Several months ago, when Flexcar announced that it was being acquired by Zipcar, I was worried. There were too many unknowns. Will I have to start paying a membership fee? Will my employer support Zipcar as it had with Flexcar? What will happen to my employee discount? I was prepared to end my status as a car share member, which started within a month of my purchase of our Prius, five years ago.
The change from Flexcar to Zipcar was set to begin in Seattle sometime in late February, it was reported.
On February 8 (last week), Flexcar informed me, in an email, that I would not receive an hourly discount through my employer’s plan with Zipcar, but I would be receiving a 50% discount on the annual fee. The email added that I would be receiving my Zipcar card “soon.” All in all, the advantages seemed to outweigh the disadvantages. (I also considered that reserving a Zipcar in another city seems to be easier than with Flexcar.) I decided to say “yes” to Zipcar, when the card came.
Today, Lynn went with Phillip and me as we went shopping for a replacement for our portable dishwasher. While we were shopping at Sears, Lynn ended up buying a television. I was skeptical about our ability to get it back to Lynn’s place, but both she and Phillip assured me that it would fit in the back seat of our Prius. Lynn bought the TV, with the idea that we would continue shopping and pick it up on our way back. After looking at Lowes and Home Depot, Phillip and I bought the dishwasher we saw at Sears. We were told we would be able to pick it up at the warehouse in Kent tomorrow.
Lynn’s new television did, indeed fit in the back seat of our Prius. We drove back to Lynn’s place and helped her set up the TV. There, I borrowed her computer to reserve a Flexcar Honda Element for tomorrow.
According to Flexcar’s web site, both of the Elements in our neighborhood would be unavailable at any time tomorrow. I checked other neighborhoods. Every Element in town, it seemed, would be unavailable. That didn’t seem right. I checked for any available Flexcar. They would all be unavailable. That really didn’t seem right. Flexcars are popular – we saw a lot out and about today – but how could they all be reserved for the whole day? Phillip wondered if there was something wrong with the web site.
I tried reserving an Element with the phone system. The first one I tried would be unavailable, all day. I called the help desk at about 3:00. The man explained that as of 7:00 today, Seattle’s Flexcars will officially become Zipcars. I need to use my Zipcar card to reserve a car for tomorrow, he explained, in a condescending tone of voice. I didn’t get a Zipcar card, I explained. They were mailed out two weeks ago, he replied (which, now that I think about it, rather contradicts last week’s email). He took my contact information and promised that someone would look into the situation.
On the drive home from Lynn’s place, Phillip, who seemed just as ticked off as I was, commented that this transition from Flexcar to Zipcar had been promised to be “transparent.”
As I was preparing to write this post, I checked on zipcar.com. Their map of US cities has a flag by Seattle stating “coming 2/21.” When I try to locate a Zipcar near me, I get a message saying “Zipcars are coming soon to Seattle!”
We’re going to rent a truck tomorrow. So far, Zipcar is not presenting a good image to me. I’ve decided to say “no” to Zipcar, if my card comes.
