garkster

I had a weird situation a couple of months ago with Thrifty (owned by, and now uses Hertz' systems) at IAH.

I'm Blue Chip, and showed up, but my name wasn't on the monitor. The agent in the lot was somewhat puzzled, but found my reservation, cut me a contract, gave me a car, and off I went for a 5-day rental.

Imagine my surprise when, about 2 days later, I got an e-mail closing out my rental. Not the same car, not the same rental agreement, etc. I called immediately, got a C/S agent, told her the story, including the part about what car I actually did rent, and when, since I didn't arrive at IAH until a good 45 minutes after the car was picked up. She gave me a case # and had the charges reversed.

At that location, they do take your driver's license when exiting the lot, so it's beyond me how my reserved car was taken by another person, who obviously didn't have my license, and got out. Very sloppy. And no indication (apparently) in their system that a car had already been picked up using my reservation.

Also, the thought of someone having a car rented out in my name, against my credit card, is almost terrifying.

CalItalian

Happened to me at the end of October this year with HOU reservation that I forgot to cancel. Sent an email to Hertz immediately when the return receipt came to my inbox. Took Hertz TWO weeks to respond. Then another two weeks for the charge reverse to show up in my account.

My reservation was for return one week later at the same station, HOU, but on the receipt it was returned at AUS 5 days after pick up. Over $550 in charges.

pakle

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but for the rentals where you all are getting charged but NOT actually renting the car, did you pre-pay the reservation or did Hertz already have your credit card information to know to charge you?

The reason I ask is because I typically do my car rental bookings with Autoslash or Costco Travel, both of which do not require a credit card to make the reservations, and I'm not always diligent about canceling the ones I don't take, esp. when the rate goes down. Just wondering if I'm risking the problems you all have encountered if I don't cancel a reservation.

CalItalian

If you want Gold benefits, i.e. being assigned a car without having to go to the gold office or desk at an airport (for that matter, having to see an agent at all), you have to have a card on file.

Hertz doesn't require a card if you just want to make a reservation but you're going to stand in line and not the Gold one, either.

lti

Reply to #13:
Not sure about Hertz, but I had a similar issue with Avis this November and it was not a prepaid reservation. I booked on avis.com directly and didn't pick up, but Avis charged to my credit card on file and emailed me a statement of charges.

CMK10

In this case i booked through the United portal and added my Hertz Gold number which has my CC linked to it.

Also, it looks like a blogger has picked up on this story:

http://thegate.boardingarea.com/warn...led-otherwise/

jsn55

This is preposterous. Who has ever picked up a rental car without an ID and a matching credit card? How on earth could this happen? And how could Hertz just ignore your communications when you're trying to HELP THEM? Oh, but they didn't ignore you, the 'booted you out of their system'. Absolutely amazing concept ... picking up a rental car in someone else's name without ID.

wahooflyer

It's deja vu all over again...

Almost 10 years to the day from my first "phantom" rental in this thread, it happened again at Hertz IAD this month. I got a better deal with National and forgot to cancel the Hertz Gold reservation. Sure enough, I get an email receipt from Hertz a day later showing I drove exactly 100 miles, and the charge posts to my credit card a couple of days after that.

Today I finally had a chance to call Hertz. I waited on hold for about 10 minutes for someone in the correct department to answer, and he told me I'd get an email in 3-5 business days (and a refund) once they've researched and determined I never took possession of the rental.

Since nothing has changed with this process in 10 years, it doesn't give me much confidence in Hertz. Their system should be able to determine which rentals are actually picked up vs. reserved and then no-showed. And what a hassle to pick up the phone and wait on hold... it's 2017, I rarely have to make a phone call to customer service anywhere anymore!

user

It also happened to me at LGA this month I called billing and they refunded me still got the points

DCAKen

This happened to me to DCA this spring. What was even worse was I was getting a daily credit card hit for the car since they didn't think it had been returned. It took a few phone calls to clear this up, but I got a $100 voucher of out it.

rapiddave

Hi all,

Hertz MSP fabricated a rental agreement and charged me for renting a car that I never rented. Sound absurd? Let me explain. Apologies in advance for the length of the post, but it takes space to properly explain.

