arollins

The less experienced consumer is the one who broke the contract, did not bother to call and check the consequences, or tried to find a different course of action. In all of my rentals there is language regarding extra charges due to late return, gas or location.

Where you aware that your son was going to return the car to a different location? Who actually made the rental?

Seeing this has gone for some time, have you tried to communicate with Hertz Corp? I presume so, you already complained with the credit card co and filed a claim with BBB. Not much can be done now except let it ride its course.

This is more a lesson on what not to do with a car rental and its consequences.

Good luck.

jackal

I sympathize with your feelings. To suddenly be charged $2,000 more than originally expected because of a simple misunderstanding (and not a gross misunderstanding, at that) stings. And I disagree with an earlier poster who said it was a "small price" to pay for a lesson--$2,000 is not chump change in anyone's definition!

That said, there is definitely a valid legal and procedural basis for the charge. Dave Noble outlined it above in his sample quotes of short and long one-way rentals between BOS and MHT. As it's been shown in several posts by people intimately familiar with the rental industry (the people who have posted here are largely people who rent dozens or hundreds of times each year or even perhaps a few people who have worked in the industry and know how things work), you really have no legitimate legal ground to stand on other than beg for the mercy of someone at Hertz. You're turning this into a big, nasty fight--and that's a fight you can't win, because the T&C are written to allow them to do what they did.

Your best bet would have been in the early stages to reach out to someone high up at Hertz, appeal to their sense of decency, and outline a case that says, "If we had been told upon return that the fee would have been this high, we clearly would have canceled the return process and driven the 65 miles to BOS. I'm appealing to you to intervene because we weren't made aware of the extreme penalty until it was too late to resolve the situation."

You might have also pointed out to Hertz that their own subsidiary, Dollar, only charges a $1,320 one-way drop fee picking up in BOS and dropping off in LAX (regardless of the length of rental), so for Hertz to charge you almost double that for a 65-mile drop seems unfair, especially without any notice of such at return. Frankly, I think the Dollar method is a much fairer calculation, especially on long rentals--although if you can do a lot of driving in a short time period, such as I did LAX to Denver in 2 days a couple of years ago, the Hertz method can end up being much cheaper. (Note you can't do an apples-to-apples comparison and see what Dollar's one-way rate from BOS to MHT is, as MHT is a franchise and thus does not accept one-way rentals from corporate locations.)

But that's all you can do is appeal to someone at Hertz to recognize that your situation deserves some mercy--Hertz is completely within their legal rights to charge the fee, which is also completely within (as Dave presented) their normal course of business. In other words, they're not slapping you with a huge, massive, unfair penalty; they just adjusted the rate to what it normally would have been had you priced out a two-month-long one-way rental from BOS to MHT. If you argue anything else, you're saying that the way Hertz calculates one-way rates is unfair, and that's not a debate you're going to win by having it out with Hertz via the BBB and your credit card company.

I recognize this is not what you want to hear. I understand you feel as though you've been harmed, and you want Hertz to pay for what they've done to you. But a tip: when complaining about an issue to a set of experienced travelers, it generally works out much better if you don't claim that the travel provider is engaging in fraudulent behavior when it's pretty clear to us that it's not. You can argue that a policy seems extremely unfair or that a situation wasn't handled correctly, but unlike many consumer complaint forums out there, we actually know how things work, and if you post here, you're going to get practical advice on how to resolve it, not emotional support for your perspective that a Big Evil Company is out to screw you.

That all said, I will note to my fellow posters that a modicum of compassion in your responses is warranted and will help them be better received.

One last note to the OP: I posted a link upthread to Chris Elliott's page on corporate contacts at Hertz. If they do not assist you in resolving your problem, a note to Chris Elliott himself may prove fruitful--he specializes in taking on cases like yours and getting them resolved into something fair for both parties. (If he gets Hertz to reduce their charge to maybe a couple hundred bucks, that would be a fair resolution--it probably cost them about the same to move their car back from MHT to BOS.)

