OK, here's my Hertz story. Sister came for a visit. She was going to need a car for part of her stay, so she checked Hertz online and got the rate.Didn't book it at that time though.
When I took her to pick up the car, the rate they gave her at the counter was almost $200 more for the same time period. She informed them of this and was told that that was the "online" price. Rather than just adjust it, they had us drive back home, get on my computer, book it online, and return to the office. Not THAT big of deal,
but just thought it crazy.

1-anecdotal stories mean next to nothing when it comes to trying to assess the overall character of a company which has millions of clients.

2-JD Power and Conde Nast rank customer satisfaction in the car rental industry. Every year CN has done their readers' poll survey (10 years total), Hertz has been rated highest of all domestic agencies. Every JDP poll I've seen has also rated Hertz highest, except for one tie with Avis.

3-obviously providing best possible customer service wasn't a priority for the employees the OP dealt with. Hertz deserves to be called out on that one.

I agree TedTurner!
Robespierre, if you were traveling on corporate business, please contact your travel agency to handle your complaint.
As a corporate travel professional (CCTE) I would expect employees to utilize the agency for such disputes... that is part of the service they provide.
Not only that, if you work for a mid to large company, it is likely that your company has a Hertz sales representative that could resolve the issue... again, via your agency or corporate travel manager.

Polls such as that in Conde Nast mentioned by TedTurner don't impress me much. First, you have to realize who the readers of Conde Nast are and whom they are more likely to use for car rentals. The vast majority are bigger spenders and corporate travelers and a huge percentage of them use Hertz, so obviously the feedback about Hertz is high and favorable. I wonder how many of their readers even know who Dollar and Thrifty are?

Similarly each year they do articles on some of the top resorts and hotels in the world and guess what? The following year those same resorts are named by their readers' polls as "the best". Maybe that's because their faithful readers went to those places primarily because they saw them in that magazine to begin with? But I digress.

Maybe I missed something here, but I didn't see where Robespierre was saying this trip was part of some big corporate business trip. In fact, my initial impression was that he may even be a "self-employed" or independant consultant. He may just be a "little guy" and therein lies his problem.

What is sad is that some of you seem to be saying unless you have a big company to back you up, don't count on satisfaction with Hertz. You need to rely on your corporate travel agency or sales representative. The little guy doesn't stand a chance unless he is part of a major renter from Hertz.

As I mentioned before as an independent traveler, I gave up on Hertz long ago, but if I worked for a large corporation I'd probably be renting from them, because that's the only way to get a decent price from them, and now according to some of you, probably the only way you can get customer satisfaction as well.

In all my years as an agent and a corporate travel professional, I have never had a complaint regarding Hertz.
Come to think of it, car complaints are very low overall. Hotels drive most complaints.
We currently use National and I really like the business model... you select your own car. But I have had a few service issues with them that are local employee related. The next location I rent from usually makes up for the jerk at the last one.
Anyhoo... if Robespierre was consulting FOR a big company, he could try their agency if they booked it.
It's only obvious that someone who represents major spend would get more attention. That's just how it is... doesn't make it right.

Patrick, as I pointed out above, travellers most likely to be Hertz fans are those on business trips (with corporate budgets). Hertz does NOT compete for leisure travel business because the margins are smaller...except on weekends and in slow business periods.
As such, people who are surprised by Hertz's prices, which are often higher, need only look at the reason why.
Also, JD Power is a totally unbiased canvassing resource. Interesting that both sources, using very different methodologies, arrive at the same conclusion year after year.
As for the methodology used in the Conde Nast hotel surveys, these are completely subjective 'popularity contests'. But if you like to find the best available info to assist in designing your travel plans, it's arguably the best info out there if you're looking at the luxury travel segment. It's far more useful than the AAA and Mobil ratings. Much better than Zagat. More complete than T&L's.
But when it comes to rating restaurants and city destinations and such, it is virtually impossible to reduce such subjective articles to an objective format.

Yes, Ted, exactly. That's exactly what I'm saying. Hertz doesn't go after (or care) about the individual traveler which is the point here.
And yes, JDPower is also primarily a "big business" surveyor -- not into canvassing the typical single mom or retired couple, but rather what is good in the "corporate" world. I didn't mean to imply there's anything wrong with all that, since there is more interest and more money to be made from big corporate accounts so naturally that is the thrust of such magazines and polls -- just that such things as you've brought up simply reinforce the idea that sometimes the "little" man doesn't stand a chance when it comes to customer service.

Using the US Airways discount number (157348), I often get as good a price with Hertz as with any other company on weekly rentals and weekend rentals. I think they are only higher for weekday rentals.

