Check your Hertz rate!

[leebee]

I just got an email from mousesavers.com saying that Hertz has changed their discount program through mousesavers.com and are now charging a much higher rate than before. This change has been applied to ALL reservations made with the mousesavers discount, not just new reservations going forward. Better check your reservation/rate if you made it through mousesavers; you might be in for a not-so-happy surprise.
By the way... NOT a cool move on Hertz's part!

 

[Brer Chump]

It was discussed in this thread. A Hertz renter discovered their reserved rate was raised without notice when Hertz cancelled the Mousesavers code.

 

[leebee]

It was discussed in this thread. A Hertz renter discovered their reserved rate was raised without notice when Hertz cancelled the Mousesavers code.

Sorry, I didn't see the thread anywhere. I JUST got the email from Hertz and wanted to give folks here the heads-up.

 

[katallo]

I received this email as well. I’m trying to learn about the cancellation policy since you have to prepay. It does say you can’t cancel a reservation through the rental car company. We are driving with friends but want our own car when we arrive.

 

[Capt_BJ]

I recently did a week long rental thru Hertz.

The discount I got with my AAA membership paid for a year of AAA membership . . .

 

[Patrick Gavin]

I just an 8 day rental for $206 from budget. This cant be real lol

 

[katallo]

I'm in the process. Have you found the cancellation info?

 

[mdurette]

I just priced out a Thanksgiving trip and the price was insanely low via the UT link. Like, too good to be true low. But, I'm not a fan of having to prepay this reservation......
I jumped over here to see if anyone else has experience with UT and prepay/cancellation.

 

[katallo]

Ditto. I did a chat but have not had a response yet

 

[katallo]

The only thing I have found so far is there are free cancellations but you cancel through their website not the rental car site

 

[mdurette]

Playing with their site on a different browser that isn't linked with MS, they offer both prepay and pay later option. But, when I price it out, price goes up to where it should be. States I could save $1000 on the rental (which would bring in down to the insane rate) if I buy a ticket.

 

[Patrick Gavin]

The only thing I have found so far is there are free cancellations but you cancel through their website not the rental car site

I looked back and everybody who cancelled said they got their money back when cancelling. Im going 9/30-10/8.
Cheapest rate i got was $520, and that was 4 months ago. Cheapest now using autoslash is $700.
May hang on to my both ressies and wait on feedback.

 

[katallo]

I don't usually rely on yelp reviews but there are some negatives about additional fees added when they picked up a car. I wish customer service would have answered but I might pass.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I just priced out a Thanksgiving trip and the price was insanely low via the UT link. Like, too good to be true low. But, I'm not a fan of having to prepay this reservation......
I jumped over here to see if anyone else has experience with UT and prepay/cancellation.

I had an Alamo booking made via UT (so prepaid but refundable). We usually rent from Alamo using Costco. I continued checking and the Costco/Alamo rate dropped below the rate we had from UT, so I grabbed that. This was about a week before we were starting our trip. Sent an email to UT to cancel the prepaid booking; received a prompt reply (I think it arrived in under an hour, actually) from UT confirming and noting that I should watch for the refund to my credit card; had the refund posted less than 24 hours later. I have used UT to purchase WDW park tickets without any problems, always finding their customer service to be good.

We generally prefer booking Alamo, either directly or via Costco, since either way we can use the Insider feature of skipping the counter when picking up the cars at participating locations (and MCO is one such). The prepaid UT reservation did not allow me to add skip the counter to my booking, so that was less attractive. When the Alamo/Costco dropped enough to be even less than the UT rate, I was happy to rebook and even happier that the UT refund process was so straightforward.

 

[sophy1996]

I had an Alamo booking made via UT (so prepaid but refundable). We usually rent from Alamo using Costco. I continued checking and the Costco/Alamo rate dropped below the rate we had from UT, so I grabbed that. This was about a week before we were starting our trip. Sent an email to UT to cancel the prepaid booking; received a prompt reply (I think it arrived in under an hour, actually) from UT confirming and noting that I should watch for the refund to my credit card; had the refund posted less than 24 hours later. I have used UT to purchase WDW park tickets without any problems, always finding their customer service to be good.

We originally booked a car rental through UT and then decided to cancel. Our experience was the same -- prompt acknowledgement and refund.

As for the insanely low prices, though, I found yesterday if you go all the way through and check out, you may find that the car rental doesn't go through. We had a good price, but then the car rental was removed at checkout as being unavailable. So just because you see a quote on the page initially doesn't mean you're going to be able to make that reservation.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, I had posted to the old thread and mentioned my previous reservation had gone from under $600 to over $1600 for a week. Now, I see it's almost $2200 after checking the reapplication of Mousesavers discounts. I love Hertz's Math for how they applied discounts.

Needless to say, they are on my "never rent again for as long as I live list", while Alamo remains on my "I love them forever list" - I got a rental from them a few weeks ago for $880...still almost $300 more than the original res, but they didn't screw me, and they don't seem to be engaging in car rental's version of straight usury for Las Vegas right now...

