Hertz is to the car rental business what Ritz-Carlton is to the hotel business: a company that offers a fairly standard and widely-available product but charges a premium for it based on predictably exceptional customer service and a complete lack of hassle and b.s. If there's a customer service failure for either company, it's a very serious threat to their very lucrative business model, because when the exceptional service doesn't happen, they're no different than the lower-priced competition.
Whenever I've complained to Hertz (and I agree that a City Manager is a good person with whom to start) I've always been treated very well. As one Hertz employee told me (as she was knocking $25 off my rental because my car was given to me with soda spilled all over the interior), "If you leave here unhappy, we know you won't come back, and we just can't afford to let that happen."