dongrae

I'm currently visiting France. I had booked a car rental through Hertz and made full payment at the time of booking. My scheduled pickup was at Paris Montparnasse at 10 AM on March 28th.

With a day full of plans, I arrived at the Hertz Montparnasse office around 9:50 AM. However, during the pickup process, I was informed that I was on Hertz's "Do Not Rent" list, which meant I was unable to rent a car. I was completely unaware of this and had no idea why I was blacklisted. The local agent advised me to contact the Hertz office in the US, as the blacklist originated there.

Due to the time difference of six hours between Paris and Oklahoma, where the blacklist department is located, I found myself in a predicament. It was 4 AM Central Time, with the office not opening until 8 AM. This left me with a four-hour wait, in cold, rainy, and windy conditions, without a place to sit or a way to charge my phone, and surrounded by numerous bags, as we were on a family vacation.

After an excruciating wait, at 8 AM Central Time, I finally got through to the blacklist department. Astonishingly, there was no issue with my record; it was a mistake on Hertz's part that led to my wrongful blacklisting.

A brief call later, my name was removed from the blacklist, and I was able to secure a rental car, but by then, it was already 2:23 PM local time, and the ordeal had significantly disrupted our family vacation plans, leaving one of my children feeling cold due to the harsh weather conditions.

This experience was not only distressing but also resulted in a loss of valuable vacation time. I am seeking compensation for the inconvenience and disruption caused by this mistake.
Could you share your idea how to do ? Thank you in advance.

glostix

First try contacting their Customer Service, especially if you are President's Circle or Platinum etc. you may get some kind of response or credit. Beyond that you can pursue arbitration or other legal proceedings.

notquiteaff

Welcome to FT!

Not the first recent report of Hertz accepting rentals for someone (mistakingly) getting placed on the DNR list.

Personally I would probably have looked for alternative arrangements instead of waiting four hours for Hertz to open up.

TerryK

Hertz does not check DNR list when you make reservations. It is checked upon pick up. In fairness it is not practical to check DNR list when booking. Someone can be added or removed from DNR list at any time while reservations can be made months in advance.


How to get removed from DNR

notquiteaff

Not practical? I disragree. I think the OP would have found it useful to know ahead of time that thee was an issue, and surely that could be done.

If Hertz was interested in implementing an efficient and transparent process, they could notify the renter when they get added to the list. They could decline new reservation for people who currently are on the list. They could cancel existing reservations if the DNR is non-reversible, or proactively work with the renter to get the condition removed to preserve existing reservations. Doing nothing is obviously the easiest for Hertz, but also the least helpful thing for renters like the OP. But we are talking about Hertz, the company that reported hundreds of vehicles as stolen when they weren’t.

TerryK

What if OP was put on DNR list after he/she made the reservation?

All sounds great yet that's asking a lot from the antiquated Hertz computer.​​​​​​​

notquiteaff

“they could notify the renter when they get added to the list. … They could cancel existing reservations if the DNR is non-reversible, or proactively work with the renter to get the condition removed to preserve existing reservations.”

wm47

I agree with this. I was erroneously placed on National's list, and the app would not let me complete a reservation, so I was able to call up their DNR unit and correct the matter quickly. Hertz can easily do that as well.

dongrae

OP Here
​​​​​​When I called the Do Not Rent (DNR) department to discuss the situation, they told me I had been placed on the blacklist back in 2019, nearly five years ago. In all that time, I never received any notification about being blacklisted. Had I been informed, I would have taken steps to address the issue sooner. It's unreasonable to expect that a customer should have to verify whether they are on a company's blacklist every time they engage with the service. Ideally, my reservation should not have been accepted, or I should have been unable to complete full payment if I was on the blacklist. This would have alerted me to the issue, allowing for a resolution in advance. However, I was not notified in any manner about this status.

notquiteaff

I missed that part in your OP. So they accepted payment for a service they weren’t intending to provide? Wow.

m907

Are you an American or European?

jerry a. laska

Have you had any rentals since 2019?

dongrae

American

I typically used Sixt for my car rental needs. The only time I used Hertz was during a trip to Niagara Falls in 2019. It's not that I only traveled with rental cars once in 2019; rather, I generally didn't choose Hertz. The reason I opted for Hertz for this trip to France was that most rental cars, including those from Sixt, were electric, and there were limited options for gasoline vehicles.

zdcatc12

Something happened on that trip in 2019 to put you on the list. Maybe an unpaid ticket, unpaid damage, etc. I am pretty sure that this isn't just a coincidence.

dongrae

I hope you'll take the time to read my posting CAREFULLY. I was listed on the DNR (Do Not Rent) list and wondered what the issue could be. Sitting in a cafe and connecting my laptop to a hotspot, I looked it up. The reasons for being on such a list could include (1) not paying rental fees or damage (2) having unpaid tickets, or (3) being a rude customer. Considering these, I figured reasons 1 and 3 wouldn't apply to me, which left me wondering about reason 2 - perhaps there was an unpaid ticket I wasn't aware of. Eventually, I managed to contact the DNR department at 8 AM Oklahoma time, only to find out there was "NOTHING" on my record. Therefore, my name could be immediately removed from the DNR list. Had there been an unpaid ticket, I would have certainly settled it and wouldn't be mentioning compensation now. After all, it would have been an oversight on my part. However, the fact remains that I had no unpaid tickets, no missed rental fees, and my record was clean.The fact is that there were absolutely no mistakes or omissions on my part.

Additionally, if I were on that list, the reservation should have been denied. However I could make a reservation and paid in full in advance.