Hertz - Hertz Europe playing "hard ball".... Be aware!

If you think that being "Presidents Cycle" has any meaning at Hertz Europe locations.... think again.
In fact, Hertz Germany and their European HQ in England treats you like a commom customer and when a problem arises, throws you under the bus.

On a recent rental in Germany, I returned the car to an airport station that wasn't open. I parked the car and dropped the keys in the night safe. When I received the invoice in the mail a week later, a damage charge of $500 had been added to my invoice, even though I had parked the car without any damages. I disputed the charges and Hertz (without having proof, insisted on me paying for the damage). I didn't hear back from Hertz for a a couple of month. Then, one day a few month later, I received a call from a collection agency trying to collect on this open balance and advising me in case of non compliance of a potential impact to my credit rating.

Upon contacting Hertz Germany and European HQ, I was advised that this matter was out of the hands of Hertz and that they really didn't care about it anymore. The fact that I rent from Hertz multiple times a week around the world and that I would have expected a more sensible customer service approach or a least a converstation on potential options was dismissed.

I always new that customer service is non existent in Europe, but treating their "most valued" customers like this, is not what I am used to from companies here in the US or from Hertz USA for that matter....

Hertz Renters in Europe.... be aware. When returning cars to unmanned stations use your smart phone and take pictures of your returned car for later proof of your innocence.

Taking photos will do nothing; if you return the car out of hours, you are still liable for any damage until the office opens and car is checked in

I don't see whether you have President's Circle membership or no membership at all should make no difference to the handling of a damage claim

They do not need any proof other than that the damage exists on the car; what I would have asked for initially is details of details of when the car damage was found and make sure that they did not inadvertantly charge the wrong person ; I had a charge applied which I found out to be related to the following renter of the vehicle

As far as playing "hard ball", isn't it a case of pot..kettle...black given that you disputed the charges?

Customer service does exist in Europe, but it doesn't mean rolling over on every customer's complaint/dispute

Taking photos will do nothing; if you return the car out of hours, you are still liable for any damage until the office opens and car is checked in



I find that hard to believe. That seems like an unfair term in a contact.

If that were the case, I have a feeling that some unscrupulous money hungry franchisees would intentionally damage (or not damage at all and claim there is damage) their vehicles.

The fact that Hertz did not contact me (as a PC member) but instead turned the receivable right away over to a collection agency is what bugs me the most. For somebody who does weekly business with this company.... should you not expect something more.....?
The return location is in a public airport garage. I can't remember any statement that said, returning cars outside our regular business hours are at your own risk.....
And finally, even when contacting Hertz after the collection agency notice, their German & European offices had no interest in working with me on that issue. They would rather get bad publicity over $500 and loose me and my company's business... and I turned this bill over to our company insurance...

I find that hard to believe. That seems like an unfair term in a contact.

If that were the case, I have a feeling that some unscrupulous money hungry franchisees would intentionally damage (or not damage at all and claim there is damage) their vehicles.

Not at all; you are responsible for the car until it is checked in; drop it off out of hours and you are still responsible for it until the morning; if you do not trust the location or think that the area is too risky to leave the car, then return during business hours

It makes sense, to me, that responsibility ends once checked in , otherwise there are people who if scratching/damaging a car would make sure to return out of hours and claim "it wasn't me"

And finally, even when contacting Hertz after the collection agency notice, their German & European offices had no interest in working with me on that issue. They would rather get bad publicity over $500 and loose me and my company's business... and I turned this bill over to our company insurance...

if you are insured, why worry too much; let the insurance company deal with Hertz and justify the payment ; your company is free to change companies it uses of course, but why would you think any other car rental company would be any different?

I don't see what bad publicity there is, just a he says, she says on whether the damage occurred

It's the customer service follow up or lack there off. If you belong to the "elite" program of any of these companies (airlines, hotels, car rentals), you could expect them to work with you on issues rather than follow protocol and, in my case, turn this over to collections without even trying to resolve it directly with me first. To your point, maybe I just expect to much and have been completely blind sided by their "we value your business" messaging....

It's the customer service follow up or lack there off. If you belong to the "elite" program of any of these companies (airlines, hotels, car rentals), you could expect them to work with you on issues rather than follow protocol and, in my case, turn this over to collections without even trying to resolve it directly with me first.

