An Enterprise customer went viral on TikTok after alleging that employees discriminated against him because he’s Black. Enterprise tells us this claim is “unfounded.”
TikTok user @ateeey0uup uploaded the video, which detailed part of the interaction between the customer and two Enterprise employees. But that account frequently posts snippets of viral clips without citing the original poster. (The original clip was, in fact, posted to YouTube by user @cuzzintruck nearly a year ago).
In this particular TikTok clip, which has amassed over 65,200 views, a Black customer confronts two Enterprise employees who he said treated him unfairly. At issue is the fact that the customer asked to rent one of Nissan’s INFINITI vehicles, which are part of the manufacturer’s luxury brand.
“I wanted an INFINITI,” the man said. “But… it seems like you’re coming up with new excuses and don’t want to give me the INFINITI because I’m Black.”
Pointing his phone camera toward one of the employees the man said wronged him, the customer alleged that he hadn’t been given a sufficient excuse as to why he couldn’t rent the car. The customer also claimed that two Enterprise employees were “discussing ways not to give me the vehicle.”
“The sad part is they don’t even own any of these vehicles,” the customer said. “And they’re making it such a big deal.” The customer added, then, that he believed the employees were making a “big deal” out of the transaction because he’s Black. “That’s the only reason they don’t want to give it to me,” he said.
The customer blamed racism for the incident because he said he was told previously that the car he wanted was reserved. Upon coming in, however, he said the vehicle was just “sitting there.”
“Now… the vehicle is reserved again and it’s reserved on Thursday,” he said.
The man promised the employees that he wouldn’t post the video if he was treated with respect. But the employees didn’t seem to take his claims seriously. One of the workers, for instance, began dancing after asking whether “this [is] a TikTok.” The other worker, meanwhile, simply laughs nearby.
@ateeey0uup #foryoupage #enterprise #badcustomerservice #fypシ ♬ original sound – Instagrgotyobih
“I don’t see what’s the problem with giving me the INFINITI,” the customer said.
The worker, who danced, then attempted to explain to the customer why he couldn’t have the car. But the video cuts out right as he’s about to explain himself. Viewers can hear, however, that the INFINITI was slated to get delivered to a corporate account before the TikTok ends. But the YouTube video shows the tail-end of the customer’s interaction with the two workers. In that video, one of the workers, who is white, quips that the “whole world is against [the customer.]”
“Those are his words,” the customer responded. “And he’s right about what he’s saying.”
Over the course of the nearly eight-minute video, viewers learn that the customer is already driving an INFINITI.
“I like it. All I asked is to just get a different one. For whatever reasons, they want the Black man to get into the Nissan Armada because they claim that the INFINITI is reserved,” he said. The customer alleged that the workers “schemed” ways to keep him from renting the INFINITI.
In the end, after failing to rent his choice vehicle, the customer leaves and announces his future plans to post the video.
“God has been so good to me,” the customer said upon returning to his own car. “So there’s no reason for me to even complain about a vehicle… I take it extra [personal] when people just mistreat us for no reason.”
In a new statement to the Daily Dot, a spokesperson for Enterprise said that the customer’s allegations of racism were unfounded and that the incident was brought to their attention when it occurred.
“The claim is unfounded. The customer in question asked for a specific vehicle, which was already reserved for another customer,” the spokesperson said. “When a customer reserves a vehicle we make every effort to give them a vehicle in the class they reserved. If we are unable to do so, we will work with the customer to find a satisfactory replacement.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @ateeey0uup via TikTok comment and to @cuzzintruck via YouTube comment. Indeed, even on TikTok viewers expressed disbelief that racism was to blame.
“I’ve never rented a car where I was able to walk in & demand a certain car,” one user said. “Not sure why this is a racial issue. Who is he trying to impress?”
“They only care about the color green and most people don’t get the car they want,” another added.
“the truth is you’ll never get what’s advertised!! at least I never did,” a third person wrote.
