Cape Breton Car Rental from Enterprise - BEWARE

[lmbecker]

Called Enterprise at Sydney, Nova Scotia, great plans to rent a car from this entity which over three different phone calls, they promised that they would come to the port (Thursday, September 22nd) to pick us up....no show, no one answered the phone, never called after leaving a few messages.  We called the local Avis office - they had cars from rent but are over a mile from the port and no pick up option.  The representative also mentioned that she had calls the day prior from cruise ship arrivals that also planned to rent from Enterprise that day but were told there were no cars available from someone who answered the phone at the Enterprise office.  Thankfully I hadn't provided Enterprise a credit card in advance.  No need for any comments - just want to warn others.......      

[princeton123211]

47 minutes ago, lmbecker said:

Thankfully I hadn't provided Enterprise a credit card in advance.

I just don't know why you would expect them to guarantee you a car without having a credit card on the reservation. 

[1kaper]

Did you confirm with them ahead of time?

I have found now that Enterprise is confirming all their car rentals a couple of days before.  I expect because of high demand.  If they don't reach you to confirm, the reservation is cancelled.  I don't think it is specific to Cape Breton location. 

In March we had a rental booked in Galveston.  We arrived in Houston a few days early.  When we went to pick up our car, there was no car for us.  They had called my home number to confirm the rental.  We had already left for our trip at this point.  We had to scramble and waste almost 2 hours trying to get another one. 

I rented another one two weeks ago in Cape Breton and got the call again a couple days before.  This time I was able to confirm. 

 

I had rented cars many times before and never had them do that.  Now it seems to be the thing. 

[lmbecker]

There was no mention of having to call to confirm, or that I would receive a confirmation call...and this was after I called three different times to be sure they didn't need a credit card in advance, etc.  As I had wrote, the rep at Avis said that people were told there were no cars on the day prior to our arrival.  Since no one even answered the phone at their office when we were realizing no one was at the port to meet us, it seems they simply shut down.  

[1kaper]

6 minutes ago, lmbecker said:

There was no mention of having to call to confirm, or that I would receive a confirmation call...and this was after I called three different times to be sure they didn't need a credit card in advance, etc.  As I had wrote, the rep at Avis said that people were told there were no cars on the day prior to our arrival.  Since no one even answered the phone at their office when we were realizing no one was at the port to meet us, it seems they simply shut down.  

 

No.  Same with me.  I had no idea until I showed up and there was no car.  
It is frustrating. 

[LHT28]

There  have been several  discussion here on the rental cars  in Sydney

They are  a small town/city  & when the cruise ships are in it is first come first serve   res or no res

Not  a lot of rental cars available

 

We were going to book a car back in 2019  but after reading the  comments  we decided to just give the renting  idea  a pass

JMO

[roomba920]

We just reserved a car with Budget in Sydney with the pay later feature.

Guess we'll pay a week before arriving rather than at the counter.

[roomba920]

Update: We paid to confirm we'd have a car.

[princeton123211]

8 hours ago, roomba920 said:

Update: We paid to confirm we'd have a car.

Unfortunately still doesn't provide a guarantee-- as per most rental car terms and conditions (including Budget) they can revoke a car reservation for any reason so long as they provide a refund. Much like a hotel that is overbooked, they will prioritize their top tier loyalty customers and work down from there. 

 

Not saying that this will happen to you, but I've seen it happen before and always good to have a backup plan-- especially in places like Sydney right now that are fairly notorious for things like this happening. 

[1kaper]

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

especially in places like Sydney right now that are fairly notorious for things like this happening. 

 

Fairly notorious?
This was the first case I saw of this in Sydney. And I've rented cars there numerous times with no issue. 
I agree that the company can always overbook and you are never guaranteed a car.  Wasn't there a Seinfield episode about this?  My issue is with saying it happens quite frequently in Sydney. 

[princeton123211]

36 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Fairly notorious?

Go back and take a look at some past threads. There have been stories since last season on the boards in the Canadian Maritimes about rental car shortages, especially on cruise ship port call days. 

[roomba920]

On 1/4/2023 at 8:46 AM, princeton123211 said:

Unfortunately still doesn't provide a guarantee-- as per most rental car terms and conditions (including Budget) they can revoke a car reservation for any reason so long as they provide a refund. Much like a hotel that is overbooked, they will prioritize their top tier loyalty customers and work down from there. 

 

Not saying that this will happen to you, but I've seen it happen before and always good to have a backup plan-- especially in places like Sydney right now that are fairly notorious for things like this happening. 

Thank you. I plan on calling them directly just prior to the cruise to ask them about this and their pickup at the port feature.

[roomba920]

Update: I called Budget/Avis in Sydney and they said their shuttle service doesn't go to the cruise terminal.

 

 

[lissie]

41 minutes ago, roomba920 said:

Update: I called Budget/Avis in Sydney and they said their shuttle service doesn't go to the cruise terminal.

 

 

Thanks for the update - I guess I'll plan on the 40min walk unless I find the local bus and some local cash! 

[roomba920]

6 hours ago, lissie said:

Thanks for the update - I guess I'll plan on the 40min walk unless I find the local bus and some local cash! 

