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PhillyCarShare
Rating Details »
Category: Car Rental [Edit]
Neighborhood: Market East125 S 9th St
Ste 1000
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 730-0988
47 reviews for PhillyCarShare
Listen up folks,
Griping and serious mishaps aside, if you sat back and tried to imagine all the balls in the air that PhillyCarshare is trying to juggle this would all make so much more sense. They're really in a damned if you do/damned if you don't situation. The reason why there's a distinct divide in their past vs present level of service and operation is because they got to be so good at what they were doing for their members and the entire city of Philadelphia. Zipcar never sought to establish such a large presence that was based on serving every major neighborhood from W.Philly down to Temple.
It started out as a non-profit and was therefore dirt cheap. Is there any service where you get to use something really expensive to ensure for NO MONTHLY FEE? Not to mention free gas. That's like saying you're entitled to a free TV because you pay through the nose for cable. Your monthly usage used to be free and then everyone wanted to get in on it and PCS was exploding while making sure it stayed cheap. Guess what happened? The cars got dirty, members started acting oh lets see whats the word...*entitled*.... not to mention indifferent and the organization started to crumble. They really had no choice but to raise costs based on a simple supply/demand principle. It started out with 10 members, then 200, then 2000 and 20,000 within a FEW YEARS.
Logistically speaking it's hard to imagine everything that goes wrong. And when it does, it's usually your fellow members who act countless and careless instead of prudent and punctual. as many have pointed out, it IS a non-profit (read understaffed/underpaid) that was based on a sustainable alternative to cars and mass transit. It was never designed to be used for days, weekends or week long trips. Go out and find yourself a good deal on a rental if that's the case. You can't have your cake and eat it too folks. If you want cheap hourly rates with no fees, keep in mind this is the tradeoff for sharing with lotsa dirty folks. If you demand seamless customer service and billing management equivalent to a large profit based corporate model, expect to pay more. Heck even Verizon and Comcast haven't mastered this. Give little ole PhillyCarShare a break.
Phillycarshare I'm falling out of love with you. The only problem is I'm stuck in a conundrum because if you disappear then we all know Zipcar will take advantage of a monopoly.
What was an excellent service with friendly staff, has now turned into an overpriced half-assed experience. Cars are consistently damaged, with maintenance lights and flat tires a constant issue. These days a 2 hour rental is over $20, which when coupled with the monthly fee makes it far more expensive than Zipcar. If I want a car for 4 hours on a weekend, its now cheaper to rent at Alamo for me.
You can see which way this is going. A year ago, on a weekend you had little hope of getting a car at the last minute. Roll on to now, and with the same number of cars in my area, every car this weekend was completely unreserved. I really can't see them lasting long at this rate.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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1/14/2008
PhillyCarShare is an excellent service. I would have been totally lost without it when I first came… Read more »
I used PCS for several years, both for work and with my own account. I have to give them credit for the concept, their emphasis on sustainability, and their community involvement, but man...they've been a mess lately. The $15/month charge was an unwelcome change, but the email announcing it practically dared customers to keep their accounts - and it was in keeping with the rest of the unfriendly communication members have received this year. I'm not sure why PCS' tone shifted so dramatically from the fun emails they used to send, but it was jarring and indicated that they didn't care if I was a customer...so I'm not anymore.
I closed my account and so did my employer. We still get PCS statements every month for the business account, despite sending an email every month saying "Hey, we closed this x months ago." Who is running this thing? They did send an email this week explaining the recent changes and acknowledging the communication issues, so hopefully they'll turn things around.
In the meantime, it's Zipcar for work and Uhaul for moving for me, even though I would prefer to use the local non-profit option.
Everyone here seems to agree that PhillyCarShare has a great IDEA in principle, but the organization itself is terrible, even deceptive and/or fradualent in their administration of Member accounts and funds.
My experience started with a hint of the future, when I signed up (circa 2006) and they billed me for the fee-based membership. I noticed the charge within 1-2 days, and called to report the mistake - before I had used a car once, so I had taken no benefit, and they would lose nothing by fixing it. They made it sound impossible to reverse the charge, stated that I was "contractually bound", and took a school-marmish stance with comments like "our members take responsibility for their actions". It took real battle and threats to get the erroneous charge reversed, and I almost abandoned them there.
