Hertz reverts to their gouging ways

Posted by Seth on December 17, 2008 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

Hertz made a very big deal over the summer of their new, customer-friendly refueling policy.  The concept was reasonable: no more gouging on the per gallon price, with just a bit of gouging on the service fee.  Now that fuel prices are back to a somewhat reasonable level, however, Hertz has decided to drop the marketing efforts and go back to gouging on fuel prices.

The announcement came with no fanfare and the webpage for it doesn’t even have the Hertz logo on the page.  They are clearly trying to downplay this, and for good reason.  As bad as the “pump price” policy was, it was still way better than the traditional gouging they offer.

Hertz has reverted to our prior refueling options, effective December 1, 2008. This means the Flat Refueling Fee, and Fuel and Service Charges based on local pump prices, have been discontinued. All North American corporate-owned Hertz locations, including Airport, Hertz Local Edition® and Off-Airport locations in Canada are affected.

Hertz has three refueling options available to meet your needs:

• You may purchase a tank of gas from Hertz at time of rental and return the vehicle with as little gas as you prefer. Please be aware that we are unable to issue a refund for unused fuel. However, this method eliminates the need for you to refuel the tank prior to returning.
• You can let us refuel for you and only pay for the fuel required to replace the fuel you used, and for the service and convenience of refueling the tank.
• You can stop and refuel the tank yourself, immediately prior to returning the vehicle.

We apologize for any inconveniences this change may cause. No matter which Hertz refueling option you decide is best for your travels, we are glad you are choosing Hertz.

The worst part of it all is that they changed the program effective December 1 and didn’t bother to tell anyone for a couple weeks.  Morons.

Buying elite status

Posted by Seth on September 29, 2008 under Uncategorized | 2 Comments to Read

Part of the fun in the ridiculous trips I plan is the hunt for elite status with the various programs I participate in.  So when the programs offer to just sell the status outright it seems to take away some of the fun.  But what I really cannot figure out is how I got the two offers that I did in the past month.

The first offer is from Hertz.  The email talks about my “President’s Circle Upgrade” as if it is something that I was supposed to already know about and be a part of.  It highlights some of the benefits and then, at the very end, reminds me that the offer is about to expire and that I need to pay the $450 now to claim it.  $450.  Are you kidding me?  For a guaranteed one-car upgrade (which I rarely want) and a 25% points bonus on rentals.  I have only used Hertz for a car rental once in the past year, so I cannot figure out why they think I’d pay for this, but I keep getting “reminder” emails about it.

The second offer I received is from US Air.  This offer is for a 90-day US Air Club membership and either Silver, Gold or Platinum status for 90 days.  Apparently I can actually buy the Club member ship ($120 for 90 days) or the status ($215/$430/$645 for 90 days, depending on the level) separately, even though the email doesn’t mention that.  Of course, I have no idea why anyone would willingly fly US Air, certainly not enough to be elite with them. 

Suffice it to say that I am not going to pursue either of these offers.  That being said, it is interesting to see the various companies trying to raise money through offers such as this.  I wonder if they are actually successful.