Hertz Rent A Car

The workers at this location are super rude and have absolutely no customer service skills at all! Hate to say it but I have to call it as I saw it when I was there, if you’re not African American you are getting some real bad service. You will be helped with an attitude!

This was my first time renting a car from Hertz (Berkeley Branch) and they were phenomenal on the process and choice of the car. I chose Hertz based on the waiving of the «Young Driver’s Fee» for Berkeley students, and they came through!
Even though it was very busy at the time that I arrived (Friday 4:00PM), I waited about 15 – 20 minutes to be helped since there were many people and it was busy hour for them, so I did not mind at all.
The employee that helped me was a young African American male who was super cool and nice about my first time at Hertz, and showed me the availability of cars and had great recommendations on the choices and the type of car I would like. I wish I remembered his name to give him thanks, but he walked me through the process and there were no hidden fees from Hertz! I definitely recommend Hertz to others, and I will be back for sure! Thank you Hertz-​Berkeley Branch!

First and foremost. I hate Unilocalers. Most are full of shit, real angry, can’t be pleased, hence my name… I’m here to speak truth. Jason and Marquesha held their cool amongst many disgruntled customers. Respect. More resos than cars available since others didn’t return in time. We waited it out and got in one within the hour. Great customer service by these two. Everyone really. I’ll be back, even if I have to wait again amongst the lynch mob.

I am used to picking up rental cars at the airport where they are accustomed to hurried business travelers. When I went to Hertz in Berkeley, I expected the same. I was a little rude to the people working at the desk because I had to wait about 10 minutes. However, the clerks explained that they have a different customer base and that many of the customers are getting a rental car for a long period of time while their own cars are being repaired. I got the car I had reserved, which was fine and clean. The rental cost was reasonable for a week. The desk clerks were very nice and professional even though I was initially a jerk. I would rent from this place again!

The worse rental experience I ever have, I will not go back to that location any more.
1. If you scheduled a pickup, don’t wait, they will never show up.
I reserved the car at this location and called to schedule a pickup. At that time, I was so naïve, I was waiting at my apartment and waiting for their call. But after 30min, no one called. I have to use my car one hour later. So I called the location again, they told me the driver is on the way, will pick me up after 10min, but after another 30min, still no one showed up. So I took the taxi by myself. I found that there was actually no driver going out to pick anyone up. They just lied to me.
2. When I got there, the place was full of people. Obviously, they took too many reservation so that they don’t have enough car to rent out. None of us got the car when want to reserve, they just gave you any car they have. I have to say the manager has very bad management skill.
3. I don’t have time to reserve another car in another location since they wasted too much of my time. So I took the car they gave me, an old (2014), dirty car with empty tank. I didn’t notice that the tank was empty and they told me the tank was full. Lier!!! So I have to fill the car by myself. When I went back and ask for a refund of the gas, they refused to do it. They said you should just fill $ 5 to the car. We cannot do anything.
In summary, this place disgusted me!!!

The people were very friendly and helpful. It could not have been a better car rental experience.

Stop giving these clowns your money.
Their cars are old, shitty, and dirty. We stopped by here to exchange a rental for another because the first car we got had a piece falling off. The car they gave us was filthy. I asked for another car and the guy said they were ALL dirty. How are you still in business? You need to clean your cars before you rent them – that is pretty much the least you can do.
We have a baby and didn’t feel good about putting her in a filthy car. We had to take a much smaller car that looked like it was made in the late 90s. It wasn’t clean (as promised) but it was less dirty, which is the best that you can expect from this shit business.

Rude, terrible service called on the phone to get a car and the service person acted like I was really inconveniencing him. I am guessing they are way under staffed and hire from the bottom of the barrel.

I had a reservation at 3pm. I called at 2:30 to ask about extending a day. I was on hold for over 8 minutes. So I hung up and headed to hertz. I arrived shortly after 3 o’clock, got the keys to the car which was filthy both inside and out! There was dirt and grass and twigs in every crevice of the seats, And I could feel my allergies acting up right away. I walked in and waited in line again they said that they would give me the smaller car or I would have to wait 10 to 15 minutes for them to clean the car.
I explained that I was on a time constraint expected the reservation to be ready at 3:00. The lady behind the counter explained that I was late for my reservation… That doesn’t really explain why they gave me a filthy car, I guess they had extra time to clean it didn’t they? Also had I not waited on the phone for 10 minutes I probably would’ve been on time. I was no more than eight minutes after three, and I’m still sitting here at 3:58 waiting for a car on a Wednesday afternoon.
I now need to figure out a way to get my other car because the other driver cannot wait the full hour here to get my car that I reserved.
I guess they won’t reimburse me for The gas, or a cab to pick up my other car.

