The car rental company, Hertz is the talk of the town today, for all the wrong reasons. Hertz invited the critical eye on itself after a customer shared her exasperating and exhausting experience trying to rent a car. Kate Klonick’s detailed letter to Hertz was shared on Twitter and Twitterati isn’t happy with the way Klonick was treated. Sure enough, responses have been piling up on Twitter with users calling out the car-rental company for its rather disorganized and disorderly customer service. Are you in need of an example of how customer service shouldn’t be? Then Voila! Take notes from Hertz.
Customer Service or Customer Disservice?
What is the role and responsibility of the customer service department? Help the customers, ease up the troubles, be on spot with solutions. Sounds simple enough if the required effort is put into it. However, it seems like Hertz brilliantly failed to live up to the expected standards. Klonick’s five-page long letter to Hertz recounting her bitter experience with the company attests to this fact. Take a look at the letter Klonick shared so that you get a better picture of the situation.
I had a Very Bad experience with @Hertz over Thanksgiving.
This is what happened & the letter I wrote. We are totally fine, & our Thanksgiving ended up wonderful, but I suspect this is a fraudulent business practice, & I want to give it visibility for those who don't or can't. pic.twitter.com/cr9haMSeXd
— Kate Klonick (@Klonick) November 30, 2021
As you can see in the letter, Kate Klonick is a “Gold” member despite which she had to live through the rather nightmarish experience. Her contract for $415 was not honoured by the company which put her through a series of haphazard customer service calls, half of which were disconnected or unanswered. Since the company couldn’t honour the original contract, Kate was forced to “reserve” another vehicle for a whopping $1800. Long story short, hours and hours of waiting and a series of futile calls later, the customer in question had to pay way more than what she agreed to. And let’s not forget the fact that they had a deal that was already formalized. Even after having a contract, when the customer service who is supposed to help you says, “our hands are tied,” what are we supposed to do? And the best part of this already anger-inducing story is the fact that her grievance was addressed and the amount reimbursed just after the letter began to gain attention on Twitter. Now, that is some notable accountability! And here is a snippet from Klonick’s tweet that is the cherry on top of the cake.
Honestly did not write this up and post this letter for myself. I really did it because this was not just poor customer service or bad logistics.
It was extortion.
They had the cars, they wanted me to pay more for them. They said that to me at least 6 times.
— Kate Klonick (@Klonick) November 30, 2021
Talk about timely responses!
Dear Donna-Bot,
Thank you but I did this the day all this was happening and got no reply! I just submitted this letter into the Black Box of your Customer Support Complaint Form it took me 17 minutes to find on your webpage!
Happy December,
Kate— Kate Klonick (@Klonick) November 30, 2021
Reactions and Responses on Twitter
As soon as the letter was posted on Twitter, reactions and responses began pouring in. Twitter town was clearly not pleased with the disagreeable way in which Klonick was treated. Let us flip through a few reactions and responses.
https://twitter.com/garrett_brinton/status/1465886996711329797?s=20
https://twitter.com/alessandi1/status/1465885355849261057?s=20
I booked a car with Hertz once from abroad. When I arrived to Denver they told me I needed an international driver's license to take the car. BUT they'd let me book again with my American driver's license, of course at a higher rate.
— DEI Side (@Sir_mute_a_hoe) December 1, 2021
Can’t wait to see how they explain themselves. They also have QUITE the racket going re toll fees. After waiting in a nightmare line last summer, didn’t read the fine print allowing them to charge me $15 “admin fee” per toll charge. $120 later I learned the hard way.
— Amanda (@MrsFrufra) November 30, 2021
Had a slightly different bad experience with Hertz the week before Thanksgiving. My brother reserved a car with Hertz through his Chase travel rewards. Which had been confirmed through Chase. On the morning of our flight, my brother looked for his Hertz reservation /1
— CatKo (@Snoozerpaws) December 1, 2021
If Hertz charged $1800, and you are only seeking $750, they still made money by not honoring your contract. Why not demand disgorgment of the extra profit?
— Peter Petrou (@PetePetrou5) November 30, 2021
It's the last consumer facing industy in the 1st world ripe for disruption. Everyone hates them. It always feels like a scam. You have zero recourse. Contracts need to be honoured at quoted price. Why do we continue to accept these deplorable business practices?
— Rowehibition (@listentotherowe) November 30, 2021
