Unfortunately I had a very bad experience at the Salt Lake City Airport Enterprise Car Rental and feel that I was scammed. Do not accept a minivan upgrade here! When I made my reservation online I had requested a small SUV and upon arrival the man checking me in asked if I wanted to upgrade to a minivan. I said I didn't need a minivan and was going up to the ski areas, but he insisted and said they had a lot of minivans and that they were great cars. I agreed and he gave me the key and wrote the slot number as 39. I went to the minivan in slot 39, the car was unlocked, and I put my bags in the back, then got in the front seat to start the car. However, when I put the key in nothing happened. Right at that moment another man came up to the driver's door and said that I must have the wrong car. He had the keys for that car and said the keys I had must be for another car, he flashed the lights of another silver minivan a few slots down. I asked if he worked for Enterprise and he said yes. It was unclear why he was needing to get into that van. He said he would get my bags from the back and ushered me down to the other van and I got in and drove off (without any time to review the car for scratches and without having loaded my own bags in the back). I went on my trip and had the hotel park the van in valet, as they do for all guests, and then two days later drove the van back to the airport. I did not hit anything and highly doubt that anyone hit the car in valet at the ski resort. Upon my return the same man who had checked me in came up and collected my keys. Instead of walking around the whole van he went straight to the back right of the van and started inspecting a scratch on the bumper. I said I had not hit anything, but that it had been parked in valet for 2 days. He said that often times cars get hit in parking lots and that I would have to take my insurance information up to the counter. The woman there asked me to fill out the information on my statement that I did not have any awareness of the car being hit. Then she said that my car insurance showed a $500 deductible and that she would have to collect that $500 right then. I was late and needed to check into my flight and the whole ordeal had already taken over 30 minutes, so I just went along with it, even though I know you normally don't pay deductibles on the spot without the claim going through the insurance first. Since I was traveling for business I figured I would just have my company look into it the next day. When I talked to my office Accounting department the next day they said they have seen several similar cases like this with Enterprise where cars are being scratched without the driver's knowledge and that I definitely should not have paid the $500 deductible on the spot. They called Enterprise and they refunded the money charged to my credit card. In thinking back on the whole experience, it was very sketchy that they wanted me to upgrade to a minivan, that they gave me the keys/slot number for the wrong car, that the man needed to get into the car I was in at the same time, that he offered to put my bags in the back (clearly preventing me from seeing a scratch on the back bumper), and that the man who checked me in went straight for that back corner. I do not trust this car rental location and will now be very cautious with all car rentals. Be sure you check any rental car for scratches before you leave the lot, no matter what the situation!
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