don't listen to me

there’s no doubt I’m an idiot

Here’s the email I was going to send to zipcar this morning:

I apologize in advance for the lengthy email. (added half-way into the email)

My car had an almost lighter fluid or kerosene like smell to it this morning. It reminded me of Zippo lighter fluid. I don’t think it was an exhaust fume smell so I guess I was prepared to take my chances by driving the car.

It was pretty bad but not undrivable. This car was a zipcar initiated swap-out for another car for this particular reservation so I wasn’t prepared to deal with calling up and trying to find another car a mile away.

Seems like each reservation there’s one issue or another so I was prepared to take my chances with the fumes. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at determining which warning lights/indicators are non-issues. Ironically it was this very car that I reserved sometime last year had the engine oil refill cap unscrewed with oil spewing out all over the engine compartment and all over the ground and eventually no oil showing on the dipstick. Unfortunately the oil pressure / engine light didn’t come on until well into my trip.

Which leads to some feedback:

The phone tree should still let me add comments regarding my reservation - even after my reservation ends. When I called just now there was no number to press to do so. My reservation only ended 10 minutes ago.

Another suggestion:

On the contact us page on the website there should be an option in the drop down for leaving feedback about any issues with my reservation. I get the feeling Zipcar likes to pigeonhole people’s methods of contacting Zipcar using “approved” methods of leaving feedback about the car’s state at the very beginning of my reservation. Problem is that it’s not very flexible or helpful. I think I understand the reasons behind it but, again, this is just my feedback.

Here’s the other suggestion:

Don’t put the “had an accident” option third on the phone tree. If someone had an accident that’s probably something that should be the first option on a phone tree. It probably shouldn’t even be in the main phone tree - maybe something like “dial 1 if you’ve just had an accident” as the first thing someone hears when they call zipcar. People are usually pretty freaked out when they’ve just been in an accident and are unlikely to calmly navigate a phone tree when traffic is piling up, other drivers are trying to get info from them…

Another suggestion:

Since it takes a few minutes to call the zipcar phone number and navigate the phone tree to figure out which number to press to leave comments regarding damage/issues with the car, I’m more likely to let Zipcar know of any problems with the car if I were able to text them or email them (yes quite a few people have email capabilities on their phone these days). It takes only a few seconds to shoot a text message with basics - like “engine light”, “right passenger fender”, “cracked windscreen”, “less than 1/4 tank”, etc I’m much more likely to do so if I can text that info.

Anyway I think I’m probably like most people in that I feel awkward leaving voice messages with things that are hard to describe like damage to a car. You don’t know if you should leave your zipcar member number, what time of day it is, (even though you probably have that info), what side of the car the damage is on (what’s left? passenger or driver?) is this damage for a bumper or the fairing under the bumper? what is a fairing anyway? I cringe when I recall some of my past messages:

“There seems to be a bit of significant amount of damage - not undrivable damage mind you - just significant - to the area right below the bumber. Sorry, front bumber. Doesn’t seem to be the bumper per se, but the area just below the bumber. What am I talking about? - you guys probably don’t need me to be that specific. But, you know, if you do it’s probably the fairing. Don’t know why I said fairing just now. Not even sure what a fairing is. “sigh” So yeah call me back if you need more detail. This is Emmett Keyser member number #####. Tuesday. The 18th I think. No 17th. Sorry you probably have that info already.”

Then I can follow up later with a phone message about details or someone at Zipcar can contact me for specifics if needed. My guess is that Zipcar only really needs to know the basics since I’m guessing that even when I leave a detailed message there may be reason to need to follow up on damage found on the car since text and voice can only be only so detailed. That and I also sound like an idiot.

Maybe that’s already been added to the text messaging features - I’ll look into it.

Here’ the email I probably will send later:

Inside of reserved car had pretty bad kerosene-like smell this morning.

Contact me if you need more details.

e