Avoid Avoid Avoid. Absolutely awful service. We arrived to see a long line at the location. We got in it. It did not move. We asked one of the mechanic guys what was up and he told us there were only THREE serviceable cars on the lot (about 12 groups in line!). We waited 2 HOURS. Someplace in the middle of that time we approached the counter to ask, politely, about whether we’d be able to get a car sometime soon. We were told they thought a few might be coming in and to get back in line. We then called Hertz, they simply referred us to the location manager — who answered with voicemail.
Eventually several people in front of us in line decided it was useless and left (they were really mad and spouting profanity). Another man in front of us got to the counter, after 2 hours, and was told that his reservation had mysteriously been canceled. No sympathy from the agent. He left without a car. A while later, a few cars came in and, because so many had left at that point, we amazingly got to the front of the line. We were then greeted by a snotty agent who said «See!!! You are going to get a car after all!»
Wow! Shame on us! I guess we had somehow conveyed a little doubt in them and they had gotten offended. So we got on our knees and chanted «Hertz #1! Hertz #1!» (on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being best) and they gave us a car.
The car itself was fine. But you would think the agents might have been more apologetic about the lengthy delay, or perhaps, as fellow human beings, would have thought, «gee there are folks waiting for cars for hours, perhaps we should at least let them know what is up?»
Bottom line — Hertz should CLOSE this location and fire the employees. Please end the pain and do not rent there.

Seeing as I left such a stellar review last time, I decided to rent from Hertz again. Overall my experience picking up my car was great. The girl who helped me at the front desk was very conversational and gave great customer service. This time I got a Mitsubishi Mirage and I was very impressed by the gas mileage. It did the job just fine!
When I came back, I could see what the other comments are mentioning about the customer service in times of stress. When I arrived and checked the car in, the employee was very distant and blasé. A contrast to my check-​in. When I got in, I could tell that they were dealing with an issue with another customer. I know all about that myself, but it seemed like they were focused on this customer.
They didn’t offer me a ride back this time. I think it was because they were talking about other pick ups they had as well as driving the problematic customer to another location? Again, it was none of my business, but they were so focused on all this, I noticed.
Over all, it only makes me drop one star. I feel like there are management problems that are creating this type of stress rather than this being the fault of the employees. I still feel like I got the best bang out of my buck.

Have rented car from this place quite a few times. I found their prices to be higher than other locations, even though they claim otherwise. During the weekends, the long can get pretty long, and you might need to wait from half an hour to hour and a half. They need to hire more people since this place is usually run by two people (very understaffed).
The staff here are rude and unfriendly. I understand that when you are understaffed and need to handle a lot of customers you become frustrated, but I don’t think you should reflect that to your customers. I think the only reason that this place has a lot of customers is that there are not that many alternatives around this area. As far as their cars go, the first time that I rented car from this place, the car had an unpleasant smell to it, and made a weird sound when you pushed the break pedal. So, I was a bit scared thorough out my whole trip that the car would bail on me.
Avoid this place if you have other options, but if you have plenty of time to wait in a line and willing to pay a not so fair amount of money to rent a car then this place is not a terrible option, and might help you in times that you really really need a car.

Terrible customer service– no greeting at all, from the clerks. This is a insurance coverage deal, for my husband. Good cars, just no communication between me, the customer who is getting the car.

I recently used Hertz for a four-​day trip to LA, and I was really happy with the whole experience. I reserved about a week ahead of time online, and I used the UC Berkeley group code (for students, staff, or faculty) for really great savings!
This particular HLE is great because it accommodates underage drivers. (I was 20 years old at the time.) I also wanted my friends to help drive on the trip, and I just had to have my friends with me at pickup time to sign contracts. There was no additional fee for adding these drivers.
After reserving online, I was reviewing the confirmation email, and noticed that I got charged $ 23.25 for an additional hour because I had set pickup to 11:30 AM and return time to 12 PM four days later. I realized that I only needed to change the return time to 30 minutes earlier to avoid paying $ 23.25.
There was no way to modify my reservation online, so I had to call a 1 – 800 number and was pleasantly surprised to get almost immediate service. The lady I was speaking to was very helpful and immediately understood why I wanted to change my return time by 30 minutes. The whole call took less than five minutes, and I immediately got email confirmation of the itinerary change.
I ended up paying only $ 278.80 for a compact car for four days with full insurance. My friend who reserved with a different company for the same trip was quoted a much higher price, so I convinced him to switch to Hertz, where he saved several hundred dollars.
I signed up for the free home pick-​up service when I reserved online and received a confirmation call several hours prior to confirm the time and location. I also asked them to pick up my two friends (who were going to sign the contract to drive as additional drivers), and they were accommodating about this. I liked the punctuality of the home pick-​up.
At the office, there was little if any waiting, and we received our keys less than 20 minutes after arrival. The man that helped me was helpful and explained the various insurance policies to me so that I selected one with full coverage. I also received a free car upgrade to a brand new Nissan Versa. It was a lovely red car that drove really smoothly.
Hertz staff has been courteous and helpful through the whole process. I would definitely rent with Hertz again and encourage my friends to also do so.
I think it really pays off to do your research and reserve early. It can save you a lot of time and money during the rental process, and it helps to be educated about official policies regarding accidents, additional drivers, and insurance.
TIPS:
— Reserve online ahead-​of-​time and use the UC Berkeley group code.
— Read the policies about underage drivers, additional drivers, and insurance online.
— Make sure your pickup/​return times don’t go a little bit over a full day because you’ll be charged for even an extra 30 minutes.
— Sign up for home pick-​up to be driven to the location, which is quite removed from the UC Berkeley campus.

