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When LBO guys aren't the smartest in the room - putting hertz out of business
We were recently charged 107 a day to rent a toyota corolla plus an upgrade charge. Worst part is we were informed of these charges only by checking our receipt.
The service woman said, "sorry, now we have to charge much higher rates because we're owned by merrill lynch."
She told us they tack on huge fees if you do anything to change your original contract. This case we dropped at a different airport. Apparently, the PE owner or some poor exec at hertz figured out they can exploit a loophole to charge you crazy addons upon return.
This sounds like the gameplan of some hedge/PE fund that wants to drive up short term revs/cashflow to get a hot IPO without care for the longer term impact of ruining a great brand and losing its loyal customer base.
Can anyone recommend another car rental agency? Perhaps one that's not owned by a PE firm?
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November 23, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
how do you think they pay off all that debt?
Posted by: jeremy | Nov 23, 2007 1:25:53 PM
I'm pretty sure they all charge a fee to drop it off at a different airport - we've done it many times and by now expect it.
At some point they have to ship cars back to keep the numbers right in each area. I don't know the internal arrangement but cars are flowing around and that's not free.
Speakeasy just decided to charge me a $300 early termination fee for cancelling DSL service. Hidden in the terms of service... Their actual cost - about $0.
Posted by: ryan | Nov 28, 2007 10:09:33 AM
I'm pretty sure they all charge a fee to drop it off at a different airport - we've done it many times and by now expect it.
At some point they have to ship cars back to keep the numbers right in each area. I don't know the internal arrangement but cars are flowing around and that's not free.
Speakeasy just decided to charge me a $300 early termination fee for cancelling DSL service. Hidden in the terms of service... Their actual cost - about $0.
Posted by: ryan | Nov 28, 2007 10:09:50 AM
I'm pretty sure they all charge a fee to drop it off at a different airport - we've done it many times and by now expect it.
At some point they have to ship cars back to keep the numbers right in each area. I don't know the internal arrangement but cars are flowing around and that's not free.
Speakeasy just decided to charge me a $300 early termination fee for cancelling DSL service. Hidden in the terms of service... Their actual cost - about $0.
Posted by: ryan | Nov 28, 2007 10:10:28 AM
you should try Enterprise - great cars, excellent rates, nice in-person service, never a hard upsell or surprise on the invoice.
Posted by: Z | Dec 12, 2007 12:56:56 PM
you should try Enterprise - great cars, excellent rates, nice in-person service, never a hard upsell or surprise on the invoice.
Posted by: jz | Dec 12, 2007 12:58:15 PM
Try joining the NRA. Hertz will be much nicer to you.
Posted by: Lupo | Dec 18, 2007 12:50:05 AM
