|
Wonderful response, I agree with all of it, out of all of my rentals I've only lost my temper with one hertz employee and that was because he was just angry and rude to me... it's not a problem with the employees its a problem with the system.
I wouldn't mind a car with 35,000 mi if its well maintained, but I don't think the agencies are setup to deal with that maintenance... previously all they had to do was change the oil, then sell them, right now some changes need to be made or the different companies out there are going to lose the 'loyalty' business. Olivetti, that's why we rent out of loyalty, the company showing that they value our business, otherwise we will take it elsewhere, where it is valued. It'd not like when you rent a full-size there are two options (nice with leather and sunroof / or 30k mi beat up smelly stained cloth seats). I'm sure we would all pay for the nicer one, but as high status members we expect it nonetheless. Your response upsets me more than the experiment, this was a problem with the system, but having a Hertz Manager, insult me takes it to a personal level. If you would like to discuss it, feel free to email me your contact information and I'll give you a call.
Originally Posted by littlevoices
(Post 10801008)
I think this thread is an interesting experiment and have been reading this thread with interest.... probably helps to open corporate eyes a little as to why they should put 'no show' charges on rental cars :P. I also appreciate that olivetti has continued to respond despite some negative comments - however I think that Hertz corporate should perhaps appreciate the general theme in this thread.
In general I (And many other PCs/Gold members) of Hertz don't necessarily feel that the corporation makes any attempt to recognise that we direct large sums of money to Hertz on a regular basis (and admittedly this may often be our employer's money - but we make the choice not to take taxis/avis/national etc). I also think that the original thinking here is probably a good thing as it makes the companies you choose compete for your business in a way that would switch the balance of power from the hire car company (we’ll give him the cheapest car we can!) to the individual (I want the best car for my driving experience) – especially now, when times are hard, good customer service can mean the extra income that might otherwise not be available (and most business customers are not totally price focused, service can make a difference). I feel that Hertz may be proud to go to Wall Street “we can run our fleet for longer, look at how it helps our quarter” – but that sure as hell doesn’t make me feel valued on a Monday morning as I pick up a car with 35k miles on the clock that shakes when I go at 70mph on the motorway (last week, don’t ask). Having said that, other companies I travel with (airline, hotel) also do well at quarter end, but I don’t feel like a sucker when I get my preferred seat, a room upgrade, a free snack etc. Oh – and I also enjoy checking into a hotel on my Monday night to see what ‘special’ room I might get this week! – anyone feel like that when picking up a Hertz car? For me it is more like trepidation. I think potentially what could help from Hertz is a 'comments' box on any reservation, and an encouragement for Hertz staff to read it prior to a reservation. One person's upgrade (e.g. to an SUV) may be another’s downgrade. For example - I'll happily take a car that stinks of smoke and has 35k miles on the clock if it’s an expensive car or something that Hertz doesn't normally stock – however I feel disappointed when a class C rental at a location that is supposedly covered by the Hertz PC upgrade guarantee gives me a Ford Focus (boring car I’ve driven 100s of times before) with 35k miles on the clock. I think you can ring up and ask for notes on a car, but, does anyone feel they are read? And also my internet reservations don’t have this option. However, beyond a complex list of ‘demands’ on my reservation (I’ll take a focus if it has less than 100 miles on the clock, but would prefer a Vauxhall etc).. The real solution is an ‘online checkin’ that allows me to choose the car rather than the agent, or something similar to national where you choose the car from a reasonable selection. Good luck with the experiment! PS: Almost nothing excuses being horrible to staff that are often not in a position to do anything about a corporate decision - far better to complain higher up the food chain where it might be more noticed and you aren't making someone unhappy who is probably getting close to minimum wage handing you your car keys |
Originally Posted by CarolDisney1
(Post 10748341)
Well, perhaps if the service wasn't dropping like a rock folks this wouldn't be happening?
You get what you give! And this attitude says it all "The customer is wrong"" LOL! The 'customer is wrong' has come out before. To me the mark of a good company is how they deal with things when they do go wrong (every company has something go wrong at some point) But too often I have seen the Hertz employee come here and berate the poster or blame the customer for something which is a Hertz driven issue, not a customer driven issue. I even had one I believe join just to scold me a few months ago. I will freely admit that I am too lazy to switch to another company (I am also Exec with National, and had a perfectly pleasant experience with them in France earlier this year) But next year I may make the leap, or at least may drop Hertz at MUC in favour of Sixt, and drop as well the other stations which to me are not pleasant on a regular basis. I would probably have continued with Hertz for 98% of my rentals in 2009, had it not been for the posts I have read from their employees here lately. |
I feel the same way, this started out as an experiment. I had no ill will of Hertz I just wanted to know how their service stacked up to Avis.