FLAT OUT LIARS! When I first got the rental, I asked them if I could remove the insurance once I found if my auto policy covers me and they said sure anytime. A whole team of spineless employees. I told them to take rental insurance off my account 5 days later since my auto insurance covers me and they assured me they did but didn’t.
The buff black guy who thinks he’s the man is the one I spoke to, reassured me it was removed. I also asked the other black guy with messed up hair and he said I shouldn’t worry. Great! a week later I notice they billed me for the full term!
I confronted both the black guys in front of their manager and they both played dumb. THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THEY DIDN’T REMEMBER SINCE I ASKED THEM BOTH SEVERAL TIMES, might have been high that day, they seemed about as smart as a brick wall.
So they’re denying it and I’m talking to the manager, the white guy who looks like he’s done hard drugs in his younger years, and he say’s all he can do is send in an E-​form and I can deal with billing. Fine, whatever, said to wait a week and give them a call. Slipped my mind and I call back a month later and billing never received the E-​form! This sac of scum, THE MANAGER, also lied to my face in front of all his employees!
My family’s been doing business with their store for almost 10 years. I can’t believe they would treat us this way. We no longer send them customers. There’s plenty of other rental agencies, give them a try. Hope this place gets new management and staff.

By far one of the worst experiences I have had with customer service.
I came to rent a car for a weekend getaway and we’re helped by this young AfAm lady, and her attitude off the bat is quite rude. She tells us that everything might be booked but she’ll «try» in a condescending tone.
I tell her I’m a student at Cal — which I’ve heard from others waives the age fee and gives a discount. She said it only waives the age fee and then quotes us the price of 81/​day for a compact.
I’m a little taken aback and I pull up the pricing on my phone, with a code of course and it comes down to 31/​day for a compact. She says well obviously it’s going to be cheaper online… Do you have a code? I say yes and she says uh huh I thought so that’s why online is always cheaper.
Somehow I think she expected us to know that and the way she presented herself was completely unprofessional and insulting. I’m shocked she didn’t try to suggest how I could get a cheaper rate… I’m a broke college student and I don’t have time to deal with companies that don’t know their consumer base.

The spambot that replies to negative reviews here isn’t going to address any issues.
Seriously, this place is awful.
Before renting from this place, consider that it would be faster to wait for flying cars or people sized vacuum transportation tubes to come along than to wait for these idiots to finish filling out your rental agreement. You’d have a better chance trying to astrally project to your destination than you would of getting the car that you reserved. If you hitchhike to your destination, you’ll definitely be riding in a cleaner car. If you steal a car, the cops will definitely give you friendlier customer service than these clowns.
Awful. Seriously.

They don’t bow and scrape to you with chihuahua grins here but they are straightforward and helpful. Doug let me try 2 cars and made calls to three offices to try to find the model I wanted.
Better to go in person than call, they can be stressed on the phone when they’re busy (I’ve been here twice, my window was smashed with the first rental.)

