I decided to rent a car for a road trip from Hertz; and because the closest rental car facility which is operated by Hertz is located fewer than 15 minutes away from where I am based, I qualified to request Pick Up Service, which is available at no extra charge.
Hertz Pick-Up Service — Or Trying to Use It, At Least
I have never tried Pick Up Service with Hertz; but the thought of not having to leave where I was as the rental car was delivered to me appealed to me — plus, I have rented cars from this Hertz Local Edition location in the past and never had any problems.
The following statement was included on my reservation once I booked it:
You have requested Pick-Up Service — The location will call or email you at the phone number or email address provided with any questions they may have. If you need to change anything on this reservation or the Pick-up information please call the location.
That sounded great. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait…
…or, more accurately, go about my life until the date and time of the rental was supposed to begin.
On the afternoon of the day prior to the commencement of my car rental, I received an e-mail “carfirmation”, which included such details of the vehicle as the color, license plate and car class. So far, so good, I thought.
Time For Pick Up Service of the Rental Car — And…
At the time when the rental was scheduled to begin, I received no e-mail message or telephone call as promised by the aforementioned statement; so I called the rental car facility. After receiving an apology, I was told that the Pick-up Service was not possible at that moment.
Translation: “I’m the only one here right now.”
I was then offered the following choices:
- Wait until someone could properly do the Pick-Up Service at who knows whatever time that will be
- Call a ride-sharing service, and the rental car facility will take the cost of that service off of my final bill
- Drive over there and park my vehicle at the rental car facility until I return from my trip
Summary
Because the ride sharing services were busy at that time, I decided to drive my vehicle to the rental car facility. I parked it in a safe corner behind the building, as instructed by the agent.
I then asked the agent if I could receive a discount for the inconvenience as I was already running late due to this issue, thinking that asking would not hurt. With a smile on his face, my rental — which I did not realize at the time had automatically become less expensive by approximately four dollars — was discounted an additional ten dollars. I thanked him profusely.
My reservation was also automatically upgraded one car class.
I suppose the Pick-Up Service from Hertz was ultimately a failure for me; but I did get an upgraded car while simultaneously ten dollars was discounted off of the cost of the rental vehicle — and for me, that was service recovery which was beyond my expectations.
Perhaps I will try the Pick-Up Service again next time — and if that happens successfully, I intend to report on it in a future article…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
