A Letter to Hertz

Dear Hertz:

            My name is Brian Parker.  I recently flew into to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the intention of renting a car from you in order to complete my journey from Boise, Idaho to Madison in order to compete in the 2011 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships.  Despite several attempts through various methods, I was unable to give you any money to rent a car.  I tried really hard.  Your representatives did not.  They were very knowledgeable about the bus that runs to Madison.  It’s almost as if they’ve had to give that information out on more than one occasion.

            I am very displeased with the level of service that I received from your company.  Not only have you lost my business for life, you’ve probably lost most of the Idaho cycling community’s.  As a 21 year old college student about to graduate with a business degree as well as being a frequent traveler due to cycling, I am not a customer you want to lose.  Additionally, I am the only collegiate cyclist competing in Nationals this year and therefore am being watched very closely back home.  I am going to copy this letter to my blog, as well as post my experience at your counter on several social networks so that everybody back home knows what to expect from you.

            When I spend money on anything, whether it be a rental car or a gallon of milk from the grocery store, I expect the company that I am paying to treat me well and do everything in their power to provide me with the service that I want.  That did not happen.  I tried giving them my debit card, which they could not take.  The reason was some sort of vague inability to “authorize” it.  I don’t know what that means.  There were several variations attempted to get the debit card “authorized.”  I called my bank and was told that there was no reason that this should be happening or that there had even been an attempt to get anything done with the card.  I later used said debit card to purchase the bus ticket with no problem.  After that inexplicable debacle, I told them that I could call my mother and put it on her card.  At this point I was told that this could be done but I’d be charged an extra driver’s fee along with the underage driver’s fee.  The fact that your representatives were trying to charge me more because they couldn’t help me just blows my mind.  Every time an attempt to give you money failed, your representatives would respond with something along the lines of “there’s nothing we can do.  The bus is outside.”  I had to offer up solutions such as calling my mother.  Then, to top of this whole magical experience, once I got my mother on the line and they discovered that she was not in Wisconsin, I was told that you can’t take credit cards over the phone.  If my mother was somewhere close enough that she could just swing by and take care of things, why on Earth would I need a rental car so badly?

            Your actions have put an opportunity for me to compete for a National Championship in jeopardy.  I was rather excited to find that you offered a discount to USA Cycling Members, but suddenly 15% off doesn’t seem worth it.  I look forward to seeing how you handle this situation and earn back my business.  Remember, Idaho is watching.

Sincerely,

Brian Parker