My rental experiences were always nice, but the condition, location(s), and availability of vehicles has gone downhill steadily, as others have discussed on Yelp already.
I was away from Philadelphia for most of 2008 and early 2009, but had a credit balance of ~$25 during that entire time. When I recently went to use my account (July 2009), they told me that it was "closed due to inactivity" in January, and that they had sent an email to me in December giving me an opportunity to avoid it. I have all my PhillyCarShare emails since 2006 in one folder, and received no such note - in fact I have quite the opposite: montly newsletter statements with the credit balance showing through May! They told me I would need to re-apply and pay another application/review fee. Then they insisted my old $25 credit balance had been refunded to my credit card, which I didn't recall seeing, and now verified with AmEx that it was not. After another escalated phone call, they now "promise" that it will be refunded within days.
And I'll be signing up for ZipCar! ZipCar is probably better anyway, as they are operating in multiple cities, and seem to be taking over many of the best PCS parking locations.
Almost every person in PhillyCarShare Member Services is haughty and rude - their tone is that way even before you get into any specific issue. Between their deceptive and fradualent actions and their condescending and unapologetic attitude, I really would like to see them slapped with a consumer protetection lawsuit or attorney general's investigation.
I was once a very happy PhillyCarShare member. And then things started to go downhill. The cars became dirty, there was rarely ever any gas in the tanks, and then the management decided to completely change their revenue model seemingly out of the blue.
And then things got worse. You had to bring your own tires, the Priuses were replaced by Ford Broncos, and the brakes were removed so you had to stop Flintstone-style (i.e. with your feet).
I've canceled my PhillyCarShare account and now only have a ZipCar account. I don't miss those two green guys holding a big key at all.
Like many folks here, and probably 2/3 of PCS' total customer base, I had the no-fee membership. Then PCS pulled that dishonest, short notice, hidden-at-the-bottom-of-a-generic-email nonsense canceling the no-fee option. So bye-bye.
Before the shady fee increase, the PCS cost/benefit calculus just barely broke even. For a 24hr rental, the price was the same as Enterprise. Every car I used was filthy inside and/or banged up on the outside. The "damage log" was a joke; who wants to read through dozens of pages trying to guess which ding matched up with which vague, sloppy-handwriting note? But on the plus side, they had a better car selection than most rent-a-car places, and quick, 24 hour availability. Plus no need to pay for parking if I brought the car back early.
I hope ZipCar will see a potential market in all these disgruntled, ex-PCS customers and start up a no-fee membership.
For years i used the service and loved it ... even one year i paid for upgraded membership which help me that year and when i did not need the paid membership i turned it back to FREE.. then in April i get a e-mail telling me that my membership will be rolled into a paid membership or i can leave ... well ... i left that month.. Even if then offered me a yearly paid membership 25-50 a year i may at that time paid it to keep my membership but this or that .... i think not .. they need to look at where the members are going (ZIPCAR)
I'm actually going to come out and defend PCS, I think they've gotten a pretty bad rap with the $15/mo thing. Yes, it was bad form to send that out on a Friday and a week before the deadline; yes, it was a bit mean spirited (but not as emo as some have made it out to be)...I'm not about to judge a car sharing entity on a one-time bitchy e-mail.
I use the service to the tune of about ~$100/mo (comes out to 12-15 hours or so) and I've done the math vs. zipcar and PCS ends up ahead by maybe $20-$30 or so. The cars are usually there when I need them, they're functional, they usually don't smell too bad, and getting them in and out of pods is a snap.
My one gripe is the way some members treat the cars...like someone mentioned here: visors fall off, trash can be left in cars, sometimes the cars are dirty. This isn't like a car rental where you rent the car in some strange city and never see it again, your neighbors rent the cars, YOU will re-rent the same car! Hopefully PCS' new $15/month rule will encourage people to feel more "vested" in the organization and the cars themselves.
They have their faults, but it's usually the members that contribute to the problem, not management. Every time I've had issues, my emails would be answered within 24 hours (usually less).
