ORACLENERD: Hertz Sucks, USAA Rules

Hertz Sucks, USAA Rules

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Yesterday, Hertz sucked. Today, they still suck. My $266 deposit is stilloutstanding, three days later. I got my receipt for $117 and change on Monday and as of 11:11 PM Wednesday night, they're still holding $150.

I did write a short note to USAA last night and pointed them to my blog post. Today, they called and left me a nice little voice mail. They were going to send it along to the Hertz escalation team and she was also going to forward it on to USAA management. USAA has the best customer service, and it shows.

My father, who rented a car with Avis, had a similar fiasco with the fuel service option. He was under the impression as well that he would receive the difference so he filled up just before returning the car and they still charged him for a full tank of gas. He wrote a note to USAA and within a couple of hours, Avis had responded and refunded him some $70 (and he wasn't even expected money back, just acknowledgement that it was disingenuous).

I still haven't heard from Hertz.

So, in conclusion, Hertz sucks, USAA rocks, Avis is pretty good.

Labels: avis, hertz, usaa

¶ 6/25/2008 11:09:00 PM

Comments:

Finally...Hertz posted the actual transaction.

Still haven't called yet though...

# posted by

oraclenerd : June 26, 2008 at 9:07 AM

you know this now .. but that is and always has been the scam. Every company I have worked for has reminded their employees *not* to take the fuel option - there is almost always a fuel stop right at or near the airport to fuel up.

# posted by

Anonymous : June 26, 2008 at 9:17 AM

I don't doubt it. I just don't travel enough to remember these things. The last time I rented a car was a year and a half ago, and I don't recall having the fuel service option offered (I could be wrong though).

# posted by

oraclenerd : June 26, 2008 at 9:32 AM

USAA sucks. You just don't know it yet, my friend.

# posted by

Anonymous : July 6, 2008 at 8:37 PM

I've been a member for over 10 years now...never had a problem with them. In fact, they're quite proactive when it comes to customer service.

What happened to you to sour your thoughts on them?

chet

# posted by

oraclenerd : July 6, 2008 at 10:10 PM

I will never rent from Hertz again. It was awful. The clerk at the Baltimore Airport was wonderful, polite, and understanding; however, that is where the good part of the experience ended.

Originally I tried to reserve my car online; however, the company's Web site is poorly designed and would not let me schedule my vehicle drop off - as the office on Fort Dix is closed on the weekends.

So I had to picked up my car at the airport. After a small bump (the first car they gave me was dead and it's tags expired) I finally got out of there at 1 a.m.

At 8 a.m. I loaded the car and started my drive towards Fort Dix, N.J., where I was meeting my unit. We are training at Fort Dix before we deploy to Iraq.

Five minutes after I got to Dix I was on a bus and headed to the range. I was on the range until midnight. The next morning (Monday) I took the car back as the office opened and gave the keys to one of the clerks. Two days later I notice that I had been charged a lot more money then I was originally quoted. I go into the office and asked them why.

They said because I kept the keys - they couldn't rent out the car to someone else (remember that their office was closed). I asked to talk to the office manager's manager - our phone conversation was short - he continued to regurgitate the party line and I promptly told him that I was shocked that a company with an office on a military base would treat service members so poorly, I told him I would never use his company again and that I would do everything in my power to ensure that no one else did either.

The thing is they aren't stealing money from me - they are stealing money from the government, from all you taxpayers out there. I get reimbursed for driving here ... by the U.S. Army.

# posted by

Olivia Cobiskey : September 4, 2009 at 2:18 PM