Hertz Rent A Car

Like the reviewer in July, I, too, received notice from Hertz after returning home from my vacation that they had paid a «congest» ticket for a total of £107. The penalty for not paying the £11.50 fee of which I was unaware was £65, plus a Hertz «administration fee» of £42. I had no idea what this was. I wrote to
through my «gold» account. The auto reply I got said messages would be answered in the order in which they were received. One month later, I still had not received a reply (I had forgotten this has happened to me before — I gather now that they simply don’t respond, even if you are a «gold» customer), so I called and was transferred around. I finally got an email address in London, where a young lady did respond. She said the congestion fee is well-​posted. I haven’t received a response to my response yet. I said I rented from Enterprise in Dublin. They gave us a sheet AND explained to us that upon leaving Dublin, we would encounter a toll zone, and gave us instructions on how to pay it. In addition, the motorway has lighted signs over the road showing the fee. From what I now see on the Transport for London web site, the signs are like no parking signs on the side of the road. If you live in London and regularly drive there, that might be a known place to look. Hertz knows full well that many (most?) of its customers do not regularly drive in London, likely are not from there, likely do not know the city well, may well have all their driving experience be on the other side of the road and car, etc. I received no notification from Hertz of this congestion charge, even though the Marble Arch location is either within the zone, or right next to it, so everyone is likely to drive through it. Hertz is making quite a profit charging an administration fee of £42, so perhaps that is why their policy is to not tell customers, like Enterprise does in London, how to pay the charge.

I will personally not be giving this branch or Hertz UK my business again.
Here is a list of my negative experiences:
— The website made booking more difficult than it needed to be. I was able to call and make a reservation online.
— Arrived in the station and waited roughly 25 minutes for the two people who were ahead of me to be checked in.
— I received some aggression from the team that showed us the car when I (female) arrived with two young male friends and was the one who drove the car. I didn’t appreciate this.
— Upon returning the car, the same employee who gave me the keys was rude.
— Three weeks later, we received a notice that we had driven through the Congestion Zone for all of 90 seconds and were charged an additional £107. As this location is on the border of the Congestion Zone, I would have appreciated a member of the Hertz staff tell me what to do if I entered the Congestion Zone or that we were so close. I called the UK customer service line to make this suggestion so that other customers wouldn’t be negatively affected and the representative told me there are pamphlets at the location that I could have picked up if I wanted to learn about the Congestion Zone and that they employees at this location will not tell customers about the zone or possible charges. All of this soured my already sub-​par experience.

They have really made some aesthetic improvements to this place! I wondered why prices had jumped up by 20%!!! Mr Hertz needs to pay for all of those flat panel TVs in the place!
Basically, it is now an Apple Store rip-​off… But they clearly had some non-​Apple ideas because they now have iPhone chargers in the waiting area! I am teasing the concept here a little, but these are all great touches. Really.
Service can still be a little slow, but staff are friendly enough. Just don’t expect U.S. style customer service here — because you will be sorely disappointed.

I had read some poor reviews about this location but it was the only reasonable option I could find where I could pick up a one-​way rental on a Sunday, so I crossed my fingers and went for it. Bottom line is I did end up with a car, but…
They steadfastly did not answer the phone when I tried to call to confirm details of my reservation. So, I had waste time going to the office in person. The reception I received there was pretty lukewarm, to put it kindly, and the clerk could hardly have shown less concern about the fact that their phone rang repeatedly without answer. It was all due to a central system, she helpfully informed me, in a dour, not-​my-​problem manner.
When I came back a few days later to actually rent the car, another clerk went through all manner of gyrations to get me to pre-​buy a full tank of gas — something I had no interest in doing. But he was not going to take no for an answer and eventually offered that I could either buy the full tank or bring it back full and not owe any fuel charges. I agreed, but was not happy about it.
Do yourself a favour and look elsewhere, if you possibly can.