December 2017 by Shelley Griffin
My car was rear-ended by a family friend, so I brought my car to Randall Reed Planet Ford for repairs. State Farm had arranged for me to receive a Hertz rental while my car is being fixed. Hertz in Humble arranged for me to be picked up today at 8:00am at the Planet Ford Body Shop. They told me to just call them when I was on my way and they would "send a driver to come pick me up."
This morning I got up at 7:30am and called Hertz in Humble, TX. No one picked up. I called again at 7:40am,7:45, 7:55, 8:06, 8:10, 8:27, still no one picked up the phone. Finally at 9:01 I got a person and nicely informed them that I had been calling and the phone was ringing, but would end with a Verizon Wireless message that basically said the wireless customer was unavailable and I could not leave a message. She apologized and said to call back when I checked the car into the shop and she would "arrange a driver."
So, I took the car to the body shop, checked my car in, and called Hertz. No one picked up. I called again, and the phone was answered by the same Hertz employee. I told her I was ready to be picked up and she said a driver would pick me up in 9 minuets.
Unknown to me, Hertz uses Lyft to pick clients up, and they arrange it themselves. I am not ok with being picked up by a Lyft driver. But that is besides the point. I had no other choice. Over an hour and a half of my day had been wasted already and I had a Final Exam at 10:00am. I needed my rental and I needed to get to class.
The first Lyft driver called me after 15 minutes of me waiting at the body shop. First driver said she was waiting for me at a hotel five miles away. I told her I wasn't at the hotel and I gave her the correct address. 30 minutes later I called her back and she did not pick up, so I called Hertz back, and they apologized again and arranged another driver. I told the Hertz employee that I was in a hurry because I had a final exam at 10 and only had a few minutes to get there. She assured me the next driver would be there to pick me up in five minutes.
The second driver took 10 minutes and then called me. This driver did not speak English at all, but it was apparent he was not there to pick me up, and did not understand that I was trying to give him specific information as to where I was. That driver cancelled on me and Lyft automatically tried to send me another driver.
I called Hertz again, over the past hour no one has picked up the phone. I called state farm at 10:30 and asked them to cancel my reservation with Hertz and get me a new reservation with someone else. I took my car up to the school and begged my professor to let me take the exam.
Enterprise has already called me and arranged for a car at 11:00am. I checked on Hertz's website to leave a complaint. They have no way to file a formal complaint. They want you to call customer service. I really don't have any more time to waste this week because it is final's week and I am a single parent of two kids trying to get my degree, so I am probably not going to call customer service just to be put on hold for hours or the branch in Humble because they never pick up the phone.
So far Hertz has given my phone number to 4 Lyft drivers without my permission. I do not want non-employee-strangers having my cell phone number. My advice to Hertz: hire people to answer the phone, and get in-house drivers. I will never use Hertz again. Enterprise took care of everything within 15 minutes.
My advice to anyone thinking of using this branch of Hertz: if you don't mind really poor customer service and having your personal information given to a bunch of out-of state strangers (every phone number to the Lyft drivers was out of state: Ohio, Alabama, Maryland, and Iowa) then go ahead and use them. If not go with enterprise. There is an Enterprise inside of the Planet Ford Body Shop.
