An open letter from Enterprise (KC Star ad)

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 2:43 pm

Full page ad in Today's Sunday Star trying to mend fences between Enterprise and the community that hate them...

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"The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Kansas City Team-- Proud to Serve(Rip-off) Our Community for 32 Years...

To Our (ex)Customers and Neighbors...

During the recent and often-emotional (dishonest) campaign related to funding a new sports arena, Enterprise Rent-A-Wreck of Kansas City (St. Louis, really) took a (violently unpopular) stand that we knew be controversial (completely boneheadedly stupid). It wasn't a decision we took lightly, because we believe it is critical to find a way to revitalize our downtown (NBA to Savvis Center). After all, we are a local business(based in Clayton); when our community(StL) thrives and prospers, so do we.

Together, we are more than 500 Enteprise employees (average length of employment at Enterprise = less than 3 years) who live, work, pay taxes and raise families here. We've been proud to do business(rape customers) in Kansas City for 32 years. Annually, we pay $6 M in taxes across the metropolitan area (ask us how we license cars in cheaper states to avoid paying our fare share). We spend $100 M a year to purchase vehicles from local dealerships (ask us about our thousands of dollars in unpaid KCMO parking tickets). We are generous, long-term supporters of many local charities and community groups(Andy Taylor: $40 M to the StL Symphony).

So why did we choose to oppose Question 1 (besides stupidity)? For two reasons. One, because it places a heavy tax on our customers -- the majority of whom are local residents (only 7 Enterprise locations in the entire city of KCMO). And two, because it places the financial burden for a taxpayer-supported project (check out our spiffy new digs at KCI coming soon paid for by our customers) on the the back of customers from only two industries. We believe that when we come together to tackle such an important public project, an approach soudh be found that distributes the cost equitably across the entire community (Enterprise alone contributed over 98% of the funding for the CAAT).

Enterprise has become the industry leader (liar) by taking exceptional care of our customers (lost multi-million dollar lawsuit in NY for scaming customers) and by playing an active role in the communities where we do business (bringing NBA to StL). To the extent that our position upset or offended any(most) of our (ex)customers and neighbors, we apologize. But it was a position that we took for legitimate reasons (greed and jealousy).

On August 3, the citizens of our community approved(by nearly 20,0000 votes) Question 1. We respect their decision, just as we hope everyone respects our decision to take a stand on this issue. Going forward, we will be the same civic-minded and customer-focused company(continue to lie, deceive and get sued by our customers and former employees) we have always been.

Sincerely,
The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Kansas City Team (Really just Andy Taylor)

ignatius · Post by **ignatius** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 3:07 pm

Man, business must be way down in the KC market for them to do this.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 3:14 pm

Then also respect my decision not to use your company then and quit filling me full of lies.

Man Enterprise is giving the KC media plenty of cash in a month.

KCN · Post by **KCN** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 4:57 pm

Who wrote that?

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 5:05 pm

KCNorthlander wrote:Who wrote that?

The letter is from Enterprise and I inserted the truth reminders ().

KCN · Post by **KCN** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:04 am

lol ok that makes more sense now

AllThingsKC · Post by **AllThingsKC** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:16 pm

LOL. I remember reading that in the Star a few weeks ago, but I just now found your post. - Thank you!!! It's awesome!!! I love it!!! (Should I E-Mail it to EnterLIES Rent-A-Lie?)

Me Before the Arena:

My thoughts of EnterLIES before the arena vote:

Me during the the CAAT era:

What CAAT is to me:

What I'd like to do to EnterLIES:

(give them "a" finger)

Me after the Arena passed:

EnterLIES after the Arena passed:

CAAT after the Arena passed:

St. Louis after the Arena passed:

Me and a friend in the new arena watching the Kansas City Kings:

P. S. I have made to web sites (well, Yahoo! Groups, really) about the arena...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheSprintCenter

and

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoycottEnterprise

ComandanteCero · Post by **ComandanteCero** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:35 pm

honstely guys, i don't think St. Louis cares whether we do or don't get an arena, i haven' heard any mention or discussion from my friends over there or any of the forums i visit.... (which doesnt mean a group of balding white men behind some large desk with their own financial stakes aren't irked) of course, i might be wrong....

supastudio · Post by **supastudio** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:26 pm

ComandanteCero wrote:honstely guys, i don't think St. Louis cares whether we do or don't get an arena, i haven' heard any mention or discussion from my friends over there or any of the forums i visit.... (which doesnt mean a group of balding white men behind some large desk with their own financial stakes aren't irked) of course, i might be wrong....

I agree with ComandanteCero... Why would mighty STL care about little KCMO and our quaint Sprint Arena

ComandanteCero · Post by **ComandanteCero** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:00 am

supastudio, i didn't mean for it to sound that way. I'm just saying we really don't need to bring St. Louis into the equation regarding what we build or don't build. We build what we build, good for us, St. Louis builds what they build, good for them. We're not competing for the same crowd, we both have baseball teams, football teams, (and maybe some day we'll both have NBA teams) and when we do we can have some of the old meaningless cross MIssouri rivalry.

Post by **bahua** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:18 am

Yeah, heaven forbid they protest being ordered to foot a 150 million dollar bill for something they never fully supported. What assholes!

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:21 am

actually the people renting the cars are, not enterprise. Remember, 80% of those renters are us according to them.

I'm certain 99.9% of STL could care less that we get a new arena....they probably are cheering for it. I don't dismiss that the .1% of people may see this as a problem to them trying to get an NBA franchise though.

If it was all about just the fee, Enterprise would be fighting in Dallas right now....I've heard/read/seen nothing.

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:38 am

The whole KC vs STL thing was incredibly overblown. Enterprise would have opposed the arena wherever their headquarters were located. And they probably would have used a PR firm in that city as well.

Pat Gray, Steve Glorioso, and Kay Barnes took a juicy rumor and turned into a very brilliant political maneuver. The "don't let St. Louis hold us down" thing was mostly false, but it was also very effective. It reminds me of the bait and switch they pulled to give Richards-Gabaur Airport to KC Southern.

supastudio · Post by **supastudio** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:18 pm

Guys (and Gals)... I was joking.... hence the

I'm sure STL is rooting for us to get an NHL/NBA team