A Hertz customer accomplished a new feat in the annals of rental car company disservice, actually being charged for a red light ticket before even renting the vehicle.
They rented the vehicle on May 15th at the Calgary Airport for a period of six days, starting at 10:30 p.m. However the agent at the airport logged the rental as starting at 10:30 a.m.
- They were hit with an extra day’s charge, beyond the period they actually had the car for
- And the previous renter “ran a red light at 2:33pm.” But since the system now saw them as having the car at the time, their credit card was hit with $436.50 for the bill.
It would have been impossible for the customer to have had the car at 2:33 p.m. because they were inflight on American Airlines. They provided copies of their boarding passes. Hertz agreed with them about the rental start time – they removed the extra day’s charge – but they still refused to budge on the red light ticket (or the extra fees associated the with the extra day – Hertz removed only the base rental charge). And now Hertz has refused to communicate further, it seems.
Much of the advice to this customer has been to just dispute the charges and that’s fine if you do not plan to rent from Hertz or any of their affiliated companies again. Even a righteous dispute might get you placed on their Do Not Rent list. Hertz has even been known to ban a customer’s descendants, too.
Considering the Hertz toll scam, charging customers who rent Teslas for failing to fill up the gas and of course a history of customers getting arrested just because they rented from the company – and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports, just getting charged for tickets written by police before you rented the vehicle doesn’t actually seem that bad in the scheme of things?
One Customer’s Idea: A Custom-Wrap In Case Police Show Up
In fact, isn’t this the least you expect to happen to you when you rent from Hertz? And it’s not even their first example of imposing time travel on a customer. Earlier this year I wrote about one person who tried to rent from Hertz for the very first time and found they’d already been banned by the company.
I’m avoiding Hertz at all costs now. They are a dumpster fire. They say no press is bad press…Hertz seems to embrace this fully.
It’s happened to me. A decade ago I rented from Alamo, and they charged me for a ticket incurred 8 hours before my pickup. But unlike what you describe here, in my case, the rental agreement showed my correct pick up time. Someone on their end had mis-entered the date/time of the ticket, and they refused to re-check what the ticket clearly showed. I did dispute, and they never responded to the card company, so I won the dispute. FWIW I’ve rented from them since, so I wasn’t added to the banned list.
Just a glance at the HTZ (Hertz) ticker and see what the stock trajectory looks like, despite the fact that travel has boomed over the past few years will tell the complete story.
Sue them in small claims court for fraud
I strongly suspect this sort of thing comes down to the people that you deal with not having the authority to waive the offending charges.
I continue to ask, how is Hertz still in business?
I understand the head of Hertz is being considered as the next Boeing CEO.
Used to be a frequent renter from Hertz. However, extremely poor service such as no cars available when I arrived for pickup, extremely dirty and smelly cars, charged for an extra day when I returned on time, are just a few of the reasons Hertz should never be a choice. If they think they can get away with it Hertz will try to sneak in extra charges every time. Not worth the aggravation,
How has there not been massive lawsuits against Hertz?
Hertz: up there with Airbnb. Never again.
At this point, if you’re dumb enough to rent from Hertz, I have no sympathy for you. How many of these horror stories does it take for people to throw up their hands and say, “No more.”?
I see Hertz corporate offices are in Flora-dah.
I wonder which Senator (or is it the Gov) that is taking the campaign contributions (bribes) to not be shut down?
It appears corruption is alive and flourishing .
I heard they were renaming to company to Uranus Hertz
What would write about if it wasn’t for Hertz!
They charged me 35 dollars PER DAY of rental for returning electric car not 100 percent charged. They said in agreement that ideally should be returned 80 percent of charged. Totally cool with getting charged for not returning it 100percent charged like it was when I got it, but charging per day makes no sense, it’s only a one time charging needed. Hertz is truly trying to destroy the value of their rental electric cars, should never fill to 100 percent. And fees like this make absolutely no sense.
Used to be a Hertz customer. Too many horror stories now that no amount of cute Tom Brady advertising can overcome. Does seem to be inviting a class action lawsuit.
