{"id":31011,"date":"2024-11-22T12:26:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T17:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/?p=1077783"},"modified":"2024-11-22T12:26:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T17:26:18","slug":"hertz-continues-to-be-hertz-threatens-customer-with-arrest-for-using-too-many-of-his-unlimited-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2024\/11\/22\/hertz-continues-to-be-hertz-threatens-customer-with-arrest-for-using-too-many-of-his-unlimited-miles\/","title":{"rendered":"Hertz Continues To Be Hertz, Threatens Customer With Arrest For Using Too Many Of His \u2018Unlimited\u2019 Miles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AirportSomehow, Hertz continues to be an ongoing concern, in both senses of the word. The company that made\u00a0itself infamous<\/a>\u00a0by repeatedly trying to get\u00a0innocent renters arrested<\/a>\u00a0for car theft tried to put all of that behind it with a\u00a0$168 million<\/a>\u00a0class-action lawsuit settlement in 2022.<\/p>\n

The company then pledged to do better going forward. It didn\u2019t say\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0it was going to do this, since it apparently wasn\u2019t going to address underlying issues, like branches\u2019 willingness to\u00a0outsource vehicle retrieval<\/a>\u00a0to law enforcement and the extremely\u00a0sloppy inventory control<\/a>\u00a0procedures that led to employees filing theft reports for vehicles that\u00a0were parked in their parking lots<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Since then, Hertz has found new ways to be awful,\u00a0like charging Tesla renters fees<\/a>\u00a0to refill their returned rentals with\u00a0gasoline<\/em>. Then there\u2019s this incident,\u00a0first reported by travel site One Mile at a Time<\/a>, which details\u00a0the ridiculous interaction one renter<\/a>\u00a0had with the company when a Hertz rep tried to charge him $10,000 for driving \u201ctoo many\u201d miles with his Unlimited Miles rental.<\/p>\n

Long story short, it would appear that someone rented a Hertz car for a month, and the rental allowed unlimited miles. The man drove 25,000 miles on the car over the course of that month, and the agency wasn\u2019t happy about it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Given the number of miles driven, the Hertz representative stated that he would charge the man\u2019s credit card an extra $10,000. As the interaction goes:<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hertz representative: \u201cYou need to leave, sir.\u201d
\nCustomer: \u201cBut you\u2019re going to charge this to $10,000 to my credit?\u201d
\nHertz representative: \u201cYes.\u201d
\nCustomer: \u201cWhen this literally, that\u2019s not even allowed. I never signed\u2026\u201d
\nHertz representative: \u201cYou show me where it says I can\u2019t charge it.\u201d
\nCustomer: \u201cRight here, it literally says I won\u2019t get charged anything, it says miles allowed, free miles, it literally says to refer to this if there\u2019s anything extra. I\u2019ve never signed anything saying I can only go 100 miles a day, or anything like that, or that I would have to pay more.\u201d
\nHertz representative: \u201cBut you also never signed anything saying you were going to be allowed to drive 25,000 miles in a month.\u201d
\nCustomer: \u201cNo, unlimited is 100,000 miles.\u201d
\nHertz representative: \u201cNo it is not.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While 25,000 miles seems like a literally impossible number of miles to drive in 30 days, nothing in the contract stated the \u201cunlimited miles\u201d the customer was entitled to was actually limited in any way.<\/p>\n

What made this worse is that the Hertz rep told the man he was going to ding his credit card for $10,000. Then he told him to leave. Understandably, the renter didn\u2019t leave, because doing so meant he\u2019d soon be out $10,000. When he refused to leave before this was resolved, the rep told him he was going to have him arrested.<\/p>\n

As One Mile at a Time points out, there\u2019s nothing in Hertz Unlimited Miles contracts that puts a limit on miles. Nor is there any clause that allows them to charge customers just because the company (or the rep handling the return) might feel the number of miles driven is excessive. Hertz is free to refuse to rent cars to customers who\u2019ve put \u201ctoo many\u201d (whatever that means) miles on the vehicles they\u2019ve rented, but it can\u2019t pretend the contract says something it doesn\u2019t just because someone has accomplished the astounding feet of racking up four months worth of mileage in a single month.<\/p>\n

Hertz has since issued a statement<\/a>\u00a0about this incident. And, considering the source, it\u2019s a pretty ok apology for an insanely ridiculous incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cCustomer satisfaction is our top priority at Hertz, and we sincerely regret this customer\u2019s experience at one of our franchise locations,\u201d Hertz\u2019s statement reads. \u201cPer the terms of the contract, the customer will not be billed for mileage. Our franchisee is addressing the employee\u2019s conduct and reinforcing our customer service standards and policies to ensure they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Never mind. It\u2019s not even really an apology. It simply says Hertz will not charge someone $10,000 for\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0violating the terms of the rental contract. That there\u2019s some \u201caddressing\u201d going on at the franchisee level means this sort of thing likely won\u2019t happen again at that particular branch, but it\u2019s clear the company needs to do far more than react if it ever hopes to distance itself from the bad press the company and its employees seem to be intent on generating on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

Hertz Continues To Be Hertz, Threatens Customer With Arrest For Using Too Many Of His \u2018Unlimited\u2019 Miles<\/a><\/p>\n

More Law-Related Stories From Techdirt:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sixth Circuit Tosses Evidence After Cop Can\u2019t Find One Credible Reason For Extending A Traffic Stop<\/a>
\nSports Psychologist Continues Bullshit Copyright Suits Over Retweets By School Officials<\/a>
\nNet Neutrality Is Dead As A Doornail Under Trump 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the aggressively-pursuing-worst-customer-service-award dept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":814562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[236,7],"class_list":["post-31011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-contracts","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHertz Continues To Be Hertz, Threatens Customer With Arrest For Using Too Many Of His \u2018Unlimited\u2019 Miles - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2024\/11\/22\/hertz-continues-to-be-hertz-threatens-customer-with-arrest-for-using-too-many-of-his-unlimited-miles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hertz Continues To Be Hertz, Threatens Customer With Arrest For Using Too Many Of His \u2018Unlimited\u2019 Miles - 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