So long as PCS makes financial sense for me (which is easy seeing as center city parking alone runs ~$200) and I get to where I need to go, I'll leave my car in California and stick with it.
Luckily, I'm neither overtly sensitive or emotionally broken, so I can deal with the occasional "emo" e-mail or two. PhillyCarShare--spend more money on keeping the cars we want (cut back on pokey hybrids and bright yellow minis) clean & maintained, not in your PR department!
At first, I thought PhillyCarShare was a great idea...until I actually became a customer.
I used the service once...I got a Prius from a location 2 blocks from my house. The Prius was in poor shape to say the least. There was lots of trash in the car, a garbage bag full of random debris in the trunk and the carpet back there had some horrible bleach stains. None of these things were documented in the log book, so I spent the first 15 minutes of my precious reservation time documenting these issues so I wouldn't be billed for them. It was a huge hassle to get the car back on time and it really wasn't all that relaxing of an experience...I was constantly worried that I would get stuck in traffic and be charged more for being late.
In an effort to make this review brief, I don't like the direction PhillyCarShare is going. I kept my membership after my first experience - even though I had my own car - just because I liked the idea of being able to use it, if I needed it. Then I got an e-mail regarding that montly membership fee...I don't need to go into the details, there are plenty of other reviews that go over that. Anyway...once I saw that, I immediately canceled my membership. It's simply not worth it. If you can't afford a 5,000 dollar used Honda Civic, buy your self a 650 dollar "beater" car with a new inspection (one that lasts at least 10 months) from CraigsList...get the state minimum insurance and you'll have a car! It will end up being cheaper than this service. I've done it before and I would gladly do it again!
PS - I was at the Honda dealership a few months ago and they had a engineering schematic of a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid on the screen at the Parts Department...I asked why he was looking at the pistons of such a new car. He explained that PhillyCarShare had managed to ruin one or more of them by failing to use the proper high efficiency Honda 0W5 motor oil or something...whatever the case, the entire engine was fried. So, not only does it sound like they can't keep the interiors of the cars in good shape - but the engines are also getting torn up by improper maintenance.
And down we drop. I do share Kathleen's outlook over the fact that with how shitty the economy is right now, you do have to expect the little guy to raise the rates in order to survive. And Zipcar are definitely going to raise them a shit ton more should Carshare ever be no more. However, the way that The Carshare went about raising their rates while giving all of their members little to no notice whatsoever was a douche move pure and simple.
I'll still has it great perks and advantages. But at the same time it definitely seems like their services and accommodations have dropped significantly. Hopefully they can get their crap together in the long haul.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/24/2007 First to Review
Your kidding me? I'm the first to review this? I mean Philly Car Share has got to be one of the most… Read more »
I used to be a CarShare member for about a year - until they started screwing things up royally!
#1 - Charging for estimated mileage. Just because I rent a car for over 24 hours, doesn't mean I'm actually going to go over the mileage limit! How can they just ASSUME these things? Very unfair.. And after they charge you for the milage that you NEVER drove, it's a pain in the butt to have to call them to get your money refunded.
#2 - Gas cards being taken out of the cars..Which means you have to pay out of pocket for gas! Isn't the whole purpose of opting for this program to save money and NOT have to pay for gas? Why don't they issue personal gas cards to all of their members, that pull from the same gas account?
#3 - Smarmy e-mails telling me that it's not recommended to rent a car for weekend trips, and that it's not really "car sharing"..and now I have to pay more. WTF!!! That email is what really put me over the edge! I don't NEED a damn car to buy groceries or things for the house..that's what SHIPPING is for..I just use the cars to leave the city every once in the while.. is that soo bad??
I am now a proud ZipCar member and happy that I made the shift! :)
#
I still love you, PhillyCarShare.
Ok, so they dropped the free membership, the cars can be dirty, and sometimes the visor will fall out when you're driving. But I'm willing to let that all that slide, simply because I don't have a car and PhillyCarShare lets me borrow one whenever I want.
I expect some snafus from a non-profit organization. But the moral of the story is: PhillyCareShare is doing what they can to give us a valuable, eco-friendly service at affordable rates. The cars are there when I need them, they get me from point A to point B, and the staff is always super friendly and helpful.
