parking attendants and they said the cars don’t get cleaned for 3 weeks sometimes and when zippy does come in they only wipe them down. THE attendant also said cars with mechanical problems get parked n not repaired just put back in the mix after a few days. So I have done my research. Aside from that zippy shouldn’t promise things that they can’t deliver no matter how much cheaper it may seem. As for a regular car rental it evens out on daily rentals you may not always pay for gas but you end up paying for miles so whats the difference? Running errands i agree zippy seems better but I still don’t want to run errands in a funky car. As for me being pissed off now i am but i wasn’t always i find it funny how they close my account out of the blue when I haven’t even complained about a car in almost a year all i did was fax in a 40 buck gas receipt that i paid and that is when Jessica closed my account so yeah I am not happy about it and neither would you.
I use zipcar for certain things, like groceries or local errands, and Avis for others, like trips. Zipcar is not a car rental. It is car sharing. You have to think of it like the subway or a yellow cab — as a form a public transportation which is made somewhat less pleasant than it could be by the rude actions of other users. Just as with those other forms of transit, it should not be counted on as 100 percent reliable. The car may not be there when it’s supposed to be and may not be up to your standards. That’s just the way it is.
If you need a guaranteed clean, low-mileage car waiting for you, you have to pay extra for a car rental from a (usually more) reliable company like Avis or Hertz.
And I second Fire Alarm Guy. Never, ever get out of your car on the highway. It’s crazy dangerous.
Yeah, sorry you had a bad experience. I’m pretty pleased with zc, and one thing that’s important is to read the rules carefully.
I do agree that the cars are often filthy and full of pet hair. Why can’t people just vacuum them out if they spill a whole bag of Cheetos rather than grinding them in with their heels?
I totally understand the $50 fee, though, and only once did I have to play Mario Andretti on the FDR to make my time cutoff…
Not sure how long their business model will survive, though. They haven’t yet had a profitable year. I guess they’ll either have to start charging by the mile or make customers buy the gas. It’s pretty much a screaming deal right now if you rent for 2 days during the week, go through a few tolls and buy a tank of gas. The gas and tolls alone will be $50-60…
I’ve been a Zipcar member since they came to NY and I love them. Sorry you’ve had such a negative experience. I must say, based on the tone of your rant, they may have just decided you weren’t the kind of sort they wanted participating in their collective.
LOVE ZIPCAR! The 50 fee for being late…well.. have you evenr had to stand there in a sweltering garage and wait for the guy before you to return the car you have reserved calculating to the last minute how long you need it. it sucks.
so does a dirty car but then again i usually have a problem with kids leaving a car dirty so i have little sympathy. sorry.
ZIPCAR ROCKS!