bob77

Im from Sydney and in may my wife and I and daughter went to new York state to see our youngest daughter graduate from Hofstra university, in Uniondale. We rented a hertz vehicle from may 17 to may 27 from the lynbrook store. We stayed in carle place, ten minutes from the uni and about 30 minutes east of lynbrook. Majority of driving was around the uni with a trip to Long Island boardwalk and another to port Jefferson. No toll road and no where near any. Two weeks after i get a credit charge on my statement of US$920, or AUD$1300, apparently for tolls New York and the tunnels to jersey. I email hertz and finally get a reply that my rental wasn't associated with any of these tolls, and for me to contact the toll company plate pass! Hertz didn't want to help in any way and wont reply to any emails. After contacting plate pass there were 96 tolls incurred in ten days! Im in the process of gathering credit card statements to show where I was in those ten days to prove it wasn't my vehicle. Obviously the toll transponder was removed from my vehicle prior to rental and was used in another vehicle. Hertz is no doubt aware of this and im betting plate pass as well. They only have to look at the tolls and my scenario to realise this. Do they think I drove around the new York tolls for ten days 24/7? No doubt im not the first this has happened to and id say its still happening but the low life scumbags at hertz wont lift a finger to help, or even now to have the decency to reply to my emails. I asked plate pass for photographic evidence of my vehicle going thru the tolls and they say a photo is only taken when there's a toll violation. When I asked what is the evidence my rental incurred these ludicrous tolls, I didn't get a reply. The behaviour by hertz is disgraceful and bordering on criminal as they know this is happening but do nothing to assist.

guv1976

"Do they think I drove around the new York tolls for ten days 24/7?"

Well, somebody did.

When you rented the vehicle, did you slide open the Plate Pass box to verify that there was a transponder in it? That is really the only way to protect yourself here. If a previous renter -- or dishonest Hertz employee -- removed the transponder prior to your rental, then Hertz is being victimized as well.

One thought: Ask the toll-servicing company to provide a list of tolls incurred for a week before your rental started. If any such tolls occurred while the Hertz vehicle was not checked out, that is evidence that the transponder was already missing when you rented the vehicle.

Good luck!

guv1976

Did you at any time have a valet park your car?

Another possible approach to take here: What was the total mileage you put on the car during your rental? Was that total less than the mileage from the Hertz Lynbrook office to the first toll facility, plus the mileage from each toll facility to the next? If so, that would prove that your rental car did not travel through all of those facilities.

How soon after the start of the rental was the first toll charged, and at what facility? If it was, for example, at the Lincoln Tunnel 15 minutes after you picked up the car, that would also prove that the transponder was not in the car when you picked it up.

And a belated welcome to FlyerTalk. I'm sorry that it was such an unfortunate experience that brought you here.

bob77

Hello, I hadn't even heard of plate pass till I got the credit card charge. Guy at hertz never mentioned plate pass or tolls or transponders. If hertz is being victimised then they're not showing it with their lack of support or help in this matter. Good thought about asking the toll mob for a list of tolls before my rental started, ill do that, but will probably get a "sorry, can't do that, privacy issue", but ill ask anyway. Cheers!

guv1976

The "privacy" issue should not be a factor here, since you have no way of knowing who the prior user of the transponder was. But if that issue is raised, ask them to supply it to the Hertz Lynbrook office (or perhaps Hertz corporate, if they are more responsive), so that Hertz can see whether any tolls were incurred when the car was not rented out. And see my added comments in Post #3.

bob77

No valet at anytime since I was responsible for the rental I wasn going to let anyone else drive it. We drove about 411 miles during the rental period. As for miles from lynbrook to the first toll, not 100% sure but lynbrook is about 25 miles from New York City. The holland and Lincoln tunnels feature a lot. I could sit down and attempt to work it out , but I doubt it would help because I don't know where the person drove between tolls. If someone at plate pass looked at the number of tolls and times they could see it doesn't make sense. Could even me two cars using it. In Sydney our toll transponders register the plate number so even if I lend my transponder to someone, they'll still get a bill for the toll because their plate isn't registered.

guv1976

When and where was the first toll for which you are being charged?

This sounds like a transponder that might have been used by an Uber or Lyft driver.

Any tolls for the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, or Atlantic City Expressway? Those could help determine total distances driven by the transponder user.

bob77

First one was 4 hours after I picked up the rental, Secaucus/us 46-s, New Jersey turnpike. Then 15 minutes later the Lincoln tunnel, even the times every day aren't in chrononlogical order. Garden state parkway is on there, as is New Jersey turnpike numerous times. Im suspecting an uber or similar myself.

guv1976

If you cannot resolve this without an inordinate amount of effort, you might consider requesting help from this consumer-advocacy organization:

https://www.elliott.org/help/

bob77

Ill look into that website, I appreciate the tip mate!

pmarrsouth

You have an email FROM Hertz saying your rental was not associated with any of those tolls

No need to waste any more time yourself on this wrt an investigation. You call your credit card company and chargeback this charge

You have the proof from Hertz if your CC company requests it

zloneill

This happened to me in late 2020 -- not such a huge amount of tolls, maybe more like $200. But obviously ones I didn't make. Fortunately I had time-stamped photos of myself in Maine when the tolls were charged in the NYC area. I called PlatePass and they said they'd look into it. I didn't even wind up sending my backup info to them -- they wiped the charge from my card almost immediately. I think this must happen a lot? Cost of doing business.

bob77

Well good news but no thanks to hertz of course who still ignore my emails. After some prodding from me stating hertz recklessly and negligently gave the toll company my details, the bank agreed they shouldn't have under the circumstances and so will give me the full chargeback of aud$1300. Hertz admission that my rental wasn't associated with the toll charges probably helped but it was still a case of fraud anyway in my book. Thanks for everyone help and advice! Cheers!

bob77

Hello all, Well ive just heard back from platepass after I sent them another email last Monday, in fact two responses from them in the one email, they have finally agreed that the tolls charged to me were invalid and will refund me the amount charged. The other response said after research there was an error in charging my vehicle for the tolls. This is interesting as at first I was told there were no descrepancies and the mileage tallied . Id be interested to know what new evidence has come to light showing my rental wasn't associated with the tolls. Maybe after all logic dictated that it wasn't my vehicle. But I think platepass is hiding something. Cheers all!

pmarrsouth

Enjoy the free $920 (minus fx fees, if any)

and the discrepancies are probably that level 0 frontline support agent just gave you a standard “all is correct” template whereas when it was looked into properly by someone who is allowed to use their brain it revealed that this was not the case