Nightmare with Hertz - can anyone help?

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

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

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

boopolo wrote: »

Because the photo was taken in the carpark on the 12-09-2008 with an Olympus uD600/S600 (ordinary compact camera). That is some 5 days later.


Boo

Wow! Genius mate!
That is an interesting twist.

How can I verify that?

I think I need to get writing asap.

Here is my reply, going out today

Dear

---

Thank you for your reply. I suggest you forward this email to your management as I will be going on national radio shortly unless I receive some real results concerning what is contained in this email.

I have taken the photograph to a photographic specialist.
I am quite simply shocked by the evidence. I have attached an original photograph for you.
And I have attached a 2nd photo to show you exactly what I am looking at.

As you confirmed below, the car was returned on 07.09.08
As is clearly visible from the pictures I have sent you, this photograph was taken on 12.09.08 at 11:41:53 AM

This is a full 5 days after my rental ended.
This car could have been rented twice in 5 days. Or anything could have happened to it when it was NOT under my contract.

I don’t care if there are records to show the car was not rented during this time.
I returned the car on the 7th of September with NO visible damage.
And a photograph taken on the 12th of September shows visible damage.
May I remind you that this is a duration of over 107 hours AFTER my contract ceased.

Please do not patronise me with any more emails.
I find this incredibly unprofessional. This is borderline fraud/extortion.
I am expecting compensation or a refund to my credit card for the damage charges which were confirmed below to be exactly EUR 223.29 + 18 % VAT = EUR 263.48

My solicitor has suggested I have very strong grounds here for legal action, but most likely I am going to ring the Joe Duffy national radio talk show, and warn anyone travelling to Lithuania of the risk they are taking using Hertz, in particular Hertz Kaunas.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/


I await a prompt reply,

Just a quick update,

Chris Deviney rang me back yesterday evening and assured me she would be investigating the matter personally.
She seemed like a very nice woman and very professional and I was utterly relieved to speak to somebody in management at last.

She explained that the UK customer service representative are simply acting as mediators between me and Hertz Lithuania as they are a franchise and it is Hertz Lithuania who have taken the money from my credit card for "damages".


I briefly explained my case to her and how we saw no damage when we returned the car, and the photos being taken after 5 days etc.
She agreed that there was a very large amount of detail/communication in the file and she assured me she would deal with it personally and advised that there would be a delay due to the issues with communication etc. etc.

I told her that I don't mind if it takes 2 days or 2 weeks, once somebody in management is dealing with it.
I'm hoping she will be able to help with the return the money I was charged for "damages".

I'm hoping now that its in her hands, I won't have to go on Joe Duffy now or start messing with solicitors etc.

Anyway, I was speaking to my girlfriend's mom on skype yesterday, and she was suggesting I use her solicitor in Lithuania rather than an Irish solicitor to go ahead with it. Not sure how this works, need to talk to my brother about this.

Big Thank You to Sharkman for the contact info

Here is the reply I sent back:

Dear ,

Unfortunately this does not clear anything up at all.
I regret to inform you that you are rather badly mistaken or misled by Hertz Kaunas.

The photographic “proof” was taken 5 days after the end of my rental service, on the 12th September 08, as I have already clearly pointed out.
If you have photographic evidence or any evidence at all to show that the damage occurred prior to the 12th of September 2008, you need to present this to me ASAP.
Thus far, no evidence has been presented to myself or my solicitor which confirms that the damage occurred during the period of my rental and insurance, which ended on the 7th of September.

Can you confirm that the vehicle lay in state for 5 days in an open, unguarded and unprotected airport car park?
Or can your confirm that the vehicle was re-parked by a Lithuanian CS agent between 7th and 12th September?
Or can you confirm that the vehicle was rented subsequent to the end of my contract on the 7th of September?

I spoke to the head of European Customer Service on the telephone last week, Chris Deviney, and I am awaiting a telephone call from her regarding this matter.
I suggest you add this to my file and let the matter rest with her.

As stated, please forward any evidence to show the damage occurred during my rental agreement period, if such evidence exists, as I am currently preparing legal action with my solicitor through the new European Small Claims court system.

I have already lost more money on this issue than the original sum for “damages” which were taken from my credit card without my authorization.
And I have wasted countless hours on the telephone and writing emails.
I feel as though I have exhausted correct procedures without satisfaction until I spoke with Chris Deviney who is overseeing the matter personally.

You can trust that I will be both satisfied and clear as a crystal when I receive a refund for the “damage” which I didn’t do or failing that, when I have the chance to expose the “Hertz Kaunas” concept of Customer Service in the European Courts to the rest of Europe and North America.
Even if only one other person is saved from such extortion, then it will be a satisfying result

Thank you for your response,
Regards
Dan