Smokey Rental car...

[dmc]

Complained to Hertz about a cigarette smoke smelling rental I had - here's the response:

We sincerely regret we were unable to honor your request for a non-smoking
vehicle. The issue of smoking versus non-smoking is a sensitive one, and
Hertz makes every attempt to successfully meet the needs of our non-smoking
renters. This can be very difficult when the product we offer is mobile
and cannot be monitored by Hertz during its use. Unfortunately, we have no
practical method of enforcing the non-smoking policy in our non-smoking
vehicles. It is our practice, however, to convert contaminated vehicles to
smoking vehicles once they are identified, and we apologize for any
oversight.

We hope you will allow us the opportunity to serve you again so that we can
regain your complete confidence in Hertz.

My response

Why don't you just smell the inside of the car when it comes in or
before it goes out?

 

[WWF-VT]

Did you smell smoke when you initially got in the car? If you did then you should have asked for a different vehicle before you left the Hertz lot.

 

[dmc]

Did you smell smoke when you initially got in the car? If you did then you should have asked for a different vehicle before you left the Hertz lot.

The windows were down when I got in - and I tend to ride with the windows cracked after flying for fresh air... I really didn't smell it until I was half way to the hotel..

They did offer me a discount - but last time they did that - it put me into another category and my company gave me all kinds of crap about it... So I didn't take it..

 

[darent]

Complained to Hertz about a cigarette smoke smelling rental I had - here's the response:



My response

great response, every one else enforces no smoking policies with zest, you would think they would too. A surprise bill from Hertz for mucking up their car would stop it.

 

[skijay]

I liked the non smoking Sonata I had got from Dollar in Florida. It had a cigarette burn in the seat. Since I do not take renter's insurance I had to wait 20 minutes at TPA airport to get an attendant to mark the damage on the rental contract so I would not be liable for it.

 

[Geoff]

I do an awful lot of Hertz rental cars and it's pretty unusual to get a smoking car. ...maybe once in every 20 rentals. The spray they use on them to mask the cigarette stink is almost as bad as the cigarette stink. I just get another car.

 

[hammer]

I liked the non smoking Sonata I had got from Dollar in Florida. It had a cigarette burn in the seat. Since I do not take renter's insurance I had to wait 20 minutes at TPA airport to get an attendant to mark the damage on the rental contract so I would not be liable for it.

I forgot to look over a car once and found out when I got back that a previous driver had scraped the car against a curb...big deep scratch below the driver's side doors. Had to sign a damage statement, but I said that they never inspected the car with me before so how do they know I was the one who did it (I didn't of course...I'm not the type who would be dishonest about such stuff). Never heard anything back so I'm guessing they ate it or found out who damaged the car.

Last time I rented in FL I found out that car rental companies are now trying to claim "lost time" on a car in addition to damages and that their insurance covers that. I still didn't get it...screw them.

I do look over cars more thoroughly now...

 

[riverc0il]

Most hotels have pretty hefty fines for smoking in the hotel room. I don't recall ever having been in a hotel room that smelled like smoke. Fines that cost three times more than the room itself are great deterrents so Hertz saying there is nothing they can do to prevent it is not entirely accurate. Your suggestion of smelling the car being standard procedure is right on the mark too.

 

[Geoff]

Yeah. I always walk around the car looking for damage. You only make that mistake once.

 

[drjeff]

Yeah. I always walk around the car looking for damage. You only make that mistake once.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|||||||||||||||||||||

What Geoff said Got burned on that before, and its the reason why I don't rent from Avis any more

 

[dmc]

Yeah. I always walk around the car looking for damage. You only make that mistake once.

yup... even take pix with the mobile..

But some of the cars in Columbus are pretty beat up.. Need to take a lot of pix... haha..

Renting from Enterprise tonight..

 

[deadheadskier]

Most hotels have pretty hefty fines for smoking in the hotel room. I don't recall ever having been in a hotel room that smelled like smoke. Fines that cost three times more than the room itself are great deterrents so Hertz saying there is nothing they can do to prevent it is not entirely accurate. Your suggestion of smelling the car being standard procedure is right on the mark too.

The fines (in the case of Marriott $250) go unpaid 95% of the time, but it is a good deterrent. The customers just call their credit card companies and dispute the charge.

 

[drjeff]

Most hotels have pretty hefty fines for smoking in the hotel room. I don't recall ever having been in a hotel room that smelled like smoke. Fines that cost three times more than the room itself are great deterrents so Hertz saying there is nothing they can do to prevent it is not entirely accurate. Your suggestion of smelling the car being standard procedure is right on the mark too.

Hotel room wise, this is why my wife (who has a great hate of the smell of smoke) almost always has a bellman(if the hotel has one), bring her bags upto the room. That way, as soon as she steps in, if it smells at all smokey (or anything else nasty), she has a hotel employee right there with her from moment one so she doesn't get blamed for anything, and trust me when I say that she's gotten many room changes over the years because of this

 

[Geoff]

The fines (in the case of Marriott $250) go unpaid 95% of the time, but it is a good deterrent. The customers just call their credit card companies and dispute the charge.

That disputed charge thing at hotels is a real scam. For a room night or two, the big chains usually won't fight it if a customer disputes the charge based on some fabricated problem. "The room next door was noisy. I called the front desk 5 times. I got no sleep." is tough to fight. If it's AMEX, they pretty much have no shot at recovering the money. A friend of mine manages a private lodging service at Killington. She won't take AMEX because they've been burned so many times with people who scammed a free weekend.

 

[WakeboardMom]

That disputed charge thing at hotels is a real scam. For a room night or two, the big chains usually won't fight it if a customer disputes the charge based on some fabricated problem. "The room next door was noisy. I called the front desk 5 times. I got no sleep." is tough to fight. If it's AMEX, they pretty much have no shot at recovering the money. A friend of mine manages a private lodging service at Killington. She won't take AMEX because they've been burned so many times with people who scammed a free weekend.

I wish I had thought of that...!! My daughter and I stayed at a hotel and were kept awake all night by barking dogs. I finally called the front desk at 3 a.m. and they offered to change my room. Yeah, like I wanted to do that. When I complained the next morning, the desk clerk just shrugged and said "We're pet-friendly." WTF? Not "people friendly?"
I never thought to take it up with the cc company. Gonna remember that tactic.

This past weekend I was checking into a hotel in Manhattan when the person checking in beside me told her clerk that they had a dog. I immediately asked my clerk, "What's their room number? And what's mine?" I won't let that happen again.

 

[hammer]

I wish I had thought of that...!! My daughter and I stayed at a hotel and were kept awake all night by barking dogs. I finally called the front desk at 3 a.m. and they offered to change my room. Yeah, like I wanted to do that. When I complained the next morning, the desk clerk just shrugged and said "We're pet-friendly." WTF? Not "people friendly?"
I never thought to take it up with the cc company. Gonna remember that tactic.

This past weekend I was checking into a hotel in Manhattan when the person checking in beside me told her clerk that they had a dog. I immediately asked my clerk, "What's their room number? And what's mine?" I won't let that happen again.

Being pet-friendly doesn't mean that non-stop barking is tolerated...I know it isn't at campgrounds and hotel rooms have a lot less space between them than campsites.