Flexcar to Zipcar merger not going well
I don’t think this is breaking news. I seemed to remember reading about the acquisition a few months back. I’m not a user of Flexcar, yet have looked into it many times over the past year to see if it could save us money and get rid of our truck. So, Flexcar made the transition to Zipcar this past month and one of our readers isn’t too happy about it. In the story suggestion box we get a note that the transition isn’t going well.
I have been a Flexcar member for about 4 years now– very happy and satisfied, always thought they did a great job! Don’t own a car, don’t even think I need to what with the ease of using Flexcar. Nevertheless, with the recent “merger” of Flexcar with the East Coast-owned Zipcar, and the addition of fun cars like Minis and BMWs to the fleet of mostly hybrids and utility vehicles, I was excited and looking forward to a change. But ever since I transitioned Saturday, I have had nothing but problems and just want our little Seattle-based Flexcar back!!! Zipcards that don’t work… flat-out lies (or at least ignorance about policies and happenings at their own company) from Member Services… promises for Supervisors to call and not getting a call back… outrageous late fee charges of $150 sent to my debit card for being 1112 minutes late (the aforementioned Zipcard that works when it wants to not clocking me out)… the use of the word (used lightly here) “undelinquafied”….. So I’m wondering if others in our wonderful city who always seemed to be avid Flexcar users are also getting the same treatment or encountering similar problems with the new car-sharing company…? And, I’m also just looking to rant. Thanks!
That doesn’t sound fun. We have all experience the situation where we have great service and just plain love a local company and then it gets acquired and the new company just sucks. That happened to us when Homegrocer got picked up by Webvan. Ahh, the heady days of Web 1.0…..
Well reader, thanks for telling us how it is going behind the scenes. Anyone else having issues with the new Zipcar service and the transition?
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The problems you are describing are experienced in many mergers. The financials get worked out and the deal gets done.
Far too often, though, the service components- such combining two different acctg/billing systems as well as customer service policies- aren’t given top priority by the insulated, top execs who drove the deal thru.
Oh no! We just joined Flexcar.
yeah, i use flexcar for work and have been a bit afraid of using the zipcard now that they’ve taken over. i’ll bite the bullet sometime next week probably.
Yes. I was on the phone this weekend hoping to reserve a car and circled through computer menus for 5 minutes before finally giving up. I always reached a person at Flexcar. Hopefully they’ll iron the kinks out.
I was very happy with flexcar, but not so impressed with zipcar. I needed a car right after the merger and I could not get the cars in my neighborhood to load into the map. When searching for cars in NE, zipcar was giving me a display of cars in NW portland. I sent an e-mail and two days later I got a note that there was a car in my neighborhood, but it wasn’t very close to me. That is not really the customer service I was hoping for. I took the bus instead. Not sure if I will renew.
My family used Flexcar for about a year and a half before the merger (we don’t own a car). We have used Zipcar several times now and it has been pretty easy. The card seems to work better for us than the Flexcar card, and the reservation system is slicker. We don’t like the outrageous late fees either, but that is their policy. Overall the change has not had a huge impact in our service.
I was a Flexcar member for about three months before the Zipcar merger. I was quite happy with Flexcar, and other than the previously mentioned issue with cars not showing up in either system in my neighborhood for the week they were cutting over (fortunately I did not need a car that week, though an email asking about it was promptly replied to), I’ve now used a Zipcar three times and had no issues. I’m as happy with it as I was Flexcar.
I began to be concerned after reading that ZipCar removed all the downtown LA cars last month with no advance notice to their former FlexCar customers. I loved FlexCar’s low-use plan, $9.99/month for 3 hours, but Zipcar won’t be offering that. Consequently, I expect to use Zipcar for at least 1/3 fewer hours overall and have been thinking about buying a car again.
http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/01/23/thank-you-zipcar-for-removing-all-the-cars-from-my-neighborhood/
If you live in Chicago, Evanston or Oak Park and want a local alternative to Zipcar check out I-GO Car Sharing. We are a local, non-profit car sharing organization with about 200 cars in Chicago. 1/3 of our fleet (but soon-to-be 1/2)is made up of hybrid cars and the rest are all low emission vehicles. The links for I-GO’s website and official blog are below:
http://www.igocars.org
http://igocarsharing.blogspot.com/
I actually had more problems before the merger than after. My very first Flexcar reservation was a failure; the card wouldn’t unlock the door, and after 10 minutes on hold for customer service and another 20 minutes of the CSR trying to remote unlock the car, I ended up just calling my friend to come pick me up.
But I still had faith, and even though it took another 2 emails, 3 phone calls and a month and a half to get the money refunded, subsequent Flexcar reservations were fine. I’ve used Zipcar twice since the merger, and though the rates are higher in general, I’m much happier with the Zipcar computer reservation system, and I like that you don’t have to tote the car keys around (they stay zip-lined to the steering column).
FWIW, I think the high late fees are fair, as it is a big hassle for the person after you if you return the car late when they’re expecting it.
I’m moving to Portland from Wash DC in two weeks (I know - not another one!). My experience with Flexcar/Zipcar has been exactly the opposite. Flexcar had slightly lower rates, but they were terribly inefficient, their cars were all banged up and dirty inside, and god help you if you had a billing error (which was a regular occurrence). The merger has accomplished one important thing for Zipcar. They’ve raised their liability insurance for drivers from $10,000 (what good is that?) to a standard $300,000 policy. When you come from a city where a favorite pastime is suing people, that’s important. See y’all soon!
Patty - we welcome you with open arms. Hope you can come join us at our meetup on Feb 20.
Dieselboi - Thanks for the welcome and the invite. I don’t fly in until the 22nd, so I’ll have to try another time!
I love Flexcar, Zipcar seems like it will be a problem. I have been a dedicated member of Flexcar for 2 years now, loving every single moment. I mainly use the cars at night so their free between the time of 12AM-6AM worked perfect for me. I would use the car almost 30 hours a month for $75. Now come to find out zipcar does not offer it and they demand pre-payment on all their plans which is horrible. I enjoy knowing what my bill will be at the end of the month and having it debited. Oh well, looks like it’s time for me to buy a car, it was good while it lasted.
Zipcar has let me down on two crucial, consecutive occasions, despite my spending time on the phone and online to ensure the transition of my Flexcar membership info. With Zipcar, I’ve been locked out of my reserved vehicle and have missed two meetings with my employer (I work from home). The first time I was late due to Zipcar’s bungling, my boss was understanding. The second time I was left hanging by Zipcar, I knew she was taking my story as a "dog ate my homework" excuse. On this second occasion, the delay of access meant I had to cancel subsequent appointments, and asked the customer service rep to please scale my original 3-hour appointment down to one hour, to end at 11:30 a.m. Well, she punched it in as 11:30 *p.m.*, meaning I was charged for 13 hours of use. And now it’s President’s Day weekend, and I can’t even speak to someone in accounting about getting a refund until Tuesday. It says a great deal about Zipcar that they are capable of taking in money 24/7, but their capacity to correct errors is limited to trim overhead. Now I’m considering buying a used car so that I don’t have to worry about my next Zipcar reservation being the reason why I miss another meeting and lose a freelance writing contract. It’s clear that this company with a "green" mission isn’t immune from the lure of another green.