I made a reservation for an ICAR (Corolla, etc.), for two days from 9/4/17 to 9/6/17, and walked into the Hertz MSP gold office at about 1:25 PM on 9/4. The PC lot was full of sedans, but I needed an SUV. The gold agent said an SUV is an extra $125/day, so I declined the upgrade fee. Then I cancelled my ICAR reservation from the app and made a new reservation, on the spot from my phone, for a group T (Armada, Expedition, etc.) at a more reasonable rate. The agent never told me she assigned a car for my original ICAR reservation. The gold agent then assigned me to a Ford Expedition on my new reservation. I inspected the Expedition, took photos of the damage, went through the security checkout gate, and drove out of the garage.

Fast forward two days, and the Expedition is returned on 9/6/17 by my additional driver. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a Hertz employee filled out a damage form, and my driver signed it not knowing the damage cited was preexistent. I return six hours after that on 9/6/17 to the Hertz MSP location in an attempt to halt the claims process, only to be deeply offended by a rude and unprofessional manager (detailed in said previous post). Fast forward another two days, to 9/8/17, and I get a Hertz E-Reciept for $148.25, for renting a Nissan Rogue from 9/4/17 at 1:19 pm to 9/6/17 at 4:00 PM.

Just one problem- I NEVER RENTED A NISSAN ROGUE from Hertz MSP. I was with family driving a Ford Expedition over that same time period, from 9/4/17 to 9/6/17. Consider the following:
1. Who rents an Expedition and a Rogue simultaneously?
2. I wasn't even on the Hertz lot at 1:19 PM, I only arrived at 1:25 PM. I know this because I checked my watch to see if I was too early and would be charged for an extra hour.
3. I cancelled the reservation the Rogue was assigned to at 1:28 PM. Hertz won’t process a reservation cancellation after the rental has begun.
4. The e-receipt says the Rogue was returned at 4:00 PM on 9/6/17. I was at work at 4:00 PM that day, and didn’t get back to Hertz MSP to halt the claims process until 6:00 PM that day.
5. The Rogue e-receipt was sent two days after the rental was supposedly completed. It's even dated 9/8/17, whereas the Expedition receipt is dated 9/6/17.
6. My CC company has no record of a $148 authorization being placed by Hertz.

So how is it possible for Hertz to generate an e-receipt for a rental that doesn’t exist? Simple. Hertz agents can backdate a rental agreement just by using a reservation number. On two occasions, I left Hertz MSP without a contract. In both cases, the agent in the security gate said he couldn’t print them due to holds on the vehicles, and would email me a contract later. Of course, no contract was emailed to me during the rental, so when I returned I had to go to the Gold Desk and I watched as a gold agent made up an agreement using my original reservation and return information (time, miles, fuel level).

I called customer service as soon as I see the Rogue e-receipt on 9/8, initially thinking how could Hertz let someone fraudulently rent a Nissan Rogue under my name, and who knows what happened to the car during that time. If it was totaled or used in the commission of a crime, it’d be a nightmare resolving the situation. I spoke with a Hertz CS manager, who was actually extremely courteous and helpful.

He said the most likely explanation is that the Hertz gold agent I asked about upgrading to an SUV must’ve prematurely assigned the Rogue to me, but never removed that assignment when I cancelled the ICAR reservation and rebooked. The Rogue sat in its stall for two days, until a Hertz employee checked it and realized the car was never actually rented. And at that point, instead of just reassigning the vehicle, some employee made up the miles and return time and backdated a rental agreement. When I asked the CS manager if the Hertz MSP station manager would’ve done this just to spite me, the CS manager laughed and said the station manager could’ve spited me in far more insidious ways, such as by adding a smoking fee ( not very reassuring), which would’ve been impossible to disprove after the fact. The CS manager apologized for the inconvenience, and authorized an immediate refund.

