Hertz Rent2Buy Review - Part 2 - Don't You WANT To Sell Me A Car?

So in my last post, I talked about how I wanted to buy a car from Hertz Rent2Buy.  I had settled on a VW Routan and had found one near me in New Haven. 

I signed up with the program and signed up to rent the car the next day.  I took the bus to work that day and planned to get a ride with a coworker to New Haven the next day.  I live in the Hartford area.  I cancelled weekend plans, as the pickup day was Thursday, so I would have the weekend to evaluate it with my family.

I got a call from the Rent2Buy agent on Thursday saying that they were confirming the car would be available.  Later I was called by both the local agency and the Rent2Buy rep that the car was actually out on a rental.  I asked when it was due in, and they said Tuesday the following week.  I took the bus home that evening, and ended up walking from the stop to my house in the pouring rain.  I was frustrated and disappointed, but decided to give the program another chance.  I signed up to rent the same vehicle the following Thursday.  Again, I cancelled weekend plans.

I was called on Wednesday of that next week and was told that the car had been returned, but that the windshield had a ding, and that the car was “shaking.”  It was going in for maintenance for a new windshield and for an alignment.  That night, I decided I was no longer interested in that vehicle, as new windshields can leak and whistle, and alignments don’t typically cure a shaking problem.  

I looked on the website again and found a similar vehicle in Boston.  I signed up that night to rent it on Friday, September 24, 2010 at 4pm, the latest time available from the website.

Thursday morning, I got a call from Rent2Buy that they were checking on the availability of the car, but that the local agency “couldn’t find it”.  They said they would call later that day to let me know about availability.  I told them that I was traveling 2 hours to the Boston location, and needed advanced warning.  They said not to go until I heard from them and that they would call later that day.

I heard nothing and at 3:30 I decided to call again.  Again, they checked with the local agency, and was again told that they were still “looking for the car”.  How do you lose a car, I thought to myself.  Anyway, I waited for another call and didn’t get one that day.

Friday morning, I called around 9:30am.  They said they had called and again told me they couldn’t “find the car.”  I again told them about my distance from the vehicle, and was told that they wouldn’t be calling the local agency as they were “working on it.”  

I waited as long as I could.  At 1:30, I had still not heard anything, so I called the local agency.  They knew who I was and that I was looking for the Volkswagen Routan.  The agent there told me that it was out on rental, and that computer problems had stopped them from updating the system.  They said they had explained this to the Rent2buy agent.  I asked when it was returning, and the agent said Saturday or Sunday, and I asked him to confirm exactly when it was due.  He told me that the car was coming in on Saturday, but that it was being returned to Providence and so would not be coming back to Boston.  

I called Rent2Buy and the agent said that they were still waiting to hear from the local agency.  They asked to put me on hold while they checked again, but I told them not to, as I knew where the car was, when it was coming back, and where it was being dropped off.  How could it be that I could get this information but they could not?  

I asked to speak to a manager, but everyone was “out to lunch” and was told the best way to lodge my complaint was to send an email.  So that is what I did. 

I wrote a long email explaining that they had used up their 3 strikes and that I was done playing this cat and mouse game.  I was utterly exasperated.  I told them in the email that they needed to get the car to me, rather than me chasing it down.  I gave them my cell number and told them to call me that day if they wanted to try and fix this.  If they were going to call and make excuses, I told them not to bother.

I missed the call, but Colleen called me that same day.  She left me a message telling me that she worked in the corporate office, that they had gotten my email, and that she was one of the people who fixed things for people like me who had the system break down on them.  She said that she KNEW she could get me a car.  I tried to call her back that night but it was Friday after all, and she had already left for the day.

I decided to call her back on Monday, and see what she could do for me.  It turned out that she was able to turn this whole mess around for me.  

More about my friend Colleen and the rest of the story next time.

TTFN