It's probably not worth joining anymore if you don't use the cars regularly. I'll admit, the free membership was awesome. But look at the economy! Are you really that surprised?
*2.5 Stars*
PhillyCarShare is such a great idea. And that's about it.
I barely used PCS for six months before becoming completely disenchanted. They arbitrarily raise prices with nothing so much as a snarky mass email about the crappy economy and rising gas prices (even though gas prices decreased eventually). The interior of the car was just gross--ripped upholstery, coffee stains, random stones and leaves. I know they are nonprofit but I felt like I was being ripped off.
PCS is still a great idea for those of us completely without a car. I just wish that they understood customer service a bit better.
Now that they charge a $15 monthly fee for everyone, this company is useless. Cars are never available. The cars smell. They are expensive. You have to go through loopholes for anything out of the ordinary. You'll be surprised by all the little taxes and fees. And you have to worry about every last second you have the car. "Am I going to make it back on time?" Probably not. Ikea is huge!
Don't bother with this. Even if you're socialist, this sucks.
What did I end up doing? I bought a car. And it is much cheaper to own a car! Seriously.
Great service and idea. Poor management leads them to slap a $15 monthly surcharge on us with little to no notice. Thanks but no thanks.. done
**Talked to them today, they are willing to refund the surcharge they slapped on all members, with a canceled membership. I understand their circumstances..having their gas cards stolen en masse a year ago, and now struggling with the economy. Maybe I'll come back to them, I did enjoy everything about them and their car selections/locations..and they were earth-friendly.**
PCS seems to have a death wish. The tone of their emails before the elimination of the free service was cranky and even mean, as if they looked for the most misanthropic writer they could find and instructed him to vent his spleen in the newsletter. Their decisions about changes with car pods were executed with arrogant disdain of a peevish autocrat. I canceled when I got the notice that they were going to start charging $15/month. ZipCar's budget option has a $50/year membership fee.
I agree with the other reviewers: fantastic idea, but unacceptable execution. In fact, I think the non-profit idea might be the real problem -- there's no incentive to respond to consumer demands.
Anyway, I canceled my account of 3 years immediately after I received the email informing me of the new $15/month charge, which would have gone into effect SIX DAYS after I received the email - definitely poorly planned, and definitely not worth it.
The previous reviewer summed it up quite nicely with: "PhillyCarShare is such a great idea. And that's about it."
I moved from Philadelphia in June of 2008, when PhillyCarShare was still gleaming in its past glory. Each time I've returned, the service seems to have gone downhill. Prices have gone up. That extra money might have gone to pay for increased gas prices, but it certainly hasn't gone to increasing service levels.
And now my lovely memories of using PhillyCarShare when my own car just couldn't do the trick are now tempered with user fees, increased rental feels, and decreased service. The last cliched straw is the implementation of the 15$/month mandatory fee. Sorry, PhillyCarShare. No more. 1 star, in protest. Get your act together, and we'll talk. Until then, this relationship is over.
Maybe if they had been more responsive to my request for a car closer to my house (I even offered up parking spaces, both in front of my house and in a small parking lot) I wouldn't have started using Zipcar so much. Though my neighbors are interested in car share, it seems that we just don't live in "targeted neighborhood." 6 months later and I've used Philly CarShare once, and now they want to charge me $15 a month? No thanks.
I'd love to support a nonprofit, but I like options and service, too. When I called to cancel their phones were ringing off the hook. Maybe they'll learn a lesson and make some changes for the better.
Please don't join PhillyCarshare. The organization has gone downhill to the point of being unrecognizable. It was once great; now you literally cannot trust them with your bank account information. On May 1st, they suddenly started taking money from members who had never authorized a monthly fee. They warned of this very shortly before they did it, in a brief email much like the member newsletters (usually about bowling socials) that most of us rarely read. Therefore, very many of us were shocked when we saw money being taken from our accounts. PhillyCarshare is within its rights to start charging a monthly fee; it is NOT within its rights to automatically sign members up for the fee-charging plan. It should simply have dropped or frozen our accounts until we agreed to sign up for the new plan.
