They Hertz Me Again
Isn’t there a song that goes something like, “Baby Don’t Hertz Me - No More” ?Â
My Hertz-ful post a couple days ago was a real comment grabber as many of you shared your own painful customer service experiences with Hertz. Well a couple days ago I got the bill from that Hertz Phoenix Rental…here it is.
 
Double the HERTZ !  Hey, I understand that their are taxes and fees associated with car rentals. But check this out! My bill went from $57.20 to $117.92 - That’s DOUBLE!! Not too mention that I had refueled the car less than a mile from the airport and noted it clearly on my statement.
HERTZing on Hold - When I called in to get the fuel charge removed - the IVR informed me that the hold times for billing inquiries was over 30 minutes !  Not surprisingly the hold times for making a reservation were nil. Hmmn, do they like Hertzing people? I am thinking their theme song could be, “You Make It Hurtz So Good”.
But the song this customer wants to hear is, “Baby don’t hurtz me, no more.”
There is a saying that I have modified just slightly.
Hertz me once, shame on you. Hertz me twice…shame on me. Hertz me a third time…. it ain’t gonna happen.Â
Thank you all for your comments. If you want to read them or the previous Hertz Blog. Click Here
Kirk out
July 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Unfortunate to hear of your bad experience with Hertz. I like your daily posts because they encourage and inspire. I have found your rant about Hertz, distracting and frankly whinning. I am not defending them but feel this takes your column to a different place.
July 30th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Ouch !!! Looks like your DISCOUNT grew like a mushroom. Maybe we shouldn’t even get a discount, if it’s going to double the cost. And why would Hertz charge you for gas when you filled the car up yourself before turning it in. Thought that s why we fill them up B/4 turning them in….cheaper than the company charges. Good luck getting this one straightend out….maybe another company would be better next time around…..
July 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Kirk, I don’t think your ranting like others might. It’s an eye opener to those of us who provide service and a reminder we are part of a ’service chain’ – one weak link and … well you know the rest. Not to mention companies feel they can get away w/nickel and diming people since our hands are tied. Such isn’t the case with forums such as this.
I bet if you took a look at the medical industry you’d open a big can of “Hurtzâ€. I had to go through physical therapy for pain in my shoulders, 3 days a week, and noticed the bill included separate charges for left shoulder as well as right and all they did was stretch my arms back, gave it a few shakes, and rubbed it – I thought this was a warm up before doing exercises. Okay, I guess I can see getting billed for left & right even though they are connected to the same body. There was also a charge for the exercises sessions, and again billed for both left and right. But it gets better.
Eventually I said enough of this, I can do this at home so one day I stopped by the PT office and asked my therapist for a copy of the exercises, something I had ask for in previous sessions but never received. I also wanted to tell him in person I’m going to do PT at home and monitor the outcome. Two weeks later I got a $63 bill for therapeutic activities… SAY WHAT? After multiple phone calls I got in touch with the proper billing person and the reason for the charge –- the therapist handed me a piece of paper (photo copy) of exercises, he provided a service - oh come on! But this was something he could have give me in a previous session and never did. If I knew I was getting billed for a piece of paper I wouldn’t have shown up!! Response - We have to follow procedure, insurance has been billed, no going back. Then at least credit my $20 co-pay, figuring you should be happy with swindling insurance out of $43 for a piece of paper, right? Reply from OAD Orthopaedics LTD, sorry can’t apply a credit, billing doesn’t work that way. I even asked that my therapist call me, or a manager, to discuss the situation; it never happened. I suddenly realized this is probably nothing compared to all the other disservices as well as blood sucking from insurance companies going on around the USA. Why, because they can.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Well, being an AZ resident I can say that the experience of renting through the Phoenix airport is a nightmare no matter which car company you use and the “on airport” rental fees and taxes are much higher due to an agreement about building stadiums like the Hockey (Coyotes) in Glendale. I personally no longer rent through Sky Harbor and rent off airport, or at the smaller airports because they don’t have the higher fees.
However, I think in this economy, companies need to be much more customer service focused to retain their customers, otherwise it may not turn out so good for them in the end…
And I must say, I jsut recently booked my first rental with Hertz because their rate for a minivan is 200 less than the competitors for the week we’re renting… All these experiences I’ve read about make me wonder if I should be willing to pay the extra bucks to go through a different agency???
July 30th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I have some employees who work on our Help Desk phones that do not understand the importance of offering quality customer service on each and every call. Kirk’s T4D and the related comments on his bad service with Hertz hit on the point I am trying to stress with my people. They do not understand why it is an issue when they offer quality service on the large percentage of their calls but fail to do so on a small number of calls. I was wondering if you could recommend a particular article or document that stressed how one bad experience can cause a large negative effect. If it is relevant, my Help Desk supports internal customers.
July 31st, 2009 at 7:39 am
Kirk
This is baffling that the basic daily charge was $71.50 and even discounted was $57.20 for a Prius! You weren’t renting a Ferrari or a Rolls? What happened to the old $25 per day for a compact or mid sized car? Wonderful they overcharge for the car, an efficient Hybrid vehicle, and than offer you a 20% discount to bring it down to a price that is still way too high for the car to begin with. After that they kick in charges for what? Concession fee $9.33? Did you order cotton candy for the road? O & M Recovery Fee? They left off the “G†on that fee for Oh My God! Energy Surcharge? This car gets 40 to 50 mpg… why a surcharge? It’s not a gas guzzler?
Airport facilities Fee? I didn’t know you were landing the Prius on the runway but that’s a good one to charge you for the fee anyway!
Motor Vehicle Lease Tax – well of course the DMV needs a piece of your one day of fun!
Road Tax? That should have been part of the DMV charge but who knows?
TAX 15.30% to who? It was only a few years ago you could have rented a compact car for $15.30! Times for sure have changed in only a few short years! Hertz so bad….. J
Here’s to your health, wealth and happiness!
Bo Tomlyn
August 10th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I just experienced the Hertzful experience in Halifax. I booked a car for five days and on the form said I would pick it up at 9 a.m. When we arrived at the Marriott Hotel at about 11, I was told, “Oh, we thought you were a no show so we gave your car away.”
Nothing on their reservation suggested they would only hold the car for a few minutes.
They said they might, might, be able to get a car in three days.
I’m now chasing Hertz for the $200 I had to spend on bus fair to get out of town and back.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I too had a great experience with Hertz last week in Las Vegas. I dropped some friends off at the airport before returning the car to the car return depot. After my friends left I tried to start the car without success so I called Hertz. They advised me that the tow truck would be there in about an hour or so to pick the car up. I said I couldn’t wait that long or I would miss my flight. They then advised to just leave the keys in the car and lock all but one door and go. I question this but they said that it would be fine.
As I was leaving the car I spoke to Airport Security telling them that Hertz would be there to pick the car up soon. Airport Security informed me that Hertz does this all the time and that as soon as I leave the car Airport Security will call and have the car towed to Hertz and I would pay for the tow not Hertz. When I call Hertz back to confirm at first they wouldn’t give me a straight answer then after I demanded an answer they said yes, if the car was towed by the airport I would pay…..up to $500…
I asked Hertz to send over someone to stay with the car; they said no that was not an option. So I sat with the car for the next hour waiting for the tow truck. Hertz frankly didn’t care at all.
Last time I rent from them.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:03 am
wow