It takes forever to get my car. Only one employee is working in here. Very terrible experience

This establishment has poor selection of cars. What I reserved was not available. They gave me the only option of a mini van, which was not appropriate for my rental purpose. When I said I did not want that, all of a sudden a suv, which was what I originally reserved was available but needed to be cleaned and I waited almost an hour for that to happen. Unacceptable customer service. I do not recommend this rental location. read more

If zero stars were possible that would be the rating. I tend to look for silver linings- the one I found here was that I finally got to leave their offices - after multiple delays. My auto mechanic rented me a car from this office - despite a conversation with the agent at the rental car desk desk - and a request for a two-day rental - they ran four days of charges on my card plus a deposit - uh, no, I am not paying for the rental. And they did not tell me nor did I authorize the four day of rental nor the deposit (I know holds are normal - but they also have to let the consumer know they are putting a hold on the card and the terms of the transaction) - when I raised the issue the agent literally said "my bad, I was distracted and didn't explain the terms to you because I wasn't paying attention" and he and the manager acknowledged the transaction was not done legally. Neither cared. Other things of note - the car wasn't ready when they said it would be - and so I waited, and waited, and waited- and then waited some more. They had other cars but didn't want to give me one on the lot that was larger "because we are waiting to give you the smallest car possible since you are getting the shop deal". The office was filthy dirt, leaves, etc - and I am not a neatnik by any stretch of the imagination - but given the amount of time I spent there it was pretty gross. Perhaps the single worst customer service I have ever had in Berkeley and that is saying a lot!! read more

My car was hit and I went to Hertz in Albany for a rental. The staff was very helpful and set me up in a nice car. I had to keep the car for a week longer than I had anticipated and Jason(the manager) worked with me and I was very pleased! If you need a rental car I recommend Hertz in Albany. I will definitely go back again if I need a car!! read more

I've been a loyal customer to hertz for the past 10 years and they always have been good to me. Especially the old staff in this location. 1061 San Pablo ave Berkeley/ Albany location. With that said I was in a terrible car accident and I needed a rental car to take my family and kids to school and work. Upon arrival I was helped by Carnetta Arnold she was super nice!! but it seems like she accidentally forgot to inform me that the car she "TOLD" me to "TAKE" had additional fees that I was "NEVER" informed about. I understand I should of read the small print on the rental agreement before I signed but she was so nice that I didn't see any harm on simply signing. After I returned the vehicle exactly how I received It i noticed a $178.00 charge on my credit card and when I called to figure out what the charge was PREJON BYNUM the MANAGER said that there is nothing they can do since I signed and I should of read the small print before signing. The money isn't the problem at this point the problem is that I'm probably not the first or last person that they are doing this to. It took me 2-3 weeks to finally get someone to tell me what the charge was for. Every single time I would call they would look at my records and say "give it 7 business days and the refund will hit your account" till I finally felt like I needed to speak to a manager. The money that they took from me is money taken away from my kids and I hope corporate does some changes to the staff to help with customer service. read more

I had reserved a minivan for pick up at 6 pm. At 5:20 they called me to tell me my minivan was in San Leandro - too far to get at that time because of traffic during rush hour. They said they would bring up the minivan for me to get - it would arrive at 8:30 and they could clean it and get it ready for me by 9 so that I "wouldn't have any wait time". The next day I got there at 9 and the minivan wasn't there. That ended up being ok because I didn't get through the line for at least 20 minutes and in that time the minivan arrived. It didn't have a full tank of gas and had trash left behind by previous users. Minivan was also scratched up - which was fine because then I didn't need to be anal about it. But then they had to take another 5 minutes to document the scratches, and the guy talking the pictures with an app said "they just expect us to do this..they don't train us on how to use the app...these people who work here they are so disorganized and don't know what they are doing..." Then when I returned the car I had to wait in line for another 20 minutes so that they could give me a $50 discount for the hassle I had getting the car. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was called to the counter then the person helping me answered the phone and helped that person instead...?!?!?! They had one person working the desk and 5 people waiting in line. Each person getting helped takes at least 5-10 minutes... that's a half hour wait for each person... Thing is the people that worked there seemed very competent and professional, and they were working hard. They were understaffed and had crappy systems in place - two of the printers didn't work so had to keep switching out for the one computer that could print. I can't believe how calm and nice they were with so many people that had to be irate at them. Avoid them if you have other choices!! read more

