Hertz Rent A Car

Below is from a letter I wrote to Hertz after my experience here:
My Experience:
I recently rented a car from the local Hertz and had a terrible experience — the worst customer experience in my life, by far. I am 40 years old and have had hundreds of car rentals in my lifetime. When I say the worst, nothing even comes close, car rental or otherwise.
I booked a car on the evening on September 11 for a mid-​size car for two days, picking up on 12^th and returning on 14^th. The reservation confirmation no. is G6902375436. On the morning of the pick-​up, I received a voicemail informing me that, unfortunately, they don’t have a mid-​size car for me. They do, however, have a car that I can take for $ 150 more per day. I call the number and tell them that, since it is so late and I am already on the way, unfortunately, Hertz not having a car for me is not an option. When I make a reservation, and esp. when I pay in advance, I expect the company to honor the reservation and have a car ready when I arrive on location.
I show up, the guy behind the counter says that he doesn’t have a car for me unless I am willing to pay $ 150 per day more and move up rental class. It kept getting worse from there. Below are some of the exchanges we had —
1. «You booked the car after hours, so I couldn’t contact you to let you know that I would not have a car for you» — I thought that was one of the benefits of having an online reservation system. If you don’t have a car, you don’t take a reservation; if you do take a reservation and payment, you make a car available for me
2. «There are people ahead of you and I can only honor commitments in the order they were made» — a noble and fair argument, no doubt. My question is, why would you then take my reservation, my money and then send me a confirmation
3. «Ok, I pulled some strings. I have a Nissan Versa here that you can take.» «This is too small for my need and I expect you to give me a car in the same rental class that I reserved.» Sorry, that is all I have unless you are willing to pay extra to take this other car I have; take it or leave it.“
4. «Hey, there is an enterprise nearby. Why don’t you go there and rent a different car. I’ll give your money back.» «Ok, let me make you a deal. You rent me a mid-​size car from Enterprise for two days and I will be okay with it. No need to give me my money back.»
5. «I can check with the other Hertz location, they may have what you need.» «That sounds great. I can’t waste more time. You give me a car from here that you are supposedly holding for other customers and have someone else bring one over from the other location.» «That is not what you do. I can refer you to the other location, you have to drive there and get a car yourself.»
6. «There is nothing more I can do.» «Can I talk to your supervisor, looks like we are not making much progress over here.» «I doubt they will be able to help you either.» «Let me see for myself if that is the case.»
7. Picks up a phone — «Hey Mike, here is a customer who wants a mid-​size car, I don’t have any left. What do you want me to do? Ok, ok, ok…» «Ok, there is a Nissan Sentra that you can have.» «Is it in the same class? Can you show me proof?» «I don’t have any proof, just trust me.»
I take the car. I bring it back the night of 13^th, leave the key through the drop box and leave. Next morning, I receive a call from the same person. He says there is damage to the car. I need to go back to the location and sign some paperwork. I go back to look at the damage. The car was NOT in the parking lot where I left it. It was in a different place and there was indeed some damage to the passenger side rear door — some very strange looking marks that I am not sure how you can get driving a car on the road. I did not cause the damage, I did not even see that when I was returning the car. I surely would have noticed had there been any damage when I returned the car since I had a car seat in that seat. I had to open, close that door a few times before returning the car as I was taking the car seat out. However the marks appeared on the door, appeared after I left the car there the night before.
Now begins the 2^nd part of the story — the harassment. The guys behind the counter tells me that I need to fill out something called an «incident report form». I fill out the form and mention in the comments section that I know nothing about the damages. They told me that I was free to go and someone from the claims department will contact me with the next steps.
Little did I know that, apparently, filling out the form is the equivalent of assuming responsibility for the damages. Few weeks later, someone calls me from the claims department and tells me that I owe more than $ 800 in damages and asks me how I would like to pay…”
…would like to show their response too, but running out of space. Horrible place, unethical people. Stay away.

Only one person working there on Saturday. The employee was great and all but wait times were so long!

After posting initial review, somebody in the company contacted me and credited the extra days to my account. All is well.

A pleasant pickup experience. The guy working the counter was polite efficient and freindly. The car was a bit rubbish but that was more due to my company policy of getting the junkiest car rather than the facility itself. I didn’t give them a 5 cos my car only had a quarter tank of gas and I prefer to pick up full and drop off full.

This is awful place to rent a car. The guy asked me to take their insurance and refused and called my insurance. So he was not happy with me and give me a car which is not even cleaned. I never drove a car this dust before that I can’t see through the rear glass. He didn’t even walk through with me. When I came back to office, he lock the door and left. Then I clean atleast I can see back when driving.

Every once in a while a business just pisses you off.
It was one stupid thing after another with Hertz. The guy working here was awful… some of the more annoying points of our attempt to get a car:
–They must be on commission because he made us wait 30mins just so he could help us. We sat there like idiots while others came and went with their cars. Two other employees asked us if we needed help, and he looked over and said «I got them covered». WTF just let someone else help us so we can get the hell out of there. We were on a *major* time crunch to pick up my grandma at the hospital, and we needed a smaller car then our SUV so she could get in and out of it.
–They quoted us $ 150 for ONE day. The guy then went on to say he would cut us a deal and do it for $ 120… We called Enterprise and were quoted $ 50.
–A girl next to us was renting a car under her name, and her boyfriend said «I have triple A, can she use mine for the discount?» and she made a smirk and said «We aren’t suppose to, but… Ill let you». So when I asked the guy if I could drive the car, he said «thats an extra $ 13– unless you have triple a then its free!» and I told him we are renting it on my grandmas credit card and she has triple A… he was like «eh, no, cant do that». Bullshit.
–FYI: They run a credit check.
Long story short– NEVER go here. Prices are INSANE and employees are greedy.
We were so annoyed! Ended up walking out on them.
2011 Worst Business of the Year!