Short version:
Several weeks ago, Hertz charged me for someone else’s rental at Melbourne Downtown (~$250) and provided the other customer with my rental agreement and receipt, due to a staff member not checking the details (dare I say incompetent?). Very annoying that they not only charged my credit card, but also breached my privacy! Luckily they don’t disclose too much on their rental agreements or receipts! Clearly the renter didn’t check the agreement or receipt either. Hertz refunded the amount a few days after I spent an hour going back to their office and explaining what happened. Other than the person at Melbourne Downtown who called me back when he said he would, Hertz attitude to this has been less than satisfactory – not even a free rental day offered! And to top it off, today I received an invoice in the mail – they’ve charged me another $20 for tolls!
Has this happened to anyone else?
How would you handle the situation?
If it wasn’t for the fact that I like Hertz generally, I’d boycott them! ! I’m not the most frequent renter, but I did spend several thousand dollars on Hertz rentals last year (mainly due to 3 weeks rental in the US).
Long version:
Several weeks ago, I booked a car for collection from Hertz Melbourne Downtown on Friday at 6 pm for the weekend. Booked using the mobile website – unfortunately the mobile website has an IT glitch whereby it doesn’t send you an e-mail confirmation. Booking confirmation had a warning that booking time was near closing time. No worries I thought, it closes at 6.30. Arrive at 6.05pm to find the office closed at 6pm! Annoying, but not the end of the world. I actually really only needed the car on Saturday night and thought I could I could use it Friday night also.
Even though I didn’t need the car on Saturday, rather than cancel the booking, I thought I’d better turn up and collect the car on Saturday morning. Arrived at about 8.30am, said I was here to collect a car and gave my surname. Was asked whether my first was R – said no it was A. No record of the booking! Since I didn’t get an e-mail, couldn’t provide booking reference. I advised in that case I would rebook for later that day for just one day. Thought it was odd, but maybe had something to do with the IT glitch on their mobile website. Collected car later that day and returned it the next day.
Logged onto my #1 Club Gold account later that week and noticed there was an extra rental showing on my year to date rentals. Checked the receipts and realised I was charged ~ $250 for someone else’s rental! Realised that what must have happened was that Hertz had given my car to the person with the same surname but different first initial (we must have had bookings at about the same time). They also must have given my rental agreement and receipt to the other renter – breach of privacy, but luckily they don’t have many details on them. Very poor!
Went back the next day and was initially told that I would need to deal with Customer Relations, then was referred to what I assume was the manager, who told me he would look into it (after I explained what I thought had happened and gave him the initial of the person I thought had been given my car) and call back later that afternoon. True to his word, he called back a couple of hours later, confirmed that my car been given to another renter (I suspect they may not have acted so quickly had I not figured out what had happened – they didn’t seem keen to refund me before they were able to charge someone else), apologised, said my card would refunded the next day or two, gave me a reference number and advised Customer Relations would be in contact shortly to discuss further. They didn’t call. When I contacted them, all they did was confirm the refund had gone through a few days after I raised the issue, which I already knew!
As mentioned above, their incompetence and attitude would normally make me boycott them, but I like them generally.
Boycotted Thrifty after a staff member at Melbourne City told me a Camry was in the same class as the Falcon I’d booked, despite their website clearly showing Camry was Standard and Falcon Full size. The car was an issue (I hate Toyotas), but the main issue was that the staff argued that the Camry was what I’d booked, rather than being honest upfront. They eventually backed down and said my car hadn’t been returned on time – I told them to cancel and haven’t used them since.
Several weeks ago, Hertz charged me for someone else’s rental at Melbourne Downtown (~$250) and provided the other customer with my rental agreement and receipt, due to a staff member not checking the details (dare I say incompetent?). Very annoying that they not only charged my credit card, but also breached my privacy! Luckily they don’t disclose too much on their rental agreements or receipts! Clearly the renter didn’t check the agreement or receipt either. Hertz refunded the amount a few days after I spent an hour going back to their office and explaining what happened. Other than the person at Melbourne Downtown who called me back when he said he would, Hertz attitude to this has been less than satisfactory – not even a free rental day offered! And to top it off, today I received an invoice in the mail – they’ve charged me another $20 for tolls!
Has this happened to anyone else?
How would you handle the situation?
If it wasn’t for the fact that I like Hertz generally, I’d boycott them! ! I’m not the most frequent renter, but I did spend several thousand dollars on Hertz rentals last year (mainly due to 3 weeks rental in the US).
Long version:
Several weeks ago, I booked a car for collection from Hertz Melbourne Downtown on Friday at 6 pm for the weekend. Booked using the mobile website – unfortunately the mobile website has an IT glitch whereby it doesn’t send you an e-mail confirmation. Booking confirmation had a warning that booking time was near closing time. No worries I thought, it closes at 6.30. Arrive at 6.05pm to find the office closed at 6pm! Annoying, but not the end of the world. I actually really only needed the car on Saturday night and thought I could I could use it Friday night also.
Even though I didn’t need the car on Saturday, rather than cancel the booking, I thought I’d better turn up and collect the car on Saturday morning. Arrived at about 8.30am, said I was here to collect a car and gave my surname. Was asked whether my first was R – said no it was A. No record of the booking! Since I didn’t get an e-mail, couldn’t provide booking reference. I advised in that case I would rebook for later that day for just one day. Thought it was odd, but maybe had something to do with the IT glitch on their mobile website. Collected car later that day and returned it the next day.
Logged onto my #1 Club Gold account later that week and noticed there was an extra rental showing on my year to date rentals. Checked the receipts and realised I was charged ~ $250 for someone else’s rental! Realised that what must have happened was that Hertz had given my car to the person with the same surname but different first initial (we must have had bookings at about the same time). They also must have given my rental agreement and receipt to the other renter – breach of privacy, but luckily they don’t have many details on them. Very poor!
Went back the next day and was initially told that I would need to deal with Customer Relations, then was referred to what I assume was the manager, who told me he would look into it (after I explained what I thought had happened and gave him the initial of the person I thought had been given my car) and call back later that afternoon. True to his word, he called back a couple of hours later, confirmed that my car been given to another renter (I suspect they may not have acted so quickly had I not figured out what had happened – they didn’t seem keen to refund me before they were able to charge someone else), apologised, said my card would refunded the next day or two, gave me a reference number and advised Customer Relations would be in contact shortly to discuss further. They didn’t call. When I contacted them, all they did was confirm the refund had gone through a few days after I raised the issue, which I already knew!
As mentioned above, their incompetence and attitude would normally make me boycott them, but I like them generally.
Boycotted Thrifty after a staff member at Melbourne City told me a Camry was in the same class as the Falcon I’d booked, despite their website clearly showing Camry was Standard and Falcon Full size. The car was an issue (I hate Toyotas), but the main issue was that the staff argued that the Camry was what I’d booked, rather than being honest upfront. They eventually backed down and said my car hadn’t been returned on time – I told them to cancel and haven’t used them since.
