I rented from Hertz Gold at SFO last month. I purchased gas immediately before returning the car. Unfortunately, the pump would not print a receipt, and inside, there was a line of people (probably car renters like me on the way to the airport) waiting for the cashier to print receipts. So I chanced it and headed to the airport sans receipt. Bad mistake. Hertz charged me for fuel, and no matter what I said, the Hertz rep refused to take the bogus fuel charge off my bill. Instead, she carefully explained that if a car is returned with less than 100 miles and no gas-pump receipt, she estimates the fuel use and charges for it, even if the fuel gauge registers a full tank.

So, after I checked in for my flight, I called Hertz CS, and I was told that the fuel charge would not be refunded unless I faxed in a receipt or my credit card statement. I escalated to a manager, but the manager refused to budge.

The situation became extremely hilarious when the manager put me on hold and called the Hertz SFO facility and asked them how much fuel had to be added to my vehicle while it was being serviced post-return. The answer? "Less than 1 gallon." I asked the manager to call the SFO facility back and get a more exact figure, but she said that's as exact as they will get.

So then I asked if 1 cup of gas would be considered less than 1 gallon, and she agreed that it would. To which I proposed that perhaps it took me 1 cup of gas to drive from the gas station to the rental car garage.

I further asked why Hertz charged me for 4 gallons of fuel (at nearly $10/gallon) if the service facility admitted to adding "less than 1 gallon" to top off the tank. She replied, "That's our policy, and I can't change it." She then reiterated that in order to get a refund, I'd have to fax Hertz my receipt or a credit card statement with the appropriate gas-station payment circled.