Sneaky: Charged for Prem. Road Service
 

Had this happen to me at LAX as they never asked me if I wanted it on the phone and because I'm president's circle I was given my contract at the gate and didn't see it. Immediately called hertz who told me they would have the property call me, which they never did. Anyway tried to make another booking and on the phone the lady summarized my total as including prem road service, taxes and fees your total is...........

VERY sneaky and I feel unethical if a sales tactic. I sent an email to Mr. Dickerson, VP of customer service with the following:

Dear Mr. Dickerson,


I wanted to write to you as a President's Circle member. I have used Hertz the last couple years and honestly I really like the service I have received especially as a recent new President's Circle member. I do have an issue with how I'm being quoted when making a reservation. I recently had a reservation where I know that I was never asked if I wanted Premium Road Service on the phone when making the reservation. I have never accepted it, nor any insurance as I have these services through my credit card. However, I noticed on the bill after leaving the LAX rental location that it contained it. I called the customer service number and told them my concern and said that the LAX location would call me back directly. They never did and I returned the car upon completion of my rental late, thus I was in a hurry and didn't have time to discuss with them.

That very day I had to make a rental for ORD and used the 800 phone number where the rental agent again never gave me the option over the phone, but in her summary of my charges included Premium Road Service along with taxes etc. I asked her why she included it and she didn't have an answer for me. I asked for it to be removed. Thus I have a feeling that exact technique of not asking the customer a yes or no question, but disclosing it in the summary is what happened to me at LAX. My concern is that this seems like a deceiving practice if in fact it is a sales technique used by Hertz in phone reservations. If I wasn't astute to listen I would have been stuck again. I like being able to avoid the counter and have the agent print my agreement at the checkout booth, however it doesn't lend itself to being able to closely examine your rental agreement with cars behind you etc.

In short Mr. Dickerson I wanted to give you some quality control feedback and see if in fact Hertz is employing this sales technique or if it was just a couple of poorly trained agents. I look forward to your response. Have a great day.

God bless,

Me

Wouldn't be surprised if they are given an incentive to sell those premium features. Yes it is a very shady tactic to sneak it in on the confirmation without asking or telling you about it.

Problem is that a complaint which exceeds three declarative sentences, simply won't get read. All OP needs to do is use the website form to send in a complaint saying, "you charged me for X, I didn't want X, I called you immediately and you promised me a call from the location which never came. Please credit $Y."

Wait a few business days and then initiate a CC dispute for $Y.

Don't waste your breath on tracking stuff down. Money talks.

I don't see a problem at all with escalating to the VP level for this apparent system wide tactic. I have contacted customer service who was able to take off the 30 bucks, but I'm more interested in having the tactic stopped. I don't want me or others subjected to this shady tactic, which any website complaint won't do jack crap for.

Anybody who thinks that their complaint really is "escalated" is missing the point. Hertz monitors the nature of consumer reports, both praise and complaints. They know full well this goes on and continue to pay commissions and incentives for the sale of extras such as this.

The only thing that works is voting with your wallet. Go to Avis. If enough people go to Avis, Hertz might wise up. But, then again, who's to say that Avis doesn't do something equally scummy.

I have this charge attached to a up and coming rental. Also at lax and I'm a PC as well. I'm going inside to get it removed before I rent the car. I wonder of I call central res to get them to remove it.

First off, check your Gold profile. It is possible that somehow your profile has been corrupted, reflecting a request for premium road service.

However, I've also noticed a trend towards being charged for add-ons that I didn't request or authorize. Most commonly it is Sirius, Neverlost, Premium Road Service.

You can file a complaint with the FTC. Once they establish a pattern they can go after Hertz.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

I looked at my profile and the only thing I agree to is the car notification by email. Definitely not an option I selected.

Thanks for the tip. Also to the other poster if we vote with our wallets and leave without giving a reason why, how would they ever pinpoint what people are pissed about? you have to tell them why you are ticked off, as I have done.

Nevermind -- there is no option for pre-selecting premium road service. At least in my profile there is no option. Just all the other insurances, siriusXM, neverlost, and pre-paid fuel.

Had this happen again at ORD and LAX last month. I actually didn't leave the lot as I looked at my rental receipt when leaving the lot and said G... D... IT again! Parked and had to go into the desk to get it removed. Annoying at the very least as it isn't quoted on the phone with the reservation agent when I reserved.