I just reserved a car for a full day tomorrow, then had a last minute change so that I didn't need it. I made the reservation about an hour ago. Now I want to cancel it, but I'm being told that I will be charged in full. So of course I'm not going to cancel it, there is NO incentive for me to do so!

If I was given a refund of 50% of the cost, I would absolutely cancel the reservation. But instead, a car will sit and be unable to be used by others becuase I've paid for it, and if I do turn out to need a car tomorrow, I'm not going to want to spend on another one.

The cancelation policy is confusing, but worst of all, it's against everything that this car sharing, environmentally friendly organization should stand for. What a shame.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2004

Answers

I believe that their cancellation policy is in place to guard against those who would unfairly keep a car reserved JUST IN CASE they decide to use it. Their more rigid policy ensures zip car users are responsible when they make a reservation and choose to own the time. A more sophisticated and user friendly policy that Im sure Zipcar management would be open to would be: If you have to Cancel Late then the car should be made available to the Zipcar community. If someone does indeed schedule the car then the Cancelling party would be relinquished from the full reservation, and made to pay only the balance of the old reservation's time the new reservation does not cover. Does that make sense?

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2004

The trouble is in differentiating between the behaviors of both types of uesrs.

Possibly a monthly allotment of "Reservation Change" either hours or incidents would help?

Giving a monthly allotment of "Change" hours, would allow a natural buildup of trust in the community.

These monthly hours should increase to a determined point (so after 3 years, a user can't be obnoxious) probably that which an average user could need in a given month , or maybe twice that.

I find about ever 2 months I have a car for longer than I need it for, and return it a few hours early, or at the last minute determine I don't have a need for it.

For normal users, this would allow flexibility, usability, and become transparent to them eventually (when their time builds up and they are "trusted").

For parasitic users, this would allow inconveniences to other drivers in only small amounts.

At least some way in which good drivers can be rewarded for their honesty, and a way to limit the inconvenience placed upon these trusted drivers by the untrustworthy users.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2004

Or, just refund 50% of the cost. Still a detrement, but at least there is some incentive to turn the car back in.

Jake

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2004

I agree with Jake that Zipcar needs to offer an incentive for customers to cancel their reservation. The point of the policy is that you pay for the time you would have had it because other people couldn't reserve it. I understand that zipcar misses out on possible revenue when you cancel it last minute. But, I think if you cancel (late) and have to pay the fee, you should at least be reimbursed part of your cancellation if someone else reserves it last minute.

The way it is now zipcar ends up being paid double if someone else reserves during the time you cancelled. Zipcar should offer an incentive to get back part of the cancellation fee if you at least cancel; either by giving a percent refund (Jake's suggestion), or at least not having you pay for hours other people end up using.

The way it stands it doesn't make any sense, and ends up hurting other zipcar users who would use a car and can't because there is no incentive for cancelling. In addition, it means Zipcar is missing out on possible revenue they could get from people taking the car after another customer cancels.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2004