Please do not use this car rental service! you will save yourself a headache. I planned a road trip and i found an amazing deal for around 100 dollars for a car for a week. so here i am excited so i hand over my card, which admittedly has a problem with the magnetic stripe and it doesn't swipe. I ask about a chip reader, and they had brand new machines but no chip reader....weird but whatever ok i will use my debit card. They can't read my debit card either. So at this point after a half hour on the phone to my bank, they tell me its my bank's fault. I travel to the bank and talk to my banker and he assures me my account is full of money and fine and to let them call him. I come back and they have 0 sympathy and understanding and keep telling me its my card and my bank's fault. Blew me away how they did not care that they could not, or did not, want to help me. I keep telling them: who can we call? I HAVE MONEY PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY. They take attitude with me and verbally engage me. Very ghetto here. Hertz corporation: do you want to make money? i left and will never be back and so should you. This is the second time i have had a problem with Hertz because customer service is not a priority for them. read more

Horrendous service. 45 minute wait in a rather short line for a car, with no cars ready for Hertz Gold Plus reward members. Then they gave us a filthy tiny car, not the size we reserved. After we complained, we got a larger car with only 3/4 tank of gas and maintenance required. We had to make them sign on the rental agreement that it only had 3/4 tank. Wasted an hour with family waiting to go to the beach. read more

Be forewarned: a AAA member hit my car so AAA offered a rental from Hertz for 10 days. I agreed to the $11/day insurance and returned the car after 4 days due to residential parking permit issues in my neighborhood. This company charged AAA for the full 10 days and charged me for 10 days of insurance. They are completely disorganized and make 'errors' in their favor. When I called to challenge my bill, and they looked up the rental car activity-- conveniently the car was not put into the rental rotation until after 10 days. This place is a complete sham! If you have no choice or decide to rent from them and return early, make sure you are given a receipt while at their office--don't be fooled-- they will give you the impression that they are handling everything on their end with their 'easy drop-off' system and emails that you will not receive. read more

I rented a car here because mine was in the shop. The gentleman who gave me a ride to the lot was very nice. On the negative side, the car they gave me was dirty! The steering wheel was greasy, the interior was not vacuumed, and the exterior was not washed. read more

I have rented with this location so many times and for the most part have been very satisfied. The one time that was less-than-optimal was when we rented a 4WD Subaru for a trip to Yosemite. The car wasn't ready when I got there and it took a ridiculously long time to actually get on the road, thanks to people moving at the pace of snails. I called to file a complaint and they have me a 25% off coupon for my next rental. I've since used them 4-5 times, most recently this morning, and everything has been satisfactory and pleasant. read more

Have rented car from this place quite a few times. I found their prices to be higher than other locations, even though they claim otherwise. During the weekends, the long can get pretty long, and you might need to wait from half an hour to hour and a half. They need to hire more people since this place is usually run by two people (very understaffed). The staff here are rude and unfriendly. I understand that when you are understaffed and need to handle a lot of customers you become frustrated, but I don't think you should reflect that to your customers. I think the only reason that this place has a lot of customers is that there are not that many alternatives around this area. As far as their cars go, the first time that I rented car from this place, the car had an unpleasant smell to it, and made a weird sound when you pushed the break pedal. So, I was a bit scared thorough out my whole trip that the car would bail on me. Avoid this place if you have other options, but if you have plenty of time to wait in a line and willing to pay a not so fair amount of money to rent a car then this place is not a terrible option, and might help you in times that you really really need a car. read more

We rented an Economy-class car online including gps, damage waiver and free pick up service. The pick up service didn't show up, the car we wanted to have was "not available" because economy cars "don't have gps". So they offered us an upgrade to a higher class car, which was (after a very small discount) more than twice as much as the online confirmation. Last time Hertz for me... read more

This is the last place I would ever rent a car on my own. The insurance company sent me here after an accident and both times, it was a minimum wait time of an hour. They are not efficiently staffed and the employees mill around not understanding what to do. I was so frustrated I asked them to give me a car that had not been cleaned. This office needs a major management and training overhaul. read more

First off, I feel that I should state that I am a Hertz Gold Member and I solely rent from Hertz... I generally rent from the San Rafael, CA location and have had great service from them; however, the service that I had come to expect from "Hertz", as a whole, all flew out the window when I went to the Berkeley, CA location. So many things went wrong while trying to get a rental car that I cannot and I do not want to go over all of it again. All I would like to say is that this location is extremely unorganized. I would highly suggest that the Hertz Regional Manager take a look at the competence of the location management and or store supervisors. Whatever they are doing is not working. I would not recommend my enemies to go to this location. read more

This place is seriously the absolute worst. Horrific customer service, incredibly long lines, employees accused of smoking in the car even though it smelled like hell when we got it. We are totally screwed right now because our car is in the shop and we need to extend the rental for a couple of days. Our bill for 4 days is $158. To extend it, we were quoted last night an additional $110. Today, we are being quoted $700. SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS. Goodbye Christmas spending money. read more

