And last but not least, Hertz.
Mother of God.
I am going to be in San Jose for a few days in August.
Like the good fat old lady that I am, I made all my reservations well in advance.
I originally made my Hertz reservation to pick up the car the day after I got to San Jose, and drop off the car the day before I was flying out. I figured I could take the hotel shuttle to and from the airport to pick up the car, and take the hotel shuttle back after I dropped it off.
However, because of plans I am making, it became clear that I needed to pick up the car the day I flew in, and drop it off the morning I was leaving.
First I tried to do this online.
Hertz’s website was, to say the least, uncooperative.
In fact, it would not even recognize that I had an upcoming reservation to change.
Okay. So I call.
And I get a lovely young lady on the phone, and I tell her what I want to do.
She tells me that changes to a reservation can impact the cost.
I said, I expected as much.
Then she tells me that the new cost was more than double the original reservation.
WTF?
Just how fucking stupid does she think I am?
I ask her how my having the car not even a full day extra more than double the original reservation cost?
She just repeats the thing about the changes can impact the cost.
I said fine, what is the cancellation fee?
She tells me it’s $100.
I said, so if I cancel, and take my business elsewhere, I’m still saving a ton of money.
Then she puts me on hold and comes back and tells me Hertz will waive the cancellation fee.
I guess that’ll show me?
I say, “Terrific I’m cancelling and I’ll take me and my money elsewhere.”
And I did.
The new rental will cost me about $100 more than my old one (which is what I expected the increase to be with my changes).
Oh, and I also ran a new reservation through Hertz and a new reservation was still $100 less than what she was quoting me for the changed reservation!
For the life of me, I cannot understand how Hertz thought anyone would be willing to accept that kind of increase in cost.
Is their clientele just that bad at math?
At least she didn’t tell me to smile.
Thoughts from a Fat Old Lady 
I don’t mean to laugh at your well-earned indignation, but LAUGH? WhoTF is that little twerp
at AMEX? As for the Hertz girl, when I traveled a lot on business I learned that the only thing
dumber than a dumb blonde weather girl is the gal at the Hertz counter. They may put you in
the driver’s seat but oh, what a pain in that seat they give you! LOVE how you dealt with the
Hertz person – well done, you.
(I know you’re a blonde – you must have heard the jokes – it’s just that certain categories of
blonde really DO seem dumb).
Actually, I’m not a blonde. My natural hair was “moonlit brown” (according to the Clairol box); and most of my life I dyed it red. I started using platinum dye when my hair went mostly white. Now it just is white! You are allowed to laugh at my pain – eventually I do. When I had my gall bladder out, the lady in the bed next to me got up and sat in my visitor’s chair, on top of my white fluffy robe, and took a shit! The nurses came in and kept telling her it was okay, she was just confused – and I’m (not quite yelling, but close) saying, TIE HER DOWN. The next day I’m taking my lap around the floor (with my IV stand – and no robe, and my favorite nurse says, “I hear someone’s grumpy today.” I stomped over to her and said, “I know someday I’ll laugh about this. BUT NOT TODAY.”
We’re going through this same type of asinine scenario renewing our daughters studio apartment lease. 🙄 It would be $100/month cheaper to move her into the exact same apartment sq footage etc within the same complex that is open instead of staying in her current apt. It makes no sense. And we are dealing with a young woman on the phone who just responds that “her rent is only being raised $100/month.” No common sense, no business sense, no customer service.
Been there, sort of. I wanted to move from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom apartment in the same building. The landlord told me, no, we don’t like to do that. I told them, “So, you’re willing to lose a nice, quiet tenant, who always pays her rent on time, and who would now being paying you even more money (on time), just because you ‘don’t like it’?” They let me move to the 2 bedroom.
Must have been a performance still with a wig.
AND HERE’S ANOTHER ONE FOR YOU: Got a letter today from my supplemental insurance. They pay for car service to/from doc’s appointments – thought I’d try it. TWICE the
cars (from LYFT) failed to show. Insurance co says “we looked into your allegation and found
that LYFT says their car arrived at your house and couldn’t find you”. Can we say “lies like a
rug”? It’s the new normal: big biz will ALWAYS side with its vendor rather than its customer.
Arrrggghhhh
Next time Uber.
OMG. That is ridiculous. Why would you lie about them not showing? That makes no sense. And why would the insurance company want to align itself with a vendor who lies and charges for services not provided?
I think some of these companies are so gun shy about customers trying to scam them that they automatically assume EVERY customer is shady. My favorite part of this was getting a text from one of the drivers saying “call me at this number” & when I called there was
no answer. The world shows us new wonders every day…..(sigh).
And then they want to know why we’re so cranky!