Nightmare with Hertz - can anyone help?

dahamsta

They usually take a physical scan of your credit card. Some credit cards can be operated like a debit card, but afaik they put a hold on a certain amount of dosh on the card as a deposit to cover themselves, as part of the contract.

adam

whiterebel

I had a problem where Hertz in the UK charged me way over the agreed rate after I got home. Rang the call centre in Dublin, as it wass booked thrrough the hertz.ie website. I got the usual standard crap answers back until I told them I had an email confirming the rate. I got a phone call from a lady in hertz Wexford who had a look at the email and refunded me straight away. The Uk then refunded me as well, a week later, so result!!!!

Any time I get a car now, I get the persons name, and ask them who will be there to check the car on arrival back at the airport.
"Oh, we don't do that, sir"
"Ok, well give that to me in writing, because I don't pay for phoney billings later for imaginary dents, scratches or petrol useage."

Haven't had a problem yet........

jimmycrackcorm

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

The actual costs were:
Paints, tools – 118.39
Repair works – 145.09

Total: 263.48

So either Hertz Car Rental in Kaunas/UAB Balticar or the the Opel Dealer who they claim repaired the car decided to take advantage of me.

Possibly also due to the loss of rental income for the duration of the repair.

dahamsta

UPDATE: When I pointed both Avis and J&P to this post and the one on my blog, I finally got a response from someone that appears to have a bit of authority. They contacted me on the 9th and promised a response on the 13th, which duly followed with a promise to refund the entire excess amount because of a lack of documentation on the part of Avis Croatia.

I never actually asked for a full refund however I certainly appreciate the gesture as it does take the sting out of the tail. Thank you to Avis’ Business Support Centre Manager for following through as promised, I only hope they’ll teach the rest of the staff how to handle enquiries like this in future.

adam

Dannyboy83

DaMelodrama wrote: »

UPDATE: When I pointed both Avis and J&P to this post and the one on my blog, I finally got a response from someone that appears to have a bit of authority. They contacted me on the 9th and promised a response on the 13th, which duly followed with a promise to refund the entire excess amount because of a lack of documentation on the part of Avis Croatia.

I never actually asked for a full refund however I certainly appreciate the gesture as it does take the sting out of the tail. Thank you to Avis’ Business Support Centre Manager for following through as promised, I only hope they’ll teach the rest of the staff how to handle enquiries like this in future.

adam

Wow, good result!
What office did you contact Adam?
Is it based in Ireland?

I've received no follow up contact at all from Hertz Lithuania. They seem to just have taken the money and run. All of my friends and family are shocked, and my Lithuanian friends and my girlfriends family are just plain embarassed to be honest.:(
I guess they will not be recommending Hertz to anyone in the future.

I've taken on a second job for a short while just to pay back the charges on my credit card as our finances are our already tight as my girlfriend has been sick for a while.
After Hertz took that money, I only had 10 Euro to buy my girlfriend a birthday present, so I bought her a crappy bunch of flowers.:(
I doubt we will ever forget this experience to be honest, it really spoiled the holiday for us.

Regarding the translation:
I've posted on a number of forums across the internet with English/Lithuanian speakers asking for assistance with the translation of repair charges which Hertz Lithuania have refused to translate for me.

After reading about your refund, if I go back to Lithuania, I will use Avis with the zero excess policy. I would feel comfortable using them if they management like that.
At least if there is a problem, somebody will speak to you in English to try and help resolve it.

I've just received my CC statement actually so I guess I should write to Hertz in Dublin and see if I'll at the very least get an explanation.

Dannyboy83

I've just written to Hertz in Dublin via website email (A Past rental), asking for management to ring me/contact me.

Hopefully they'll have some head management on par with Avis who are capable of dealing with these issues.

I will keep you updated, fingers crossed they will at least get me a proper translation/explanation.

dahamsta

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Wow, good result!
What office did you contact Adam?
Is it based in Ireland?

