Short version:
- When I queried the expiry of my current Hertz 5 star by phone a couple of weeks ago, I was told by a supervisor at Hertz reservations that they were not downgrading members this year! Good news, if true. Has anyone else heard anything about this?
- During the same phone call, the supervisor promised that she would arrange for credit of Velocity points for at least one recent rental that had again tried to credit QFF! And she was going to arrange update of my profile on their base system. I've been checking my Velocity account every few days - no points! Checked my Hertz account today, to find that I have 400 Hertz reward points! Definitely did not ask for Hertz reward points at any stage - in fact, I confirmed my Velocity number with the Hertz staff member! Anyway, Hertz website shows activation points of 400. Given it appears that you earn 1 point per USD of base rental charges and can redeem 500 points for a free day, I could earn enough points from 3-4 days rental for a free weekend day. Is it worth doing this, or should I complain to Hertz that the points were supposed to be credited to Velocity? As far as I am aware, I've missed the boast on the good VS deal, but happy to be proven wrong!
Full version:
I am Hertz 5 Star - upgraded about this time last year, based on over 10 rentals for the 2011 calendar year. I didn't rent that many cars from Hertz last calendar year (Mainly rented from Avis), for a couple of reasons, primarily high prices and not having the cars I want to rent (Commodore SV6, Falcon XR6, Calais, Statesman/Caprice, Prestige Cars [Mercs, BMW's]). And when I have rented from Hertz as 5 star, to be honest, I haven't noticed any better service than before I was 5 star - no upgrades (possibly because I never rent anything below full size) and some good service mixed with some poor service (car not ready, old, high km cars, etc), same annoying IT issues. And to be honest again, I've received the same variable service from Avis. For example, on two back to back rentals, one was a high km Commodore SV6 parked at the wrong end of the OOL carpark, the other a brand new SV6 parked right outside the office at MEL upon return from OOL! I'd love to know what the official company policies are on loyalty, as there seems to be no consistency! Are some employees going above and beyond, or do some just not give a damn? I've noticed at Hertz Melbourne Downtown that before they moved the Gold desk down to the basement, they would always specify your status when radioing down for a car. I suspect this resulted in upgrades for status members. Avis have upgraded me many times too though, so I can't complain. The last couple of months, I've started renting from Hertz again, since they brought BMW's onto the fleet and have been giving them away! Last rental was $102 for 4 days in a 118i! Cheaper than a Yaris! And way more fun!
Since I didn't rent the requisite 10 times from Hertz in the 2012 calendar year and it is about a year since I was upgraded to 5 star, I figured my 5 star status would expire shortly. Whilst it isn't worth much, better to have it than not, especially when things go wrong. A couple of my recent rentals have again tried to credit QFF, despite my profile and all rentals specifying Velocity and QFF having been deleted from my profile years ago! I usually check and lodge a claim but I've missed a couple. Also, some rental agreements randomly show an old work address that I also deleted years ago. Given these issues, I thought a call to Hertz was in order. Trying to find a non reservation phone number for Hertz was almost impossible and trying to find a Gold service number was impossible! Ended up finding a customer service number and called at 4.45 a couple of weeks ago, only to find it is only open M-F 8.30-4.30! Rang back the next day, explained the situation, was told I'd be transferred to the Gold service area, but ended up back at reservations! After explaining again, got transferred back to reservations again! This person said his/her supervisor would be able to help so transferred me. She knew about the IT issues and said she would fix the database errors and credit the missing Velocity points. She also advised that there would be no Gold downgrades this year! As noted above, now I find have Gold Rewards points instead of Velocity points! Annoying!
- When I queried the expiry of my current Hertz 5 star by phone a couple of weeks ago, I was told by a supervisor at Hertz reservations that they were not downgrading members this year! Good news, if true. Has anyone else heard anything about this?
- During the same phone call, the supervisor promised that she would arrange for credit of Velocity points for at least one recent rental that had again tried to credit QFF! And she was going to arrange update of my profile on their base system. I've been checking my Velocity account every few days - no points! Checked my Hertz account today, to find that I have 400 Hertz reward points! Definitely did not ask for Hertz reward points at any stage - in fact, I confirmed my Velocity number with the Hertz staff member! Anyway, Hertz website shows activation points of 400. Given it appears that you earn 1 point per USD of base rental charges and can redeem 500 points for a free day, I could earn enough points from 3-4 days rental for a free weekend day. Is it worth doing this, or should I complain to Hertz that the points were supposed to be credited to Velocity? As far as I am aware, I've missed the boast on the good VS deal, but happy to be proven wrong!
Full version:
I am Hertz 5 Star - upgraded about this time last year, based on over 10 rentals for the 2011 calendar year. I didn't rent that many cars from Hertz last calendar year (Mainly rented from Avis), for a couple of reasons, primarily high prices and not having the cars I want to rent (Commodore SV6, Falcon XR6, Calais, Statesman/Caprice, Prestige Cars [Mercs, BMW's]). And when I have rented from Hertz as 5 star, to be honest, I haven't noticed any better service than before I was 5 star - no upgrades (possibly because I never rent anything below full size) and some good service mixed with some poor service (car not ready, old, high km cars, etc), same annoying IT issues. And to be honest again, I've received the same variable service from Avis. For example, on two back to back rentals, one was a high km Commodore SV6 parked at the wrong end of the OOL carpark, the other a brand new SV6 parked right outside the office at MEL upon return from OOL! I'd love to know what the official company policies are on loyalty, as there seems to be no consistency! Are some employees going above and beyond, or do some just not give a damn? I've noticed at Hertz Melbourne Downtown that before they moved the Gold desk down to the basement, they would always specify your status when radioing down for a car. I suspect this resulted in upgrades for status members. Avis have upgraded me many times too though, so I can't complain. The last couple of months, I've started renting from Hertz again, since they brought BMW's onto the fleet and have been giving them away! Last rental was $102 for 4 days in a 118i! Cheaper than a Yaris! And way more fun!
Since I didn't rent the requisite 10 times from Hertz in the 2012 calendar year and it is about a year since I was upgraded to 5 star, I figured my 5 star status would expire shortly. Whilst it isn't worth much, better to have it than not, especially when things go wrong. A couple of my recent rentals have again tried to credit QFF, despite my profile and all rentals specifying Velocity and QFF having been deleted from my profile years ago! I usually check and lodge a claim but I've missed a couple. Also, some rental agreements randomly show an old work address that I also deleted years ago. Given these issues, I thought a call to Hertz was in order. Trying to find a non reservation phone number for Hertz was almost impossible and trying to find a Gold service number was impossible! Ended up finding a customer service number and called at 4.45 a couple of weeks ago, only to find it is only open M-F 8.30-4.30! Rang back the next day, explained the situation, was told I'd be transferred to the Gold service area, but ended up back at reservations! After explaining again, got transferred back to reservations again! This person said his/her supervisor would be able to help so transferred me. She knew about the IT issues and said she would fix the database errors and credit the missing Velocity points. She also advised that there would be no Gold downgrades this year! As noted above, now I find have Gold Rewards points instead of Velocity points! Annoying!
