Mercedes Benz will keep charging you for subscription to their GPS service after you sell the car, because "you signed up for the full length of the contract". How is that legal?
Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
161–170 of 210 posts
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder about this constantly. Why is there such a legal power imbalance between people and companies, especially large companies? If a company wants to charge me extra they just do it, they don't have to provide proof of anything. If I want to resolve the issue I have to call them or my credit card company, neither is simple and has something like a 75% chance of being successful (IME) even if I'm completely right.…
The question shouldn't be "why" because the answer is obvious: Companies have more money and more people and more time and therefore more power than you as an individual. The solution also already exists: The government should be giving individuals free lawyers to go after companies who violate their rights. We have this system in my country where there is a people's lawyer that can choose to take up cases that seem…
For a lot of simple and obvious things the formula should be to call and report a "disagreement". The government employee who took the call [immediately] calls to hear the company side of the story and orders it to correct it's behavior or may chose to issue a fine. The issue is resolved in 5-20 minutes. A different fine tailored for the size of the company for not responding fast enough. If the company disagrees with the verdict they may take the government agency to court. This should mostly happen if the issue is arguably not simple and obvious enough. If the customer disagrees the court is also there to figure out the mess.
> Private individuals should not have to waste their time in the legal system to defend laws that the government created.
Government should not make a mockery of it self by creating laws that it doesn't intend to enforce or is incapable of.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#163As 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 insuranc…
I just found the Turo first time, and the prices seems to be like 4 times more? At least if you rent longer durations.
That must be pretty location dependent. When I've used it the prices were usually dramatically lower, especially if you want something specific like AWD.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even in the best case scenario, renting a car is a time-consuming hassle No that’s the worst case scenario. > you have to navigate high pressure tactics on buying upgrades, fuel, insurance, etc. No you don’t. In the US, the major reputable companies allow you to register your DL and insurance, pick your default fuel preference. 20 minutes prior the reservation you get a list of available cars and proceed directly t…
Rented from enterprise last month. I booked a Sports Car Rental (Dodge Challenger or Similar). I got there and they only had a miata. Certainly a cool car. But it's too small for me. I needed a Dodge Challenger or similar. So I ended up with the slowest truck imaginable with no fuel in it. They wouldn't give me my company's corp. rate even though I had my work badge and this rental was for a work training in DC. Oh!…
Sorry I have plenty of issues with car rental companies but dude - if you need a car of a certain size, rent that size, not "sports car". And book through your company's travel service, with the proper company code, no counter agent knows what your company badge is, and they certainly don't care that you're going to a work-related training. E-Z Passes are, unfortunately, usually tied to a specific license plate. For example, the Maryland and Virginia E-Z Passes require you to log into your account and enter the rental car's plates. It's understandable one might not realize that, but at the same time, that's EZ Pass setting those rules, not Enterprise.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder about this constantly. Why is there such a legal power imbalance between people and companies, especially large companies? If a company wants to charge me extra they just do it, they don't have to provide proof of anything. If I want to resolve the issue I have to call them or my credit card company, neither is simple and has something like a 75% chance of being successful (IME) even if I'm completely right.…
I think this boils down to the existence of megacorps. IMHO a state should just not allow corporations to grow beyond a certain marketcap level. I see no real world benefit to allow such companies to exist, it creates "too big to fail" schemes, inefficient structures, and overall companies that are able to compete with literally small states or countries in terms of capital /legal / lobby power. Beyond a certain mark…
I'm surprising myself a bit, but I think I agree. I think these types of problems are inherent in companies of a certain size. When you reach a point where there is so much structure that you can only progress via metrics those metrics will inherently start to only serve themselves instead of the original goal they were attempting to be a proxy for.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#166Aside from charging to put gas in an EV, the amounts they are charging seem really high. How could filling a sedan with gas cost $200 to $400? That’s like 10x what the actual gas costs retail at the pump.