Dave Noble

From what I read, you are not trying to warn customers of some unfair practice but whining that you were charged for a one way rental in line with Hertz's charges for the one way rental

It is not as is you have been charged an amount that seems different to what it would have been should you have actually booked it as a pick up in Manchester and drop off in Boston up front. I have great trouble seeing how it is unfair. In fact I would see it as unfair if hertz didn't charge accordingly since this would be penalising those that book what they actually plan to do

Before returning to the other location , did the renter actually contact Hertz and rebook to return to Boston and check what the cost would be or check with the returning location what the cost would be?

If this had been done, then the situation could have been avoided.

If making a rental from place A to return to place A, but then choose to breach the conditions and return to place B, why would the charges not be higher

I suspect that if had up front appealed to Hertz that there was a misunderstanding and didnt'e realise that there would be such a high fee, maybe Hertz may have offered to lower the cost on an ex-gratia basis. Since have chosen to accuse Hertz of crimes et al, then I suspect that you will just have to wear the cost

Adam1222

As made clear from the comments here, this is an area where most consumers do not need your protection, as they are not proceeding on the assumption they can return cars wherever they like and dictate the terms of the rental. You continue to refuse to take responsibility. Companies may need protection from you! Your contract presumably didn't say how much they'd charge you if you drove the car into Boston Harbor, decided to keep it for an extra month, etc.
If Hertz really did screw you as you suggest, someone on here would agree with you. The unanimity of responses should indicate that your obstinate position is unjustified.

RandyASteinberg

Disappointed in the lack of faith here - however I am happy to pass on not one, but three written communications in our correspondence with Hertz specifically stating that we are not looking for monetary compensation but kindly asking them to end this dishonest practice. The same has been given in writing to the States Attorney filings in all four states involved in this transaction. The purpose as we stated at the start of posting in this forum is only one of many actions taken to shed some light on this and warn other consumers. Some of us really do care.

jackal

But your position falls flat on the very basis of your argument! You haven't even been able to establish that it IS a dishonest practice. In fact, we've provided you tons of evidence why it ISN'T a dishonest practice and is in fact normal and expected. And yet you seem to have conveniently ignored repeated posts to that effect!

That's why you're not getting a ton of sympathy here. I've tried to help with some concrete suggestions of what you can do, but if you're not even going to address the most basic points made by me and others in this thread, then we can't help you.

Adam1222

Some of us really do care as well- and that's why we take the time to explain why your complaint is misguided. Unfortunately, complaints like yours devalue valid complaints about truly egregious consumer fraud. There is nothing dishonest about charging you for a one way rental when you had a contract for a roundtrip rental and you chose to make a one way rental.
You will never get any company to respond to you that it will change its ways in response to a letter telling them they are engaged in a dishonest practice and that they are violating laws -- when they aren't. They may have gone to the employees at issue and told them to make sure they give itemized receipts or explain charges more, but they are not going to (a) provide you, who has no valid legal claim and have been offered money, with a detailed explanation of any remedial measures taken, or (b) change their policy to provide free one way rentals, change their pricing system for one way rentals, or find away to list every conceivable charge for customers who decide not to honor their end of the rental contract.

You still have yet to accept any degree of responsibility here and that's disheartening.

The earlier recommendation that you go to Chris Elliott made me smile, because he, like you, would automatically say how unfair and dishonest Hertz is. But even he would tell you the best you'd get is a little gelt.

The lesson for your son here should be clear: don't assume you can return a car wherever you like, look at your receipt when you return a car and if you dont get one, ask. Instead, it seems the lesson you are teaching is to avoid responsibility, ignore people with greater expertise than you when they explain you are wrong, and dig in your heels and insist your armchair reading of irrelevant laws entitles you to be right.

If you joined Flyertalk simply to warn others about Hertz as part of a one man campaign against standard car rental practices, may I suggest this is not the place for you.

