Zipcar

This review is for zipcar in general not the vancouver office. DO NOT join if you want to receive horrible customer service, if you want to be charged up to $100 for being 30 seconds late because you couldn’t return the car in time due to traffic, and if you want to use extremely poorly maintained cars, one of which caused me to be in a big accident because the tires burnt off due to improper maintenance.

Worst app ever. I requested a membership by mistake and while the membership was not approved yet i called and asked the staff to cancel it but they did not and charges the whole membership request fee. I will never try it again when they have no respect for the customer and only care about money.

I rented a car with Zipcar from 6pm - 11pm. The quote I was given is $36.96 + tax. Arrived early to the location and the car was available. I took it 17 minutes before 6pm and returned it at 7:43pm more than 3 hours earlier. I received a charge almost 2.5 times !!! higher than what I was quoted - $90. Zipcar claimed that it happened because I took the car 17 minutes before the booking time. And of course, they conveniently allow you to take the car earlier to just charge you for so much more later. I canceled my membership with Zipcar immediately and recommend you do the same. This business practice stinks so I will make sure my inner circle is aware of how Zipcar conduct the business.

THIS IS A REVIEW OF ZIPCAR IN GENERAL - NOT THE VANCOUVER OFFICE. I have been trying to join Zipcar for 6 months now. I have sent in all the required documents and paid the fee. They've sent me a membership card and an ID #. But they can't activate my card/account for some unknown reason. I've called customer service clearly a call centre in the USA a few times and get punted around. Each time they say someone will contact me within a few days. No one ever does. The latest when I called again today is that they now say my application has been rejected and that the fee is non-refundable. ?!?! Again the customer service person tells me that someone will email in 2 or 3 days to tell me what the issue is. ... I have a clean driving record, clear car rental record, excellent credit score, and I am a member in good standing with Car2Go. Compared with Car2Go I would say Zipcar is VERY sub-par service. Car2Go has been excellent in every way ... The only reason I wanted to join Zipcar is that they are the only carsharing service in a couple of cities that I visit regularly. ... I WOULD STRONGLY DISCOURAGE ANYONE FROM ATTEMPTING TO JOIN ZIPCAR.

When reading this, keep in mind that I do not do make it a habit to sit in front of a laptop and write a review. Simply don't have time, and when I take the time it is because of the incomptence within the organization . If there is an issue it is expected that it should be resolved efficiently. I work in an industry where we handle issues everyday, and are resolved efficiently. Also if you consider signing up ensure you read everything. Cause they will charge you an arm and leg for a very simple oversight. Unfortunately I had to cancel my membership due to so many inconveniences with the company. It is too bad, because it actually saved me a lot of time renting the vehicles. However be careful with reservations. They have really strict policies and they will overcharge you. The first incident I called the 1 800 #. I had reserved a vehicle and that was not returned on time, so I waited an additional 40 minutes for it because there was non nearby. The customer service rep was not very helpful. Said he would not be able to refund the money as per policy guidelines. That the only thing he could do was book the car that was a 20 minute walk from where I was. Finally after a long time on the phone I was able to get a resolution. Second incident I had reserved a cargo van, and the plans to pick up the items fell through. So I cancelled through the app, without any notification that I was going to get charged the full price for the reservation. I had cancelled within 1 hour and ten minutes. Third time I rented a cargo van again, and delivered the items. Returned the van, go into a car 2 go and drove home. By the time I got home, I realized I had left documents in the van. I called to see what could be done to retrieve them. So I was on hold for 20 minutes. The rep told me that there was nothing he can do, that you only have a 30 minute window to swipe in and out which is good, but I had no knowledge. I had already spent a long time on hold so by the time I would make it back to the van it would be past the window period. So I had no choice but to pay the full reservation price. The representative was not able to reverse the charge. Fourth time. Called 1 800. They could not give me the Vancouver number, or transfer me they could only provide me with the address! The representative had a very heavy accent and sounded like he was struggling to explain. So I asked him if he spoke Spanish...He said yes but that he was not allowed to because his manager told him that he is not allowed to address people in another language.....H.O. in the USA i guess. So I was like okay, seems like he will not help me resolve the issue so I asked him if I could talk to his supervisor.....waited and waited. Hang up and finally found the Vancouver office number. The fellow there was helpful in refunding one charge. However the charge for retrieving the documents from the van he was not going to be to reimburse. Their policies just changed, and head office was very strict on this. He basically told me nearly three times that if I had left those documents is an airplane or train or bus. How would I retrieve them????....Hey Zip Car thanks for having me as a client but no thanks. To the rep at the Vancouver office thanks for being the most efficient individual, I came across in the entire organization. Go Modo! Total $$$ lost $217.95

