An Atlanta man is speaking out after he says a mistake from an employee at a Philadelphia Hertz rental car location nearly cost him $11,000.
Chad Oliver says the ordeal began the morning of May 11 when he returned his rental car to the Hertz location at the Philadelphia International Airport after a trip in Philly.
“I was running late for my flight that morning,” Oliver said. “I called the Philly airport location to ask to see if I could park the car at the airport parking deck.”
According to Oliver, a woman working at the store told him he could leave the car at the parking deck though there would be additional charges, to which he agreed.
“When I landed back home I got a call from Hertz asking about the rental,” Oliver said. “I told them again specifically where the car was. The lady said, ‘Okay, thanks, we will go get it.’”
Oliver forgot about the incident until 28 days later when he received a call from Hertz’s recovery corporate office stating his rental car still had not been returned.
“I tell [[the employee]] everything I explained twice to the Philly location,” Oliver said. “I even emailed [[the employee]] a picture of the car and the spot it was parked. Within 18 hours the car was returned.”
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Yet Oliver says the situation grew far worse when he discovered the company had charged his debit card $11,000 without his authorization.
“It’s insane,” Oliver said. “How can a company like you not even contact me when the car was not returned within 10 days? You waited 28 days to contact me.”
Oliver posted his story on the Hertz Facebook page on Friday, stating he believed the employee he initially spoke with forgot about his rental car and was trying to cover up the mistake.
“During that phone call the lady at Hertz I believe now is trying to cover up her mess up and forgot to go get the car or just swept it under the rug,” he said. “Don’t you think if the car was gone for more than five to ten days somebody would have contacted me? Instead of waiting 28 days. Something unlawful is going on here and charging me $11,000 without my authorization is unethical business practices from such a company.”
Within a half hour after he posted his story on their Facebook page, an employee with Hertz replied, sparking a long public exchange. After several back and forth replies, a Hertz employee wrote to Oliver on Sunday that the company was unable to refund him.
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused,” the employee wrote. “As advised, we're unable to offer any refund. You will not be contacted by the manager. This has been reviewed by upper management and it has been decided no compensation is due.”
“Then why did you tell me a regional manager would contact me?” Oliver replied. “Then now all of a sudden ‘nope, nobody is contacting me.’ Hertz you lied straight to me. It would have been nice to actually speak to somebody instead of getting a notification via Facebook. What happened to emails or getting a phone call?”
Finally on Tuesday, Oliver announced he had been fully refunded.
“They just credited me back fully,” Oliver wrote. “Because this blew up. Thank you everybody. Cheers to the new age. I’m tired. Logging off for a while.”
Hertz issued this statement in response to NBC10's request for comment calling the incident "outside-of-the-norm:"
Mr. Oliver’s situation has been resolved, and he has expressed that he’s very satisfied with the outcome. We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication that may have caused confusion and distress for Mr. Oliver. The situation stemmed from an outside-of-the-norm process of returning a rental car to airport parking and some miscommunication as to where and when it was deposited. In order to refund Mr. Oliver, our operations team needed documentation and records to confirm his contact with Hertz managers that he returned his vehicle to airport parking on the contracted return date, causing some delay.
