It’s been a bit of a hellish few months for the car hire industry, with some of the biggest brands under fire following various announcements. From Which? reports divulging how car hire brands are overcharging hirers, to investigations into how car hire businesses are arranging repair jobs; eyes are well and truly on the car hire market.
Just this week, car rental brand, Hertz, became the latest to be put under the spotlight. This follows a customer complaint going viral. According to the disgruntled hirer, they were charged £375 for returning their hire car to the wrong Hertz depot; one that was just a 10-minute drive from the one they were supposed to return the car to.
The holidaymakers dropped the car back to Geneva Airport after their skiing trip. But, there are two Hertz depots at the airport; one at the French side of the Airport and the other at the Swiss side. As a genuine mistake; do you think £375 is a bit steep? Many social media users suggest so!
The customers stung by Hertz wished not to be named. Speaking to the newspaper, The Sun, they said.
“We were going into France so hired on the French side.”
“We were given a really poor map to get back. We drove around for ages and soon started to worry we were going to miss the flight so dropped it off at the Swiss car rental place.”
“The staff member was unable to tell me how much we would be charged.”
However, when they got home, they received a letter with the fine enclosed.
Like most modern-day spats, the complaint unfolded on Twitter. Utterly frustrated by the charge they were slapped with, the customer wrote:
“@Hertz … you just took me 300chf because I gave back the #car in #Geneva (Swiss) instead of Geneva (French side ) which are 10min … without noticing me and because I was late… you just steal money from your clients .. never ever will #rentacar with #hertz! #boycott”.
Requesting the social community to ‘boycott’, Hertz had no choice but to reply.
A spokesperson for the firm said:
“We understand that the Hertz French and Swiss branches are in close proximity to each other at Geneva Airport, yet they are different operational set ups.
“We do everything possible to ensure our customers find their return car hire location at the airport.”
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