Silence or insincerity? Your preference
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 12:50PM 
On a recent trip to Mexico, a car I reserved with Hertz was not available. My letter to Hertz on my return:
Dear Sirs and Madams,
I am writing to express my disappointment with your services in Cancun, Mexico in regard to the reservation below. [email with original reservation and confirmation number was attached] Despite having a reservation and calling to confirm it prior to arriving in Cancun, I was told on arrival that there were no cars available. I was not allowed to speak to a supervisor. No time or day was given for when a car would be available. I was forced to rent from National at a rate five times higher than the rate quoted by you. My $118 rental wound up costing me $425 - at that for 5 days instead of 7.
I don't expect to hear back from you but know this - I will NEVER rent from Hertz again and I will tell everyone I can find of this service. As a professional speaker, presenter and writer, I rent cars between 15 and 25 times a year.
Doug Johnson
So after 15 days this is the Hertz response:
Dear Mr. Johnson:
Thank you for letting us know about the difficulties you recently encountered in Cancun. We appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced when we were unable to honor your reservation. Although our reservation system is designed to provide a vehicle at the time and place requested, situations can sometimes develop that prevent us from honoring a reservation. Normally our inventory of vehicles is more than sufficient to meet confirmed reservations; however, on occasion, customers do not return vehicles as expected, and the resulting shortages cannot be overcome immediately.
As a service oriented company, we rely on customer feedback to help us maintain and improve our service performance standards. The information you have provided is very important to us, since it tells us how our various locations are doing and where improvements are needed.
Please be assured the appropriate Hertz Area Manager has been notified of your experience. In addition, your comments have been entered into a special report that is reviewed very closely by Hertz Management.
Thank you again for contacting us. We appreciate your business and look forward to the opportunity to serve your future rental needs.
Sincerely,
Shonda Walkup
Customer Relations Administrator
OKC Customer Relations
The Hertz Corporation
P.O. Box 26120
14501 Hertz Quail Springs Parkway
Oklahoma City, OK 73134
U.S. A.
Telephone: 888-777-6095, Ext.4027
FAX: 405-290-2899
E-mail: CustomerRelations@Hertz.com
For all correspondence sent USPS, please use the address below.
The Hertz Corporation
Attn: Customer Relations Department
P.O. Box 26120
Oklahoma City, OK 73126
U.S.A.
---------------
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Somehow not hearing from Hertz at all would have been better than this letter oozing with insincerity. Why don't I think Hertz will do one damn thing to change how they operate?
So I am doing what I can. Telling you of my experience. And never renting from Hertz again.
O.K. On with life...
Remember Seinfeld???
Reader Comments (15)
Yes, this is certainly one area where I don't go for the lowest price. Enterprise!
Silence would have been far better. Why is it so difficult for companies to do the right thing these days?! I can think of 4 or 5 ways that they could have made this right and I'm not even in the customer service business!
I've never had problems with National, but Enterprise is on my "no mas" list. I guess Hertz needs to go there, too.
And yes, no response would have been better. Or a fruit basket with free rental coupons.
It might be interesting (or maybe just depressing) to ask Shonda Walkup what she thinks the role of a Customer Relations unit is. A good example of a job title that reflects precisely the opposite of what the job-holder actually does!
I often prepare travel arrangements for speakers and appreciate the heads up! I never knew that even if you reserve a car it may not be available...i am having flashes of presenters stuck at airports hours away with no car to get to our location...comments noted and appreciated!
Hmmmm..... They couldn't provide you with a voucher for free rentals?! .... Or at least a special discount good for rentals for a year. That would have gone a long way towards keeping your business. As the economy tanks, one would think companies would do more than hang onto their customers.
I, too, noticed that no matter how sorry Shonda was for the mess that she wasn't including any money to slave her conscience. I guess being sorry is cheap these days.
I can't help but think the the episode of Seinfeld where this same kind of thing happened to Jerry. He proceeds to lecture the clerk on the finer points of a reservation. She tells him that she understands how a reservation works. He replies, "I'm not so sure you do... You understand the taking of the reservation, but not the holding of the reservation. Without the holding, the taking is really pointless." And infuriating, I might add.
I was just going to post a comment about the Seinfeld episode regarding the car rental, but it looks like Rex beat me to it. Although it won't remedy your situation, if you haven't seen it I suggest you do, it may provide a chuckle or two.
National Geographic Traveler has a column to deal with this sort of thing- often the reader/complainer has already contacted the company and received an unsatisfactory reply, then NGT's expert deals with it and they get better results, while still slamming the company for its previous poor service. Perhaps you could send your shining example to the mag.
Thanks to all who left notes of condolence. If I ever see anything from Hertz, even a fruit basket, I will let readers know. I did embed the Seinfeld clip from YouTube. It's a classic. Oh, I may well send this into the NG travel guy. I think we get him in our Sunday paper here.
All the best,
Doug
Oh man, I couldn't stop laughing at the Seinfeld clip. It is so true. I also have tried cars, or minivans for family vacations, only to be turned away either in my wait time or size of vehicle.
Thanks for putting words to a much experienced frustration!
Hi Rob,
The expression “misery loves company” comes to mind! Thanks for leaving the comment and glad you enjoyed the post and video clip.
All the best,
Doug
Gee, that letter looks really familiar for some reason...hmm..... oh wait! It's because I JUST got some the same response from the same woman.....word for word. Hertz is a joke, nice stock letter to send to "resolve" an issue. I had mentioned to them in my letter that I am going to be in Florida for my wedding and that I will make sure that not a single person attending my wedding uses Hertz and I'm completely serious. Looks like they would rather lose 100 customers than make amends to 1. I look forward to their business folding somewhere in the near future.
Hi Matt,
I've been reading more and more incidents like this. I don't think Hertz is alone in this sort of deal. I had heard that the one way to "guarantee" a car is to pre-pay. Who knows?
Thanks for the comment,
Doug