Due to the unanticipated convergence of a number of unique circumstances, I found myself in need of a rental car on the eve of a long-​planned road trip. This Hertz location is the closest & most convenient of any rental car company for me, so I went online & made a reservation. This Hertz location also offers free customer pick-​up/​drop-​off, so I made an appointment for that as well.
Things did not get off to a good start. The day of my rental, I rushed home to make certain I was there on time for my pick-​up. & then waited. & waited. & waited. The driver finally showed up over an hour late. The driver seemed a little nervous & didn’t provide any reason for being so late. Great. Arriving at the office, things didn’t get any better. There was a line out the door.
Glacial. That was the rate at which the line moved. But I can’t blame the staff for that. I simply could not believe some of the stuff I overheard from prospective renters up at the counter. Yes, there is certain documentation you must have in order to rent a car. Regardless of your needs/​personal situation, no, they will not hand over the keys to a car without knowing who you are/​where you reside/​if you are insured.
It was like crazy town up in there. Come prepared, people. Renting a car isn’t like buying a bag of chips at the corner market. My turn eventually came. I presented my documentation/​information/​reservation & my rental was processed quickly (imagine that). There was 1 snag, however. They no longer had the car I reserved. I originally booked a compact to get higher mpg, but only full-​size was left.
I took it & was glad to have something. Over the course of the road trip, I developed an appreciation for the upgrade. The full-​size car didn’t get the mpg I was looking for when I reserved a compact, but it’s fuel efficiency was better than expected & not significantly worse than a compact. It was also much more comfortable than a compact after many hours on the road.
Returning the car was completely hassle-​free. I got a different driver for the drop-​off back home, who was a lot more on the ball than the pick-​up driver was. Altogether, the whole experience ended up being OK. Really, in spite of the total circus atmosphere to get my rental, I might be inclined to rate this Hertz location 4 stars. Everything did work out fine. But the pick-​up driver being over an hour late for no reason is hard to overlook.

My car was rear-​ended while parked a few weeks ago, and I really dreaded having to go through the process of filing a claim, finding a repair center, scheduling an appointment, getting a rental car, coordinating rides, etc. etc. etc. However, I’m at the tail end of this whole mini-​mess and in retrospect, it wasn’t bad at all.
When my insurance company, State Farm, told me that I could get a rental through Hertz, I immediately jumped on Unilocal to see what locations were nearby, and what other people thought of them. I felt so defeated looking at all the poor reviews that I seriously considered swallowing the full cost of a rental through Enterprise. But come on now. $ 300+ on my own versus close to free (I’d just pay for the $ 9/​day insurance) through Hertz? Yeah… I figured that even if Hertz gave me the royal can-​I-​give-​this-​dump-​0-​stars experience, with all the money I’d save, I’d be able to self-​medicate at Gary freakin’ Danko… after sitting in a waiting list for a few months, right?
Plenty of thanks goes to the Hertz teams at their Auto Row location on Webster in Oakland, and this one on San Pablo in Albany.
Even though I picked up my rental in Oakland, there were no issues with dropping it off in Albany. Life is one heck of a curveball dealing pitcher, though, and when I got to the Albany location at around 8 this morning, I was shocked to find the place packed full of people. I had no idea why they were all there, but I had a sinking feeling that I would be there most of the morning, and would get to work much later than I told my boss I would be in. I could tell that the staff was doing the best they could to handle all of the people there, answer phones, prep cars, etc., so I took a seat and started busying myself with my phone.
Just a few minutes later, though, I heard a man in a blue dress shirt (Jason) ask if there was anyone that wanted to drop off a car. My head shot up and I stood with the car keys in my hand. He greeted me, took the keys, and went outside to bring the car in. After he came back, he went to a computer, printed out my receipt, came over to explain my charges (basically $ 9/​day for insurance — $ 45 total for the week), and asked if I had any questions.
I knew they were stretched thin, but I didn’t know how else I was going to get to Shattuck Auto Center to pick up my car. I asked if it was still possible for them to spare someone to give me a ride over, and without any hesitation at all, he smiled and told me that they’d be happy to.
He introduced me to Lamarr who kindly opened the car door for me (so sweet!), and gave me a ride over. I am a classic introvert and also a person that tends to get really self-​conscious. Lamarr, however, had a very calm demeanor that inspired a lot of confidence in me and actually reminded me a lot of my Dad. We ended up having a great, faith-​in-​humanity-​restoring, conversation on the ride over. How often do you meet a complete stranger and just hit it off? That’s rare in my book, and I enjoyed just hearing him talk about how the Bay Area has changed a lot since he was little.
When we got to Shattuck Auto Center, I received the news that my car would not be ready until later in the afternoon. (Two curveballs in one day, life is on a roll!) Lamarr saw me worriedly look back at him as I debated just going back for the rental. I walked up to him and explained the situation, and immediately he offered to drive me to work. I was so touched by his offer to help me out, but then I remembered that I was 3 blocks from Ashby BART and I work in SF, haha! So I declined his generous gesture and said goodbye as I headed to BART.
I know that other people have had some pretty awful experiences with this place, and I’m not saying that this team is incapable of making mistakes, but I had a flawless experience with folks that went above and beyond, and really made my day a whole lot better. Personally, I know that I have no reservations about coming back to this place or recommending it to friends and family. I hope they have good experiences, too.