Some of us do care, and it is insulting for you to say otherwise.

Dave Noble

There is no lack of "faith". Your story has been taken at face value and at face value you have no valid complaint. You had a rental to pick up at location A and return to location A. You unilaterally decided to return to location B and you were charged , what seems to have been a severely discounted rate, for that rental. A 2 month rental should have have about $4000+ extra cost

Wy should anyone think that Hertz is somehow being unfair in charging you less than what they would charge anyone else doing the same rental ?

The only "warning" is that customers should not unilaterally decide to breach the conditions that they agreed to

Next time, perhaps phone reservations and check what the cost will be before taking such actions so that can avoid it in the future

If no one on a forum frequented by some people who deal with Hertz a lot agrees with you, perhaps that is an indication of whether your claim that Hertz is being dishonest stands up

jackal

Good point. I suspect it was only charged as a one-way for a one-month rental because IME, rental agencies typically close the rental contract out each month and then reopen it for the next month. (No valid reason as far as I've ever been able to discern--it's just one of those things they've always done and so will continue to always do.) Thus, the rate that was modified was only the second month, since the previous month's rental was probably already closed out and charged to the card.

The irony is, if the OP had booked a 2 month, 3 day rental, Hertz probably would have closed out the second month's rental and then opened a 3-day rental for the last three days...and then the rate would have been bumped up to the higher one-way rate for just the last three days.

Moving back into policy territory: I really don't like the way Hertz/Avis/Budget/National do one-ways. I much prefer the way Dollar and Thrifty do (and I believe Enterprise, too, although their one-way network is much more limited). A flat drop fee is much fairer. A $100 drop fee for BOS-MHT is reasonable. A $2000 drop fee is not for a 65-mile drive. I don't think the OP has a valid legal/BBB/AG/FTC complaint, as Hertz did exactly what their published policy is to do in this situation, but speaking to the larger issue of how Hertz handles one ways, I can't help but think that it is a poorly-thought-out, poorly-implemented policy and should be changed.

Dave Noble

That is how Hertz in USA may do one-way rentals but that isn't the way it works everywhere. Over here there are simple drop fees applied where applicable

Auto Enthusiast

I like Hertz's one-way policies better, because the "more transparent / simpler" flat rate winds up sticking it to anyone other than short regional distance, long time, primarily leisure travelers. Most of my one-ways are relatively long distance. I'd rather pay a "hidden" drop charge for an $85, one day rental, than pay $35 + $150 drop charge. Or if it's a week, I'd rather pay $500 than $250 plus a $1,320 drop charge. Many people like to redeem free days for one-ways, but free days don't remove a separate drop charge, only the daily rate and whatever it includes. So if you're going to try to go through the BBB or the courts to try to force Hertz to change its mind on how it prices one-ways, you will eventually see that in reality, you and many other customers will actually be worse off and pay much more than you otherwise could have.

I suspect that part of the difference in preferred pricing structure in the US vs other countries is that in the US, long distance, short time one-ways are probably more common. More people in the US are probably using a one-way car as a means of transportation, whereas in Europe, trains would probably fill that function. So overseas, one-way rentals are probably for vacationers taking a leisurely, week or more stroll through meandering countryside roads between cities.

Beckles

This is not quite true, it is certainly possible to return a car earlier than contracted and receive lower total charges or in some instances even return to a different location without changing the rate (e.g., the State of Florida typically does not have one-way charges within the state).

As for the situation in this thread, if a consumer is not sophisticated enough to understand a rental car contract, maybe they should not be entering into such a contract.

Often1

OP confuses "faith" with "blind acceptance". Not one post disputes the truth of what OP says his son did. Note that the post here is not from the person allegedly wronged, but from a parent. The comments are based on the truth of what OP says his kid did do. And, what his kid did do is choose to breach his contract with Hertz and then seek to make up his own new contract based on what the kid thinks the contract ought to say.

