Transportation in College Park, MD

“I bought my spinner knob, mobility scooter and lift through locally-owned Auto Assist, after checking out snd being disappointed by a nationwide company. Auto Assist installed the knob and lift, and provide excellent service on all three. When we had a paraplegic relative and his family visiting from out west, Auto Assist provided the rental van to accommodate his large motorized wheelchair, enabling them to see all the DC sites they wanted plus attend his grand-uncle’s 100th birthday party in Baltimore!”

“I use Zipcar every few months to visit a disabled friend who lives an hour away from me and to take her out for dinner/shopping. I live close to my job and don't need a car for other reasons; Zipcar is expensive but affordable for occasional use. The problem is that there has been a downturn in my experience as a customer over the last several months. It is nothing extreme and I am not one to complain but it has included the following: -several months back there was an empty package of a single pack female intimate wipe(such as might be used before sex) in the back seat of the car. The car was otherwise generally clean and in good shape. I picked up and discarded the wrapper, which I found on collecting my bag from the back seat floor near it, and recall feeling disgusted because there was no place near to wash my hands. But I needed to clean out that trash lest the next person see it with me being the last user of the car. I didn't report it because it was impossible to know who put it there- one trip ago or three trips ago. I believe it was initially under the seat and I didn't spot it myself right away. So I didn't want to pin default blame on the person before me. My last two trips the car has been fine, but the experience of adding gas was unpleasant because the system that has been in place for years doesn't work anymore. The last two trips entering my gas number and odometer would not activate the pump and I had to wait several minutes on hold. These trips were months apart; this past weekend the customer service line described it as a kind of unusual event, but it happened the same way twice in a row- you have to wait on hold while standing near the gas pump and then enter a number they give you on the phone in place of your own gas number on your member card. To make the experience on May 12th worse, I waited so long at the pump that I had to leave to meet my friend on time and come back to repeat the process getting gas later in the evening. In frustration at the hold time, I was looking for a more specific number to call on gas issues and found what seemed to be just that on the back of the gas card- labeled generally as a number for help with gas issues. The person who took the call asked my account number. I gave them my member number along with my gas number, which is just the member number without the last digit. They seemed confused. They asked again for the account number. It turned out they wanted the long credit card style number from the front of the card. Finally they said I should talk to my supervisor and I had to explain to them that I don't work for Zipcar-- they had never asked me if I did at the start of the call. They ended up transferring me back to the line where I had previously been on hold, and I ultimately ended the call and left the gas station. Why would the phone number on the gas cards that all members use on every trip-- that is not labeled as an employees only helpline -- lead to a call center where workers aren't trained to even ask whether it's an employee or a member calling? And since there is clearly an ongoing problem with gas numbers for customers, why is there no communication about it? The substitute number could have been provided to me via the app automatically rather than being called in on a busy line, and it keeps happening. So in a nutshell-- it should be possible to report issues with the car without fearing that blame will be cast automatically on the person before you- fear about unjust reporting could actually lead to underreporting of issues. And there should be encouragement for customers who take the time to add gas, not a system that stops working for months with no explanation and no apology. Furthermore, a gas helpline that is employees-only but not labeled as such contributes to the time loss and frustration- plus while not rude, this is not a great helpline in terms of customer facing demeanor.”