Complaint Review: Hertz Rent-a-car

An online rental car deal was found and paid $192.55 via Hotwire for Hertz rental car. Hertz billed an additional $156.25.

The following email was sent to Hertz on December 18th.

"To Whom it may Concern; We recently took a vacation in Maui. Prior to the trip, I reserved and paid for a Hertz rental car through Hotwire (#G0332xxxxxx) - We were charged $192.55 up front for a mid-size car.

Upon arriving at the (extremely crowded) Hertz rental agency in Maui, we used your computer customer service to complete our transaction.

Per your offsite customer service representative, there were no mid-size alternatives. We reluctantly went with the 'upgrade' of a Ford Escape and even more reluctantly accepted the $5 increase in charges (not to mention the huge increase in gas prices) to avoid holding up the increasingly long line behind us.

Upon our return, our bank statement shows we were charged not only through Hotwire ($192.55), but also through Hertz ($156.25). I am willing to accept the huge increase in gas prices for this vehicle, but I am unwilling to accept any additional charges that Hertz has charged to my credit card bill.

Please remove these charges immediately or provide a magic explanation for said fees incurred by Hertz."

There was correspondance mediated with the BBB regarding this, but no negotiation or resolution was made.

"We regret you found our previous response unsatisfactory.  However, the rental information available to us does not indicate a refund is due.  Although this is not the preferred resolution, we hope you will understand our position in this matter.
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Here are some BBB statistics about Hertz: