Hertz has once again apologized for attempting to overcharge a customer.
Following incidents where the rental company mistakenly charged drivers of electric vehicles for fuel, it now finds itself in hot water for trying to impose a $10,000 mileage fee on a customer who booked an unlimited-mileage rental and returned the car after racking up an astonishing 25,000 miles.
The intense exchange between the customer, whose full name has not been disclosed, and a Hertz employee at an unspecified location was captured on video and shared on social media.
The clip, highlighted by travel site One Mile at a Time, begins with a dispute over the interpretation of the word “unlimited.”
The customer insists, as most dictionaries would, that “unlimited” means “not restricted,” arguing that there should be no cap on the miles driven with the rental.
The Hertz representative counters, stating that the customer “never signed anything saying we allowed you to drive 25,000 miles.”
The sheer scale of the mileage raises some interesting questions—how exactly does one manage to drive 25,000 miles in just one month?
Even driving 70 mph for 10 hours every single day would take nearly 36 days to achieve that distance! However, the representative appears uninterested in the logistics.
Instead, the interaction escalates dramatically, with the employee eventually raising his voice and presenting the customer with two stark choices: accept the charge and leave the office or face arrest.
Arrest? For disputing a surcharge? While the specifics of the contract remain unclear, it seems the customer ultimately prevailed and will not be charged the $10,000 fee, as indicated in a statement Hertz provided to *The Drive*.
“Customer satisfaction is our top priority at Hertz, and we sincerely regret this customer’s experience at one of our franchise locations,” the company’s statement reads.
“Per the terms of the contract, the customer will not be billed for mileage. Our franchisee is addressing the employee’s conduct and reinforcing our customer service standards and policies to ensure they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”
Let’s hope this incident serves to clarify the definition of “unlimited” for all Hertz franchises moving forward.
