Hertz Local Edition

Just as the other reviews state, the billing practices for this location are shady and dishonest. No one told me that they would take a deposit for nearly three times the cost of the car rental and that that deposit would not be returned to me days after I returned the car. I also purchased the insurance for the car because the guy made it sound like it was 13.50 total, not 13.50 a day. This was just an all around awful experience for reasons that could have been avoided if they had just been upfront and honest at the time of rental. Avoid at all costs.

On March 27, 2015, I rented a car from this branch. It was a same-​day after hours return. I picked up the rental around 7:10 am. The car was returned shortly after 11 pm that night. I made the rental through Hotwire and had a total charge of approximately $ 59. A few days later, I show a charge for $ 82.20 from Hertz instead of the original Hotwire charge.
I called the location to get clarification on why this is the case. This was approximately 8:00 am on April 2^nd. I spoke with a representative named Seth who claimed that he was the manager of this branch. He insisted that I was charged for two days because the car was checked in the next day. I told him that I made a similar rental a few days earlier — March 15^th — to be exact and had the same arrangement. I picked up the car at approximately 7:10 am and returned it shortly after 11:00 pm. I was charged for one day, not two. Given my previous experience, I asked him what the difference was between the rental on the 15^th and the 27^th.
It was at this point that Seth started raising his voice and getting rude. He even went as far as saying, «Well, there is a sign outside that said that car returns will be charged the next day. Did you just ignore that?» It was at this point that I also told him that I did read the sign. He then interrupted me and said, «So you did just ignore it?» I then told him sternly that the point I am trying to clarify is why there is a difference then with the charge made on the 15^th versus the charge made on the 27^th. He refused to clarify this. I decided to end the call and went a different route.
I called the 800 number where I wound up speaking with a representative named Ricky. He told me that the car I rented on the 27^th was checked in at 9 am the day after as opposed to the car I rented on the 15^th which was checked in at 7 am. I then asked why I am being charged for two days when there is a difference of 2 hours. On top of this, both cars were returned the night before. The 2828 N Clark St branch opens at 7 am. I should not be penalized if they did not check in my returned rental earlier than 9 am. He then rudely responded that Hertz does not charge by the hour. I told him that I get that but it still didn’t make sense why I am being charged when I had no control on when the location was going to check in the rental. I then asked for a manager. He transferred me to another location instead of his manager.
The location I was transferred to was 215 W Lake St in downtown Chicago. I spoke to Keith who was confused at first that I was transferred by corporate to their location but was refreshingly polite and helpful. He looked into my issue and clarified that I should not have been charged for two days because the return vehicle check in is not in my control. Later in the afternoon, he called me back and told me that his manager, Chris Jenkins, has approved the charge back. He also said that he will follow up with me. While he has been quite helpful, the experience has left me with no desire to do business with Hertz at all.
BOTTOMLINE, I RECOMMEND NEVER RENTING FROM THIS LOCATION, AND IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE, AVOID HERTZ ALTOGETHER.

I went to this location to pick up a car. I had reserved a FORD FOCUS or similar as a Hertz Gold membership holder. When I got there I first couldn’t find it. The location is inside a building, but their location is not listed on the directory of the building. I found them later on the 3^rd floor. Once at the counter, I was given keys and told where to find the vehicle. To my surprise the car was not a Ford Focus or any similar vehicle, but a Chevy Spark (One category below). I went back inside thinking that they made an error! That is when the guy at the counter told me that a Spark is in the same category as a Focus. Even though Hertz’s own website say otherwise!! I ended up cancelling my reservation!

I have been renting from this location almost every week for the past 3 years for work. It is a convenient location being that I live just 2 blocks away. I have seen management change over 3 times since I have been renting here. Though I would have given this location a very poor rating 2 – 3 months ago, this last change in management has made a «night and day» difference. Current management as of the time stamp of this review is good. Always nice when they remember your name, which is setting I think really adds value. Hoping they continue to keep up the better service.

The staff here is awful. I guarantee that if you walk by you’ll see the following at any given time:
— a line
— a group of guys half out of site, chatting with each other in the back, while they leave one person alone up front to do all the work
— at LEAST one irate customer who isn’t getting what they expected
Right now there’s two angry customers. But hey, the line is long so I’m sure others will join our company!

