zipcar.com

Emotionally traumatized from my experience with this company

This was an extremely upsetting and traumatic experience for us. To break down exactly what happened, here is a comprehensive chronology:We rented the Zipcar at 7pm and drove across the George Washington Bridge to get groceries. We also brought our dog with us because we have a puppy and the rescue agency said he should not be left alone. After shopping, we return to the car at approximately 8:20. Mind you, our drop off time was 9pm and it was an approximately 27-30 minute drive, so we planned the length of our shopping trip to ensure we would drop it off at the correct time.What ensued from this point forward was nothing short of emotional trauma. The car would not start, as it told us the battery was dead. We asked numerous people in the parking lot with extra batteries to help us, but it was an older model of car that they were not familiar with and were unable to successfully do so. We then called ZipCar and they agreed to send a maintenance person to look at it. When he arrives, he was able to successfully jumpstart it. However, our problems were just getting started (keep in mind that it is nearly 11pm at night and in a dark area). We are unable to get inside our car, as the key is connected to my husband's phone. The most upsetting part is that our dog is inside the car with no air conditioning and it is 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside and much hotter inside. We can see him panting and whimpering.At this point, it is a matter of life and death for our dog before he overheats. We call ZipCar again and the representative is extremely abusive to me and my husband, telling us that there is absolutely nothing he can do and he's sorry about our dog. I reiterate to him the seriousness of the situation, but he just says, over-and-over in a very nonplussed, uncompassionate tone that there is nothing he can do except call a tow truck.Then, he starts blaming us, saying this whole situation is our fault and that we should have made it back on time. When I explain to him we were leaving at 8:20pm to make it back, he keeps reiterating that it is still our fault. I then ask him how we are supposed to get back to our home, which is a 30-minute drive away. He tells us we need to take public transportation. It is 10:30pm at night in North Bergen, NJ, and there are no buses running. Couple that with the fact that we have twelve bags full of groceries (a majority of which are perishables like milk, cheese, meat, and seafood) and a dog, and public transportation would not even be an option regardless.At this point, it's getting later and later in a darkened area with little-to-no-people. I ask him when the tow truck will come, and he says 45-to-60 minutes. I ask for a tracking number for the tow truck so we can contact him if need be, as our phones are both dying and all the shops are closed where we could buy a charger. He says he cannot provide me with a tracking number and that we will just have to wait.So, we wait 2 hours, TWO HOURS, and the truck never comes. We realize that we have been lied to. At this point, the meat is starting to smell because of the heat and our dog is whimpering and getting restless. We are also concerned for our safety. So, we call Zipcar and tell them that the representative lied to us, a tow truck was never called, and that we had been waiting for two hours. He tells us to take pictures of our car and that we can leave via Uber.We then call an Uber, and the driver comes. Even though we had entered our address initially, he then tells us, sorry, he can't go to New York. Uber then charges us a cancellation fee and we have to take a Lyft back to our home only to find that our perishables had gone bad. As reiterated before in the initial paragraph, we are requesting a full compensation for the amount of our trip, the Lyft back, and the perishables that spoiled. Please issue this immediately.

Date of experience: Aug 14, 2025