Even if you think the new plan is a good deal compared to not having access to a car at all, think about whether you want these people to have access to your account. They could suddenly start taking money from it in unauthorized amounts, at unauthorized times, or for unauthorized purposes. It's not worth the risk. I haven't tried Zipcar yet, but would recommend going there, or anywhere, before PhillyCarShare.
Poor rigid rules, crappy service, while shifty and over-priced.
The website gets messed up quite a few times by allowing me to extend my reservation, but never actually doing so. Then, I get hit with late fees.
They swear up and down that their site isn't screwed up, but it obviously is. I have plenty of friends getting hit with random charges that don't match the amount of time they had the car out for. Plus, the search by location excludes nearby locations at random...
They've got issues.
This business doesn't seem to operate or charge like a non-profit in any way.
With the way their prices are going, it's cheaper to just rent a U-Haul van to go food shopping. With U-Haul, you can hold onto it for 24 hours, and you can put a lot more into the back while not being forced to pay a monthly bill you never agreed to in the first place.
Raising the rates and forcing a monthly change on a free subscriber is abuse.
What Philly Car Share is doing is dishonest and shows bad business ethics.
Hope you go bankrupt, PCS!
I have been a member of PCS since 05. Usually the customer service people have been friendly and helpful. The cars were conveniently located and I though it was a great idea. However, four years later and the customer service reps. have truly changed into sarcastic, attitudinal, nasties! I will be quitting the program. Some of their policies do not seem to be well thought out, but had they been nicer in their explanation of certain policies I would have stayed and dealt with the changes.
L** and a couple of other reps. are nasty -you can hear their nasty disposition and condescending nature over the phone. And the last car I rented smelled like urine and had no gas. I don't trust that the people who work there are honest and I will be checking my bills to make sure they don't charge me fraudulently.
I fail to see how a free plan converting to one that charges $15 a month is "great news."
Zip Car now is cheaper, as if the clean cars and professional service wasn't enough.
PCS just went from amateur hour to rip-off.
Wow I'm pretty shocked I've never reviewed this!
Yes, I'm with a good majority here, Philly car share is not what it once was. I love the idea of it, loved that it was a nonprofit, however...I'm quickly believing it must be one of those nonprofits that just pays it's executives a ton of money.
I cancelled my account last year. I just couldn't put up with the continuous increase in prices. Compared to Zip Car which is a for profit company, pcs is just really overpriced.
I think they should be turning some of that money over into the cars themselves. The last car I drove with them was one of the Mini's. It had a cracked windshield, cigarette burns on the roof and a stench I cannot explain.
The availability of the cars was also becoming an issue for me. Nothing close was ever available for a fair enough amount of time. I just used the cars to go shopping once a week really, and I couldn't book a car for an hour? Most were only available for 15 min intervals, yet as I passed them...they were sitting roadside not being used.
Meh, Zip car it is.
Thank you PhillyCarShare for kicking me in the pants on the way out the door.
After two years of being a faithful weekend customer, I decided to move on because I simply couldn't afford it anymore. Between the $15 monthly fee and the ever rising mileage it was cheaper for me to rent from Alamo on a Saturday and I could keep the car for 24 hours and get more done.
So I went to the office to close my account and was told that my last invoice would be emailed to me. When I didn't receive it, I called member services and left a message since no one picked up the phone. Still no reply, so I tried calling again and after a long hold I reached an associate that emailed my invoice to me. They charged me $40 for returning a car late when I know for a fact that I returned the car early.
I called them back and the associate told me that since it was already charged she could not return the late fee to my card, she could only offer driving credit. Since I was no longer a member she said I was out of luck. She also said that I should have tried reaching them before my card was charged (I did) and it was my fault. And they wonder why people are leaving.
I'm with you, Alexandra T. Their Draconian application of the late fee drove me away. Not even so much as a return telephone call to my explanation just a forty-buck whack. Must be a non-profit thing.
Thanks gang.
