Hertz - Newcastle Airport

Utterly disgusted - Avoid

Due to an internal 'mishap' on their side, I was unable to return a rented car as booked (the planned drop off location was locked up, and info regarding 'out of hours' drop off was not available).

After multiple phone calls to a selection of their helplines, I finally got through to a representative who advised me to drop the car at a different location one day later. I was assured by phone and email that I would not be charged for late drop off or the fuel used to get to the suggested drop off location. I dropped the car off as discussed with their representative, and then (Surprise!) had a penalty for not filling the car land on my credit card (in direct contradiction to their previous commitment).

After having to mind their car for an extra day, change my travel plans, pay for parking, forgo a pre-paid train ticket, make ten phone calls, and the associated headache, I will now have to engage in a tedious back-and-forth with their "customer service" team while their unjust penalty sits on my credit card bill. I don't know what the end result will be, but it's now apparent that Hertz is the type of organisation to attempt to charge customers for their internal failings. I am utterly disgusted and will never use their services again.

My advice to potential customers: Hertz appears to operate a policy of "if in doubt, throw a penalty on the customer credit card". If you value your money and sanity, STAY FAR FAR AWAY.

Not very friendly welcome. When you return the car in the torrential rain there was nobody in the office which is a trek from the airport. You have to wait around until the car is checked instead of insitu. Poor.

Terrible,
Apparently according to Lee Hertz check in assistant, if you have some sellotape on your original paper license it is defaced and flatly refuses the car you have prepaid for. With no refund just tough!
Don t use Hertz

Worst customer service experience of my life. My husband and I had reserved an automatic car and it took the lady over 40 minutes to get us the keys. In those 40 minutes she managed to make us feel like children, speak to us in the most condescending tone I've ever heard, and question our income. She pressured us into getting the full coverage insurance because we wouldn't be able to afford to pay off the $33,000 car if we got in an accident. We were so exhausted after our long flight that we just agreed to get her out of our hair. She actually made us feel horrible and stupid for not wanting the insurance. I'm never using hertz again and neither is anyone I know. Nothing less than a full refund of the insurance we were pressured into would make up for this experience. Hertz does not deserve us as customers. They need to train their staff better!!

I had left a similar review on Yelp about this nonsense car rental disaster. I don't know where to start. I traveled to Newcastle from the US. The first person I spoke to was a Hertz representative. She is a older, soft spoken lady. My goodness, she was so condescending. I was there with my wife, and we had a vehicle reserved. She nearly forced the vehicle insurance on us, which was more than the car rental itself. She asked us, "If the car is damaged, how will you pay for it? Do you know the price of this car, it's expensive." I understand that it's a good idea to have insurance, but the way she guilted us into purchasing the insurance, it felt like a con. She spoke down on my wife and I like we we delinquents. I was, and still am, confused as to why the insurance was more than the rental. Before we received the total cost of the rental, the Hertz rep. took nearly 10 minutes of silent research before giving us the total price. I was absolutely astonished by this woman's lack of professionalism and condescending speech towards us.
As for the car, we didn't get the one that we settled for months in advance. The GPS didn't work, the USB charging port didn't work. I called the customer service line, which cost me international phone minutes. I was transfered to a representative in Newcastle, but then was promptly hung up on. Now I have to wait until I am back in the states to file a complaint with Hertz.
Travelers need working cars, if the GPS does not work, we need to resort to using our phone GPS using international data! If the USB charging port doesn't work to keep our phone alive, then we may be stranded in a country that we don't know well. Very poor show, Hertz, please do your part!