I originally contacted Avis via their website. When they didn't follow up I was forced to fire my follow-ups at every email address I could find on their website, and the website of their parent company, Johnson & Perrott. It was only when I posted here and on my blog about the situation that the issue was handed to someone competent. The frontline staff would appear to be either incompetent or useless by dint of not having the resources to deal with customer complaints.

adam

Dannyboy83

A Lithuanian girl has given me a rough translation of the document which Hertz Lithuania refused to translate for me.

INTERNATIONAL FORUM: http://help.berberber.com/forum57/93910-hertz-lithuania-nightmare-please-help-me-translation.html
==================================
JZH
Ok, I will try, but some parts may be not clear

Kam: // For

Remonto išlaidų paskaiciavimas DATA: 2008 09 09 // Unkeep calculation DATE:2008 09 09

Automobilis: Opel Astra // car: Oper Astra
Valstybinis reg. Nr. // Public registration number (car numer)
Kėbulo Nr. // basket number

Po automobilio apžiūros nustatyta, kad automobilio remontui išlaidos būtų: // after car survey established that car repair expense would be:
Detalės ir medžiagos kiekis vnt[ detail or material quantity for one unit] kaina Lt. [price in Litas] suma Lt. amount, EUR [amount in EUR]
1 dažai "autobase" 1 vnt. 115 115 33.31 [paint "autobase" 1 unit]
2 medžiagos kėbulo dažymo darb. 1 vnt. 131.36 131.36 38.04 [materials for bodywork painting work, 1 unit]
3 antikorozines medziagos 1 vnt. 7.2 7.2 2.09 anticorrosive materials
4 vinkartinis smulkios dalys 1 vnt. 25.42 25.42 7.36 [onetime minor details]
5 d/p gal.duru moldingas 1 vnt. 67.45 67.45 19.53 [ d/p (I don't know what it means) back door trim]
346.43 100.33
PVM 18% 62.36 18.06
viso už detalias ir medžiagas 408.79 118.39 [total for details and materials]
Darbai [work]
1 bendri paruošimo darbai dažymui 1 vnt. 99.15 99.15 28.72 [common preparation works for painting]
2 d/p gal.sparno paruosimas/dažymas 1 vnt. 198.68 198.68 57.54 [d/p (I don't know what it means) back wing preparation and painting]
3 d.p gal.posparnio n/p 1 vnt. 27 27 7.82 / back underwing n/p ( I don't know what it means)
4 d/p gal.duru moldingo dažymas 1 vnt. 87 87 25.20 // back door painting
5 antikorozines dalies apdirbimas 1 vnt. 12.71 12.71 3.68 // anticorrosive part working
424.54 122.96
PVM 18% 76.42 22.13
viso už darbus 500.96 145.09 [total for works]
Bendra remonto kaina su PVM 909.74 263.48 [ total repair price with PVM]

Devyni šimtai devyni lt. 74 cnt. [909.74 LT]

Remonto eigoje gali išaiškėti papildomi defektai, todėl kaina nėra galutinė ir gali būti koreguojama darbo eigoje. [during repairing may be found additional defects, so price is not definitive(final) and may be corrected during work.
Visos remontui naudojamos detalės yra originalios. // all details, which used for repairing are original
Keičiamoms detalėms suteikiama vienerių metų garantija nuo remonto atlikimo dienos ir laikantis eksplotavimo taisyklių // for all changed details we give one year garanty since repairing date and keeping exploitation rules.

Note the part in bold above. Is that even legal? :eek:

Dannyboy83

I just want to post the picture of the "unreported damage" again (which I believe occured in the agent's unattend car park AFTER I had returned the car to the agent's unattended desk), so that you can put the "charges" in context against the damage.

And please bear in mind 900LTs is a monthly wage in Lithuania




I honestly think some other person using the airport car park or even another rental customer parking their car probably lightly scraped my car WHILE I WAS ON THE PLANE BACK TO DUBLIN & AFTER MY RENTAL HAD ENDED!

Climate Expert

What did your CC company say Danny?