This review is solely based on their inability to provide the service they offer — picking you up for your rental.
The first time I opted for this service they completely forgot about me and I called at the time of pickup and they sent someone 20 minutes later.
Learning from the mistake I opted to next time call 3 days ahead of my reservation to remind them of the needed pickup. The woman ‘made note’ on my account. Day comes of reservation and 5 minutes after they are supposed to be here, I call. No one has left to pick me up.
Just do your job, please.

Worst location ever!
I rented my car on 1÷19÷2014 the tank was ⁸⁄₈ full. I returned the car on 1÷20÷2014 with the car ⁸⁄₈ full, I even had the receipt. I went in with the PORTER who checked my car and they said I was all good to go.
On 1÷23÷2014 I got charged for an extra day and a fuel charge! When I called to dispute they said I returned the car on 1÷21÷2014 even though I was in the shop on 1÷20÷2014 at the front desk with the PORTER who checked in my car. I said I had my receipt for the gas as well. I was told that I would need to speak with Chris Jenkins their manager to have anything reversed, he was out of the office.
Instead of waiting on them to call me back I called the 1.800 number and they were able to verify that I did in fact return the car on 1÷20÷2014 because it was RENTED THE SAME DAY!!! I had to email my receipt for the gas since they were unable to verify this. My gas charged was $ 11.32 thankfully I kept the receipt that filled up the tank.
This is an awful location and the second time I have run into an issue, first time was with their toll charges that they said I used even though I had receipts for that as well.
Falsifying charges to my account is disgraceful. I am waiting for their area manager to get back to me as well, whom I only received an email for.
Shame on you and your staff.

Simply put, this place absolutely sucks. I reserved a «Standard» car but was told the one they had needed an oil change so I was instead given an «Intermediate» car, one tier down. It was a piece of crap. No cruise control, the wipers were busted, and the tires were not suitable for winter driving in Chicago. But what choice did I have? I was given the car ¾ full and was told to return it that way, so I did. The day after returning it I received two surprises. First, they charged me a $ 17 for not returning the car with a full tank. WTF?! When I called they basically said I was lying and that I needed to give them a receipt from the gas station purchase to have the fee removed. Treat your customers like criminals — great policy Hertz! The second surprise, they charged me the same rate for the lower tier car even though I reserved something better. When I called about this, the person I spoke with was exceedingly condescending, telling me that they actually «did me a favor» because on the day I picked it up Intermediate cars were actually $ 7 more than what I paid. Baffling. I’m not sure Hertz understands the concept of a reservation, which I think is critical for a car rental company. Stay away from this place.

We reserved a full sized SUV for Christmas travel, there were 6 of us plus a dog and LOTS of bags and gifts, so we really needed the space. On the day we were leaving, I called to see if we could pick the car up a couple of hours early. The first person I spoke to said our car «wasn’t there yet», and proceeded to tell me that they had no cars at the location at that time. She took my number and said she would call me when it arrived.
This seemed odd as our rental time was just a couple of hours away, so I called back and spoke to someone else, at which point I was informed that they were not going to be getting the car I had requested at all, never had planned to but they could offer us a mini van. I was understandably not thrilled, but two days before Christmas there are few options. We finally took a smaller SUV crossover and the trip was miserable and jam packed. They were supremely unhelpful and unpleasant to work with.
Will NEVER rent from them again.

I travel almost every week for work so having the hertz literally a block away is very convenient. As long as you reserve online you’ll have little to no issues. I will say that the car selection is subpar; as a presidents circle member I rarely get the car class I reserve and I never get the guaranteed car upgrade. When I’ve pointed this out I get some excuse like all their cars are out of oil or are rented out despite having out my rentals in weeks in advance.
Tl;dr: if you just need a car and don’t care what kind of car it is then you’ll be fine. Otherwise go to another location.

I have never had a problem renting here and I have 3 times. Customer service is always spot on and the cars are great. I guess it’s a well kept secret.

I rented the car for 3 days and returned it on Sunday after hours. I had read the bad reviews of this location and confirmed with the person there to make sure no additional charged would be levied. However, not surprisingly they charged me another $ 40. I called them up and was very livid when the same lady told me that this charge would apply. I reminded her of the initial conversation in a not-​so friendly manner which did the trick and she removed the additional charge. BEWARE! Confirm the prices before and after the rental!

