News and notes from around the interweb:
- When Hertz kept charging a woman for a rental car she’d already returned she disputed the charges on her credit card and won – so they sent her to collections. She should count herself fortunate she wasn’t swarmed by cops with guns drawn.
This time the customer is the one who filed a police report – and that got Hertz to acknowledge the car had been returned. But they still tried to charge her. Still, if you’re only putting your credit score and financial future at risk by renting with Hertz, you’ve getting off easy it seems. Media got involved, and Hertz “gave her a $100 voucher for the inconvenience” – I’d advise her not to use it.
Hertz Presidents Circle Line, DFW Airport - Surely this should be illegal With the party in power changing in Queensland,
[A] string of former high-level ALP ministers have lost their designations as members of the elite Qantas Chairman’s Lounge. Also gone is its equivalent at rival Virgin, the Beyond Lounge.
And some of the politicians’ rivals, once former low-level opposition spokespeople, are now fully fledged ministers who have taken up membership at the elite lounges, which offer everything from meals cooked to order to “plush Chester-style armchairs”.
- If you don’t include Jetstar in Qantas numbers, Virgin Australia has become the largest domestic airline in Australia
- What kind of sorcery is this?!
WINNING AGAIN
1. Got the upgrade
2. Dry ice in the air
Magic show or ice cream?
Very impressed @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/EA9QKlvqcn
— Cliff Maloney (@Maloney) February 19, 2025
- Seatback pockets are a bigger germ farm than that monkey in Outbreak
@AmericanAir plane arrives at departure time for AA 3677 but said on time until past departure time.
To top it off – ZERO CLEANING OF PLANE. Never-mind cold and flu season or just basic hygiene and customer safety. I think we pay for cleaning in our tickets. @FAANews pic.twitter.com/pw19nCbx2M
— Rob Carter (@Rob_Carter1) February 18, 2025
- Marriott increased the annual points purchase limit from 100,000 to 150,000 the program changes its terms and conditions monthly and doesn’t tell members they’ve done so.
I’ll never rent from hertz again. Dropped a car off in Detroit. One way from Chicago. Over charged me by 8 days and a one way fee that was already built into the price. Overcharged by $800. Amex sided with them. Even after two rounds of fighting it. Was this close to closing all my Amex accounts
Anyone who rents from Hertz these days is a fool. I’ll die on this hill.
Anyone who rents from Hertz these days is an idiot. They deserve to be out of business. Why has no one filde a class action suit against them? I generally am not a fan of class action suits and ambulance chasing lawyers, but this is surely one company which deserves the full treatment..
But the Thought Leader loves his Hertz status from Capital One!
Rental companies are often very different experiences depending on the franchisee. Like, I wouldn’t trust the ‘brand’ so much as the ‘location’ of the agency. I recall that Gary has reported on certain operators of specific hotel brands in the past as a warning. It’s helpful to warn others of the ‘games’ being played with rental cars as well. It’s a shame we have less consumer protections in this era because these greedy folks should not be getting away with this kinda stuff. We have to be hyper-vigilant, or we’re ‘gonna get got,’ as they say.
I have not rented from Hertz for years but I have rented from Budget and Enterprise. I always turn in the car to an employee. I realize that that may not work for some travelers. I also like to get a paper receipt if I can. It seems that lately companies like to give electronic receipts via email. If one does not come in a timely manner, it is incumbent on the renter to follow up with both the rental agency and putting in a note on the credit card used via a conversation with a customer service agent. Do not just let things go.
Any time you rent a car (from Hertz or anyone else), take a video on your photo walking around the car both at pickup and drop off. It takes 30 seconds and you are creating a geolocated time stamped record of when you picked up and dropped off the car. It’s hard to argue it wasn’t dropped off if you have a video of the car at the airport.
If you have to drop the keys in a box or put them under a door, take a video of yourself locking the car and walking to the drop box and putting the keys in.
We all carry HD cameras with us at all times. Use them when a company loans you a $30,000+ piece of equipment.
*on your phone
@Tom — I’m with you, and I do that, each time. Still, even with that ‘evidence,’ I’ve experienced that some of these companies are egregiously greedy as they will proceed with fake claims against us regardless. Thankfully, most of our credit cards have rental protections, but even that is not a ‘sure’ thing as claims can get denied for silly reasons. Then you may ultimately find yourself going to court to ‘prove’ your point—the evidence hopefully absolves your responsibility then. So, absolutely, we as consumers must fight this every time; otherwise, it will become standard operating procedure for these bad actors to play these games every time. I wish we had better enforcement of regulations to protect us better and to prevent such blatant fraud in this industry. Alas, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. There are even some bootlickers among us here who will gleefully support the concept of ‘caveat emptor’ as they must also be ‘in’ on this con artistry, too. Thieves. Or, they just enjoy others’ needless suffering. Yeah, you know the type…
@1990: Agreed that corp. owned vs. franchise owned rental car locations, and which franchisee you get, is the big variable. At least Avis-Budget seem to have realized they have a franchisee problem; when I get extra fees for cleaning or what not if I call the corporate number they seem to be looking for any excuse to reverse the charges, and have a bunch of documentation requirements for the franchise locations. So if the franchisee didn’t take a photo or it’s the wrong date or anything, money back.