Also, I notice that Dollar, in many cities, has a "vehicle license fee" that is about $30 more than other car companies add.

Three times in the past year, however, when returning a Hertz car, the agent at the car has punched in "6/8" tank of gas for my car instead of "8/8" tank of gas. I am beginning to think that this is a scam that they hope you won't notice.

"sometimes the "little" man doesn't stand a chance when it comes to customer service".
Ain't that the truth?!

We too had a nightmare with Hertz in France and would never consider doing business with them again. We were fortunate that AMEX did compensate us for the extra costs, but Hertz failed to honor their contract.

Just to give 'credit' where it is due, Ford Motor Company is the owner and operator of Hertz.

In response to Tracy, even with teh surcharge, I have found that Dollar offers me a better car for less than most other companies about 95% of the time. I have also never experienced any customer service issues or any tacking on of charges that I was not aware of prior to agreeing to the rental.

Since I do not travel for business, Hertz usually has the most price for a lesser car (ie Dollar has a cheaper rate for an immediate or mid size level car and Hertz is more expensive than that on their compact level).

LAst year in Italy, I returned my car to Hertz with some minor damage to parking light. I was asked about the damage and told the person that the car already had the damage when I received the car.

End of discussion..and no additional charges were added to my bill.

I rarely rent from Hertz and have had 2 problems:

Once, on leisure travel, had a Corolla on which the gas gauge would not go completely to "Full". It was about a mm off. I thought the last person just didn't completely fill it and rather than get them an extra inflated charge by complaining, I'd just add the extra drop of gas when I fill it. I should have refused the car to begin with. Filled it up across the street before returning it and was charged for a 7/8 full tank. Got the charge removed but a big hassle. Lesson learned, if it's not past the Full line don't take it.

Travelling on business, flew into Geneva, rented a car to take to France. The car was contracted for crossing European borders and such. Broke down in France,called 1-800-GO-HERTZ or whatever, Hertz France came to pick it up but couldn't replace it, said "go talk to Hertz Switzerland". Hertz Switzerland said, "Why did Hertz France take our car?" It took 2 days of negotiation between my company and Hertz to get them to send a stretch limo to my hotel in France to drive me to Geneva to get another car. 2 months later we dumped Hertz as our rental company and switched to Avis. We have about 20k employees worldwide with several hundred renting cars on any given day, so I'm sure my issue was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Avis has been great so far IMHO but they tend to be expensive for leisure travel.

Dick -

If you don't do a walk-around inspection, noting any existing damage on the contract before you sign it, anything can happen.

I definitely think you dodged a bullet that time.

For the past 15 years have always used Dollar. (Used Alamo before that, but their customer service wasn't very good so I switched.) Dollar usually gives good price & value. But this year when in Maryland, Hertz gave me a very good price, plus AAA discount. When I called the national Hertz reservation they gave me the internet rate. Also found a AAA coupon that covered a tank of gas - bring the car back with an empty tank & don't pay extra. But the kicker now was that we wanted 2 drivers. Dollar had a per day charge for 2nd driver. Hertz agent said they waive that charge for AAA customers. So I book it. Arrive at the Herts counter at DCA & insisted I had to pay for 2nd driver. That was the way it was. I even spoke to the manager on duty, & it was right on my reservation in the computer. Still said they don't do that. Finally when I threatened to walk away & go to another company they said, let us check something & they started pulling up all these screens & finally said I am a AAA member & I don't have to pay the charges, which is what I said all along. Think I will be going back to Dollar next time.

Robespierre,

You are probably right..I usuall do a walk around.

I think the fact that I have Hertz Gold may have been of benefit.

Bill if you become a Dollar member (which is free) you do not have to pay for the additional driver.

I have never, ever found that Hertz's price was the lowest or even one of the lowest, regardless of whether I was comparing website on-line prices or comparative suppliers like Orbitz, Expedia, or Travelocity. Hertz seems pretty clearly focused on business travelers or high-end loyal personal travelers, who either don't have to pay for it themselves (or get corporate/gov't discounts)or who are under the impression that they are getting better and more reliable service with Hertz. I've never been convinced that that impression is accurate. Have had bad experiences with Dollar and Alamo but on balance find them often the best value and sometimes reasonable service. National has been (at least until sort-of-merger with Dollar) more reliable or service-oriented but not always the most economical.

Bottom line: I make my choice based on price and who's in the terminal (rather in Upper Geewhiz), and am dogged about checking for damage, verifying the fine print, resisting high-pressure on extra charges for no good reason.

Beachdreams, from personal experience, it is NOT true that if you are a Dollar Fastlane member you don't have to pay for additional driver. On our Florida rentals, we always do have to pay. In California we didn't. It seems to depend on where your pick up is.