Then I ended up with a Hertz Manager insulting me... that upsets me more than anything I learn during this... what I find perplexing, is the fact that Hertz isn't regulating these types of posts at a corporate level. "Loyalty... hard to earn... easy to lose" I understand their frustration, it's a job where if everything goes right, they hear nothing, but if something goes wrong they are the first ones to get yelled at. They have to realize that not everyone is like that.
Originally Posted by exbayern
(Post 10802606)
What has disturbed me here over the past six months or so is the three (possibly four) Hertz employees I have seen posting rebuttals here which do not reflect well on Hertz.
The 'customer is wrong' has come out before. To me the mark of a good company is how they deal with things when they do go wrong (every company has something go wrong at some point) But too often I have seen the Hertz employee come here and berate the poster or blame the customer for something which is a Hertz driven issue, not a customer driven issue. I even had one I believe join just to scold me a few months ago. I will freely admit that I am too lazy to switch to another company (I am also Exec with National, and had a perfectly pleasant experience with them in France earlier this year) But next year I may make the leap, or at least may drop Hertz at MUC in favour of Sixt, and drop as well the other stations which to me are not pleasant on a regular basis. I would probably have continued with Hertz for 98% of my rentals in 2009, had it not been for the posts I have read from their employees here lately. |
Originally Posted by littlevoices
(Post 10801008)
.... probably helps to open corporate eyes a little as to why they should put 'no show' charges on rental cars :P.
The HLE was closed when I arrived even though my booking clearly states the opening ours. I waiting around for 45 mins until the indicated time that they "would return" I counted 5 other customers come to the door, give up and go next door to Avis I think it was. I was on holidays and this location was not in the nicest of areas, but it was the only one that had the car that I wanted. I rang Hertz from the hotel and informed the agent of the problem and how I would be keeping my rental for another 5 days as I couldnt' pick up the Hummer. She kindly informed me of the $300 "no show" charge that the location had already charged to my account. I then compained that they were closed etc etc. She rang the location and the Manager was away on leave for a few weeks and the other staff member there would not reverse the charge for the "no show" I had to argue for around 30 minutes. My main point was that I have $10000 of upcoming rentals already booked for the next 12 months and that if they couldn't credit me the silly $300 for somethign out of my control my bookings would be cancelled and I would go to another rental company. I stayed polite and the girl EVENTUALLY totally understood my situation and agreed that I shouldn't have to pay. However, she couldn't credit the amount so had to get an Area Manager to do it the next day as it was late and she promised a call back.... I thought this wouldn't happen. Funnily enough about 10 minutes later she called back and confirmed the credit for me. 0/10 for the inital service 10/10 for the nice agent on the phone |
Originally Posted by humperdink
(Post 10802774)
I feel the same way, this started out as an experiment. I had no ill will of Hertz I just wanted to know how their service stacked up to Avis.
Then I ended up with a Hertz Manager insulting me... that upsets me more than anything I learn during this... what I find perplexing, is the fact that Hertz isn't regulating these types of posts at a corporate level. . I wrote out of frustration, (which is not acceptable). In hindsight I agree with what you are doing and hope it provides more constructive for members on this forum. From an employee point of view, we do get frustrated by the situation we are placed in by 'upper management', and find we are constantly having to make the best out of a bad situation for you guys. Once again I hope you accept my apologies? |
Originally Posted by exbayern
(Post 10802606)
What has disturbed me here over the past six months or so is the three (possibly four) Hertz employees I have seen posting rebuttals here which do not reflect well on Hertz.
The 'customer is wrong' has come out before. To me the mark of a good company is how they deal with things when they do go wrong (every company has something go wrong at some point) But too often I have seen the Hertz employee come here and berate the poster or blame the customer for something which is a Hertz driven issue, not a customer driven issue. I even had one I believe join just to scold me a few months ago. I will freely admit that I am too lazy to switch to another company (I am also Exec with National, and had a perfectly pleasant experience with them in France earlier this year) But next year I may make the leap, or at least may drop Hertz at MUC in favour of Sixt, and drop as well the other stations which to me are not pleasant on a regular basis. I would probably have continued with Hertz for 98% of my rentals in 2009, had it not been for the posts I have read from their employees here lately. I wonder WHY if you work for a travel company you would even post on here. IMHO it's a RISK. After you show out and upset the customers I somehow doubt your management is going to be thrilled. And NOTHING is undiscoverable! |
Originally Posted by CarolDisney1
(Post 10806017)
I wonder WHY if you work for a travel company you would even post on here. IMHO it's a RISK. After you show out and upset the customers I somehow doubt your management is going to be thrilled. And NOTHING is undiscoverable!
