We use Hertz almost exclusively for car rentals these days – I think it’s because they’re a premier partner with American Express (which is our preferred plastic). Ponzi and I happen to travel a lot, so we rent cars from Hertz often. We always opt for a GPS-strapped vehicle, too. In the past few weeks, I’ve experienced a few customer service snags with the car rental company:

1. When we were in Texas for my brother’s wedding, the Neverlost GPS directed us to the closest airport – which just so happened to be the wrong one. While I’d rather have a nav system than go without, the Neverlost is a usability nightmare compared to more elegant systems that ship standard in, say, the Acura TSX.
2. Ponzi had to call Hertz to discuss a discrepancy, and the rep told her that she was privvy to a better car at a lower cost – even though the Web site she registered through didn’t bother to say so. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
3. Through our business account, I reserved a Hertz car through the Web last week. The online form wanted to change the reservation name from mine to hers, and I had to re-edit the form before submitting it. When I arrived at SJC as a #1 Gold Club Member, they wouldn’t let me leave the lot because I wasn’t “Latthanapon Indharasophang.” When I walked up to the counter, the agent was accusing me of not using the Web form properly – and that it was my fault. I’m a “#1 Gold Club” member, which apparently means I get treated like shit quicker than non-members.
4. I can’t add my name to our account, and it doesn’t look like we can change Ponzi’s name in there without divine intervention. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
5. Ponzi jockeyed her car behind mine before leaving to Los Angeles last week, and I can’t move it because I don’t have her alarm fob. I called Hertz to arrange a local rental, and the operator asserted that they’d reimburse my cab fare to the office. When I called the downtown location, the local clerk told me to wait a few hours (again, I ask the value of being in the “#1 Gold Club”). I arrived, paid $15 for the fare, and waited in line. The guy was only able to reimburse only $8 (but made it $10 because he was “feeling like being nice”).

If Hertz was blogging, I’d send ‘em a trackback.

Hertz Car Rental Problems

A few days ago, I told the Lockergnome clan that I was panelizing for SIPA’s ‘Blogging and Beyond’ session. In doing so, I got to meet folks like Anshu Sharma, Pradeep Sethi, Joe Suh, Gaurav Agarwal, Aditya Kothadiya, Ramit Sethi… as well as Rajesh Setty (who recently launched Suggestica). The event was pretty casual, which was much appreciated.

Experto crede, The Guy was amazing, too. Yes, I met THE Guy Kawasaki. He’s “genius level” a capite ad calcem, so my antics only served to bolster his ductus exemplo. My responses were more in the audere est facere flavor, while Guy remained fully compos mentis – waxing ex animo frequently. Even so, we moved discussion forward pari passu – remembering nemo nisi per amicitiam cognoscitur, nosce te ipsum. Odi et amo blogging – with opera omnia in the Web archives. And to all the would-be future bloggers out there, I give to you a single phrase: illegitimi non carborundum. Orta recens quam pura nites! If you have no idea why I’m scribbling in Latin, dictum sapienti sat est.

Latin Planto Vos Vultus Sapiens