Making me pay for your poor fiscal management is the new American way huh? fuck it. Thanks for the 6 day notice on your $15 a month account maintenance fee. Sorry I've inconvenienced you with being a good customer.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/16/2008
WAY BETTER THAN PAYING FOR GAS!!!!!
ok, I am done yelling.
an inexpensive alternative to paying for… Read more »
PhillyCarShare is like that friend with a car who you kind of like but you kind of like their car more. This means that although it would be really great if you could get a ride to the grocery store, you know that you'll have to sit with them while you ride there and sometimes that's not worth it.
PhillyCarShare is good for those short trips but the idea of gaining freedom from this service is a little misleading. Most of the time, you have to plan far in advance for those grocery trips unless you like walking 5-10 blocks for the next available hybrid.
And so, if I'm thinking that far in advance, why not just rent a car? You see, for me to go grocery shopping in NJ at Wegman's, I could say that would be 2 hours. 2 hours on the weekend with a hybrid is, after tax and their milage, around $20. For $10 more, I could rent a car for the entire day and do whatever I please for the rest of the day. Yes, that doesn't include gas as PhillyCarShare does but for weekends, it's far cheaper of a solution.
I don't want to knock PhillyCarShare too much. It's pretty great that it's an option and has come very much in handy sometimes but I'd like to see some sort of punk rock alternative where it's old hondas and toyotas for dirt cheap and on every other block.
Goes where SEPTA doesn't, is much nicer than riding the bus, is much cheaper than owning a car or renting for a day, and is great for the environment!
They just recently put a pod in less than a block from my apartment. There are dozens of pods within walking distance, and in some center-city spots they have taken over entire lots with their green-painted parking spaces. Booking at the last minute is easy, although sometimes it means a bit more walking.
I have always been happy with their customer service and the people on the phone are extremely nice and helpful. I've never had a complaint. Nor have I had much problem with their website, which is very nice and slick, and really useful and user-friendly.
It's a little weird having a deadline for getting the car back. It's not really that much of a problem, but it does make make trips feel a little more rushed. I suppose that is our fault--we admittedly don't give ourselves much padding in order to save money--but it still feels a little different from owning your own car. We've only actually been late once, and when we called to let them know we'd be late they happily extended the reservation for us. So far we haven't returned it early enough to request a refund, but apparently they do that too.
PhillyCarShare has so far let me and my girlfriend go without owning a car. It's an important thing, because if we didn't have PCS we'd have to either go without some things, like occasional trips to PetSmart or HomeDepot, or get a car, and we all know how expensive getting a car is. (It's certainly more expensive than using PCS, even if you use PCS a lot. I did the math). So we're saving money and saving relatives and friends from having to take us places or loan us their cars.
I suppose the only problem is that you can't _learn_ to drive on PhillyCarShare. I don't blame them of course, they have to look out for their insurance and all, but it does mean actually getting a driver's license still requires either owning a car or bumming off relatives. I'm working on that right now, then I'll have to wait for two years to establish my driving history before I can sign up for PCS myself.
PhillyCarShare now has some competition in the form of ZipCar, which has a pod or two in the area. They certainly don't have the saturation that PCS has, and for good reason: they're for-profit, meaning people don't donate parking spaces to them. That also means that they need to make money off of their customers (you) so they charge more. PCS gets donated spaces, tax exemption, and warm fuzzies for being non-profit. I suppose it's good to have some competition to keep them working hard, but so far ZipCar (and FlexCar which ZipCar bought out recently) don't seem to be making any noticeable dent in PCS's market share.
The bad? Well, they're not free. In fact they seem rather pricey. But I think Ryan S. put it best when he said "~$200 a month for car share sounds like a lot until you own a car". PCS isn't for everybody, for example it's certainly not for commuting or very long trips. But it fills a niche, and it fills it very well, with great service and nice cars and we couldn't be happier.
What an amazing program, and I am extremely fortunate to have such an easy-going establishment to take care of my gas, insurance and need for another car. With the way today's world economy is, being a recent college graduate and trying to live a civilized life-style with your main squeeze is complex enough without adding "RESPONSIBILITY" into the mix. Philly car share helped alleviate some of the burden of the need to buy a second car, and alleviate the wear and tear on my poor Grand Prix (210,000 miles and no A/C).