The worst service ever!!!! The reps are on the phone not helping people in line!!!!! Wth??? What kind of a service is this they have been on the phone for 20plus min while the line is growing and no one was at the counter. The phone call was picked us after I was in line so I should of been helped first not the person on the phone. I also saw couple of other emp walking around and on the office so why is no one trying to help customers???? read more

I wish I can give them 5 stars, firstly our car we rented was filthy. Had smudges and fingerprints all over the window car also had a weird smell to it I don't know how they would be able to rent a car out to someone like that cleaners was clearly not doing their job. Staff seem like they had no idea what they were doing I think the supervisor Doug took over and helped us out instead. I returned my car and they tried to charge me $514 for 2 days how I have no idea fixed the problem but took some time! Ronda or whatever the hell her name was IS rude and really needs to work on her customer service have no idea how she got a job like this she belongs in a the DMV with her customer service skills. read more

I utilised this rental facility in October-November 2013, & from the first time I called this rental car office to my final turn-in, I have encountered nothing but negative experiences. First, I was placed on hold for 8 minutes before I hung up. I called back immediately, and the female rep I spoke with couldn't answer any of my questions, nor would she take my info down for a reservation. When I got there the next day, the only car available was one that required some kind of card key to activate, and it would not start. After 30 minutes of trying to figure it out, they got it to start, and I was on my way, late for work, in spite of the time cushion I had given myself. After work, the car AGAIN would not start, & I had to wait an hour for someone to come with a replacement car. I had the replacement rental for a month, and both cars were not very clean, and the 1st one even felt greasy all over the place. Upon my return, I was told I would not be billed for anything, and yet I was charged almost $100 for excessive days that I did not have the car, & I had to call their corporate office to correct. They seemed adequately staffed, yet lines were always very long. I also had an argument with the rep behind the counter over the amount if gas in the car, because she looked at it from above from outside the door, which showed lower than it was when seated in the driver seat. Overall, a complete series of negative experiences with no positive other than the second car, a Toyota RAV4, did not break down on me. Their customer service is abysmal, which is actually a compliment given what I endured with this outfit! BEWARE! FYI - The Enterprise rental place a half mile away on the same street is lightning years ahead in every aspect of quality &customer care. read more

The waiting line is crazy here every weekend. Extremely slow. The time you put on reservation doesn't mean anything. If u have sth urgent, don't come to this place. You may end up having to ask your friend wait for you at the airport for an hour or two before you can actually get the car out of this place.... read more

I have used this rental place many times. I have always been treated with the most up respect. I haven't been there for a few years I returned feeling that I would get the same appropriate professionalism. I was treated extremely poorly and when I had a concern regarding my billing the comment that I Heard was "it's not our problem "call one 800 Hz. I was very surprised that Jason the manager was just as rude. I'm very disappointed read more

Terrible customer service- no greeting at all, from the clerks. This is a insurance coverage deal, for my husband. Good cars, just no communication between me, the customer who is getting the car. read more

Wow, the rental car industry is ALWAYS out to get you either by not telling you things or outright lying to you and saying something else later on. I am beyond livid with my experience with this Hertz rental. DO NOT RENT HERE. And if you're a student, which I'm guessing you most likely are, YOU WILL GET RIPPED OFF!!!! I'm not just any hater that enjoys writing bad reviews, I just do not wish this upon anyone else and as car renters, I'm sure we do not have the best experiences with these places. What bothers me is that they get away with this nonsense every single time and we are the losers. 1. The hertz staff is RUDE, inattentive (while I was talking on the phone, she was literally talking to someone else about gas and miles). This goes to ALL the staff working there as I think I had to speak to everyone there to get through to someone. I called at least 5 times in a day only to get passed on over to the next inconsiderate rude and unresponsive person or put on hold every single time. They do not attend to customers on the phone and make it seem as though you are in the wrong for calling them during business hours. Marqueesha, Nicki, Kenneth etc etc. (if only I cared enough to register the names of the other clowns I spoke to). I hope you read this!! You guys really know how to keep your customers unhappy!! 2. I made a reservation for Thursday 6.00 PM to Sunday 6.00 PM online and when I went there on thursday evening they said that I had to return the car by sunday 12PM because if I were to drop off after hours they would close me out on monday 7.30 AM and basically charge me a whole extra day for not even using the damn car. ABSOLUTELY UNREASONABLE RULES that we as customers find ourselves conforming to and then still manage to get screwed over. 3. I rented the car to drive to southern california and back and I woke up at 4AM just so I can get back to the rental before noon and found that the OFFICE WAS CLOSED. The moronic staff there did not bother telling me on thursday that the office would be closed on Sunday. My experience calling them back to sort the charges basically is described in 1. HORRENDOUS STAFF WITH EVEN WORSE RULES. For the kind of business that this stupid rental gets, THEY NEED TO WIPE OUT THEIR STAFF COMPLETELY. DO NOT RENT HERE! read more