I am gonna hold my Hertz res to the last minute to see if a. there's more pressure for them to fix this, and b. if not, they won't be able to rent this car last minute (since I have a nighttime arrival)...

 

[EACarlson]

So, I had posted to the old thread and mentioned my previous reservation had gone from under $600 to over $1600 for a week. Now, I see it's almost $2200 after checking the reapplication of Mousesavers discounts. I love Hertz's Math for how they applied discounts.

Needless to say, they are on my "never rent again for as long as I live list", while Alamo remains on my "I love them forever list" - I got a rental from them a few weeks ago for $880...still almost $300 more than the original res, but they didn't screw me, and they don't seem to be engaging in car rental's version of straight usury for Las Vegas right now...

I am gonna hold my Hertz res to the last minute to see if a. there's more pressure for them to fix this, and b. if not, they won't be able to rent this car last minute (since I have a nighttime arrival)...

This is actually one of the reasons why rates are so high and rentals are difficult to find in Vegas right now. So many people having multiple reservations they don't intend to keep. Glad you could screw someone else who follows the rules they agreed to out of a car. Now I really hope the rental car companies start charging rack rates for one night for everyone who doesn't show up for their rentals, like they agreed to when they made the reservation. It's Vegas, someone will always be looking for a car.

 

[TwoMisfits]

This is actually one of the reasons why rates are so high and rentals are difficult to find in Vegas right now. So many people having multiple reservations they don't intend to keep. Glad you could screw someone else who follows the rules they agreed to out of a car. Now I really hope the rental car companies start charging rack rates for one night for everyone who doesn't show up for their rentals, like they agreed to when they made the reservation. It's Vegas, someone will always be looking for a car.

Nah, Hertz could have kept my rate and I'd have rented it. This is the 1st time I've ever had 2 reservations for a car rental. This is also the 1st time my rate has ever changed, and it's a spectacular, customer-unfriendly change. Hertz can lose my original $591 b/c they were so greedy they want $2200 now. And no one is gonna rent for $2200 now in Vegas, so no customer is losing out...

AKA - If you want to blame someone for ridiculous rates, blame Hertz, b/c they won't honor theirs...

PS - And Mousesavers itself said do NOT cancel until all the rates shake out (which apparently can take days), and I have less than 3 weeks to go...not my fault Hertz is screwing itself last minute...

 

[EACarlson]

Nah, Hertz could have kept my rate and I'd have rented it. This is the 1st time I've ever had 2 reservations for a car rental. This is also the 1st time my rate has ever changed, and it's a spectacular, customer-unfriendly change. Hertz can lose my original $591 b/c they were so greedy they want $2200 now. And no one is gonna rent for $2200 now in Vegas, so no customer is losing out...

AKA - If you want to blame someone for ridiculous rates, blame Hertz, b/c they won't honor theirs...

PS - And Mousesavers itself said do NOT cancel until all the rates shake out (which apparently can take days), and I have less than 3 weeks to go...not my fault Hertz is screwing itself last minute...

You're not screwing Hertz, you're screwing other people that can't get a car to rent because you are holding two reservations at least one of which you won't use. This drives prices up for everyone and causes rental car companies to overbook. Hertz deosn't need to rent that car for $2200, although they might, especially in Vegas. If Hertz rents that car for $800, it's still a net win for them and the next customer will probably abide by the rules they agreed to. Alamo did the same thing to me last year, raised my rate on an already booked rental when my CDP expired and was renegotiated, you going to not rent from them for doing the same thing?

 

[TwoMisfits]

You're not screwing Hertz, you're screwing other people that can't get a car to rent because you are holding two reservations at least one of which you won't use. This drives prices up for everyone and causes rental car companies to overbook. Hertz deosn't need to rent that car for $2200, although they might, especially in Vegas. If Hertz rents that car for $800, it's still a net win for them and the next customer will probably abide by the rules they agreed to. Alamo did the same thing to me last year, raised my rate on an already booked rental when my CDP expired and was renegotiated, you going to not rent from them for doing the same thing?

And instead, they'll rent it for $0. I got my "improved rate" yesterday of $1800. Needless to say, I sent their CS an email back - and it's says 7-10 business days for a response...which will be about the day before my trip. I even mentioned they could rent it for $591, or I'd continue to share my story far and wide on the internet. It's one thing to change a rate with no notice (since their email does not mention my res number and goes to spam, since it has a generic spam-looking title), it's another thing to quadruple it, and then say, well, how about we call it more than triple as a new agreement...

I hope they forever go out of business...I care little for a company with these business practices just like their actions show they care little about me.

Nothing you say on that point will change my mind. I don't want folks to rent from Hertz b/c I want them to cease to exist and let someone with more honest customer practices take their business space...

PS - I've rented for more than 2 decades...their actions were a 1st...and they need to be a last. It would a great example to all rental care companies that this kinda practice puts you out of business...