Hertz used to be the best, I think I heard that PE gutted it, not sure, I avoid it at all costs.
Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
61–70 of 210 posts
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#62As much as services like Turo and Getaround have their own gotchas[0], this sort of thing is why I try to use them instead of the legacy car rental companies, when possible. I've had nothing but good experiences with Turo (15 or so rentals, ranging from a single day to a 2-week rental). With the legacy rental companies, the best experiences are barely mediocre.
[0] One big one is that credit cards that offer insurance for rental cars won't cover services like these.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a general rule, people stealing or otherwise breaking the law via companies get cut way more slack than random individuals. Like, Wells Fargo set up millions of fraudulent accounts for its customers, and zero people went to jail. Even if you accept the premise that upper level management somehow didn't know, a certain level of negligence should absolutely lead to prison time when the impact is this is large.
No prison time but one was prosecuted and sentenced to home confinement and community service... >A former top Wells Fargo executive avoided prison time for her role in the bank’s sham accounts scandal, after a federal judge on Friday instead sentenced her to six months of home confinement and three years of probation. She was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine and perform 120 hours of community service.
She DEFINITELY made more than $100k in stock and bonuses for the fraud.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
It could be worse - Hertz falsely accused hundreds of people of stealing cars which lead to felonies, arrests and jail time. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusa...
Something like this happened to me - I'd rented one of their cars with no return date because I hadn't fully planned out a multi-week trip in the eastern USA. The staff member said this was fine; they'd put in a return date of a week or two and then keep pushing it back. Five weeks later I returned the car and flew back home to Australia. Found letters that had been posted saying that the car hadn't been returned and…
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Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you use a small claims court if the rental contract has mandatory binding arbitration clause?
I don’t think you can unfortunately, and arbitration should be banned. I’m not sure how a system overriding the legal system is allowed.
It’s not overriding the legal system, it willfully sidestepping it. But obligating the contracted party to agree. The issue of course is that Hertz (in this case) can put whatever random requirements into the contract, and you can’t arbitrarily strike them. You still need/want their service.
That said, just because there’s an arbitration clause in the contract doesn’t mean you’re absolutely stuck. You can hire a lawyer and try to get out of it. They’re trying to keep you from doing something like that.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#66Half of the stories about billing for unused gas are clearly just theft. Why do consumers have no recourse against companies that steal from them? If I made charges to someone's card for services that weren't rendered, I'd probably go to jail.
It's not theft. Rather just regular old big company incompetence. You're dealing with broken automated systems and an out-sourced customer support agent. Wait until LLMs arrive on the scene and further exacerbate the problem.
Ignorance of the law isn't a valid excuse for individuals is it? So it shouldn't be for companies either.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not theft. Rather just regular old big company incompetence. You're dealing with broken automated systems and an out-sourced customer support agent. Wait until LLMs arrive on the scene and further exacerbate the problem.
While I generally agree with your premise, the problem is that when companies realize they can make more money through "old big company incompetence", at best it means they have no incentive to improve, and at worst in means they can maliciously overcharge and then just blame it on "incompetence". I really think government needs to enact laws that make companies compensate people for their time when they have to deal…
I remember, back in the last century, a TV station did a test, where they went to a whole bunch of supermarkets, and brought stuff. Some was on sale, some was not.
What they found, was that every (100%) error in price went to the favor of the company. Not one single error was in favor of the customer.
Often, the stores were good about correcting the error, but the cashier could never do it. They always had to go to the service counter.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#68Sadly I think most car rental companies are filled with fine print hell. The one that has bitten me a few times is the minimum miles fee. Rent a car at the airport because it’s cheaper than an Uber. Drive to a friends house and the vehicle never is used until return. Since it is bellow some threshold, 30 miles or so, you get charged a $15-25 fee unless you had shown a receipt for gas.
Wow...didn't know this was a thing.
I got bit by the opposite where one of my rentals had a maximum miles limit. I use a corporate code that usually includes unlimited mileage but this location didn't offer that. They had a limit of 300km unless you paid extra and since I skip the counter and go directly to the garage to pick a car, I wasn't aware of that. It was only when they emailed me the receipt later that I saw the extra charges.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was too busy to fight it off, initially called my CC and put stop on charges. Eventually they got my money.
This is a huge feature of CCs that most people don't recognize. You're paying an extra ~3% to credit card companies in exchange for the ability to dispute a charge. If a merchant (in this case Hertz) accepted cash, you would get an invoice in your hand that you could dispute on the spot and just simply not pay. The reverse would be true for Hertz who could try to sue you for not complying.
They'd end up doing something like you pay $2000 in cash upfront and then you get the unused portion back at the end, and GDP would lower significantly because most people can't afford to give businesses a line of credit like this.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I generally agree with your premise, the problem is that when companies realize they can make more money through "old big company incompetence", at best it means they have no incentive to improve, and at worst in means they can maliciously overcharge and then just blame it on "incompetence". I really think government needs to enact laws that make companies compensate people for their time when they have to deal…
I remember, back in the last century, a TV station did a test, where they went to a whole bunch of supermarkets, and brought stuff. Some was on sale, some was not. What they found, was that every (100%) error in price went to the favor of the company. Not one single error was in favor of the customer. Often, the stores were good about correcting the error, but the cashier could never do it. They always had to go to t…
At least locally pricing errors are always decided in favor of the customer. Of course you have to notice it but you're always entitled to the lowest advertised price on any item.