Warning: Ensure Your Rental Car Reservation is definitely Canceled – Otherwise…

“I was designed to go to Might fourteen days ago. I had to cancel the trip last minute after i got stuck at work. I canceled my flights and designed to cancel my car but I think now I forgot. Last week I got a call from Hertz that I'd never returned my rental. I called back and was told the phone call was made in my experience by mistake. Today I got an e-mail from Hertz with my e-mail statement of charges. Apparently they think I picked up a Hyundai Sonata at 12:30 PM Friday the 18th and brought it back Saturday the 19th after putting 473 miles onto it. I had been even thanked for using Express Return. Why the e-mail only got to me today I'm not sure.”

Because reservations to rent cars usually can be canceled without any penalty, forgetting about canceling a reservation isn't unusual – and what typically happens is the reservation simply expires with no adverse consequences for the renter of the vehicle…

Warning: Ensure Your Car rental Reservation is definitely Canceled – Otherwise…

…but the experience as imparted by FlyerTalk member CMK10 demonstrates what could possibly happen when you forget to cancel your rental car reservation – there could possibly be reason to be concerned when “After calling Hertz they investigated it and reversed the charge thankfully however i wonder how someone was able to obtain the car out without one verifying they weren't me.”

That is a good question – particularly when CMK10 isn't the only person to which it has happened.

A similar situation was experienced by FlyerTalk member rjburns – who's a member of Presidents Circle with Hertz – at Washington Dulles International Airport earlier this year: “I called, wrote and emailed but Hertz never refunded me. Never returned a call or taken care of immediately multiple attempts to reach them. So I disputed in with Visa and also got my refund that way. In September, Hertz suspended my rental privileges, closed my Hertz rewards account.”

Even whenever you canceled your car rental reservation, similar issues can continue to occur. “I canceled my Friday evening reservation on Friday morning, so that you can imagine my shock visiting a statement of charges email as I'm waiting to board EWR-BOS 200 miles from the car which i had allegedly just returned”, FlyerTalk member aindfan posted regarding a reservation to book a car this past September at Logan International Airport in Boston. “Since customer service was closed for the weekend already which was supposedly the only department who may help (huh?), I went to Hertz as soon as I arrived in BOS to work through the costs. Nobody had any capacity to wipe away the fraudulent record, however the shift lead zeroed the total amount around the rental so I wasn't charged.”

That great news must have been the end of the situation for aindfan, who had been charged for tolls weeks later. A couple weeks of “going backwards and forwards with @Hertz on Twitter” elapsed prior to the toll charges were finally refunded.

“Happened to me at the end of October this season with HOU reservation which i forgot to cancel. Sent an e-mail to Hertz immediately once the return receipt came to my inbox. Took Hertz Fourteen days to reply. Then another two weeks for that charge reverse to appear in my account”, posted FlyerTalk member CalItalian. “My reservation was for return 1 week later at the same station, HOU, but around the receipt it was returned at AUS Five days after pick up. Over $550 in charges.”

Not Only Hertz

Hertz is not the only rental car company that people in FlyerTalk have handled this issue. Think about the experience with FlyerTalk member gary_nj, whose reservation was booked to book an automobile in a “small station” with National Rental car but at least had the problem resolved with little effort: “I did not cancel the reservation, and when I turned up, the agent said, 'But you already took your vehicle.' After assuring him that I didn't, he was a bit nervous. He had manually rented all of the cars which were dispatched that morning, also it was pretty clear that my ID matched my name, and that he didn't recognize me to be any of the earlier renters.”

FlyerTalk member lit experienced a similar issue with Avis last month – and also the reservation wasn't paid entirely ahead of time. “I booked on avis.com directly and didn't get, but Avis charged to my credit card on file and emailed us a statement of charges.”

Speaking of Avis, the opposite situation occurred with FlyerTalk member SceneStealer7. “I didn’t like my assigned car and also the agent reassigned me a different one (not in the exchange aisle, but in a normal row). I went through the gate, showed my ID, plus they waved me through. The next day, I acquired a typical courtesy email from Avis saying they were sorry I had no-showed my reservation. I contacted to confirm which i did actually get my car, and learned that my car was marked as examined to a person else. To make matters worse, I'm a female and also the person whose car I took was named something similar to David, so pretty obviously men! Complete fail using the ID check that day. They were given it exercised without my having to return to Avis, however i always wondered what can have happened if I hadn't said something rather than went back.”

I wonder the same thing, SceneStealer7.

“I'm Blue Chip, and turned up, but my name wasn't on the monitor. The agent in the lot was somewhat puzzled, but found my reservation, cut me a contract, offered me a car, and off I went for a 5-day rental”, posted FlyerTalk member garkster, who rented from Thrifty Car Rental – that is a division of Hertz after the acquisition was completed on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 – at its location in the international airport which serves the greater Houston metropolitan area. “Imagine my surprise when, about 2 days later, I got an e-mail closing out my rental. Not the same car, different rental agreement, etc. I called immediately, got a C/S agent, informed her the story, including the part about what car I personally did rent, and when, since i have didn't arrive at IAH until a good Forty-five minutes following the car was acquired. She gave me a case # and had the charges reversed.”

Wondering how this incident could have took place the initial place, garkster continued that “At that location, they are doing bring your driver's license when exiting the lot, so it’s beyond me how my reserved car was taken by someone else, who obviously didn’t have my license, and also got out. Very sloppy. With no indication (apparently) in their system that the car had recently been acquired using my reservation.”