Whoever is messing with the Philly carshare cars (ie, stealing the gas cards, ripping out front seats, or down right stealing the car) needs a severe lashing from their parents, or maybe their parents need the lashing for not teaching their children respect and appreciation.
It is unfortunate that some people have to ruin the experience. I have to admit, I did blow up today (thanks in part to this 100 degree weather we are having) at the Customer Service people after being transfered into 3 cars for various reasons mentioned above (I grovel at their feet!)
Please, I beg the warm-hearted Philadelphia Yelpers who actaully love this service to take out a bat and bludgeon anyone who they know, or even suspect, have done harm to these great people and their cars.
Philly Car Share: A great idea and a wonderful execution.
I've had good experiences thus far with Philly Car Share, thus far. My #1 piece of advice is to go with a hybrid ON A WEEKDAY (or weeknight) to get the cheapest rates. Prices jump up about $3/hr on the weekends, no matter what vehicle you choose.
HOWEVER, they could stand some improvements:
1) a faster approval process for new members. When I signed up last year it was so I could reserve a van and move my stuff. But you took too long and I had to be that jerk begging friends with cars to help me move. Sad face.
2) Keeping cars clean & well maintained. The cars get dirty and abused fast. I realize that this is mostly the fault of drivers, but I feel like if PCS scheduled cleaning/maintenance for each vehicle more frequently, people would abuse the cars less. (Then again, I'm told I'm an idealist...)
3) Keeping cars well-stocked. Often there's not even a pen to record damage in the damage log! What's up with that, Philly Car Share? I don't want that $200 fine for new damage, but you've gotta give me a way to report it so we can both avoid that headache. And please don't have the lady on the help line give me 'tude when I try to CALL and report the damage, since there's not even a space in the damage log to write in - even if I did have a pen...
4) Parking lots/spaces that aren't cramped or treacherous to get in/out of. Yeah, yeah, we live in a major city, but if you want fewer damages on those fleet vehicles, paint the street spaces a little longer, and find lots that aren't as ridiculous as the PPA on 48th/baltimore.
I'll never forget the Prius blocked in between two giant trucks on Pine st., but hey, once I got it out, I had a ton of fun zipping around town. PCS is great for those of us not yet old enough to rent a car, and it's definitely made my life easier.
Don't become a member of PhillyCarShare, there has to be a better option out there. I, like others, thought I would have a no-fee account then started getting monthly charges out of the blue. The customer service number always goes to voicemail and you can NEVER get a hold of a live human being to discuss any membership or billing questions.
Too bad, I hope PCS doesn't have much of a future in Philadelphia anymore. They should pay all their members back for the monthly fees they started collecting on everyone! They just caused all of their members to waste their time calling and emailing their customer service dept to try to understand what was going on with their bills only to find no one to help them. I don't see how anyone would choose to stay a member after this scam they pulled on everyone.
USE ZIPCAR INSTEAD it has to be better than this!
Zero stars is not an option. PhillyCarShare has likely destroyed their customer base for one month of a non-refundable $15 fee. I'd expect more from a non-profit company.
PhillyCarShare remember your mission statement? "To maximize the economic, environmental, and social benefits of reduced automobile dependence in the Philadelphia region through community-based car sharing." I don't believe a poorly documented policy change being an "Economic Benefit" for your customers.
Hope it was worth it - I recommend that everyone dispute the charges through their credit card, and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
ZipCar just got a lot more business...
WTF PhillyCarShare???
So now in addition to having hiked rates across the boards, you're eliminating the plan that doesn't require people who rarely ever borrow a car to pay $15 a month? What a TERRIBLE idea - guess I have to go back to borrowing cars from my friends...
i find it terribly lame that folks are losing it so much about the rising rates...are we not in a bit of a shit economy right now? yeah..thought so.
for those going with zipcar--remember this--they will raise the rates once they push out the little guy (PCS).
Over the past few months there has been a sharp decline in customer service, problems with billing, poor upkeep on the cars, and loss of member benefits!
