Report Abuse

“Bad Customer Service”

written by on 17/08/2014

I have rented from Hertz multiple times and some times everything works out and sometimes it does not. In late May, I attended the graduation at West Point Military Academy for a former student of mine. I left the West Point area the day afterwards in plenty of time to head to LaGuardia Airport for a flight at 8:30 p.m. (I had picked up the car in NYC 2 days before.) I got stuck on the George Washington Bridge traffic and the traffic in NYC and had only one and a half hours to find the car rental return and check in for my flight (the last one out of the airport to Pittsburgh). I was meeting my husband at midnight in Pittsburgh, where he was flying in from the West Coast where we live. We were to attend our daughter's graduation from law school a day later. My husband is handicapped and needed me to be at the airport to take care of him.

When I arrived at LaGuardia, I could find no signs for car rental returns, except for one that was outside of the airport. I asked at least 10 people who worked at the airport where the rental car returns were and no one could point me in the right direction. I drove to all of the terminals and there were no signs. I had about 45 minutes left at this time before my flight and I was frantic. I pulled up to US Airways and asked again where the rental car returns were, but no one knew. They said there was a phone inside that I could call and they watched the car while I ran 1/3 of a mile through the terminal to the phone station on another floor. The person from Hertz who answered was from the 800 number and could not point me in the right direction. I did what I had to do and asked for road service. I told them that I had to leave the car and they told me what to do with the key, etc. and promised to be right there to pick it up. I wrote a note on the car, told the personnel that Hertz was on the way, but it was towed, as I later found out when I got to Pittsburgh (just barely making my flight) and renting another Hertz car that had been prepaid. The fellow at the counter traced the car and said it was towed by AAA and that Hertz had been contacted.

For two weeks, they told me each day when I called that they could not find the car and that they were charging me the daily rate. They sent me a notice of an extreme overdue car, but refused to call me back. I told my credit card company about the situation and they said they would work with me. I wrote to Customer Service, talked to 3 supervisors, wrote a professional letter to the president of the company and no one gave me the courtesy of an answer. They collected the car 2 weeks later and charged on my credit card the daily rate, the towing charges, and the daily rate at the pound, for a grand total of $730 in extra charges. My lovely Master Card company USAA refused to work with me and is letting the charge stand on my account.

I was helpless, but my husband was more important than the disgusting people who work for that organization. Never Rent from Hertz. Their personnel are trained not to call back, as one employee who was honest told me. They should not be in business!!! I have run two multi million dollar organizations and I hold a doctorate in Leadership and Administration. I was treated as if I were stupid. I have traveled all over the world and never had this situation happen to me at an airport. LaGuardia needs to also come up to present day standards.