Originally Posted by
iamalexchung
I had a terrible experience yesterday at EWR. Arrived to the Hertz counter and on the board was marked "See desk". This was my 2nd rental with Hertz, first with President's Circle after status matching. I rented a premium car - asked if I was able to pick a car in President's Circle lot. In the beginning, agent said this is my first rental so there's no way I would be PC status, then I showed her my PC status on my phone and also my Hertz PC card. Then she told me to pick a car in the lot and bring the keys back to the counter so she can enter in the system. Saw an Audi A3 and grabbed the keys. She did not want to give this car to me and said it would cost more. Then in a condescending voice, asked me "How old are you?". She then calls in for a car in my class booking - was given a Chevy Impala. I asked if there was anything else, and straight up said "nope.".
Had an eerily similar experience this morning at MSP after status matching to President's Circle, however I am 23 so that may have something to do with it. I booked an intermediate because we needed additional room in the car for multiple passengers. Warning, long story ahead.
My name was on the board as "see desk." I walk into the desk area, smile at the agent and the conversation goes as follows:
Agent: "What?"
Me: "The sign says see desk next to my name."
Agent: "Okay? How am I supposed to know that?"
Great start... anyway, she pulls up my info, tells me that since I am under 25 I need to pay the young renter's fee. I was on a US Government CDP (official travel), so this fee is unambiguously waived per the government contract in place. I asked her to please call her manager, who literally read the CDP terms and conditions out loud on speakerphone, and said "yeah no waiver here." Whatever, I say that I'll just get it taken care of later this is such a waste of time and we're on a schedule. Dealing with my agency's travel agent on this now...
Then, she says that I am allowed to choose any car from the gold area. I reply that I am president's circle status and she says "not according to the computer you're not." I showed her my phone that clearly stated I was President's Circle (and I just checked my account online which is unsurprisingly showing President's Circle). She writes "GOLD" on my contract, underlines it twice, and tells me that I am allowed to choose from the gold area only. I ended up with a dirty Camry with 27k miles on it.
I probably could have fought this more at the desk, but I had a client with me and we were on a tight schedule with a long drive ahead of us. This lady was so bad, though, that I have no intention of ever using Hertz again unless it is the absolute last option. For comparison, two weeks ago in Vegas my boyfriend and I booked a premium with Avis (where I'm lowly preferred plus based again on status matching) and were offered a Mercedes GLE350 with 6 miles on it for an extra $20/day and the agent was lovely. I understand I'm being a bit dramatic here, but the experiences were night and day and I will not forget.