I feel your pain. When I was hit up with 200 quids extra that I really couldnt afford it put me in a terrible way, far worse than the actual money. I made it my personal mission to get the money back but it takes a lot out of you. As we said before, you know now the scam and they will never shaft you again.

Kevtherev

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

I've just written to Hertz in Dublin via website email (A Past rental), asking for management to ring me/contact me.

Hopefully they'll have some head management on par with Avis who are capable of dealing with these issues.

I will keep you updated, fingers crossed they will at least get me a proper translation/explanation.

You're better off contacting the reservations centre in swords 016767476.
Hertz Ireland is a franchise and calling there rental locations directly will get you nowhere as they have no way of checking your details.

Hertz lithuania is most likely franchised aswell so the best way to get a result from them would be to complain to Hertz Corporate. The quickest way for a response is to go through their corprate HQ in Oklahoma.

KhanTheMan

Some people i work with were telling me about this practice in Europe. Apparently this is a scam.
It works like this.

Sometimes, but not always, the guys in the car rental company are in cahoots with the garage owners (who are the ones who the car hire companies use to fix the damaged cars).

The unsuspecting mark returns the car.

The person from the garage is in the car park watching to see who is returning a car after the place is closed go park beside the car and ding it in a couple of places that can be fixed really cheaply but stated as resprays etc on the bill. (or if the person in the car hire company is involved then they do it).

Garage fixes the car for peanuts but greatly inflates the bill eg repainting, preparation, new panel etc when all the did was buff the scratch out or fill and paint the area.

The bill is sent to the car hire company and passed on to the mark.

Scammer makes a fortune.

Canceling your credit card wont help either. The credit card company will just add it to the balance of your canceled card and charge you.

The only way to prevent sharp practice like this is for legislation to make sure that if someone doesnt come to inspect the car with you when you return it then the car hire company lose their right to say you damaged the car.

Climate Expert

Canceling your credit card wont help either. The credit card company will just add it to the balance of your canceled card and charge you.

The only way to prevent sharp practice like this is for legislation to make sure that if someone doesnt come to inspect the car with you when you return it then the car hire company lose their right to say you damaged the car

Its called a chargeback and it does work. Depends really on your CC company, AmEx are meant to be very consumer friendly in this regard.

teetotaller

1) Did u check when this picture was taken ? what day, time ?
u can find it very easily

2) Can't u go to your bank and tell them that amount taken from your credit card account doesn't have your authorisation and u want them to give u back this missing amount ?

if hertz wants something from you maybe it is better to meet in court ?

u say that this damage is not worth money u paid - so any car specialist can easily say if amount u had to paid was correct or if it was scam ...

if it was scam - u can get good money from hertz for free.

The_Conductor

I rented a Fiat Punto from Hertz in Lisbon. While driving back to the airport to return the car, I got a puncture and had to change the tyre (happily I had left sufficient time, that catching the flight was not an issue). I expected an inflated bill, as I was returning the car with a puncture- but 2 weeks later was billed EUR325 for a new tyre and "associated works". You'd buy and have 4 new tyres put on a Fiat Punto for less than EUR325 here in Ireland, never mind in Portugal. I tried all sorts of things- and eventually started an official complaints procedure with Hertz in the US. Eventually Hertz US sent me a voucher for EUR50 off my next rental with them (with a 2 month validity period......). I am in Portugal frequently (5 or 6 times a year) and have to rent a car each time. I use holidayautos.co.uk to book normally- but as they randomly assign you a car from various companies- I've had to ring HA in Switzerland to plead with them to try to get a car from a different company.

I hate Hertz.......

