A car rental experience gone well

Shocking, isn’t it? The folks at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Nashville (BNA) were so polite and efficient, I wrote them a nice thank-you letter. My coworker Pete suggested I have a little fun: give them a copy of the Hertz letter to laugh over. So I did. I also gave Hertz a copy of the Enterprise …

Hertz Chicago O’Hare (ORD) staffer gives shitty service, threatens to sue

Last fall, when I was in Chicago, I was treated incredibly rudely at the Hertz location at O’Hare. (This is not the first time I’ve had a poor rental experience.) As soon as I walked up to the counter, the agent said “Don’t give me any attitude.” Before I had said anything. He had taken …

American Airlines spokesman explains why they are going out of business

More proof that airlines are run by idiots: Airlines argue that adding fees this way is preferable to fare hikes because in theory, at least, passengers who don’t want to use the services can avoid them. And airlines can’t just raise fares whenever it suits them because the industry is so competitive that they’d surely …

What TiVo can learn from the phone company

I recently purchased a TiVo HD. The TiVo was pre-activated, so I didn’t have to activate it on tivo.com. Before I pass on my old TiVo (a series 2), I want to transfer the programs from it to my new TiVo HD. In order for transfers to work: both DVRs must have active service agreements …

Welcome, Wachovia. Seriously.

A while back, Wachovia bought World Savings, a bank I use for CDs. I received a few letters in the mail describing the process and telling me what I had to do. The first thing I had to do was register for an account with Wachovia’s online banking. I do. Mistake #1: Only three of …

PC Financial’s MasterCard runaround

I had a bit of an odd experience with PC Financial this year. Frustrated by this, I wrote them to describe my experience.

Dear Mr. Kalen,

I have been a customer of President’s Choice Financial and President’s Choice Financial MasterCard for many years. In fact, I believe I was one of the earliest customers of President’s Choice Financial MasterCard.

I was highly satisfied with my PC MasterCard—until this year.

Avis, please try harder

This July, I rented a car from Avis in San Diego. It was a pretty poor experience. So, I wrote them a complaint letter. Besides writing the letter itself, I thought I’d have fun. In the spirit of Yours is a Very Bad Hotel, I proudly present “How NOT to rent a car”: Here’s the …