The customer service use to be great, if you had a problem and called they resolved it quickly. Today, the customer service was deplorable! I reserved a car for 2:45pm... By accident - thanks to a shoddy watch - I took the car 15 minutes early. I called to explain this and WHAM a $50 fee. I also ended my reservation early. In the past if you ended your reservation early, any amount remaining would be credited to your account for future reservations. NOT THE CASE ANYMORE! I was told by the oh-so-rude customer service agent that my account would only be refunded the 1 hour difference if someone reserved the car I returned early. NOT COOL! I'm paying an additional $7 for the car to sit there for an hour unused... I also brought up the fact that the car I reserved smelled like wet dog, had schmutz splattered all over the interior, and had French Fries littered all over the interior. The response, "oh well, document it in the damage log."
The gas cards have all been removed and you have to pay out of pocket for gas that is supposed to be included in your monthly membership fee. You now have to submit receipts and hope you get reimbursed - they question all receipts and treat you like a criminal for submitting receipts under THEIR policy.
What happened carshare?! We use to be such wonderful friends... I wonder if the experience with Zip Car is any better?!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/11/2008 ROTD 8/23/2008
Carshare is a wonderful non-profit program in Philly! I have been using their services for a year… Read more »
Before i got a car, I spent more in a year on PCS than the cost of my car.
That is sort of a complaint about the prices but also a way of saying that I like them so much that I used them A LOT.
My car is currently dead and i am seriously considering switching back to PCS.
Let me put it this way: ~$200 a month for car share sounds like a lot until you own a car, then it sounds like a dream where your rolling in all the money you've saved.
FYI: Use PCS instead of Zip Car whenever possible. PCS is an nfp and is interested ONLY in helping our community/environment/city/QOL. In contrast, Zip Car is primarily concerned with profit with those other goals second. I think Zip car has a place in Phila and other cities: in cities without an NFP service, Zip Car is better than nothing. In cities with an NFP that runs as well as PCS, Zip Car should be used an overflow option: when it is not possible for PCS to keep up with a peak in demand, then Zip Car should be there to step in and offer an alternative at a premium.
Thanks PCS.
Note: if I could change one thing (and they may have added this in the last year) I would add the ability to use a PCS account and fob in other cities. I make it home to Emeryville 3-4 times a year and would love to use my PCS account on City Car Share.
Previous to the shady move that Philly Car Share decided to pull in regards to canceling the free membership option and basically playing the game Telephone with its members as a method to let everybody know, I would have given Philly Car Share 4, maybe even 5 stars. Remember the game Telephone? It's the game where one person at the end of a group of people whispers a sentence into another person's ear and when that sentence finally makes it through all of the people the message is too discombobulated to understand. I found out TWO MONTHS after this went into effect, via an OLD E-MAIL --- AT THE *BOTTOM* OF THE E-MAIL, that my free membership option had been automatically transferred to the $15/month "Philadelphia Plan". Way to kick me when I'm down in the trenches of the Great Recession, Carshare. Couldn't you have possibly done something less drastic, like maybe kept a $5 option for those who originally had the free option? That way, instead of screwing dedicated PCS members you could keep them around and STILL receive payment from customers who hadn't previously paid? Getting $5 from a bunch of people is better than nothing, but obviously you don't value your customers. Most of us already use you because we can't afford our own car, so how in the world could you be so sneaky as to pull this? I feel like every month, you steal $15 out of my wallet because that's the way the change was treated. I will still continue to use you, as I have no choice and need the service, but I am going to thoroughly research Zipcar in the very near future. Based on what I have already read about Zipcar, I will most likely use them instead.
Philly Car Share is terrible and I recommend staying away. They overbilled me $40 and now, their customer service people are non-responsive. They do not return phone calls, and it is impossible to get a live person in billing.
They USED TO BE terrific. Clean cars, low prices, a great community feel. They are no longer terrific. They are now AWFUL. Their cars are filty and in terrible condition, their prices are high, and their billing practices are unethical. It's a shame. I'll be using Zipcar from now on.
Fantastic service. Free to join. Low hourly rates. Tons of pods. I use the Prius on 33rd and Arch because it's a block from my apartment. Roughly 7million% easier than owning a car in the city. And it's a cool little community of drivers. It's common courtesy to acknowledge other PhillyCarShare drivers as you pass them on the street with a wave, salute, fist pump, or subtle thumbs-up.