You're paying for convenience. The deal they make with you up front is that you get to not worry about the tank, but in return you pay a super inflated rate for the gas. Plus you pay for a full tank, even if you return it at 3/4 and it only takes a few gallons to fill it. I get that some people just don't have the time (or executive function?) to deal with refilling before return on some trips, or they're so rich tha…
Actually the deal, typically, is that if you buy a full tank up front, the per-gallon price is at par or even a bit cheaper than local gas stations, so you save money and gain convenience (that's the pitch). By contrast, if you don't buy gas up front, and don't return the car full, that's when they charge you an enormous per-gallon price. That price is highly profitable and also makes the "up-front" option seem more appealing.
(Just take 10 minutes and return the car full, and don't worry about any of this)
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#167Hertz used to be the best, I think I heard that PE gutted it, not sure, I avoid it at all costs.
Not PE, it was mostly a former CEO.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikakelton/2019/05/02/hertz-ma...
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this boils down to the existence of megacorps. IMHO a state should just not allow corporations to grow beyond a certain marketcap level. I see no real world benefit to allow such companies to exist, it creates "too big to fail" schemes, inefficient structures, and overall companies that are able to compete with literally small states or countries in terms of capital /legal / lobby power. Beyond a certain mark…
I'm surprising myself a bit, but I think I agree. I think these types of problems are inherent in companies of a certain size. When you reach a point where there is so much structure that you can only progress via metrics those metrics will inherently start to only serve themselves instead of the original goal they were attempting to be a proxy for.
When you think about it, the "winner takes all" martingale is already forbidden in most states of law.
Two companies are not allowed to merge if their total market share would past 30%, because that would allow a monopoly and thus total control over the price of goods. A winner cannot just buyout his previous opponents indefinitely.
Similarly, a company cannot (at least where I live) sell at a loss. That would allow a company with more capital to lower prices at an impossible level until competition dies out, and then increase prices back when concurrents are wiped out.
These regulations are different of course, but the overall idea is similar: a company should not be able to press its advantage exponentially. And I think the marketcap is but a forgotten rule in these regulations.
Once a company reaches a monstrous level of market cap, it is too diversified to fail, and can press its legal / lobbying leverage on some of its subbusinesses at an unfair level against competitors. If you're a search engine company, competition against Google is not just competing against an other player in the search space. You're competing against the legal and lobbying power of 10 companies.
And that's not even mentioning state supremacy concerns. I vote for my government. They may not be always want I want them to, but hey, that democracy. I don't vote for mega corps governance. I don't want them to have bargaining power over my state or country.
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rented from enterprise last month. I booked a Sports Car Rental (Dodge Challenger or Similar). I got there and they only had a miata. Certainly a cool car. But it's too small for me. I needed a Dodge Challenger or similar. So I ended up with the slowest truck imaginable with no fuel in it. They wouldn't give me my company's corp. rate even though I had my work badge and this rental was for a work training in DC. Oh!…
Sorry I have plenty of issues with car rental companies but dude - if you need a car of a certain size, rent that size, not "sports car". And book through your company's travel service, with the proper company code, no counter agent knows what your company badge is, and they certainly don't care that you're going to a work-related training. E-Z Passes are, unfortunately, usually tied to a specific license plate. For…
Furthermore in states with pay by plate as a fall back like NY and IL you can register the rental car plate for the duration of the rental.
https://www.tollsbymailny.com/vector/videotolls/paytollnow/s...
Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry I have plenty of issues with car rental companies but dude - if you need a car of a certain size, rent that size, not "sports car". And book through your company's travel service, with the proper company code, no counter agent knows what your company badge is, and they certainly don't care that you're going to a work-related training. E-Z Passes are, unfortunately, usually tied to a specific license plate. For…
Furthermore in states with pay by plate as a fall back like NY and IL you can register the rental car plate for the duration of the rental. https://www.tollsbymailny.com/vector/videotolls/paytollnow/s...
This is an area where the governments are short-sighted and it's very hard to blame individual renters. Many of these states have no option to pay cash tolls anymore. Further, not everyone in a rental (often in a strange place) knows they will use a toll road, so you really can't blame people for failing to register ahead of time (either the plates or via E-Z Pass) -- plus the fact that you don't know the plates until you're physically at the car, it's not like you can pre-register a week in advance, even if you wanted to. You'd think by now some of these transportation authorities would set up some payment system with Google & Apple Pay as a cashless alternative for people without an EZ Pass.