I’m hesitant to shift my full rental spend to Hertz. I simply do not trust them with my schedule that is my livelihood. They are the POLR.
Keep in mind that all of my rental expenses are for work related purposes. The problem is clear. The solution is also very simple. The entire vendor/ client relationship has changed and that change is the root of poor performance. Shareholders are NOT your paying customers. This needs to ring loudly.
I rent from Hertz and fly Frontier
Back when I banned Hertz, I had been President’s Circle for three+ years. The cars weren’t being maintained adequately anymore, everywhere I found inventory was so low I had to sweat getting a suitable vehicle (despite my status, even when I’d booked over a month in advance), they suddenly shut down my favorite local franchise, and then came the first news articles re glitches causing fines and arrests and Hertz refusing to deal. So I fired Hertz, but Enterprise hasn’t thrilled either. Finally, I just gave in and bought a van, and only occasionally rent nowadays (whenever I occasionally fly because by now I’ve all but fired all the airlines too).
Really ? This isn’t political. Hertz is run by liberals ,and that’s ok,You know this by how they went crazy for EV”s befor getting there systems ready for charging clients properly or fairly. And I don’t blame there political leanings, just the incompetence or failure to run things in a way best for them and thier clients. Not everything is political. P.S. don’t live in Fla. And am an independent.
It’s never far from the airport to Uber to a car rental agency…. #rentawreck
This sounds a lot like Avis/Budget at SFO. extremely poor service such as no cars available when you arrive for pickup, extremely dirty and smelly cars, with high mileage. Charged for an extra day when you returned on time, and, If they think they can get away with it they will try to sneak in extra charges every time. Always check your receipt before leaving the counter.
A couple of years ago while attend my grandson’s graduation, my rental from a different company, not Hertz, was vandalized. They broke in through the front passenger window. A police report was obtained. My insurance company was notified and given a claim number. The rental company was notified that night. Any additional information was given the next day when the car was turned in. Days later I got a message from the rental company that about $150 was going to be added to my CC. My reply included the police report information and my insurance information. They dropped the additional charge and said they were not going to file with my insurance company because it was too much trouble.
No doubt the “Hertz Pre-Crime Unit” was involved. Good work in Pre-Crime visioning
Why would ANYONE rent from Hertz? What are you thinking???
EdSparks58
I really wish there was actual competition for rental cars rather than a dozen names on one or two companies.
Hertz hit me with a $10 administration fee for a $2 toll. Not so sure about the toll either. No proof or photo or documentation. This is a week after I gave them a positive review
I avoid Hertz at all costs. Meanwhile, it would be interesting to see a list of the airline programs and credit card companies that align with Hertz as a member “benefit”. Those companies might be on the “avoid list” as well.
I lost my business credit card due to over charging even when I paid the bill.
I rented from Sixt in Zurich last year. Two months later I get a bill showing they charged me 60CHF for a speeding ticket for going 53 in a 50 zone. Then I later get a bill from Zurich Police asking for 185CHF for speeding. Sixt didn’t pay the ticket but charged me. Credit card company wouldn’t dispute charge so I ignored it. Hated Switzerland and will never rent from Sixt again.
I rented a car in Cancun , hertz gave me a stolen car. I was detained for the local police for more that 8 hours. Hertz did not help me to get out of this situation. Hertz big scammer.
Some moron is actually trying to blame the Florida legislature for the actions of liberal run company? The idiocy just never stops, does it?
Hertz is fine 99.999% of the time – these exceptions have little influence on who I rent from.
Rent a car in Luxembourg for two week.
$565 for two week
Was charge $20 dollars for licence plate
$189 dollars for full coverage for two week
$145 dollars theft coverage for two week
$45 dollars for gas hi only drive the car 75 mile in two week
Taxe etc
By time all cone down he cost me a extra $ 1100 for two week and returned car one day hourly
Keep reading this bad review of Hertz.
Hi allway rent true Hertz, but now is time to look to order company for sure
I rented in 2019 November 3-5 from Hertz LaGuardia, returned on the 5th at 6:45am, the attendant didn’t cash out the contract, but took us to the airport in the rental, on the way back from the airport ran a red light, my card was charged for the ticket, because the rental contract was still opened, tried calling everyone I talked to gave me the runaround, finality gave up!