I'm sure they'll be plenty of taxis at the cruise port, and they told me they'd call a cab for us when we return the car.

[1kaper]

12 hours ago, lissie said:

Thanks for the update - I guess I'll plan on the 40min walk unless I find the local bus and some local cash! 

 

There is a bus stop not far at George and Pitt St. .  There would be bus going all along the road the rental company is on.  Guess the final challenge is money.  But there are tons of vendors in the cruise port.  Perhaps a small purchase and ask for Canadian change. 

You would want Route 1. 

George and Pitt would be close to the port. 

Your stop would be somewhere between Ashby Corner and Walmart.  I'm sure if you let the bus driver know where you are going they'd drop you at the closest stop. 

https://www.cbrm.ns.ca/route-1-glace-bay-sydney.html

 

I assume you are going to Budget on Welton and not at the airport.  That would be a much longer walk. 

Edited May 4, 2023 by 1kaper

[lissie]

5 hours ago, 1kaper said:

 

There is a bus stop not far at George and Pitt St. .  There would be bus going all along the road the rental company is on.  Guess the final challenge is money.  But there are tons of vendors in the cruise port.  Perhaps a small purchase and ask for Canadian change. 

You would want Route 1. 

George and Pitt would be close to the port. 

Your stop would be somewhere between Ashby Corner and Walmart.  I'm sure if you let the bus driver know where you are going they'd drop you at the closest stop. 

https://www.cbrm.ns.ca/route-1-glace-bay-sydney.html

 

I assume you are going to Budget on Welton and not at the airport.  That would be a much longer walk. 

Ohh I didn't know there were vendors at the terminal that could be helpful! I've now sourced C$100 bill  from friends here in NZ - so I just need to break the note . I was going to try on the ship too as they cruise to Canada often I'm hoping I might be able to break the $100 - which a lot of places now refuse in NZ and I'm guessing Canda - then getting change from  a vendor should be easy. 

 

Yes it's Avis on Welton - same office as budget it looks like on the map.   Yes I am sure the bus drivers are used to the infux of clueless cruise passengers 🙂

[lissie]

12 hours ago, roomba920 said:

I'm sure they'll be plenty of taxis at the cruise port, and they told me they'd call a cab for us when we return the car.

I can't see it - there are 3500 people coming off the Caribeean Princess plus about 1700 of us on the Zaandam. Sydney's pop is only 30k.  No one is going to want a $10 fare across town. I'll take one if Ican persuade one but I'm not confident  I'll get one. 

 

I wonder if they have escooters? This would be a good moment for one of those! 

[ladysail2]

I wouldn’t think that getting change for a $100 bill first thing in the morning from a small time vendor would be easy.  Keep us posted.  Trying asking on your roll call board for a fellow cruiser to bring small bills and some coinage to exchange your large bill on the ship before docking in the port.  Maybe guest services can exchange it for you too. 

[roomba920]

On 1/4/2023 at 8:46 AM, princeton123211 said:

Unfortunately still doesn't provide a guarantee-- as per most rental car terms and conditions (including Budget) they can revoke a car reservation for any reason so long as they provide a refund. Much like a hotel that is overbooked, they will prioritize their top tier loyalty customers and work down from there. 

 

Not saying that this will happen to you, but I've seen it happen before and always good to have a backup plan-- especially in places like Sydney right now that are fairly notorious for things like this happening. 

Update: We had no problem with having an available car with Budget. In fact, they let us upgrade to a larger vehicle for room for friends who joined us, at no extra charge.

[lissie]

7 hours ago, roomba920 said:

Update: We had no problem with having an available car with Budget. In fact, they let us upgrade to a larger vehicle for room for friends who joined us, at no extra charge.

That's good to know Did you manage to get a taxi to their office? 

[roomba920]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:17 AM, lissie said:

That's good to know Did you manage to get a taxi to their office? 

Yes, taxi stand is right at terminal. It as about $10 for us. When we returned, the rental agency called a taxi for us and we were back onboard 30 minutes later.

Mind you, it was not a busy day or season when we were there.

[itsanita]

On 1/9/2023 at 2:25 PM, roomba920 said:

Thank you. I plan on calling them directly just prior to the cruise to ask them about this and their pickup at the port feature.

We have a rental there as well for October.  We gave CC info, but no charge till we check in.  We did this years ago without issue.  Now I am a bit concerned.  If anyone does this rental, let us know the outcome?  I will do the same.  

[roomba920]

On 6/22/2023 at 9:46 AM, itsanita said:

We have a rental there as well for October.  We gave CC info, but no charge till we check in.  We did this years ago without issue.  Now I am a bit concerned.  If anyone does this rental, let us know the outcome?  I will do the same.  

They do not pickup at the port anymore, but there are taxis at the port and we had no problem getting to the rental agency, but we also went just prior to the busy season, so keep that in mind.

[lissie]

20 hours ago, roomba920 said:

They do not pickup at the port anymore, but there are taxis at the port and we had no problem getting to the rental agency, but we also went just prior to the busy season, so keep that in mind.

Yeah that's my concern - we are there in August and there is another huge ship in port the same day!