I showed up 30 min early today to pick up my car at YVR and they didn't have any car to give me (I booked an F). Oh they had a bunch of luxury collection (Volvo S80, jags) cars but they weren't willing to give me one without paying an extra $25 per day I had offered to pay up to $10 more per day before they mentioned the $25 per day. I have no idea what they were going to do with the 6 people standing in -the non-gold line.

I said fine as a PC member just put me in a mid size and give me a full size. We don't have any cars right now and you are early. We can give you your choice of of Yukon or mini-van at no extra charge. I can understand that problems happen but the guy in front of me was shaking his head as well. He said he rents almost weekly here and the service has gone way downhill lately (they have also closed the gold booth outside).

I asked to speak to the manager who was in the office (at least that's were the front counter person went) and she wouldn't come out to speak to me. I had to speak to her on the phone Dolly (the manager)refused to give me a car She said that I reserved a vehicle and she could provide me with a vehicle. I explained very nicely that I reserved a car not a truck or mini-van. She replied "I only have 2 Volvo S-80's but 14 Yukon's" and she was not going to comp me a Volvo. I explained that Toronto and Calgary have no problem getting me what ever they have to get me going without so much as a peep about it. She said no. I said fine and canceled my reservation and walked down to Avis and got 300M for $5 more per day than my Hertz reservation. Not what I would have liked to do but since they had no cars that they were willing to give me I had no choice.

I called Hertz and they gave me the customer service number and it was local Toronto number that I had to phone long distance. They are investigating now and said they will get back to me. I want to point out that I made sure that they knew that the girl at the front counter was very good to deal with (I gave her name during my complaint call) as I am able to separate problems from the people

Anyway, I will provide an update when I hear back from them, probably in a week or two. Just a heads up for those heading to YVR in the next little while.

Sounds like the usual YVR problems still persist ! In May, I had a reservation for a compact...they only had Yukons available. I was pretty firm in not accepting it ! I did end up with a brand new Lincoln LS....although the girl at the desk only begrudgingly gave it to me....

I am not even a PC, only a lowly #1 Gold. Cattle, you deserved better !

Thanks for support and I might deserve better as a frequent renter, but I am no more important as a person than anyone else

Obviously, the folks over at Hertz YVR have not herd about the famous FTer, cattle!

What an udder-ly ridiculous situation. Sounds like you've got a legitimate beef...

[This message has been edited by FlyinHawaiian (edited 09-08-2003).]

Yeah, YVR has been a mess lately. The disappearance of the Gold booth outside was the beginning of the decline.

When you pick up your car, get ready to wait in line for your contract. Be prepared for the non-gold line to move much more swiftly than the gold line! And get ready to answer all those questions you've already answered in your gold profile, like do you want insurance, do you want to pay for a full tank of gas?? Then once your visit is over, be prepared for no one to greet your rental return in the lot, instead you'll have to make a mental note of your mileage and schlep yourself in to the counter to turn in keys. If there is a line-up, get ready to wait to turn in those keys, and hope you're not running late for your flight!

Happily the fact that you're in Vancouver makes it all somehow bearable, but the service should be much better all the same.

Update
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Well Hertz customer service got it right, sort of.

I got an envelope this week with no letter describing why it had arrived

The envelope did contain 4x$25 vouchers in it

I am pretty sure I can figure out what it was for


On a side note, I also got 8 free rental day certs in one envelope that I had earned last quarter but only processed now. Its bitter sweet that I had to wait this long even though I rented that much with them, but happy to have 8 free days for my FL vacation in February

The customer service is as good as everyone has said from a "looking after the customer perspective" but they still didn't address my concern and won't be getting my business back at YVR any time soon. Yes they did right by me, but they still haven't addressed the problem and I have no reason to want to go back there. My warning still stands I guess.

Finally, I did a 7 day rental in YYZ and they treated me really well. See, not just a complainer

Bumping this thread up to share my recent experiences with Hertz @ YVR.

The Elite booth is back in the parkade for #1 Golds and up to check in, but the lack of people doing instant returns is still a problem. Plan on parking the car in an empty space upon return and noting the kilometers on the odometer.

There also seems to be a general lack of cars. I showed up on a Sat. afternoon about 30 min late for my reservation and had to wait about 10 min for a vehicle to show up (It ended up being an Eddie Bauer Explorer with Alberta tags - a nice upgrade from my reserved full-size). My last rental on a Sat. evening went much smoother - my name was on the board and there was another Explorer in the space (on a mid-size reservation). I think I saw one Focus wagon in the spaces - otherwise they were all Crown Vics, SUVs, and Prestige vehicles.

I don't think it is just YVR. I've had similar instances at several cities, --
even after I had "No SUV" put in my profile.