mphall

I have been a long time Hertz Gold member. A recent car rental experience at the Akron airport has made me wonder why I would continue to be a loyal customer despite the fact that its rentals are always priced higher than average. I feel I pay for good customer service and properly maintained cars, especially since I was a lone female traveling to visit family back home. I discovered that the car I rented had faulty windshield wipers when I as driving back in a terrific rainstorm to the Akron airport. I said something the the clerk who told me to contact customer service. Customer service, after 2 weeks, told me to be happy and rent from them again soon. The car had 49,000 miles on it and they were original wipers. Who can I contact to continue the discussion?

Hertz4me

you still have your final receipt?

mphall

Of course.

Hertz4me

fill out the survey, its on the bottom of the receipt

mphall

I will try that.

mphall

I completed the customer survey. At the end, it asks if you would like to have someone contact you from Hertz. It takes you right back to the original form that I complained to Hertz in the beginning. Driving in a rainstorm with worn out wipers is something I might expect from another budget minded rental car company but not Hertz. I am very disappointed in the customer service response. All it takes is one bad experience for someone to tell other future rental customers.

As I was driving on the highway back to Akron in pooring rain, I am thinking my life is going to end because a rental car company that I had many good expiences with didn't change the wipers before 49,000 miles. Pretty sad.

mphall

Here is my latest reply.
Ms. Hall,
While I understand and empathize with the inconvenience you experienced, no
adjustment can be made to your contract given that there was no discrepancy
with your charges and the issue you experienced did not prevent you from
operating the vehicle. Please do not take this to mean that we are
unsympathetic to your concerns, on the contrary, we take them extremely
seriously and are committed to ensuring they are not repeated. If you
would be willing to forward to me the information for your next rental I
would be more than happy to coordinate with local management to ensure you
receive a low-mileage, upgraded vehicle that will guarantee a worry-free
rental.

mikeef

Ah, the good 'ol "We take your concerns seriously..." while essentially advising you to perform an anatomically impossible act. I've heard a couple of negative reports about Hertz recently and am questioning whether it's worth paying the premium.

Mike

mphall

Would anyone know how I can contact the president of Hertz?

tashi

Hertz quality has gone to the toilet over the years. I am a President's Circle member for many years and am thinking about dumping themfor good based on couple of recent horrible experiences.

spades097

Joseph Nothwang is in charge of rentals in the Americas & the Pacific.

cbr600f4i2

Just switch to National, I did, and it's about 50% cheaper, sometimes more.

Hertz4me

i would call the hertz you rented from and ask to speak to the management there, and when you rent cars from now on always ask the staff to put you in new, low miles cars

FlyforSAP

I have also had similar, bad experiences with Hertz. They used to be the only car rental company with the hand held RFID devices. Now, I've found that Budget and Dollar both have them at DAL, AND they are half the price of Hertz.

p.s. The last time I said this on this forum I got "flamed" by the moderator, implying that I must be wrong, because I didn't have 10,000 postings.

pinniped

You're 9,962 short... All that means is that you haven't become addicted to this board...yet.

But your general point is true: at one point in time, Hertz was the fastest way to pick up and return a car. Now, all of the main global agencies have mostly leveled that playing field: they all have some sort of expedited renter system at pickup and handheld device systems at return.

To me, time is everything - I want to be on the road fast and have no hassle at return. Sadly, Hertz has fallen to the back of the pack on both accounts - first by not having my name on the Gold board and second by routinely failing to post my promo/coupon correctly on return.

I used to favor the "go to stall X" system because the exit booth process was faster than National's. Now I favor the "pick your car" process because - barring a rare situation - there will be some car there for me. (Yes, we still grump about the quality of cars on the Executive aisle, but there's usually at least 1 car there.)

Alamo and Dollar both have pretty good kiosk or "Fast Break" systems in place. I won't hesitate to use those. I am still gunshy on Budget because they do not exercise strict control over their franchisees and I hate trying to figure out if I'm flying into a franchise location. My rare Thrifty "Blue Chip" experiences have been okay, but I only use them in places where there is a consolidated rental facility and I can confirm that they are part of it.

Our company has no Avis discounts and I haven't taken the time to learn the ins and outs of their promo/discount codes for leisure rentals, so I know little about them. People here seem to like them if you hit one of their elite levels.