I don’t think there’s a rental car company, at least in the United States, that allows smoking in their cars anymore. Of course, if you’re a smoker, having the smell of smoke in your rental car wouldn’t be a huge deal. I mean, I guess it wouldn’t be. I dunno; I’ve never been a smoker (it’d stunt my growth…*ba dum tsss* [I’m 4’6″, y’all]). But what if you’re a non-smoker and you don’t notice the smell (it’s possible) until after you’ve taken possession of the rental car and are on your way to your destination? That’s exactly what happened to our reader, Dana, when she was out of town a while back. Here’s how the situation was handled, not only by Dana and her husband Tim but also by the rental car company.
As per Dana:
“We rented a car from Enterprise for our Washington DC trip and were scheduled to have it for 8 days in total.
“We were admittedly in a rush when we picked the car up. We drove the first few miles and both of us started thinking, “Man, this car really smells like cigarettes.” Apparently someone had put a black “pine tree” air freshener in it so I guess it took a few miles for our noses to disregard the air freshener.
“We ended up stopping and picking up one of those Glade car vent things and some Fabreeze. Tim sprayed the whole car interior on a day were weren’t driving so it had time to penetrate. That did make it better. It was still there and still annoying but at least my nose wasn’t clogged up from the smoke smell anymore.
“When Tim returned the car at the end of the trip, the guy asked if there was anything to make the trip more pleasant. Tim mentioned the smoke odor and what we did to make it bearable. The employee apologized and asked what he could do to make it better? Tim said $100 off the bill would work. ‘Done,’ the kid said. So, our $227 bill dropped to $127. I was pretty happy about that.”
Knowing Dana (I’ve known her for about 10-15 years), I’d bet anything that she and Tim didn’t make a huge stink (so to speak) about the smell; it was a relatively small inconvenience, they didn’t demand retribution and what they asked for when promoted was, I think, under the circumstances, appropriate. And Enterprise probably got themselves customers for the next time that “everything else is equal” (or close to equal) and they have to choose a rental car company.
** Many thanks to Dana J., of Danare Designs (she designs and sells some GORGEOUS jewelry, y’all! Her designs and other stuff are also on Facebook) for her story!
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
