I rented a car, and I was delayed by a day getting back by losing the keys in the snow. So I went in to return it the next day, which Hertz provides for in their contract. I checked the hours of the rental car office, and made sure to get there a couple hours before closing to be on the safe side. Anticipating not being terrible long I dressed warmly but not for long stays in the snow, kissed my young daughter and assured her I would be no more than a half hour. I didn't take very warm gloves, which in this review serves as the gun being shown in the first act. I parked in the location's pay lot and headed down to the office with paperwork in hand. I arrived at a few minutes after 2pm to find the office closed and dark. I knocked a lot. I looked sad, and passersby stared. I suspect I looked like a confused Californian, which I was.
I called the office, and after many rings it connected and then disconnected. I called every number I could find on my contract - I was on foot, and getting cold. My phone calls repeatedly failed to get through, and after a very long hold I did eventually get through to someone that transfered me to another department and another long hold. At this point I couldn't feel my fingers, a fact I shared with everyone I spoke to. One woman suggested I drive the car to Logan airport, saying it was "only 4 miles away."
Four miles on foot in the Boston winter, across the Charles river, is a very long way indeed, and the car was in a pay lot and out of gas. I could not drop the keys through the mail slot, I was told. The location had closed early for the holidays- a fact not recorded on the website, the contract, or even the door of the location itself. I wasn't even told when I rented the car. There was nothing she could do for me, one woman said, and suggested I speak to a manager. I agreed and she said that she would get the manager of the Logan airport location- at which point she put me on hold, and the call disconnected. Finally reassured no one was going to show up and save me I moved into the slightly warmer parking lot and continued my phonecalls. At this point it was hard to type keys on my phone. Perhaps I have bad circulation or something, but that's not usually something required for car rental. "Over 25, driver's license, must have good circulation in case locked out of the office on a snowy day."
Roadside assistance came through with an answer, after expressing some sympathy for my cold and increasingly panicky state. He would notify the location of my dilemma, and in the mean time I could lock the keys in the glove compartment. I might be charged to get the keys out again. I expressed the desire to have that charge reversed in what was by this point an undignified and squeaky voice.
After following his instructions I headed back to where I was staying with my fingers an unhealthy looking red. Getting feeling back into them (with warm water) was surprisingly painful. This was actually customer service so bad that I was in physical pain. This was the first time in my life I've been abandoned in sub freezing temperatures by a rental car company, which was especially awful given I had followed all the rules to the tee. I know, being the heart of Harvard Square that I was of course never in any danger, but that seems like the lowest possible bar for customer service. I don't know what my final charges were, whether I was charged for one extra day or two, or for getting the keys out. I took camera phone pictures during the whole thing: http://flickr.com/photos/quinn/3164410606/ and http://flickr.com/photos/quinn/3164427540
As a postscript, while attempting to submit a complaint to Hertz I got a website error- just a touch of lemon for the paper cut. read more