Like others have said, I would give this place zero stars if I could. I signed up specifically for a Unilocal account to hopefully warn other people away from this place.
I don’t think the problem is so much with this location specifically, but the Hertz company itself.
To start, I was incredibly confused trying to book a car online. It shouldn’t be that hard. I ended up signing up for the Hertz ²⁴⁄₇ program, having no idea what I was doing. Their explanations online are just about as confusing as possible. You get a key fob in the mail and it says to activate it at a Hertz location. I went up to this one, and the ladies at the counter looked at me very confused. This was the theme every time I asked them questions about my reservation. It’s like they are training on «regular» rentals yet both the regular and ²⁴⁄₇ service is offered there and no one can help with the ²⁴⁄₇ questions. I didn’t even intend to rent a ²⁴⁄₇ car, I just somehow got signed up for that.
The CC I used to book the car was replaced between the reservation time and the start date. The day prior to my reservation I received an email stating that my pre-​authorization had been declined and to call and provide a working card. I did so, checked online and saw it was there, yet I woke up at 5am the next day, two hours before my reservation to an email and text saying it had been cancelled. Despite the fact that I changed my credit card, they STILL tried to use the old one.
I called to update the card once again, and the woman had no sympathy for me. Also, they ask for your membership number. I have no idea what that is. It is the most difficult thing to find, I can’t even find it under my account information.
When I picked up the car it was really unclear how to start the trip. There was some little button you had to press to get it started, but it was blocked by the steering wheel.
When I finally figured out how to start the car, I had no idea how to get out of the garage. There were no instructions. I thought maybe there was a sensor; nope, there wasn’t. I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get out before it dawned on me to look on the visor where I found a ticket out of the garage. Between trying to turn it on and trying to get out I wasted at least 20 minutes.
Then I noticed the fuel level. Empty. Obviously no one checks these cars because I would expect this would have been noticed. The day prior when I went to get my key fob activated the woman seemed to indicate the car was in the garage at that point.
Went to the gas station and lo an behold, there was no fuel card. So, I had to use my own credit card. Fine. Except that on the website it specifically states, «To be reimbursed, email the Customer Care Center at
, attach a copy of your receipt to your email and note the mileage at the time of refueling in your email. A credit will be applied to the payment card in your profile within 48 hours of Hertz’s receipt of your email.» I sent in the receipts last Tuesday, just today did I get an email that it had been posted to my account, but it may take 4 – 5 days to show up on my credit card.
After I turned in the car, I went into the office to make sure I did everything right, and of course the ladies at the counter had no idea what to tell me. I got home and saw an email receipt from them with a rental survey link. Of course it was broken.
I called because I was so upset and frazzled at the whole ordeal and talked to a customer service rep. She offered me NOTHING. Not a rental credit, not a portion off my bill, nothing. It was awkward. Then I got online and sent in an email to customer service. As I would now expect, I got not a single response.
The ONLY good thing about the rental is that the car was reliable. But hey, that’s probably the thing they can control the least, so who knows what would have happened if it had broken down. I’d probably still be in Michigan.
If you value your sanity and your time, and don’t like being ignored by customer service, stay FAR, FAR away from Hertz. You’ll thank me and all of the other people who dealt with this nonsense so far.

