Thorgils

[Mods: please move if this is a previously discussed issue, but I didn't find it in a quick search of the Hertz forum.]

I had a 3-day rental in France late last month, and was pleased with my car and the service. The bottom line charge on my rental (in EUR) was exactly what I had been led to expect from my reservation.

However, I noticed that the USD charge to my credit card was significantly out of line with the exchange rates used for all my other purchases on that trip, so I went back to examine my invoice more carefully. Yes, the (bolded) bottom line shows the expected EUR charge, but above it (in smaller, unbolded print) I see that Hertz took it upon themselves to charge my credit card not in EUR but in USD at an (to use their terms) "Exchange Rate (including conversion charge)" that essentially increased my charge in USD terms by almost 5%.

The "Charge you in $, for your convenience?" scam has been around for years, is now well recognized, and is usually easy for seasoned travelers to avoid. But at no stage in the reservation process or the transaction did Hertz ever ask me whether I wanted them to bill my card in USD instead of the EURs that I contracted for, and (if asked) I would never have fallen for this sleazeball tactic. OK, the $8-9 extra that I ended up giving to Hertz is admittedly small beer, but if Hertz is routinely using these deceptive tactics with US customers making rentals in other currencies around the world, the resulting level of revenue padding is presumably quite substantial.

I wonder if this practice -- if my own experience actually is the norm for Hertz these days -- might be of interest to the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or to some class action law firms?

flyerfmaz

I rent a car almost every week, and have learned that no matter what the rental company you've got to be absolutely vigilant or most of these car rental outfits will (if you'll pardon the pun), run you over. Then back over you again just for good measure. I eyeball the contract for mistakes, take detailed photos of the car at pickup and, sometimes, on return as well. I've never been in an accident but have had to deal with two windshield claims -- one with Hertz, the other with Alamo. I have full coverage for this sort of thing and dealing with Hertz has been an utter nightmare, Alamo is better but only one or two notches above. Anyway -- long story short -- you'll probably have to eat the $8, but try to find out where in the fine print you may have "agreed" to this sort of thing so you'll know how to avoid it next time.

UAPremExecflyer

You're only about five years late to this topic. It's called DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion). Myriad threads here, including this one - from 2012 - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz...namic+currency, as well in the AVIS forum, among many http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis-...ion-fraud.html

Thorgils

Well yes, I expected so, but wasn't able to locate the previous threads from a quick search; thanks for pointing me to them.

I first became aware of the DCC scam some 10 to 20 years ago, I think, when Harrod's was one of the earliest adopters. But in recent years, I've pretty much always been presented with a clear and explicit choice at the point of payment (albeit sometimes -- e.g., PayPal and some ATMs -- with a certain amount of nagging to accept the expensive "convenience" of knowing just how much I will be charged in USD). By and large, few vendors/banks are actively hiding the practice any more, in my experience.

But here's the source of my puzzlement re Hertz. In August 2014 I had two Hertz rentals in the UK (where my general experience of Hertz has been decidedly inferior to that in France), yet both were billed to my US credit card in sterling, as I expected, and my card company made the conversion. So either global corporate policy has changed over the last year, or else the decision to use this particular consumer scam is made on a region-, country-, or even location-specific basis.

Doubtless the corporate lawyers have ensured that I must have been induced to "agree" to this somewhere in the pickup process. I note that my eReceipt for the French rental includes this paragraph:In my case, the "choix de la monnaie" was pretty well hidden. And of course I will be paying my bill in the currency of my credit card; but that's not the same thing, Hertz, as permitting you to be the entity determining the currency conversion. You told me when I booked that the price would be determined in euros; live up to that commitment and charge me in euros.

You're right, flyerfmaz, "absolute vigilance" is the consumer's only protection when dealing with corporations that value short term profit enhancement over building and maintaining any brand reputation for honesty and fair dealing.

flyerfmaz

The good news is that, in the long run, badly behaved companies in a free economy and with competition in place eventually feel the wrath of their customers and suffer for their transgressions. For many reasons, Hertz is rock-bottom on my list of companies to rent a car from. I'm keeping my options open and if Hertz ever mends their ways I might rent from them again.

FallenPlat

So how do you avoid DCC at Hertz?

I got hit with this in Paris recently, and the charge showed up over a legend (in French) on the post-rental receipt saying that I'd been offered the chance to be billed in the currency of my credit card's issuance, i.e., dollars. This showed up in my email the day after I had returned the car -- in person, by the way.

Of course I had been offered no such thing, and I most certainly didn't select it.

I had to call to flip this back. The issue is a 1.16 vs. a 1.11 exchange rate.

Update:

Hertz readily gave back the few dollars in question. Oddly, though, they got confused between euros and dollars and so ended up crediting back to me a bit too much.

TerryK

I got hit by exactly the same scenario in Paris. You saved me time to retype my story. The only difference is the exchange rate, I was billed by Hertz at 1.17 instead of 1.12 EUR/USD rate that day. I just filed a complaint on www.hertz.com and see how Hertz will respond.

Often1

Not only should you file a clear and concise complaint with Hertz, no matter how small the amount, noting that you did not select the "convenience" of being billed in USD, but after you receive your credit, you should file a complaint with the FTC, noting the details.

The FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints and you do not have one as yours has been resolved. But, it does track consumer complaints and when a problem appears to be global, it may act. I suppose that there may be some people who have CC's which impose exorbitant foreign exchange fees and who therefore benefit from the convenience of the Hertz process, that is not true for most. At a minimum, it ought to be a consumer choice and the FTC could certainly require that if the service is marketed in the US, as even a Hertz Europe service is, that the selection be open, e.g., the consumer must affirmatively choose one currency or the other.

KPhill

They are still doing this in France. Returned a car in Nice on 8/8 and was hit with a similar rate differential.

Just disputed the difference ($58 or so) with Chase.

Wondering if possible to avoid DCC by just using Amex for Hertz overseas. They pulled the same scam in Mexico earlier this year but at an even more ridiculous exchange rate.

Wondering why the FTC (or class action crowd) is out to lunch on the whole DCC scam, as previous posters know this is old news.

Majuki

Is there an option like with Avis when you make the reservation? If it doesn't show the exchange rate, it's not compliant with Visa/MC's DCC policy, and you can file a dispute with your issuers (Reason Code 76 with Visa).