Dannyboy83

07/11/08


[FONT=&quot]Dear XXXXXXX[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your e-mail of 17.09.08 regarding the amount charged for a damage to the hired car. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]After contacting the Lithuanian Customer Service Department I can inform you that the amount of EUR 223.29 is correct. Unfortunately, it is not possible to issue the requested documents in English due to system issues. I apologise for this inconvenience. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Enclosed you will find the documents in relation to this matter. The Pre-Rental Form shows that you confirmed that the car left the car park on 30.08.08 with a damage to the right front door. The car was returned to a new damage to the right rear wing beside the tyre. Please be advised that all damages are reported and marked when collecting the car in order eliminate the risk of being billed for pre-existing damages. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Please accept my apologies for inconveniences caused.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]XXXXXXXX[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]UK Customer Services Department[/FONT]

Dannyboy83

HERE IS THE REPLY I RECEIVED ON FRIDAY AFTER NEARLY 2 MONTHS

Dear xxxxx

Thank you for your e-mail of 17.09.08 regarding the amount charged for a damage to the hired car.

After contacting the Lithuanian Customer Service Department I can inform you that the amount of EUR 223.29 is correct. Unfortunately, it is not possible to issue the requested documents in English due to system issues. I apologise for this inconvenience.

Enclosed you will find the documents in relation to this matter. The Pre-Rental Form shows that you confirmed that the car left the car park on 30.08.08 with a damage to the right front door. The car was returned to a new damage to the right rear wing beside the tyre. Please be advised that all damages are reported and marked when collecting the car in order eliminate the risk of being billed for pre-existing damages.

Please accept my apologies for inconveniences caused.


Yours sincerely,

xxxxx
UK Customer Services Department

Dannyboy83

HERE IS THE LETTER I SENT BACK:

Dear xxxx

First, I would like to Thank you for your email. I am absolutely disgusted at the way I have been treated by Hertz and I am relieved to finally have a professional from the Customer Service department contact me.

A)
On Sunday the 14th of September, when i received the email regarding the damage, I immediately contacted the Customer Service Desk at Hertz Lithuania in Kaunas Airport in Lithuania. The Customer Service representative agreed to send a list of the translated charges by Tuesday the 16th of September at the latest.
It is now Friday the 7th of November, I have contacted numerous people in Hertz and I have still not received any explanation from Hertz as to the charges deducted from my credit card, nearly a full 2 months after the fact.
This is deplorable and I am not going to accept it!
I chose Hertz because I felt it was a safe and reliable brand. Now I feel as though I have been mugged by Hertz Lithuania.
My family and friends are stunned at the way I have been treated.
I find this completely outrageous and I am on the verge of contacting the media in order to warn people about the incredible lack of professionalism.
My sister is shortly taking a trip in Germany and she decided against booking with Hertz after the way I have been treated by Hertz Lithuania.
This reflects incredibly poorly on your company.


An issue of far more concern to me is the charge deducted from my credit card. Is there some criteria at Hertz Lithuania for determining charges or do they just pick a figure which suits them at a particular time?

• You, xxxx, have confirmed that EUR 223.29 is correct.
• xxxxx (customer service agent in Lithuania) notified me of a charge of EUR 263.48 on Friday 12th of September at 19:21. I have retained this email as proof.
• The amount charged from my credit card was EUR 305. I have retained credit card records as proof

I have already been in contact with a solicitor but I have not taken any formal steps. I am awaiting your response before I contact my solicitor again.

C)
I would like to make a suggestion to Hertz Lithuania, if any unfortunate person should be unlucky enough to be their customer in the future, Hertz Lithuania should have someone present in order to inspect the car when it is received.

I am quite certain that the damage depicted in the photographs did not exist at the time when I returned the car, I even bought and left my own car freshener in the car out of courtesy.
The Hertz desk was unmanned when I returned the car and still unmanned when I boarded my plane to return to Ireland. This was a duration of at least 3 hours. I assume the desk was unmanned until the follow morning most likely.

The car was returned to a car park full of rental drivers and left unattended for a long period of time.
Is it not reasonable to assume that the damage depicted in the photographs may have occurred in the car park at any time between 6pm on Sunday evening and 6am on Monday morning – a 12 hour period after I had ended my rental and before inspection by Customer Service agents?

LolaDub

Rte have a thread in the media interaction forum about looking for bad consumer stories. I'm not sure if its limited to ireland but might be worth giving them a shout?

