You have no clue what you could have possibly done wrong. In fact, you were still on a high from your amazing vacation to Disney World last week, and your children know you are one of the most amazing parents on Earth. At your arraignment, you learn the nightmare was instigated by Hertz Rental Car.
Word got out about Hertz falsely reporting hundreds of customers as stealing vehicles, leading to arrests, felony charges, and jail time for some customers. This resulted in a class-action lawsuit against Hertz. “Specifically, lapses in Hertz’s rental records led to errors which included not properly reflecting rental extensions in the computer systems, not rescinding police reports for cars that had been reported as stolen, and then re-renting those vehicles, and negligently associating stolen cars with the wrong customer(s),” the Hertz stolen vehicles class action said. This act of viciousness resulted in a reported US$168 million settlement with Hertz’ victims.
Hertz kept sloppy records of rental extensions, heartlessly failed to investigate thefts before reporting them, fraudulently reported cars stolen which they did not really know were stolen, viciously reported cars stolen although the company had them in its possession, and even more atrocious behavior, alleged in the ensuing lawsuit. Hertz rented cars that it had concurrently reported as stolen to new customers, so imagine the horror being a victim of Hertz’ evil. One would think Hertz had money to burn, being so insensitive to its customers.
But alas! Hertz is noted for many of its bad decisions.
By the end of April 2020, Hertz was missing lease payments on its fleet. On May 18, Kathryn Marinello stepped down as CEO. Four days later, on May 22, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing US$18 billion in debt. Even before COVID-19, Hertz’s debt load was US$17 billion. Why was Hertz so deep in debt? Why didn’t Hertz pay its bills? The more you refuse to pay your bills, the more money is available for the executives to pinch.
Six months after its bankruptcy, Hertz was so flush it authorized up to US$2 billion in stock buybacks. Senator Elizabeth Warren was furious and scolded Hertz for its greed in rewarding “executives, company insiders, and big shareholders.” So the map looks something like this: 1) victimize customers, 2) don’t pay your bills, and 3) reward executives with huge sums of money.
Timothy Noah wrote in “The New Republic” what it’s like to rent from Hertz. He wrote, “It was like stepping into a soup kitchen for the homeless: short-staffed, shabby decor, long lines, unhappy customers. A clerk told me to fetch my car from a separate office a couple of miles away (‘Take an Uber’); the industrial-looking building I was sent to didn’t have any kind of sign indicating whom I was doing business with. The sole attendant on the premises said it didn’t matter that I’d booked a reservation. There were no cars.”
Here in Honolulu, customers report mistreatment from Hertz:
Bridget D. from Philadelphia, PA, wrote on Yelp: “Holy Hell, where do I start… I had to reschedule my boat [excursion] because these jabronis don’t give a rat’s a$s about their customers. They had ZERO urgency.”
Jason K. from Burleson, TX, wrote on Yelp: ” Oh my, I’d thought horrid car rentals were a thing of the past but no, Hertz @ the Hyatt Regency Waikiki puts the “A” in Awful. A reservation means very little, over 1.25 hours in line for my 11:00 am reservation. Unreal. I’m using Turo next time, because Hertz Waikiki YOU ARE AWFUL!”
Raymond G. from Ontario, Canada, wrote on Yelp: “No wonder it’s named Hertz…it hurts to rent a car from here. … CS [Customer Service] number is a joke, can’t get anyone one. The POS people can’t help you. Better off using Uber or walking. You blow chunks, Hertz!”
Kit W. from San Jose, CA, wrote on Yelp: “F-&king worst place to rent! They will lie to you! They don’t have a drop off here! You have to drop off at the airport or another location – which they will charge you $150! Tony is a little Bit*k a$s liar!”
I have no reason to disbelieve their experiences. When I rented from Hertz at Kona Airport last March 6, 2023, I waited almost an hour for the pickup shuttle. After calling several times to send the shuttle, I arrived at the off-airport facility and immediately went to the Hertz President’s Club lane to pick up my rental K4151708893. The only person working at the counter, a mean shrew named Britt, refused to honor my Hertz President’s Club status. I had to wait an hour before she processed my rental. She took all the people in the non-status line before me, even those who arrived after I did. When I saw Britt taking customers who arrived after me, I called Customer Service on my cell phone to report her behavior. She gave me dirty looks for making the phone call and told me to talk to her manager if I had any complaints. There was no manager to be seen, despite the huge line. I wound up arriving at my meeting so late it was already finished.
Paul Stone, President and Chief Operating Officer, “departed ways” with Hertz a few weeks ago. His annual pay was US$6,038,831. Stephen M. Scherr, his boss, Chair and CEO, receives an annual pay of US$182,136,137. These figures come from Salary.com. It appears Senator Elizabeth Warren was right on track when she scolded Hertz. What are these managers doing to earn such enormous salaries? Watch customers get scammed and falsely arrested? Watch Hertz as it doesn’t pay its bills? Turn a deaf ear to customers who pay their salaries? I’m not certain, because Stephen M. Scherr did not reply after I attempted to contact him.
Almost 2 years ago, I was in my wheelchair on a public bus headed toward Kapiolani Park in Waikiki, Hawaii. When the bus turned the corner at Hilton Hawaiian Village, a vehicle owned by Hertz caused a collision. I was thrown forward in my wheelchair and was injured. I went to the ER and had follow up medical care. The authorities determined Hertz was at fault, and Hertz admitted fault. Like past behavior, indicated by their US$18 billion debts, Hertz won’t pay my medical bills from 2 years ago. They simply have the attitude that they can scam my medical providers, like they scammed innocents after making false police reports of allegedly stolen cars. Not only has Hertz not paid my medical bills, it feels entitled to scam the providers by paying the Medicare negotiated rate, when that’s Medicare’s discount, not Hertz’ discount. It’s like trying to scam a company for a military discount when one was never in the military.
Hertz assigned my claim, 1M01M012238753, to ESIS claim adjuster Alicia Dickerson, who indicated she was in charge November 22, 2022. That was over a year ago. In the meanwhile, she has mostly ghosted me for the past year. The accident was in February 2022. There is no sense of urgency, as others have stated. It would be her proud achievement to drag this out past the statute of limitations so I personally have to pay the medical bills Hertz caused. She sat back and watched Medicare pay the bills without stepping in and immediately reimbursing Medicare, nor paying the medical providers directly. As all Medicare patients know, Medicare pays 80 percent of the doctor bills, and a Medicare Supplement plan pays the other 20%. Alicia Dickerson claims she doesn’t know how to pay Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Supplement, so she just ignores paying any of the bills whatsoever. That’s not ignorance, that’s a behavior.
Blake Gober, a 33-year-old Marine veteran, is among a group of Hertz customers who have faced criminal charges following accusations of theft from the rental car company. “Charging an innocent person and trying to go after an innocent person, that’s not justice. That’s the opposite of justice,” Gober said. How many disabled people has Hertz unjustly scammed by not paying medical bills after Hertz was found at fault in a collision? Is it class-action time again? Do the authorities have to arrest Hertz management for sitting back and watching this injustice go on? To do it once is a shame. To repeat this outrageous behavior is unforgivable.