Nonetheless, this is the most absurd behavior I’ve ever seen from a rental location. I don’t know what happened the Rogue from 1:19 PM on 9/4/17 to 4:00 PM on 9/6/17, or how the odometer reading increased by 132 miles, but fabricating a rental agreement is fraud. Maybe someone got into that Rogue on 9/4/17, got through the security gate (they don’t check the drivers license if the contract is already printed), drove 132 miles, and returned on 9/6 at 4:00 PM, or a Hertz employee simply made up the miles and return time and billed me in the hope that I’d miss the charge on my credit card statement.

Regardless, this is worse than a company billing a customer for a service the customer never used or ordered, because a rental agreement makes me legally responsible for whatever happened to the car or whatever the car was involved with. This entire incident has been infuriating, and I sincerely hope someone at Hertz MSP gets fired for malfeasance or gross negligence.

I’ve attached the Nissan Rogue e-receipt, Expedition e-receipt, and my cancellation email. Note the overlapping times, dates, and matching reservation number on the cancellation email and the Rogue e-receipt.

Rant over, and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for the read. I’m done with Hertz MSP, sticking to National from now on.

Dave Noble

I don't see any fraud, just an error

Raise a report with customer service and I expect that it will be simply investigated and money refunded. If there is an issue with this, simply dispute the charge with the credit card company

rapiddave

I take it you didn't read the entirety of the post (I don't blame you ).

I already called Hertz CS and got a refund. I posted to expose the Hertz MSP station and inform other travelers that such fraudulent billing can in fact happen.

There is no way this is simply an error. The car was either driven 132 miles over two days, or it wasn't. If it was, someone else drove the car and I was charged for it - which is fraud- or a Hertz employee made up the return details and charged me for it- which is also fraud.

AutoSlash

Look on the bright side. You'll probably get to keep the 117 Gold Rewards points you earned on the refunded Rogue reservation.

jackal

I won't comment on the "fraud" part of this situation, since that's already been covered above (but as someone with a lot of industry experience, I would bet money on it being a mistake, as Dave Noble says, rather than anything intentional).

However, I did want to comment on another thing.

The lesson here is: don't just cancel the reservation; ask the rental agent to void the rental agreement.

The way Hertz's system works is different than National's.

With National, as far as I know, you have nothing but a reservation until such time as you go through the exit gate. At that point, the gate agent effectively opens your reservation into a rental agreement. Your card is not authorized until this exact point. At that point, you have now effectively signed the rental contract, and you can proceed to exit the lot.

With Hertz, either a scheduled/automated process or a manual procedure a manager in a back office engages in every hour or two* opens reservations into contracts for upcoming reservations. Prior to Ultimate Choice, it was at this point that your vehicle would be assigned. With UC, the rental contract is opened but left "pending vehicle assignment," which is now taken care of at the exit gate.

Once the reservation has been opened into a contract, making any modifications to the reservation has zero effect. Changes or even cancellations have zero effect, because the rental contract is in an entirely different computer system (and can only be changed by someone at a rental location or the "on rent" phone line, not on the website or anyone at the reservations center).

So, canceling your ICAR reservation did not void your rental agreement. Because the agent manually assigned the Rogue to your contract, it no longer showed up on the "Gold Customers Who Haven't Yet Showed Up" screen (in Hertz's system, once you have an agent manually touch your rental, it moves from "tentative" to "in process"--notice how on a normal rental, your rental time-out stamp is the same time you drive out the exit gate, whereas if you have a rental agent process your rental and assign a car, the time-out stamp is the time the agent saves the rental, even if you then sit on the lot for half an hour before leaving), so the process failed to void out your rental that evening like it normally does.

*I believe it's a manual process, since in years past when Hertz.com used to allow people to leave notes in reservations, more than once I had a manager in the Gold booth tell me things like "I saw your note requesting something other than an Impala," and my Carfirmation emails/texts always come at the most random times, anywhere from 30 minutes to 6+ hours before pick-up, so I'm pretty sure it's not an automatic, scheduled process. Someone in the Gold booth's back room is, I think, literally sitting there and clicking through the screens to open your contract before you arrive.