Dannyboy83

LolaDub wrote: »

Rte have a thread in the media interaction forum about looking for bad consumer stories. I'm not sure if its limited to ireland but might be worth giving them a shout?

Thanks, I may try that later

Dannyboy83

12/11/2008



Dear xxxxxx

Thank you for your e-mail.

This is to let you know that I am looking into the matter for you, and I have contacted the location for a re-investigation. I will respond to you in full within 10 working days.

Should you have anymore queries please do not hesitate to contact me and quote the above reference number.

Yours sincerely,

xxxxxxx
UK Customer Services Department

Dannyboy83

Mr xxxxxxx
Ref. No: xxxxxxx
Rental Agreement #: xxxxxxx
Reservation Id.xxxxxxx




Dear xxxxxxx


Thank you for your email of 07/11/08.

I have contacted the location once again, they have now provided the Damage Documents in English which I have attached to this email.

I hope this information is useful and if you have any other queries in relation to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me again.



Yours sincerely,


Mrs. Couldn't-Give-A-Phuc
__________________________
UK Customer Services Department

Dannyboy83

Friday 28th November
I consider this the nail in the coffin. I'm not going to waste anymore time with Hertz.
They've robbed me and I have to accept that and get on with it!
I think Avis showed themselves to be fairly decent so I will use them on my next trip (which won't be for a while after this experience) with FULL insurance options
Just let it be a warning to any of you holiday makers
(especially going to the Baltic States) --

DONT USE HERTZ!!

LolaDub

Have you contacted them again? You've come so far, i wouldn't let it go now. Try the media interaction forum for consumer issues, maybe conor pope from pricewatch, joe duffy etc? At this stage its no skin off your nose and they might be more inclined to help you if its in the media.

The_Conductor

LolaDub wrote: »

Have you contacted them again? You've come so far, i wouldn't let it go now. Try the media interaction forum for consumer issues, maybe conor pope from pricewatch, joe duffy etc? At this stage its no skin off your nose and they might be more inclined to help you if its in the media.

They don't care- really they don't. They run the different countries as seperate individual businesses- with many of them operating on a franchise basis. They best they'd do is probably a voucher for $50 or $100 off your next rental with them- in the hope that you'll shut up- but if you've been treated like merde by them, just how likely are you to ever want to rent from them ever again anyhow?

Dannyboy83

Just thought I would update this thread, I wrote this email to them Last Friday and have received no answer thusfar.

I'll have to remember to bump this before the summer holidays
===============================

Dear xxxx,

Thank you for the reply and please accept my apologies for the delay in my response as I have been waiting for a response from my solicitor.
I have now received translation of the charges and I am aware of what I am being charged for. This was extremely frustrating as I had been promised a translation by the Lithuanian agents which never materialised.
My partner is native Lithuanian from Kaunas and was unable to translate the charges due to the technical language used. So I would like to Thank you for helping to resolve this issue.

I would to bring to your attention and for you to address the issue of the charges which were deducted from my credit card
• Hertz Lithuania Office Attendant, xxxx, , notified me of a charge of EUR 263.48 on Friday 12th of September at 19:21. I have retained this email as proof.
• Hertz UK Customer Service Agent, xxxxxx, confirmed that a charge of EUR 223.29 was correct on the 7th of November at 09:11. I have retained this email as proof.
• The amount charged from my credit card was EUR 305. I have retained credit card records as proof.


Is it standard procedure for the Hertz rental office to be unattended when the rental cars are returned? For cars to sit in a car park open to the public, uninspected by agency, for more than 24 hours?
Would you not agree that such a system and Hertz’s customers are vulnerable to exploitation in this scenario?

In other countries where I have used car rental, there is always an attendant to inspect the car and sign off. I believe that the damage to the car for which I was billed, occurred after I had returned the car and ceased my contract my Hertz. At the very least, if Hertz are going to proceed with this very easily exploited system, Hertz should have a cordoned off area in the car park only for rental vehicles and monitored by CCTV or parking attendant.