If you need a rental car on a Saturday, avoid this place like the plague or get there at 8:30am before they open to guarantee that you're first or second in line. By 9am, there's typically 5-10 people in line with only 2 folks getting people in cars. Luckily, I got there at 8:40 and was the 3rd person in line! At least dropping off was less of an ordeal. I just gave the keys to a guy outside... but I also didn't care about getting a copy of receipt since I didn't pay for the car, otherwise, I would have had to wait in the 10 person line (at around 11am). Again, if you need to rent or return a car on a Saturday morning, my guess is that it would actually be faster to BART to OAK and get a car there - or pick a rental car place more north in Richmond that might be less crowded. read more

I had a reservation at 3pm. I called at 2:30 to ask about extending a day. I was on hold for over 8 minutes. So I hung up and headed to hertz. I arrived shortly after 3 o'clock, got the keys to the car which was filthy both inside and out! There was dirt and grass and twigs in every crevice of the seats, And I could feel my allergies acting up right away. I walked in and waited in line again they said that they would give me the smaller car or I would have to wait 10 to 15 minutes for them to clean the car. I explained that I was on a time constraint expected the reservation to be ready at 3:00. The lady behind the counter explained that I was late for my reservation... That doesn't really explain why they gave me a filthy car, I guess they had extra time to clean it didn't they? Also had I not waited on the phone for 10 minutes I probably would've been on time. I was no more than eight minutes after three, and I'm still sitting here at 3:58 waiting for a car on a Wednesday afternoon. I now need to figure out a way to get my other car because the other driver cannot wait the full hour here to get my car that I reserved. I guess they won't reimburse me for The gas, or a cab to pick up my other car. read more

Avoid Avoid Avoid. Absolutely awful service. We arrived to see a long line at the location. We got in it. It did not move. We asked one of the mechanic guys what was up and he told us there were only THREE serviceable cars on the lot (about 12 groups in line!). We waited 2 HOURS. Someplace in the middle of that time we approached the counter to ask, politely, about whether we'd be able to get a car sometime soon. We were told they thought a few might be coming in and to get back in line. We then called Hertz, they simply referred us to the location manager -- who answered with voicemail. Eventually several people in front of us in line decided it was useless and left (they were really mad and spouting profanity). Another man in front of us got to the counter, after 2 hours, and was told that his reservation had mysteriously been canceled. No sympathy from the agent. He left without a car. A while later, a few cars came in and, because so many had left at that point, we amazingly got to the front of the line. We were then greeted by a snotty agent who said "See!!! You are going to get a car after all!" Wow! Shame on us! I guess we had somehow conveyed a little doubt in them and they had gotten offended. So we got on our knees and chanted "Hertz #1! Hertz #1!" (on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best) and they gave us a car. The car itself was fine. But you would think the agents might have been more apologetic about the lengthy delay, or perhaps, as fellow human beings, would have thought, "gee there are folks waiting for cars for hours, perhaps we should at least let them know what is up?" Bottom line - Hertz should CLOSE this location and fire the employees. Please end the pain and do not rent there. read more

Rude, terrible service called on the phone to get a car and the service person acted like I was really inconveniencing him. I am guessing they are way under staffed and hire from the bottom of the barrel. read more

Worst customer service. We had a pick up scheduled for 6 pm showed up right before 6 and he door was already locked. We knocked and the man working answered saying we are closed. I said we had a pick up for 6 can we pick up our car? All he said was no we are closed and shut the door on us. Worst experience at a rental car place. If they close before 6 they should not have an option to pick up a car at 6. Also the worker did not treat us well at all pointing at his phone and raising his voice. read more

We've rented several times from here and no problem whatsoever. Cars run fine and are clean, the people who work here are funny and very chill (Sierra comes to mind) ... ain't nuthin' but a G thang. Okay, I have no idea why I said that. read more

Inefficiency at its best. Takes 2 computers to issue a rental. Takes 15 minutes to find a car parked somewhere. Takes 20 minutes to return. Takes a calculator to tell a customer what his/her rental would cost. What year is it?? read more

