dewidaniels

I had a reservation to pick up a car from Hertz at Stuttgart Airport on 24 September 2019. I was scheduled to arrive on a British Airways flight. A few hours before departure, British Airways cancelled my flight and rebooked me on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. I called Hertz Reservations and gave them my new flight number and arrival time. The Lufthansa flight to Frankurt was delayed and I missed my connection at Frankfurt. Lufthansa rebooked me on the next flight to Stuttgart, which was scheduled to arrive at 2255. Being aware that the Hertz location at Stuttgart Airport closes at 2300, I called Hertz Reservations again, giving them my new flight and arrival time. They reassured me that the location would remain open until 2 hours after my flight landed, but there would be an out-of-hours pick up fee. This seems consistent with the Hertz rental terms published at https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/reser...=LATE&EOAG=FCO. The flight to Stuttgart was also delayed, landing at 2315. When I reached the Hertz rental desk at 2340, I found it was closed. Annoyingly, it was the only car rental counter that was closed. All of the other car rental counters were open. I ended up renting a car from Sixt for three times the cost of my original reservation from Hertz. I’ve complained to Hertz and I am waiting for a reply.

AutoSlash

We agree that it sucks but keep in mind that when you speak with central reservations, they just parrot the company policy. Unless you actually speak with a person at the actual location you are renting from, the information provided should be taken with a grain of salt.

Annoying we know, but it is what it is. You're certainly entitled to be annoyed with Hertz for leaving you in a lurch, and we agree there should be some compensation but our advice is provided to hopefully avoid a similar situation in the future.

Dave Noble

Did you actually get the reservation rebooked for the new time or just update flight time?

It would seem that the BA flight should have arrived at 18:20 and you did not turn up until 5 hours after the reservation was booked for, so unless rebooked for a later time, can understand why the locstion was not open.

AutoSlash

In defense of the OP, that's the whole point of providing your flight arrival details--so the location can track your inbound flight for delays. That said, and in defense of Hetz, if your inbound flight keeps changing, even if you keep calling and providing new flight info, it's unrealistic to expect the local Hertz rep to keep on top of that and stay hours past closing to accommodate one customer. I know the OP will probably take issue with this, but if you think about it from the perspective of the Hertz employee who has worked a full day and just wants to go home at midnight, you can understand how the employee was not likely to wait around on the chance that the long-delayed passenger might show up. Now if the OP had called the location and talked to the employee directly...

Dave Noble

Regardless of the point of the flight details, if a person turns up 2+ hours after the booked time of the rental , then the time for holding the car has passed , rental is a no show and no reason for the location to stay open

If the person actually rebooked for a later rental start time, then that is different - but also could have led to a higher rental cost

dewidaniels

Yes, I should have phoned the location rather than Hertz reservations. I was trying to avoid the cost of an international phone call, but it ended up costing me a lot more. I did give Hertz reservations my new flight number and scheduled arrival time. The agent asked me if I was willing to accept an out of hours pick-up fee. After I accepted the fee, she told me the location would stay open until 2 hours after my new flight had landed. I appreciate the local Hertz rep wanted to go home, but I would have expected a corporate location to follow the corporate policy. I told another passenger who'd missed the same connection that Hertz had promised to keep the location open. He then phoned (US) Avis reservations. Avis stayed open, while Hertz didn't. Hertz was the only desk of the five car rental desks at the airport to have closed.

dewidaniels

I was pleasantly surprised that Hertz replied to say they are conducting an internal investigation to find out why the location did not stay open and that they will reimburse the difference between the Hertz rate reserved and the price I paid to rent a car from Sixt. I’m very happy to continue renting from Hertz after this positive customer service experience.