Rental protocol question

McCracken

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
So I reserved a bobcat with a hydraulic breaker on it three weeks ago. I go in Saturday to pick it up and I'm told that it's broke. The guy at the desk hollers down to the guy in the basement and he tells him the situation. The guy in the basement responds with, "not my problem". Now granted he wasn't talking to me but still.

At this point the guy is apologetic but tells me there's nothing he can do. I walk out hot. I lined up another guy with a backhoe to help. I ended up calling and telling him to not come (he was on the road headed my way). After I calmed down enough to talk about it I called them. They had closed and I left a message. I haven't gotten a call back yet....

At this point is it an "oh well" or should the rental place try and make this right? All opinions welcome.
 
I would've been hot too. Your time and other dude's time w/ the backhoe. :kaioken:

I'd ask to talk to whoever is in charge (owner / GM / etc.) when you call back / get a call back. Any stand-up business should make this right. That type of thing is part of their business (when something breaks and they have it rented out so close together). That, actually, IS their problem. You did what you were supposed to by reserving, showing up, etc. and they didn't hold up their end. I'd explain to them everything you lost out on (time, other dude's time, etc.), further explain you understand that "shit happens..." but at the end of that day that isn't YOUR problem and they should figure out how to make it up to you. At the end of the day, that's the business they're in and an inherent risk thereof. I don't necessarily know what the "protocols" are for this in these type of business, but I think any stand-up, respectable business should and will make it right.
 
At the very least they should have notified you that the machine wasn't available.I really think they need to teach a buisness ethics class in schools because so many people cant complete a simple transaction on their own outside of paying a cashier at a store.I see it all the time.
 
It's taken a lot of years for me to lengthen my fuse to the point of chalking most scenarios like this up to 'if they could do any better, they would'. So I wouldn't let it rile me up. However, my time is precious and the value of it is quantifiable, so I would escalate it until I felt satisfied with the outcome, or until it starts falling on deaf ears.
 
Calling @jeepinmatt

He usually can solves these issues. May charge for travel though

giphy.gif


I had kind of the opposite problem. I needed a mini-ex. Usually I borrow one of Kenny's or I can get Neil's, but all of Kenny's were tied up, and Neil's was in the shop. So I used Herc. Delivery was free as I had a buddy hook me up with a contractor deal. It was delivered before I got home, but with a jackhammer attachment. Someone got their wires crossed.
I called and within an hour a rep was there with 3 buckets to choose from and swapped me out.
 
1-tonmudder said:
At the very least they should have notified you that the machine wasn't available.I really think they need to teach a buisness ethics class in schools because so many people cant complete a simple transaction on their own outside of paying a cashier at a store.I see it all the time.
Click to expand...
This.

Shit happens, shit breaks. That is understandable. But likewise the business has only 2 understandable recourses - either they line up another piece for you through a friend or competitor, or they notify you ASAP that it's a problem so that you can re-plan. Anything outside of those two is not acceptable.

What do the terms of the reservation agrement say?
 
CasterTroy said:
Calling @jeepinmatt

He usually can solves these issues. May charge for travel though
Click to expand...
My protocol tends to avoid renting, and instead buy the item, use it, and sell it for what I paid (or more if possible :D)

In this case they are a bunch of dingle-sphincters and they at least need to give you some type of freebie such as Fri-Mon rental for the 1 day price, and no charge for the breaker attachment.
 
Last edited:
rcalexander105 said:
I would've been hot too. Your time and other dude's time w/ the backhoe. :kaioken:

I'd ask to talk to whoever is in charge (owner / GM / etc.) when you call back / get a call back. Any stand-up business should make this right. That type of thing is part of their business (when something breaks and they have it rented out so close together). That, actually, IS their problem. You did what you were supposed to by reserving, showing up, etc. and they didn't hold up their end. I'd explain to them everything you lost out on (time, other dude's time, etc.), further explain you understand that "shit happens..." but at the end of that day that isn't YOUR problem and they should figure out how to make it up to you. At the end of the day, that's the business they're in and an inherent risk thereof. I don't necessarily know what the "protocols" are for this in these type of business, but I think any stand-up, respectable business should and will make it right.
Click to expand...


This should be how it works, good luck getting a rental company of any size to do any of that though. Sometimes the smaller single location guys will work with you but at the same time, if he'd gone to sunbelt they would have had another skid steer to run the breaker. This why I don't fuck with rental companies.
 
1-tonmudder said:
At the very least they should have notified you that the machine wasn't available.I really think they need to teach a buisness ethics class in schools because so many people cant complete a simple transaction on their own outside of paying a cashier at a store.I see it all the time.
Click to expand...

We had to take one in my MBA program, I really thought to myself why do I have to take this shit. Then I realize how stupid so many people are.
 
We rent a metric shit ton of equipment (usually hover around $100k a month). They are never great to deal with honestly until you start doing large volume with an outside sales rep who actually makes money on your transaction. Then they will move heaven and earth to make whatever happen. Even with United trying to buy up all the other rental companies, its still a saturated market, so you should have other options. I will say they seem to treat the "do it yourself" guys like crap compared to someone with an account. I have been in there picking up stuff for myself and had a completely different experience than when i am dealing with my rep.
 
Having worked at the Rental place for 5 years, I tend to agree with most of the commits here. Although I only worked at 1 company [now owned by United] Customer service was #1. I'm wondering if your dealing with a mom& pop company? Where I worked, in Charlotte, we generally had 2 or more rental products, & we had 6 branches. Next closest one was Greensboro, which was central to a shuttle driver. Shuttle driver did just that, shuttled equipment between 3 or more branches, as needed.
 
DSM Turbos said:
We had to take one in my MBA program, I really thought to myself why do I have to take this shit. Then I realize how stupid so many people are.
Click to expand...
Im talking in HS not in a MBA program.
 
Last edited:
jeepinmatt said:
Oh you had an issue with
Action Rentals & Sales
1861 N Eastman Rd, Kingsport, TN 37664
Whose phone number is
(423) 246-5181
and their website is
Equipment Rentals in Kingsport TN | Action Rental

I'm sure they wouldn't want anyone who searches for them to find a link to a bad review and bad customer service on a regional forum....
Click to expand...
It would be a shame if someone started placing false “free rental” ads on Craigslist with that phone number.
 
Yeah I would have been hot ..... It was their problem.
Other than basic ethics, they basically had a contract with you.

EX: A month ago my wife had sudden abdominal pain ..... on a Wednesday evening we ended up in the ER.
Thursday morning she had an emergency appendectomy.
The problem was she had to do a wedding cake for a client on Friday.
WE made arrangements for another baker to do the cake.
It cost us an additional $100.00 bucks which we paid out of pocket.
NOT the clients fault, so we took care of.

If they had other locations .... they should have had one there waiting for you or delivered to your location.
 
Yep they should have called or at least been apologetic when he told you it was broke. It may have just came back that day and they didn't have time. I've been dealing with the same local rental place for over 30 years and even though they look like a bunch of dirty hobos they are the best, every damned one of them. Couple years ago the owner died. He left the business to the two guys who had been with him the whole time!
 
jeepinmatt said:
Oh you had an issue with
Action Rentals & Sales
1861 N Eastman Rd, Kingsport, TN 37664
Whose phone number is
(423) 246-5181
and their website is
Equipment Rentals in Kingsport TN | Action Rental

I'm sure they wouldn't want anyone who searches for them to find a link to a bad review and bad customer service on a regional forum....
Click to expand...

Edited:

Action Rentals & Sales
1861 N Eastman Rd, Kingsport, TN 37664
Whose phone number is
(423) 246-5181
and their website is
Equipment Rentals in Kingsport TN | Action Rental

Had good customer service and corrected a situation.

@McCracken that better?
 
Last edited:
I’m going to go a different direction than everyone else and defend the rental guys. It’s very likely the equipment broke with the previous renter and they were working to fix it for you but didn’t get it done in time. Maybe they stayed late the previous day to try and fix and overnighted parts to get it fixed and UPS failed them? Shit happens. Should they have called? Sure, but maybe they were optimistic they were going to have it repaired in time.

And really, what do you want them to do for you besides a phone call ahead of time? I know it’s frustrating. But from a mom and pop place, you have to understand they don’t have the resources that Sunbelt or United, etc have where there are multiple pieces sitting on the yard unrented to use as backups. The big rental shops know the likelihood of failures of all their equipment and expected down time and unrented times of each piece. They have the resources (and clients) to have tbat extra equipment available, either on site or surplus inventory from other locations. A single location mom and pop rental outfit doesn’t have that luxury. It’s also why many larger contractors stick to Sumbelt, United, Herc, etc, because reliability in having equipment available at any time even with a failure.

the mom and pop places are usually great to work with but at the same time can be frustrating as you can see. Don’t bash them too bad; I’m sure they are doing their best. Had this happened with one of the big names, then I’d be all in for a good internet keyboard bashing.
 
rockcity said:
I’m going to go a different direction than everyone else and defend the rental guys. It’s very likely the equipment broke with the previous renter and they were working to fix it for you but didn’t get it done in time. Maybe they stayed late the previous day to try and fix and overnighted parts to get it fixed and UPS failed them? Shit happens. Should they have called? Sure, but maybe they were optimistic they were going to have it repaired in time.

And really, what do you want them to do for you besides a phone call ahead of time? I know it’s frustrating. But from a mom and pop place, you have to understand they don’t have the resources that Sunbelt or United, etc have where there are multiple pieces sitting on the yard unrented to use as backups. The big rental shops know the likelihood of failures of all their equipment and expected down time and unrented times of each piece. They have the resources (and clients) to have tbat extra equipment available, either on site or surplus inventory from other locations. A single location mom and pop rental outfit doesn’t have that luxury. It’s also why many larger contractors stick to Sumbelt, United, Herc, etc, because reliability in having equipment available at any time even with a failure.

the mom and pop places are usually great to work with but at the same time can be frustrating as you can see. Don’t bash them too bad; I’m sure they are doing their best. Had this happened with one of the big names, then I’d be all in for a good internet keyboard bashing.
Click to expand...
Shit definitely happens, but its how you handle it that makes a difference. Sounds like they didn't do anything at all to make it right.
 
Back
Top