Without a doubt the worst car share in Vancouver. First of all, you have to pay an outrageous annual membership regardless on how often you use it. They also claim their prices start from $7/hr or so, but I have never actually found a car near me that costs that. Second, they renew the membership automatically, so this year I was stuck with a $70 bill for a service I didn't even want. When I tried to call to ask them not to renew my account, the actually closed down my account, even though my year was not over yet. This meant that when I actually did need to rent a car from them, my account wasn't valid. I tried calling them asking them to reopen my account until my membership expired. The operator told me I could reopen it online. I went online and the only way for me to reopen it was to pay another $70, which I refuse to do when I already paid for a full year's membership. Now I need to wait another 20 minutes on the phone in the hopes they can open my account over the phone. Finally, there is no way to stop the automatic renewal online, which means you have to wait a long time on the phone to cancel the renewal. When I called last, I asked them to just cancel the renewal without closing my account, but they told me they can't do that. They said I have to call the day before the renewal to cancel and close the account. These are predatory practices IMO. I have used Evo, Car2Go and Modo as well and I would say all of those options are superior. I give it 2 stars instead of 1 because they do have quite an extensive variety of cars.

Key differentiation: Customer service. Since signing up a few days ago I've gone into the office once, called a few times, and each for very different concerns. Every single time they were able to fix the problem, and not once was I put on hold or were there waiting times. Each person I talked to was so friendly especially Mark! and did their very best to help. I will admit I was beginning to have my doubts through some of my issues, but the excellent customer service really turned it around. Zipcar is living proof of how good customer service will work wonders for a company. Thank you!

No wonder BBB rates Zipcar "F" - few weeks after signing up I got tired of waiting for the company to respond, so I signed up with a different carshare company. I got approved, received my card, and canceled Zipcar - all completed days before the Zipcar card finally arrived. Oh, and the signup fee was non-refundable, so I essentially paid forty bucks for visiting their site and filling out some forms. Nice job Zipcar!

Zipcar's number one policy consists of getting as much money from their customers as possible. They have absolute no concern for customer satisfaction what-so-ever. Zipcar is the epitome of a for-profit corporation who cares more about the contents of your wallet more than anything else. Don't be fooled by the nice cars they have, they have obtained it through ripping off their customers. To assure you that my claims and accusations are not found on mere speculation, I will provide two first-hand examples. The first encounter I had involved zipcar's accusations of "reckless" driving. One snowy day, my friends and I all international students from southeast asia decided to drive around an empty parking lot to get a hang of driving on snow/ice, inevitably causing us to partially skid due to the lack of traction on the ice. Long story short, zipcar suspends the account on grounds of "reckless" driving, took a week to send someone to inspect the car for damages, and concludes that there were no damages but charges us $100 and terminates the account ??????. Instance number two: my friends and I decided to celebrate a group valentines date in downtown Vancouver. We planned a bunch of stuff for the night and booked a car for four and a half hours. However, reaching our last 20 minutes and realizing we will not be able to return by the end of the given time, we decide to call Zipcar just as they recommend us to do. As we call, customer service responds in a rude and impatient manner, bluntly insisting that we pay a $35 penalty fee. I understand that it was our fault for not being able to return the car in time, however they could have been more considerate and understanding with the situation. All-in-all describing Zipcar's service as trash would be an understatement. There are many other car service providers that are more favorable and has services that seem stellar in comparison to Zip's. Sincerely, One less customer although they probably don't care, they've gotten enough money from me through penalties

Don't join! There is no safety net if your card quits working. I went to a get a van I had reserved but the card would not open the van door. I called ZipCar customer service and they opened the van doors but then told me that if my card did not work the keys would not start the engine. Well duh my card did not work because it would not open the doors so what is the chance it would magically start working once I sat in the driver's seat? Zero chance! So my reservation was a waste of time. They said the only solution was to get another card. Really? I was lucky enough to be sort of near a zipcar office but they were CLOSED so I could not get another card in time to get to my appointment. Arrrggghhhhh. So imagine if you were in the middle of nowhere with a zipcar and your zipcard stops working. There is no hope for you -- 'abandon all hope ye who enter here'. Because of this crap, I lost $300 I spent on a chest of drawers in an auction because I had to pick it up by a certain time, or lose it. Well I lost it and the $300. Gee thanks ZipCar for the fabulous service and support....NOT.