Do NOT rent from Enterprise at Heathrow. It's not just me, if you check Trust Pilot, the reviews are abysmal. Here's my experience: the car enterprise gave me broke down in the middle of the road only a couple of hours after we rented it, was undriveable, and needed to be towed. We were then stranded in the middle of two lanes of traffic in each direction for over nine hours, well into the middle of the night. I made many, many calls saying we needed help immediately, and yet we were only told by Enterprise that we could not leave the car or it would not be covered. We did not get a new rental car the next day, and after being told that one would be delivered where we were staying, it was not, and we had to go 45 minutes away to pick up another one. When I returned the replacement car, I was told that I would get a refund, I only needed to fill out a form that would be emailed to me. That email never came. I was promised to get it by the end of the day but it never came. The only people working at Enterprise who seemed at all helpful or to care about our plight in the least were people who made promises that they did not keep. Have made multiple calls, chatbot convos, etc, and have been told multiple times that my concern has been "escalated" and that I would hear back. I have still never heard back.
Posted by
10358 posts
We have rented in the UK from Budget, that turned out well, also from Europcar, that didn't turn out so well.
Posted by
SE Washington, USA
804 posts
Thank you for that information.
We have been very pleased with Arnold Clark--3 times--York & Heathrow (2).
Posted by
SoCal and Bordeaux
2539 posts
I wouldn't rent a car again at Victoria Station. Getting out of the city from there was a nightmare.
Posted by
623 posts
The original post is basically a rant from a 1st time poster which gives no real info. Lets start at the top:
Where NOT to rent a car in England - Do NOT rent from Enterprise at
Heathrow.
well that seems to assume that Enterprise at Heathrow is a free standing operation not related to any of the many dozens of other Enterprise outlets, and implies that problems with Heathrow cars go through a seperate phone line. In fact is also implies that Heathrow has a dedicated group of cars and does not move them around the pool with the other outlets.
It doesn't give date, time or location of breakdown. Or indeed what went wrong (engine blown up? electrics died?.......?)
And 9 hours stuck in the middle of a busy, major road? I can't believe that the police would let that happen, they would normally call their contractors to remove it after a much shorter wait. Anyone who was stuck in a dangerous location as described should have thought to call the police - and in 9 hours other drivers are likely to have done that as well.
I'm not convinced about the facts of this, poor communication seems to be a factor - and there's enough of that in the post.
Posted by
London
2743 posts
I thought the title was a bit of a broad statement based on the circumstances too. Let's remember that Enterprise is the largest car rental company in the UK and Heathrow is surely their busiest site in the country. They must hire hundreds of cars every single day to customers who do just fine. "Do NOT rent from Enterprise at Heathrow" is quite bold advice on the strength of one vague anecdote.
Posted by
Singapore
1375 posts
I've rented several times from Enterprise and found them fine - and as Gerry says, they're the biggest brand. I certainly won't be put off using them again.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
9096 posts
Here’s where not to RETURN a car in England - the Europcar office on the west side of Chester. After two weeks driving through Wales, we arranged to turn in the car just across the border, in Chester. Rather than make a stop enroute to use a restroom, we both figured we’d find a toilet at Europcar once we got there. Nope! They do have a toilet, but customers aren’t allowed to use it.
If we could’ve gotten in then out, that wouldn’t have been so much of an issue. But there was only one person at the counter waiting on people, at least two other people in the office (who were definitely not mechanics or cleaning staff), and six customers waiting to pick up or drop off. The two in front of us had both arrived early, so we were waiting 25 minutes while they got their cars ahead of time. Then got checked in, which thankfully didn’t take very long. Then out on the sidewalk out front with our luggage, waiting for an Uber to pick us up, which never came, and we phoned a taxi, while shifting from one foot to the other due to needing to pee! The neighboring businesses were all tyre (tire) shops, and one other car hire place down the block. Didn’t attempt to find a toilet at any of those places.
If only their paperwork had warned: “Go” before you arrive at our office, as we won’t let you use our Employees Only toilet!
Relief once we reached the B&B, with a ground-floor toilet without even needing to go up to our new room. On the top of the tank was a roll of loo paper, printed with Donald Trump’s face on every sheet.
Posted by
London and Chester
481 posts
I’m not sure I would ever expect a car rental place to have a customer toilet?
The Enterprise Car rental place is a little out of the centre of Chester which makes sense when you see how awkward some of the city roads are.
For a cab in Chester you are better using a local firm. There is Uber but it is less common.
KingKabs is the local mini cab company. Its app is very similar to Uber. 01244 343434
https://www.kingkabs.co.uk
Chester Radio Taxis has black cabs if that is a preference 01244 378366
https://www.chesterradiotaxis.co.uk/
Posted by
623 posts
Enterprise and Europcar in Bumper Lane! Who can forget the arguments of where the welsh border was during covid lockdown rules.......
Posted by
Duluth, MN🌲
12843 posts
I haven't really heard anything bad about Enterprise at any place in England, so I would probably discount this complaint. I had a few problems with Europcar in Plymouth, but I wouldn't tell anybody never to rent from them. I would just say, "Be careful when they try and upsell you." 😊
But my favorite rental company is Arnold Clark/Celtic Legend. I trust them explicitly and I love their service.
Posted by
47 posts
I used Enterprise in Penrith (Lakes District) and they were great, even dropped us off at the train station when we left.