Driveme Car rental - HERTZ Charges
Discussion
Hired a car through Driveme who essentially charge you a pound for car hire when moving vehicles 1 way and long distance.
So it was a VW polo through HERTZ to be dropped off to Birmingham Airport the same day. So all went well, collected car fine, dropped car off the same day although the branch was closed and I dropped the keys off in the drop box on a Sunday evening. A few days later I was charged £130 for fuel at £.3.XX a litre plus VAT on top, this after I had topped up the car prior to dropping the car back off and it was full.
So I have disputed it with them but to no avail, unfortunately I mistakenly paid in cash and took no receipt, silly of me Yes but never had this before and have asked the HERTZ customer complaints team to evidence it was not full and they are unable to do so, surely they must provide evidence?
The second ironic part is that when I got the car it had been driven 50+ miles since refuelling and 10 miles into my departure from collecting the car the first bar went off which I thought a bit weird until I checked the trip and seen that I had been short changed 50 miles! Oh the cheek.
So far, complaints department unhelp, google search shows this is widespread and the only company out the UK lot that tries this and got a chargeback with my credit card company.
Really miffed as a £1 hire has now turned into £130 and all at the hands of HERTZ.
Is there anything more I can do here, surely the onus is on HERTZ to provide the fuel discrepancy and not me to provide a reciept as they keep asking.
So it was a VW polo through HERTZ to be dropped off to Birmingham Airport the same day. So all went well, collected car fine, dropped car off the same day although the branch was closed and I dropped the keys off in the drop box on a Sunday evening. A few days later I was charged £130 for fuel at £.3.XX a litre plus VAT on top, this after I had topped up the car prior to dropping the car back off and it was full.
So I have disputed it with them but to no avail, unfortunately I mistakenly paid in cash and took no receipt, silly of me Yes but never had this before and have asked the HERTZ customer complaints team to evidence it was not full and they are unable to do so, surely they must provide evidence?
The second ironic part is that when I got the car it had been driven 50+ miles since refuelling and 10 miles into my departure from collecting the car the first bar went off which I thought a bit weird until I checked the trip and seen that I had been short changed 50 miles! Oh the cheek.
So far, complaints department unhelp, google search shows this is widespread and the only company out the UK lot that tries this and got a chargeback with my credit card company.
Really miffed as a £1 hire has now turned into £130 and all at the hands of HERTZ.
Is there anything more I can do here, surely the onus is on HERTZ to provide the fuel discrepancy and not me to provide a reciept as they keep asking.
Moderator edit: no N&S
Robertb said:
Long shot, but could the petrol station look through their records and see if they can find evidence of your transaction, if you narrow it down to date and approx time?
Was going to try this but it was a small place in Birmingham and don't think they'd be too helpful. Will try this today however.wibble cb said:
Get a receipt for the petrol, and take photo of the full petrol gauge, hasn’t failed me yet
My mistake was trusting HERTZ, I could have easily opted for a flight but took the car for flexibility. Surely in this instance and any, the hire company must prove the car was showing less fuel? I.e. via fuel gauge and mileage, not the other way around.
Sheepshanks said:
Of all the hire companies I've had issues with, Hertz have always sorted things out in the end - but it's always taken a bit of back and forth.
I did appeal to their inner conscience via the customer complaints team to verify this wasn't done in error, but they were not having it. After multiple attempts and multiple complaints team responses I've given up, I don't have the receipt but IMO the onus is on them to prove it incorrect. Not me.caziques said:
If credit card chargeback doesn't work, off to small claims - which is done on the balance of probabilities.
Yep, not going to let them win purely out of principle it's morally wrong to allow them to get away with it.Mad Maximus said:
Shirley it must be on them to prove. Even if the contract states otherwise that may not count as contracts have to be fair. It’s money for you and yours they are stealing. Persist.
Exactly what I thought, the struggle for justice continues.jesusbuiltmycar said:
I used Hertz about 6 years ago on holiday in Cyprus. Upon returning the car with a full tank of petrol the staff member asked for a receipt for the petrol which I did not have. Luckily they warned me that I would be charged for a full tank even though they could clearly see the tank was full.
I ended up dashing back to the petrol station and squeezing €1.50 into it just to get a receipt.
I have never used Hertz since then!
Interestingly their CEO quit recently because their US EV gamble has failed, due to a number of reasons, one of which was that they expected customers to return EVs with a full charge
Judging from all the above it appears this is extremely common malpractice, charge everyone by default then cancel anyone who can prove. Really awful.I ended up dashing back to the petrol station and squeezing €1.50 into it just to get a receipt.
I have never used Hertz since then!
Interestingly their CEO quit recently because their US EV gamble has failed, due to a number of reasons, one of which was that they expected customers to return EVs with a full charge
An update on this, after exchanging multiple emails with customer service and voicing my dismay, they have today emailed saying this was issued incorrectly.
Funnily enough this was initiated from the initial rental branch and they noted the Birmingham branch charged incorrectly.
Saves me the hassle with CC company and all the rest of it so glad they put this right eventually.
Funnily enough this was initiated from the initial rental branch and they noted the Birmingham branch charged incorrectly.
Saves me the hassle with CC company and all the rest of it so glad they put this right eventually.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff