Hertz - Major Hertz rant!

I'm having a bad Hertz day.

After missing 5-Star and PC last year because my rentals were long duration, I decided to aim for those levels this year. I've had a dozen rentals since January. Qualification criteria here in the UK is 10 rentals for 5-Star, 30 for PC.

I called Hertz (UK) today to ask them if they'd upgrade my account since I'd rented the requisite number of times. Apparently, these things are done automatically and ONLY automatically. My account is set to be reviewed in April 2006, and apparently there's nothing that can be done before this time. I posed the question about PC to the rep on the phone (e.g. what whould happen if I rented 30 times by June) and the answer was the same -- nothing until April 2006.

Does this strike anyone else as one of the worst customer loyalty programmes around?

Compounding my frustration today was the fact that the brand new, delivery mileage Ford Focus they gave me at Heathrow is a dud, with a buggered transmission and smoke pouring out of the dashboard vents. They won't deliver a new car to me, and they're insisting I get the RAC out to tow the car back to London -- about 90 miles away. Apparently there are no cars closer by.

They also refuse to offer any sort of compensation for this inconvenience.

I'm seriously, seriously, seriously unimpressed.

Was also unimpressed with my 'upgrade' to a Kia minivan last week.

Rant over.

Any suggestions for resolution? Or do I just have to grin and bear it?

Try to get in touch with the US-based corporate office instead of the UK offices.

I recently had a complaint which didn't warrant any compensation & they gave me a $25.00 cert towards a future rental & I have no status with Hertz.

I would strongly recommend getting in touch with their headquarters - sounds like you give them a lot of business & have had a bit of a hassle.

While official policy in the US is that status begins on April of the following year, I don't know of any US Hertz customer who has not had their account upgraded to 5 Star or President's Circle once they reach the requisite number of rentals and writes or calls.

Agreed: I know it's a pain in the arse, but bust a phone call to the Hertz #1 Club Gold customer service - I think they are in Oklahoma. They should be able to review your rental activity and bump you up to 5-star immediately. Do it again when you hit PC...

Actually, I seem to recall that they did it in response to an email about 2 years ago, but given how cheap (free?) UK-to-US calling is, I'd just call 'em directly and talk to a human.

When I first made PC, all I did was call up and they changed it on the spot. If you don't call, then they may just drag thier feet.

I got the impression from the rep that Gold #1 in the States couldn't help, since the programmes are run independently of one another.

Then again, it could be that the agent didn't know his arse from his elbow.

I'll give them a ring in the US and report back.

Within US I've been upgraded to PC via a request via email about six months ago... if its a separate program for UK I don't know, but good luck.

Matthew, let me know how you get on as I'm in UK and on my 8th rental towards 5 star...I hope they sort it for you.