iapetus

Last week I rented a car from the President's Circle at AUS and returned it to their location at SAT four days later. When my company made the reservation, I noted something about a mileage fee, which seemed odd because I can't recall the last time that I've seen one of those. And, in hindsight, I should have followed up then and there, but I was lazy.

Upon returning the car at SAT, I elected to have my receipt sent me via e-mail. So it was only in looking at the receipt post-security while waiting for my flight that I realized that the starting mileage on the odometer, ending mileage and -- most importantly -- the amount driven during my rental were all totally wrong! The license plate number included on the receipt is correct. I recall the odometer reading when I picked up the car. And, although I don't remember the reading when I dropped it off, I calculated that I drove 180 miles using Googlemaps. This receipt indicates that I drove 850 miles. Not cool. And, as I said, I was already airside and don't have evidence to back up my side of the story.

So I called Hertz last Friday to dispute the charge. There was no immediate resolution, but the phone agent said that he had opened up a ticket and were looking into whether or not I should have been charged a mileage fee in the first place. When I asked him what might happen if the issue came down not to whether I should have been assessed a fee but rather the amount, he didn't have much of an answer for me. Let's just say that I was feeling less-than-encouraged.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Hertz? Does anyone know what I should expect from them? In the end, I'll get reimbursed fully by my company. So I'm not worried about that, but this has been a pretty annoying experience.

AutoSlash

The mileage was probably recorded incorrectly when you checked the car out and/or back in. They may be able to figure it out based on their previous/next renter, but this is probably one of those situations where, unless you get a good customer service rep who is willing to do some digging, I fear it's going to be a tough row to hoe.

Follow-up and persistence are probably going to be key here, and in the end, it may come down to how much time and effort you want to invest given that your company will reimburse in any case. Just trying to be realistic and manage your expectations here.

guv1976

FWIW, I always verify the odometer reading (and the fuel level) when I pick up a rental car. If a do not have a vehicle-specific rental agreement, I take a photo of the odometer reading with my phone.

Upon return of the car, I always take a photo showing the odometer reading and fuel level.

I have had a couple of unlimited-mileage rentals where the starting odometer reading did not match the number on the contract; this can result from a simple human error of transposing two digits when the previous rental was returned -- sometimes by a rental-company employee, and sometimes by the renter himself, at locations where no employee verifies the mileage upon return. Example: actual mileage 19922; erroneously-recorded mileage 19292.

iapetus

Yeah, but this would be a strange error. The odometer was at 13140 miles when I checked the car out. I should have been around 13320 miles when I brought it back. The stated reading on the receipt is 14000 miles at the beginning of the rental and 14850 miles at the end. So it's something other than a simple matter of permuting a couple of numbers. Unless someone drove that car more than 680 miles since last Thursday, it should be theoretically possible to verify that the readings on the receipt are wrong.

Perhaps I should take the effort to call them back to check on the claim today. Maybe I'll get someone a little more willing to listen to the details.


Unfortunately, it appears that I'm going to have to start doing the same.


Thanks for the responses! ^

iapetus

Things have all been resolved in my favor.

However, it did take finally getting through to someone at the President's Circle desk. Clearly, the first agent didn't understand what my problem was, though I thought I would let his attempt at resolution (dispute the notion that I should have been charged mileage in the first place) work its way through the system. The second agent with whom I spoke seemed to understand my concern a little better ... but he still didn't get it either. What he did do for me, though, was to connect me to the President's Circle desk. (I had been looking for such a direct line, but I hadn't -- and still haven't -- found it posted anywhere.)

The agent at the President's Circle understood my problem within two minutes of giving him my rental reservation number. And it did not take him much more time than that to confirm that the mileage was what I claimed it had been (roughly -- we were off by three miles ). He claimed that his manager would sign off on the revision the next morning and that I would have a new receipt. This would have been Tuesday, January 14th when we spoke. I think I got the revised receipt a little later than that ... Wednesday afternoon. And the refund for the difference has now turned up on my credit card. So, all's well that ends well ...


... except how do I contact the President's Circle desk in the future? I did take down the number, but I'll probably lose it or it could change. Is it posted somewhere on the Hertz site that I couldn't find? Or do people just call the general line and ask to be transferred? One thing is certain: I won't mess around again with the general line unless I have no other choice.


ETA: I will also note that Hertz was pretty proactive in responding to both my negative survey response and in my interaction with the President's Circle desk. I appreciated the attention they paid to my dissatisfaction. That's exactly the kind of thing that helps me get over such mistakes.

Often1

If your employer made the reservation, why not have them handle this issue or decide that they don't care?

iapetus

Excellent question. My secretary and I discussed this and came to slightly different conclusions. I felt that they would just process the expense report without even being aware of the overcharge. But it was wrong, and I felt that it really should be followed up, even if they didn't care. She felt that Travel would definitely notice and raise a stink; best to follow it up. So I followed it up.

Either way, I don't think that Travel would have been as capable or motivated to follow it through to the end as I was. That's just not how they operate.

AutoSlash

The number hasn't changed since it was first introduced many years ago. They don't publish it because then everyone would call it whether they had status or not. Hertz gives it out out President's Circle members only.

Smartphones are handy in that they have a contacts feature to store phone numbers for people/companies you typically call. Put it in there and you'll have it forever.

iapetus

Copy.

I think I was just thrown off by the inaccessibility. For example, United clearly tells me how I can reach the 1K service line on my MileagePlus card. I guess I was hoping to have a handy reference on ... y'know, my Gold Plus card or something.

jim32190

Tbh there should be a publicized President’s number, and when you call you should be prompted to enter your Hertz GPR account number, which is located when you log in, and if you’re PC get put through.

Or they’re just keeping it hush hush so that way they don’t get overwhelmed with complaints and “most loyal” customers mad all the time.

Yllanes

I don't know the number myself (thankfully I've never needed it). It's ridiculous that it is not prominently displayed on the app or on the website when you are logged in. And, as has been said, to avoid "unauthorised" calls they can just prompt you to enter your account number (which is useful in any case so the agent can see your account), as many other companies do.

glostix

It's cheaper to run their business w/less human service provided to customers. They are making it hard to talk to real people (especially at airport locations) on purpose.