After reading the negative reviews I was hesitant to rent a car from this location, but decided to go for it and ended up having a great experience. I reserved a mid-​size SUV and that is exactly what I got. I am a Hertz Gold member which may have helped, but my pick up and drop off times were both under 1 minute. The staff was very friendly and efficient. I have no complaints at all.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Never, ever again, will I rent a car from Hertz.
Super easy to make reservation online. I was even able to tell them the time frame I wanted them to pick me up. Only problem is, #1 they didn’t show up because #2 they don’t tell you that you have to call the day prior to actually schedule the pick up. The website is misleading because it doesn’t really tell customers to call prior and when asking the customer service representatives, they «don’t know why» but I could «talk to the IT guys that created the website to get an answer».
When I finally did get to the rental center, Monique was rude and did not take a single moment to explain anything to me. She did not go over the fact that they put a deposit on my card for extra charges. She did not tell me where to find the car. She did not go over my contract. She did not tell me how/​where to drop the car off. She did not go over a single detail. She just handed me the booklet you get when you rent a car and handed me the keys. She moved on quickly to the next customer.
One thing that sticks out in my mind (and is the icing on the cake in my opinion) is when I asked her specifically if I had the car through Sunday, she just said, «yeah» and that was it. When I created the reservation online I stated that I would be back on Sunday at 6:00 PM. The reservation confirmation that I had the car until Monday May 13 at 7:00 AM. The car was returned on Sunday May 12 around 7:00 PM but somehow I was charged for an extra day.
Because Monique did not go over dropping off the vehicle, I called on Saturday to cover that. When I spoke with Jeff, the manager of this location, he stated that I would not get charged extra as long as I had the vehicle back before open on Monday. Which I did.
Atrocious customer service skills, horrid all-​around experience. I would not recommend Hertz to my mortal enemy. Never, ever again will they get my business. After all of these horrible reviews on Unilocal,I wish I had done my due diligence and found out their practices before renting. Save yourself the hassle and go with another company.

I’ve rented from this location at least a dozen or so times, and most times the transactions go smoothly. I fill everything out online, check-​in online, boom… pick up the car, and we’re off. On the way back, I fill up the tank at a station a few blocks from the Century Mall and return the car with the keys in the drop box. A couple days later I receive a receipts of charges.
This is where renters need to be very careful. TWICE IN ONE YEAR, this location has charged me a fuel fee for not filling up the tank to the level it was taken out at. TWICE IN ONE YEAR, I’ve called, spoken with someone who’s admitted that the person checking the car in was in error because they didn’t do so accurately. According to an employee, this location does not have a porter who scans returns; check-​ins are done by a cleaning person. TWICE IN ONE YEAR, there was nothing the staff at the local level can do because – and here’s the ironic twist – once they put through charges, credits can only be authorized by the corporate office, and they are very reluctant to do so.
Hertz’s way of solving disputes at the local level is to simply send out credits for your next rental. Um… no. I want you to credit my charge card. Thank goodness I use my American Express card which is known to be good about taking care of disputes.

Charged $ 12 in administration fees for using their electronic tag to go through an $ 0.80 toll.
Never again.

Thanks to the previous review, Drew’s name came into mind.
First time dealing with a rental company, was pretty painless. My insurance (state farm) took care of everything.
Just a warning for everyone in the future, if they promise you ANYTHING– discount, credit, gas tank filled half full instead of filled completely (my situation), get it in writing and signed by this Drew guy. They were understaffed when I needed them to pick me up so they just said ‘take a cab and we’ll credit your account’. When i presented my cab receipt, Mr. Drew said ‘dont worry about it, just filled the tank half way when you drop it off’. Two days later my credit card was charged 24.79 for gas, through Hertz, so of course they’re making money off of this. Tried to call them and their number misteriously doesnt work and no one picks up.
Thanks to CHASE FREEDOM, I got my $ 24.79 back.

Hey Drew,
Actually, I did reply but did not hear back from you. Please find the reply below again. And in response to your latest reply, I realize people make mistakes and cars break down BUT this was not some accident. After I told you everything I had to deal with because of the broken down rental car you guys rented me, you lied to my face about taking half off the bill, ignored my emails and phone calls for weeks, were not there the several times I came to the office to find you, and basically kept putting me off and renegging your original promise to adjust the bill. I mean… thanks a lot for paying for the cab I had to take because I was stuck in the middle of no where and had to find a way to get to an airport to get a new rental car because the one you gave me broke down but you really should have done a little bit more in your strive for excellence.
Here’s the message:
Hi Drew,
We have spoken several times in person and on the phone. When I told you what happened to the rental car, you assured me that you would give me half off the total bill but when the bill came you did not. And when I followed up (after many tries to reach you), you said the discount was that you paid for the cab I had to take to get a new rental car but you will not be discounting the rental car itself (even though I wasted so much time because the car broke down — I was helping my little sister move into her dorm so we had to get someone to help us move things out of the car, I had to take a cab to the airport to get a new car, then go back to help my sister). I mean the whole thing is really ridiculous. I do not understand why you would not only lie to me in person but really not take care of your customer after what had happened to me.