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Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

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Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#151

One thing I learned really quickly renting in Europe is to take pictures of the rental before driving off. Last time I rented a car there was a huge scratch on the side that wasn’t included in their pickup form. When I returned the car they were ready to bill me for it until I showed the picture and their response was: “OK, no worries then, all is good”. From the reviews I’ve been reading people often get charged thi…

I just had this in Hawaii (Big Island). Dollar car rental dude checks my car when I return it and decided some scratch on the fender was new (I'm pretty sure it was not). I had full insurance and I told him he can figure it out with the insurance company, that I was in rush to catch my flight, and he can do whatever he wants. They didn't do anything. They're just looking for some sucker they can charge extra on some random thing.

I've had a lot of rental car experiences. Usually it's fine. Taking photos sounds like a good idea.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#152

Half 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.

> Why do consumers have no recourse against companies that steal from them? Stuff like this is easy to charge back with your credit card company. But in this case, the article makes it clear that the people were able to get the charges reversed by talking to Hertz. It wasn't necessarily convenient, but the funds were returned when a human saw the mistake. > If I made charges to someone's card for services that weren'…

"Stuff like this is easy to charge back with your credit card company."

That sounds like what someone who's never had to waste hours getting 'stuff like this' charged back, with varying levels of success, would say.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#153

Earlier 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've long thought the only solution to these issues is to levy fines (or jail time if intentional theft) large enough to discourage the behavior. If it is still happening, keep raising the fines until it stops. We need a corporate death penalty and three strike laws - where three is scaled to the customer base or total monetary damages or whatever. Upon death, any and all assets (including shares of the company, in…

Or just remove the limited liability. In sense of not going after assets, but at least that any fines or prison sentences apply to anyone who had at least single stock at the time. Company you own commits fraud, you go to prison. Simple and effective to force stock owners to police board and thus employees in the end.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#154

When people suggest owning an EV for daily use and renting a gas car for occasional long trips, this is exactly why that's not a attractive idea for most people. Even in the best case scenario, renting a car is a time-consuming hassle and you have to navigate high pressure tactics on buying upgrades, fuel, insurance, etc.

My typical car renting experience is that I pull out my phone, launch the app, walk to where it tells me the car is, and then get in the car and drive away. That’s for short term rentals that aren’t priced for multi-day things, but going up to ten minutes of overhead for a week rental is still only a minor annoyance. I have never encountered any sort of high pressure sales for rentals, and all of my negative car rental experiences have been at airports and not in scenarios where owning my own vehicle would have let me avoid the rental.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignorance of the law isn't a valid excuse for individuals is it? So it shouldn't be for companies either.

It's not a question of ignorance, it's a question of intent. If you walk into Walmart and intentionally walk out with a banana without paying, you can't get out of prosecution by claiming that you didn't know it was illegal to do that. If, on the other hand, you accidentally neglect to scan the banana at the self checkout then it is a valid defense to say that you thought you'd already scanned it in and you must have…

> It's not a question of ignorance, it's a question of intent.

> If you walk into Walmart and intentionally walk out with a banana without paying, you can't get out of prosecution by claiming that you didn't know it was illegal to do that.

> If, on the other hand, you accidentally neglect to scan the banana at the self checkout then it is a valid defense to say that you thought you'd already scanned it in and you must have gotten confused by all the other items you were handling.

> Theft requires intent.

No one will care what you say when you will get caught. https://www.good.is/lawyer-explains-the-risk-of-using-self-c...

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#156

Half 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.

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 marketcap, a company should not be allowed to grow anymore and just forced to split in multiple entities.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny you should say that, because OP actually tells a more complete version of the story here [0]. Hertz did send them a new bill with a threat to send it to collections if it weren't paid. Maybe still a win in the end because the incorrect charge was removed, but I get really uncomfortable with how casually people recommend chargebacks on this forum. They're not intended to get you out of charges that the othe…

The context here was a charge that should not be paid…

Bundled with a bunch of charges that were, in fact owed. OP disputed the whole charge (probably because that was the only option), but it's important to know that Hertz did come after him for the rest of the money.

Re: Hertz Charging a Tesla Renter for Gas Was Not an Isolated Incident

#158
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a question of ignorance, it's a question of intent. If you walk into Walmart and intentionally walk out with a banana without paying, you can't get out of prosecution by claiming that you didn't know it was illegal to do that. If, on the other hand, you accidentally neglect to scan the banana at the self checkout then it is a valid defense to say that you thought you'd already scanned it in and you must have…

> It's not a question of ignorance, it's a question of intent. > If you walk into Walmart and intentionally walk out with a banana without paying, you can't get out of prosecution by claiming that you didn't know it was illegal to do that. > If, on the other hand, you accidentally neglect to scan the banana at the self checkout then it is a valid defense to say that you thought you'd already scanned it in and you mus…

> In a clip uploaded on TikTok, Jernigan explains

Call me old fashioned, but I'm not going to take legal advice from TikTok personalities, especially when the claim sounds like one of those scarebait articles newspapers print on a bad news day.

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