Hertz subcontracting with AI scam “damage scanner”
I wish I had checked this subreddit first because I have rented with Hertz several times over the years and this is a new issue.
We picked up a car Logan Airport at around noon and drove through their new exit scanner. We had the car for 3 days, with minimal driving and no incidents. Fortunately I had noticed a few small but deep scratches at pickup and took a video.
About 30 minutes after dropping off the car and being told I was all set, I received a text and email stating that I needed to pay them $650 in damages identified by the scanner, and that if I didn’t “act immediately”, I’d be subject to additional fees and charges.
I was already on the bus to the terminal so I hopped on the chat feature - which is now 100% AI. Then I called the hotline, also AI. There was no avenue to reach a human. The AI response ignored the video evidence I provided that the same scratch was very much there when I picked up the car initially. From the looks of the pictures, the light reflecting through the parking garage was different and made the scratch look ever so slightly more prominent.
Thankfully I had enough time to turn back around to the rental car facility and go track down the gentleman I had handed the keys to at drop off. I’m not going to mention his name because I’m afraid Hertz will punish him for helping me out of this mess.
He took a look at the car, then my picture, apologized profusely- said this whole system was an absolute mess that has doubled his workload, and took care of removing the charge immediately.
The scary part of this is that had I been in a hurry and unable to turn around, it is very clear I would have had NO recourse to avoid this ridiculous charge.
We cancelled our other Hertz reservation for the second half of our vacation and will absolutely never give them a dime again. Not just because of how this system harms customers, but also the harm it is causing their direct customer contact employees.