Since covid we’ve only rented via Turo. Private owners have made life so much easier and no line to wait in.
I am just baffled why anyone would rent from Hertz for any reason. My company had a corporate account with Hertz, I refused to rent from them for a business trip m. A month later, we are now Enterprise customers.
I’m an avid reader of “reviews” of places. I see so many like this story! “I’m never renting here again, use Alamo…” Same with hotels. Lots of verbiage like this– “worst place ever! “Stay anywhere else, like the Hyatt across the street!” ad nauseum.
Then I read the reviews for the places that reviewers said were “way better” than the place they just trashed: guess what? In almost every case those places have EVEN WORSE reviews and horror stories than the place originally reviewed.
Bitching and moaning has become way too common. No one goes out of their way to say a business was nice and fair…on 99 visits. But the ONE TIME there is a problem, we have to let EVERYONE KNOW HOW WE WERE WRONGED! How dare they!
Suck it up and move on.
Breaking News….
To give the company a more realistic name..the Board of Directors just announced that they are changing the company name to “HURTS”!
Picard
Hertz is terrible. I was charged for the insurance even though I declined it three times. Their counter people flat out lied about my personal insurance not covering any accidents. Doubled the cost of the rental. Tried to get the charge reversed and their customer service people were the worst.
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/hertz-global-holdings/totals?id=D000064403
For paul…..
Hertz is the worst rental company to rent a car from. you go to pick up the car and they say that they have already called you and there’s no cars the same day and same time you supposed to pick up the car secondly the car was so filthy and so full of marijuana smell until we took sick, very rude Agency they gave me credit but Hertz denied the criedit and did not give me back any of my money they gave me the wrong key to the keyless cars I drove up to the gas station turn off the motor and could not get the car started again it was the wrong key they had to bring me the right key I didn’t get credit for that. I was there waiting for 45 minutes to turn my car in well the person was out when they did come in that morning I was charged another day and why I was there the worker was not there. Emergency light comes on the car. Hats McDonald’s bags ketchup if I can find the pictures I will be posted them at the pictures.
Some of these complaints are petty matters that “come with the territory.” But hitting a customer for a traffic ticket incurred before or after the rental period is inexcusable and should be subject to criminal prosecution, as well as a civil lawsuit with punitive damages. By the way, it happens in other contexts as well. I once commenced work for a company and was called before an administrator for unauthorized access to a particular area. The administrator had some difficulty understanding that it could not have been me because it occurred three weeks before I had started at the company and must have been by whatever person previously had been assigned that access card.
I have literally landed at Calgary airport on AA from Dallas at 10pm and only to be told they didn’t have an SUV (which I paid premium for) and given a Ford 500. They neither seemed to care or were surprised that I was not happy.
This is a bad franchise in a bad chain.
Rented from Thrifty at MSP, turns out it is Hertz……UGH They charged me $85 for a tank of gas when i told her that the tank was full and i took a picture of the fuel indicator. THRIFTY was a total waste to correct i HAD TO put a claim in with my credit card and showed proof 15 min before that i filled it up.
I dumped Herrz (about twenty rentals a year) when the car class I reserved wasn’t available and then was charged extra for a better model (this was in LAX). I requested a refund from Hertz corporate but was basically told to pound salt. Took my business to National.
So if disputing the charge results in a lifetime ban from renting from Hertz, is that a bad thing?
I for one admire Hertz. It takes cojones the size of bowling balls to acknowledge you didn’t rent the car during the time it was ticketed, but still demand that you pay the ticket.
I rented from thrifty and returned the car on time and filled up. They charged me an 400 dollars for the not being washed.
Common sense tells you not to rent from Hertz even if they’re giving you the car for free. There’s always something with Hertz and it’ll cost you your money, your freedom, or both.
Hertz is the most incompetent and greedy rental company ever. They charged my account 3 times after I returned the rental. I will never rent from that company ever again. I will be going back to Enterprise for my rentals. Hertz filed for bankruptcy back in 2020. They should have just gone bankrupt and not be in business.