If the charges deducted from my credit card were clearly a direct result of my actions, I would have simply accepted it and moved on.
The thing which frustrates me so much is that there is no evidence that I damaged the car and a high possibility that I did not damage the car. When I and my partner inspected the car prior to return, neither she nor I saw any damage to the vehicle. Subsequently, the vehicle is uninspected and left unattended in a public car park for 24 hours in close proximity to other rental drivers.

I have visited Lithuania on a number of occasions, my partner and many of my close friends are Lithuanian and I will be returning to Kaunas, Lithuania in January 2008 for the festive period and again during the summer for a 2 week break with my partner. It is likely that I will be visiting Lithuania twice per year for the next number of years and we are even planning our wedding to be held in Lithuania.

When you add up all those trips, that is a colossal amount of lost business and lost revenue for Hertz in Kaunas which is certainly not a busy tourist destination at the moment.
At this present moment, I would not conduct future business with Hertz Lithuania nor will I be recommending them to relatives, there are no incentives, only deterrents. I am aware that there is an Avis rental service in the same airport and I will be inclined to conduct my business with them in the future, with a zero excess policy instead of standard insurance cover.

Regards,
xxxx

boopolo

Danny

What was the time and date you returned the car?

Boo

Arcee

I've rented cars 3 or 4 times with Budget and Hertz in the UK and I usually spend 2 or 3 weeks afterwards just waiting for the random extra charges to appear on my credit card. Unfortunately there does seem to be a culture in the industry of charging people and hoping they won't notice or will get tired of arguing over it.

On the last occasion I was charged for damage which was already present on the car when I rented it. A lot of emails and phone calls later I wasn't getting anywhere. I devoted a whoel day to finding a way to get my cash back and stumbled across the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association - http://www.bvrla.co.uk/

They seem to be a voluntary members association for car rental companies but it looks like they pull some weight. Check out their members charter and their complaint resolution service. I sent the following mail to Budget and was refunded almost immediately.

"As you are aware, Budget is a member of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association. As a member, you are required to adhere to a code of conduct which requires you to resolve customer complaints within 15 working days. As Budget is now in breach of this code, I have contacted the association to enquire as to my rights.


In the next two days I will be lodging a formal complaint about Budget with the BVRLA legal team. I will forward details of all my correspondance with Budget staff to them, after which they will be in touch with you directly to resolve this issue on my behalf."


Anyway, I hope this is useful to some of you!

Dannyboy83

boopolo wrote: »

Danny

What was the time and date you returned the car?

Boo

Sunday 7th September at approx 6.30pm - 7pm

Why is that mate?

Dannyboy83

Arcee wrote: »

I've rented cars 3 or 4 times with Budget and Hertz in the UK and I usually spend 2 or 3 weeks afterwards just waiting for the random extra charges to appear on my credit card. Unfortunately there does seem to be a culture in the industry of charging people and hoping they won't notice or will get tired of arguing over it.

On the last occasion I was charged for damage which was already present on the car when I rented it. A lot of emails and phone calls later I wasn't getting anywhere. I devoted a whoel day to finding a way to get my cash back and stumbled across the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association - http://www.bvrla.co.uk/

They seem to be a voluntary members association for car rental companies but it looks like they pull some weight. Check out their members charter and their complaint resolution service. I sent the following mail to Budget and was refunded almost immediately.

"As you are aware, Budget is a member of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association. As a member, you are required to adhere to a code of conduct which requires you to resolve customer complaints within 15 working days. As Budget is now in breach of this code, I have contacted the association to enquire as to my rights.


In the next two days I will be lodging a formal complaint about Budget with the BVRLA legal team. I will forward details of all my correspondance with Budget staff to them, after which they will be in touch with you directly to resolve this issue on my behalf."


Anyway, I hope this is useful to some of you!

That is interesting Acree, thank you for that.

I'll wait until I get a response and failing that I'll check with the BVRLA