As I work for Hertz I have contributed to other threads on here to try and answer some questions and maybe offer some advice. I'm well aware nothing is undiscoverable, Hertz along with other Travel companies use this and other forums to discover what 'expensive market research' does not tell us. For example bmi and BA use this forum. |
Originally Posted by olivetti
(Post 10806640)
Hertz along with other Travel companies use this and other forums to discover what 'expensive market research' does not tell us. For example bmi and BA use this forum.
All the rubbish they post about customer satisfaction surveys and the like indicate very high satisfaction levels Every post on here is sick of the high mileage cars and the lack of being looked after as a 5* or higher member |
Originally Posted by olivetti
(Post 10806640)
As I work for Hertz I have contributed to other threads on here to try and answer some questions and maybe offer some advice.
I'm well aware nothing is undiscoverable, Hertz along with other Travel companies use this and other forums to discover what 'expensive market research' does not tell us. For example bmi and BA use this forum. 1) those who are official reps, like United PR, Starwood Lurker, etc. They can respond in a somewhat official manner 2) those who work for a travel company but are very clear that their views do not represent the company. They may speak more openly but I think that they try and be balanced What I have seen here from the Hertz reps is different. I quoted Carol from page 1 of this thread but the apology refers to page 4 - there was already damage done well before page 4 and well before this thread began. While the apology from olivetti is pleasant, it doesn't negate to me the many times we have read Hertz employees posting how they feel about their top tier elite renters. It would take more than this apology to remove the bad taste I currently have in my mouth as a result of these 'unofficial' Hertz reps who have been less than complimentary to us this year.... |
Originally Posted by dtremit
(Post 10781532)
Really what I'd love is a rental agency with Hertz's car fleet and National's aisle system.
I enjoyed reading about this experiment -- especially since I went from 80-100+ rentals with Hertz to splitting them across Avis, National and Hertz this year. Still, such anecdotes only confirm that there's still too much inconsistency between airports to make a final conclusion across the board. For example, in my home airport (SAN), I brought all my rentals back to Hertz as they were the best choice (I would have split with National, but we no longer have a corporate contract with them). I'm sure others at SEA on the other hand, would disagree about Hertz. :D National and Hertz had their pluses and minuses. Over the past year, Hertz gave me decent upgrades most of the time, but the cars were starting to get higher on mileage over the past year. And on cheaper rates, the upgrades became noticeably nonexistent (no upgrades most of the time, Y-upgrades sometimes). What I did like is that one or two agents knew that I was a frequent renter, so if they were around, I got great service if I trudged back to the booth. They also gave me generous upsell quotes for Prestige cars. So overall, personalized service was great, but standard Gold service was average. In contrast, National was the exact opposite. My upgrade percentage (based on my own measure of what I considered upgrades, not company definitions) was much higher than Hertz thanks to the aisle system -- not only because of the quality of cars placed in the Executive Aisle, but also the ability for myself to pick the cars I liked. The cars were in the best condition, too -- can't think of any car I ever got there that was over 8-10k miles. Not surprisingly though, I had no "favorite" agents at National like at Hertz, so when problems happened or if the aisle was out of cars, I had a less positive experience. No deals on upsells, either. I rented an FX35 from Hertz on a $25/day upsell from a C reservation once. The same car upsell as quoted from National on another day for a midsize reservation -- $70/day! Avis at SAN on the other hand, was the worst of both worlds IMO. I consistently rented there once a week, every week, for about five months -- and I don't think any of the agents ever remembered me (and I got the most attitude there whenever asking to switch cars). Upgrades were hit-or-miss, but even then, short of Solstices, Corvettes, and CTSs, Avis' fleet is the most boring of the three, so I probably wasn't missing much anyway. In contrast, I can name multiple times at National where I got multiple-class upgrades and even moreso at Hertz. I did like the ability to "double-dip" with miles/points and free-weekend coupons, though -- but once I maxed the weekend coupon limits, there was no point in staying. And the few times I was there, DTW was also great about leaving the car running (in winter) with the trunk open -- that was thoughtful. ^ |
Found an interesting story about Hertz customer service, have a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW1rv_9AT2s |
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