Rather than contact them and discuss it, your post indicates that you went for a chargeback when you found the charge rather than contact Hertz to discuss the charge and determine whether any error ( e.g. damage was next renter and inadvertently charged to you ) occured. Doing a chargeback, then it seems perfectly understandable that they would pursue the claim in such a manner to me

I wouldn't expect any exception to normal process for vehicle damage whether the renter is PC or have no card at all

Seems like the real lesson here is to not return cars after hours, especially outside the U.S.

On one hand, I'd expect the customer service for a PC member to be better than this. I'd think there would be some communication between Hertz and the renter before a PC member is unilaterally charged $500 for "damage".

However, OP may have exacerbated the problem by immediately going to a CC dispute rather than calling Hertz in his home location. The delay in communication after the CC dispute doesn't surprise me...that probably kicked it into a totally different process than the customer service agents who would handle PC members. Agree that it's bad for a business to not have real conversations with its customers before turning the whole thing over to collections, but we all know the car rental industry is notoriously poor about these kinds of things so I (unfortunately) think it's on us to do a little more follow-up on our own.

Was the car returned in the middle of the night? Usually airport locations are open for all logical pickup/return times for scheduled flights at that airport. If I returned the car at a logical time for a scheduled flight, I'd be a little irritated if Hertz wasn't open. (Are we talking FRA or MUC here? Or some small airport?)

i agree on several points here, as also experienced an odd situation in Europe. Overall, for a damage situation, whatever level of rank I am, I don't expect to be treated differently, its usually a different department that deals with such things and as such, whatever status you are is not particularly relevant.

That said, I was hit with some obscure damage charge 4 1/2 months after returning a car after 8pm at a small dutch airport location (drop box). I had had no accident of any kind, and the pictures were all taken from the underside of the vehicle, and made no sense, nor did the badly written english description. They just slapped an 1100 euro charge on my credit card, then a week later I got a letter in the mail with pictures/comments. I rejected through my amex and asked them to investigate the charges as they were not clear. I also sent several letters to Hertz, at customer service centers in Europe and head office in USA. The charges disappeared, Hertz did not follow-up on anything.

I remain deeply suspicious about this particular rental location, and feel that they were trying to pull a fast one on me. Hertz should have at least sent a letter of apology or hopefully, internally, people are being looked at with more scrutiny.

Here are a couple of additional pieces of info....

The station was Berlin (TXL) on Sunday morning for the first flight to FRA at around 6am (Hertz doesn't open until 8am on Sundays).
I did discuss the charge with the Hertz station first and they insisted on the demange charges to stand. Secondly, a Hertz represented suggested to me to dispute the charges with my CC company......
At the end, I (and all of my colleagues) stop renting from Hertz Germany.
Sixt is much larger and better in Germany anyway, and at least I get to drive a Mercedes from time to time.......

What was the result of the dispute with the Credit card? How did they rule?

The station was Berlin (TXL) on Sunday morning for the first flight to FRA at around 6am (Hertz doesn't open until 8am on Sundays).

Total sidebar I know...but that's pretty poor on Hertz's part if they aren't open until 8AM at a fairly large airport with scheduled service going out at 6AM. (I'm assuming this was a scheduled LH flight and not a charter or something.) Doesn't really help you or anything...but that's a move I expect from a 3rd-tier agency, not Hertz.

All this talk of "don't return out of hours" is pure trolling. There are far too many Hertz Europe locations that don't have return staff on hand, no matter what time of day. And I'm not talking small locations either. London Gatwick North terminal anyone? "Just park the car and throw the keys in the safe over there, we'll mail you a bill." Time of day matters not.

I always take photos when I return (always trying to get a Hertz sign in the background), and I have successfully used them in a disputed damage claim in the past. Not guaranteed, of course, but they sure do take a lot of steam out of baseless claims.

Of course, in the end, the AmEx IDC no-worries cover helps in the worst cases.

What was the result of the dispute with the Credit card? How did they rule?

The CC reversed the "extra" charges... that's why they ended up in collections....

The CC reversed the "extra" charges... that's why they ended up in collections....

I would be very surprised if any credit collection or threatened negative mark on your credit score that is based on a reversed CC transaction that took place in europe would have any validity what so ever here. If your CC reversed the charge, I'm pretty sure that debt is dead as far as collecting or reporting here in the USA.

Just another thought
Srpilo

I have never had this problem with Hertz but I certainly did with Avis in MXP.

I rented the car through the Avis office in Tel Aviv, which investigated the 1000 Euro charge (allegedly for a microscopic chip in the windshield which I never saw) and found that MXP had debited the previous renter for that chip.

MXP still refused to reverse the charge and the Tel Aviv Office gave me the money in cash.