Unfortunately, Hertz disagrees with the kid.

RandyASteinberg

I recognize the audience in this forum is mostly experienced travelers (including myself and I did not make this rental - he did it on his own) who know better. However, not every customer comes in the door with that experience and should be penalized to this degree. Granted there should be "additional charges" as it states in their contract (and by the way that is all it states - nothing about changing base rates, etc.). To state that "he should have known better" as an excuse for a $2,036 penalty for 65 miles is way over the top.
I am raising this as fraud for the following reasons:
1) Our bill states nothing about "additional charges" and is loaded not only with a different base rate, but extra days (car was returned on time), mileage fees with an odometer reading that is false (proven by his platepass charges), mileage charges (even though unlimited miles is specified in their one-way rentals as well as his contract). In short, doctored to look like a normal transaction that was agreed to with no audit back to the original estimate.
2) Hertz is very transparent on other charges (e.g. fuel return, baby seats, insurance, etc.) but for some reason not on this point.
3) We actually tried the "nice" route early on (remember we are 7 months into this now) and virtually no employee would escalate to a manager or provide a customer service contact. Numerous times we were told "tell your bank to dispute the charges". No one recommended a number or customer department to contact. In one case, we had an employee in the Oklahoma City billing center who posed as a manager.
4) The contract does not explicitly state this practice in any way other than the "additional charges" clause. Since the bill states no additional charges, then technically they have issued a wrong bill.
5) We have an inexperienced traveler that returned a car (albeit in the wrong place) and was given no receipt and told everything was okay.
I am not asking the forum here to take any actions - we recognize this is our issue, but our goal is to put a light on this in as many places as possible until Hertz gets transparent on this and changes their practices. We reject that ignorance (as well as length of rental contract) is an excuse to grossly inflate charges. If a business wants to operate this way, that is their right, but at least we can make sure consumers are well aware of it.

jackal

From an emotional standpoint, your post makes complete sense to me. Emotionally, it feels wrong to be charged $2,000 extra for returning the car 65 miles away, especially without being told of that when you return the car. (And I personally disagree with Hertz that their one-way rate policy is a fair way to calculate charges.)

Additionally, you may have some legitimate legal/contractual ground to stand on with the whole doctored-receipt thing.

But there is one big hole in your argument that (other than the doctored-receipt charge mentioned above) presents you with a serious challenge.

The simple answer to this is that Hertz isn't grossly inflating charges! You can run a price quote on Hertz.com for a one-month rental from BOS to MHT and see for yourself that what your son was charged is the going rate.

The main point you're basing your entire argument would be the exact same thing as going to Hertz.com, reserving a one-way rental from BOS to MHT, being quoted $2,000, reserving it, paying the $2,000, and then filing a complaint (and posting on the Internet) that $2,000 is an unreasonable charge for a one-way rental. The fact that your son changed his rental to one-way at the last minute has no bearing on your argument (that $2,000 is an unfair figure). Thus, arguing that Hertz grossly overcharged him is a false accusation. Hertz was simply charging your son the exact same thing they will charge me if I pick up a car tomorrow and keep it for a month. Ignorance isn't a valid defense, and arguing that an extra charge is unclear and unfairly hidden only works when they don't make the information easily available to you...and it was easily available, either by calling Hertz or putting the information in Hertz.com to see what rate came back.

Was it wrong of the Hertz in MHT to not provide a correct, itemized receipt advising your son of the huge increase? Of course! But that doesn't change the fact that a $2000 extra charge isn't an unusual charge for a one-way rental lasting a month.

At this point, though, if you're bringing up charges of doctored receipts and fraudulent signatures and malicious intent on the part of Hertz, and after seven months Hertz has refused to change its stance on the issue, you really probably need to pursue this through the legal system. I would suggest you contact an attorney or at least file a claim in small-claims court.

Regardless, I do feel for your son, and I wish you success in getting your money back. Best wishes.