Where do I even start
Where do I even start? I'm finding it hard to express my frustrations with specificity because my prevailing opinion is "this is a garbage company."
TWICE they didn't have the car I reserved. It's 2026. How do you not have a system that tracks what vehicles are available at a given location? Like that's absolutely insane.
I make a reservation. I go to the location. They don't have the car I reserved. The vehicle they DO have is 3x as expensive. Do they offer any type of price reduction? No.
And you might be thinking "hey, maybe call ahead to see what they have in the lot before you go." Great idea!
Except they don't answer their phone. This seems to be Hertz shop guidance, because EVERY location I called just rang a bunch of times, gave a busy signal, and disconnected. Multiple times. After going through a menu system which takes two minutes per call (I had ample opportunity to time it)
First rental, they give me a vehicle with the gas tank between 1/4 and half full. Sick.
Dude also forgets to give me back my ID. I realized it following day. It took SIX PHONE CALLS to actually get through to someone at the location.
They tell me its sitting on the top of their lost and found pile. Cool. But like...isn't that something that would be worth a 30 second call? "Hey, customer who just paid us hundreds of dollars that he didn't anticipate spending because our inventory system was apparently designed by someone with a head injury -- we have your driver's license! Swing by and get it any time. Since you need it to legally drive the car you're paying us for."
I made the colossally stupid mistake of trying to book another reservation for a cheaper vehicle the day my first one was due back. I call ahead. (Took several tries!) They tell me they should have my reserved vehicle that day. Great!
I go to the location.
Dear reader, you will not be shocked to know that they did not, in fact, have the vehicle I reserved.
I mean.. why even call it a reservation? All I'm reserving with Hertz is a migraine.
Hertz, if you're reading this, be real.
Call it a wish. That's all it is.
I left without a car, because I was unwilling to ONCE AGAIN pay triple my reserved car's price, and took an Uber home.
I only WISH that was the end of the story. A few days later, I get an alert that Hertz charged my credit card $37. Delightful.
I call Hertz.
FORTY MINUTES into my hold(!), I start a customer support chat via web.
Is it a human? No. It's an AI.
This AI is an idiot. And yet... still better customer support than I'd received in the previous week from Hertz.
The bot tells me "hey that's messed up, I recommend you dispute the charge with your credit card company."
You a real one, robot. But that's a great way to get Hertz to ban my account outright. And Delta has for some reason entered a devils bargain with this bottomfeeder rental company, so I'm stuck with them.
I ask to speak to a human. (Still on hold on the phone by the way).
Human chat support is like "huh, weird. I can't see anything on my end." I send screenshots of the transaction from the Amex app.
They tell me the charge is still pending, so CONTACT THEM AGAIN when its finalized. You can't see a charge YOU MADE? It's a mystery to YOU?!
Okay.
I end the chat. I hang up the phone (50 minutes on hold by the way).
A few days later, I repeat the process with just web chat.
"Whoops, we charged you a no-show fee. We'll refund that in 5-7 business days."
Rarely do I root for a company to fail.
But Hertz, you've earned it.
From the bottom of my heart, I reserve that you find your place right next to Spirit Airlines.