BEWARE & MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR BILL - DRAMATICALLY OVERCHARGED TWICE SINCE 10/2018! I have been renting from this location for a really long time. I've seen this branch managed under Jason, Marquisha, Nikki, Lacey, now, Jazmine, and two others whose names I cannot recall. The management and pretty much all the reps have been smart, hardworking, professional, well-mannered, honest, and super helpful. These folks work really hard. This location is tiny. It's definitely a cramped place to have to spend all day with people you may not be crazy about. They have no elbow room, are constantly overbooked, and have to deal with and turn away irate customers who are unable to pick up cars they reserved online or are attempting to use methods of payment Hertz only accepts with stipulations. Suffice to say, I always admired the discipline and patience the young people who worked here exercised. I also loved that I always felt I was getting a great deal. I never felt like I had to be on guard and worry about getting ripped off. I had only been accidentally overcharged once, maybe twice, in 14 years. Since October of 2018, I have rented here twice and have been dramatically overcharged BOTH times. Both times, the new & newish customer service reps were completely unapologetic for their errors. The first time, management cleared up the error. Today, I was again charged more than double my original rate even though I turned the car in on time and with a full tank of gas. I was told that if I didn't like the policy change and enforcement (I never received notification of said change, but, was billed for an extra day + a late fee when utilizing their after hour drop-off option even though I returned the car ON TIME and in the same fashion I have so many times in the past), to just call corporate to have my bill adjusted. Ew! The silver lining, you ask? This branch has an extremely high turnover rate. I am sure, all I have to do is just be patient, and, wait for this location to, once again, return to having HONEST & ETHICAL staffing that I had previously come to expect from Hertz. But, in the meantime, let's all make sure to go over our bills with a fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass or visit the helpful and honest people at the El Sobrante location! :) read more

Rented very nice (and newer) Chevy Cruze over July 4th weekend. Had a great experience all the way around. Janette was helpful and the two gentlemen in the office were polite and professional. Dropped the car off on a Sunday night using the key drop. Had a final receipt emailed within a few hours. Don't understand all the other bad reviews. Seems like a bunch of moaners. read more

To me, it's only fair to review this compared to other HLE locations. On that scale, it's an OK location. I am a Hertz Gold member so it doesn't take me too long to get the car -- as soon as I get to the FRONT of the line. Sometimes they don't have the paperwork all printed out and they have to assign a car for me. Cars can be hit or miss. I've rented from them at least 5 times. Since I was a Gold Five Star member at one point I got free upgrades. I remember getting a Civic and a Corolla. I drove the Civic down to LA; however, before leaving the lot I checked underneath the hood (hey, it's a LONG trip and I want to make sure everything's okay) and there's not enough coolant. Notify the front desk and they don't do anything since they don't have coolant. Sigh. They also refused to pick me up from Downtown Berkeley early in the morning because they don't have enough people in the office. Lots of room for improvement. I hope they do. I really enjoy renting from the airport instead of this local edition since it's a lot less hassle at the airport. read more

I have never waited this long for a rental car: one hour. They are understaffed and their staff members are not afraid of taking their sweet time, acting really slow and chatting with customers while there are 20 patient customers waiting. Only two people are working at a time and they have to go in and out and check returned cars and bring customers to the rental cars. It is so slow... read more

They were slow and had horrible customer service. After 30 min of standing at the counter while they offered me a car and then told me why it wasn't available, they finally said, "We've got a car with half a tank of gas and it's dirty. Do you want it?" Sadly I took it because I was in a rush. It had gum on the floor. read more

I rented a pickup truck here to move some things around locally. I returned it with a full tank of gas--as in I drove two blocks from the gas station to the rental place--and they charged me $25.79 for gas. Nice scam, guys. read more

I regretted that I did not read YELF before rent car here. Every words from one star rating is right ! Now on I shall listen others complains! Worst experience will happen to you when you get rental business here! read more

Worst experience ever! unprofessional, rude and cheaters. I really dont have time to write about all the things that are wrong with this location. If you can try to avoid it. read more

The customer service is the worst. They are always under-staffed and the staff on duty seem to have zero interest getting people in/out in a reasonable amount of time. If you rent from here you should plan on arriving at least 45 minutes before the time you need to leave. If you are renting on a Saturday morning, plan on waiting at least 1.5 hrs or more to get your car. read more

They deserve ZERO. I was forced by my insurance to take Hertz. When I returned my car they said everything was fine and I would get my deposit back. 2 days later I check my credit card account and not only did I not get my deposit back they charged more. When I tried to talk with them they put me on hold ... I wait 5 mins and get a voice asking for an extension and then get hung up on. I did this 6 times. I am complaining to BBB as well. read more