Hertz Rent A Car

We are still waiting to be picked up for our pre-​paid week rental. I called the office to confirm the pick-​up after booking online last week and Daniel assured me that they had our reservation and would call us when they were on their way for our arranged 10 AM pickup. After being ready for our trip and no call or car, I spoke with Robin at the San Ramon Hertz office. She has zero service skills. Told me the driver wasn’t there and they would pick us up when he got there in about 30 min. No apology or explanation. Treated my call as if I had just picked up the phone and wanted to rent a car. Never got a car. Turns out they didn’t have one. Now Hertz refuses to credit the full amount. I didn’t cancel. Do not EVER prepay for the discount. Better yet, don’t do business with HERTZ!

So this review goes out to Nick, who expressed he WAS the general manager of this location. If I could give negative stars, I would. My husband and I have rented from this location 6 – 8 times in the last year. My husband is a gold + member and utilizes Hertz everywhere he goes, as do I.
I work in the customer service industry and my husband has worked in management for years. We generally know what a good customer service experience and ethical business practice look like.
My husband booked for a full size rental car via the website for the San Ramon location (as we always do), then we went for pick up. It is our 13^th wedding anniversary and we were really excited to take a trip out of town to enjoy ourselves and our family. We arrived at the location, I headed out to the pet store to retrieve some items for our pet sitter before our trip and my hubby was retrieving our rental.
My hubby returned to the pet store and was very confused. The location and manager NICK did not have the full size rental we had booked. My husband started explaining that the manager only had a SMALLER size vehicle (an Elantra) that clearly would not fit or accommodate our family. I inquired if my husband had explained this all to the rental agent and explained if a location didn’t have the correct size as agreed, they usually would upgrade is as Hertz in other locations always have. My husband invited me to go and speak with NICK as he appeared rude, inflexible, unaccommodating, and less than helpful. I decided that perhaps I should go and investigate and observe this for myself.
I went in, introduced myself, inquired about our rental and the discrepancy. Nick confirmed there were no full car size rentals available. I understand people can’t make cars appear out of no where if they don’t have them. Nick however offered no hint of customer service skill to is at all at this point. I then tried to lead him down the right path and suggested an upgrade to a different size vehicle, explained our family size, and that we were leaving in a couple of hours for our vacation. This did nothing. I then implored that there must be something else we could do, like calling another location to investigate if they had full size rentals available… all the while trying to leave bread crumbs to follow. He then reluctantly agreed, called the Walnut Creek location, whom said they did not have a rental available. He got off the phone and looked resolved… there was no help he could offer. I then inquired about the Dublin or Pleasanton locations (customer led customer service… and I’m not even paid to do his job for him). He then called Pleasanton, nothing available, and called Dublin, said the number wasn’t even working and then said the location must be closed. I told him I would rather resolve the issue with him, try to work something out rather than reaching out to the face of social media, corporate, facebook, and other means of customer service guidance for the general public and he still seemed less than sympathetic, helpful, or genuinely interested in the problem or helping us.
I then got on the phone, spoke with customer service who seemed more than baffled with two other agents agreeing we should have been upgraded. They also acknowledged they had been receiving MANY complaints about the San Ramon location and their poor customer service. They lodged a complaint with corporate, contacted the Dublin location, reserved a full size for us there, and we drove the 10 miles there to get it.
When we arrived to the Dublin location, they were fabulously accommodating, UPGRADED us to a MINI VAN and begged us to return the vehicle to the Dublin location so they didn’t have to deal with the nightmare that is the San Ramon location (they voiced they are very familiar with how difficult they can be). We agreed and will most likely be traveling to the Dublin location from now on where they seem to have competent and well trained staff.
Thanks Nick, we are hours late for our reservations on our anniversary. It would have taken you five minutes to fix the issues, as others did. I hope corporate takes my review and many of the others on this site as serious as they are and have been most likely chalked up as serendipity or general randomness as I’m sure you and your team have regarded them.
Fellow Unilocalers, avoid this location and NICK like the plague.

Horrible experience. I show up when they open at 7:30 am and it still takes 30 minutes for them to get me the car I reserved. Another guy who showed up after me got his car in 5 minutes and left with the last full size. I get a smaller car than what I reserved with no refund at all. This place is horrible. I will rent somewhere else next time.

All of the negative reviews for this location are well-​deserved as far as I am concerned. Weeks before my rental, I had reserved a full-​size car to ensure our family of four had a comfortable drive to LA. When I arrived, the location had a sign out front that said «Be Back in 10 Minutes». I noticed another man outside the location who said «They went to get my full-​size car» which did not make me optimistic that my car would be available.
Sure enough, when it was my turn at the counter, the agent indicated they did not have the car that I had reserved, making up some excuse that their rentals had not been returned on time.
The agent indicated I could rent an «intermediate» size car instead. He took me out to the lot and showed me what has to be the most pathetic excuse for a rental — a Nissan Versa. Oh, and this car came with all the bells and whistles including a CD player, manual locks, mirrors, and windows — which my kids laughed at because they had never seen a window that you actually had to crank to get down (and they are 8 and 10). The car was a compact at best, so we were all nice and cozy for 700 total miles of driving.
Fun.
And the agent was so apologetic, he discounted the car rental price to the standard rate for an intermediate rental. Wow, way to take care of a customer whose needs you did not even come close to meeting. I got to rent a car I did not want at the regular price. Thanks Hertz!
Needless to say, I will never rent from this location again and encourage anyone who expects excellent and reliable service to steer away from this place. Plenty of other reputable locations to rent from in the area.

So apparently if you leave any type of personal items in your rental, it’s theirs to keep. Lol I just give up on my shoes and briefcase.

Negative would be great if I could. I had asked for a pick up at 4 pm. When I called to see of that was going to happen I was told the driver is in Antioch and so they would come pick me up when he got back. I asked a friend for a ride.
Went to pick up a car and they said we will give you a compact when I had booked a full size. Being a hertz five star renter and traveling with 4 adults and a child that was not acceptable. They said they couldn’t do anything.
I asked if they could upgrade me, the answer was no to every question. They told me they could not tell me what time my car would be ready.
This situation could be handled much better by simply trekking me when I called for a rode that my car was not ready and they would come get me as soon as it was. Instead they showed no respect and care. When I told them they should check their Unilocal reviews, their response was, all of the rental car companies in the area have bad ratings — for that make it okay?
Never again. Absolutely worthless location with rude staff and management. Hertz should be ashamed.

Nick and his staff were fantastic. No complaints drove the Mini Van for a 10 day trip to Disneyland and Las Vegas with 7 people and tons of luggage. We did not even need a cargo rack. :)
We will be renting from this place again, hopefully speaking with Nick.
Thank you

Run away from this place. Read the other reviews before you decide to rent. I made a big mistake not reading any reviews. Hertz should close this place or train the employees on customer service. Thanks to these guys I won’t rent from Hertz again.

I usually go to Enterprise when I rent a car while mine is getting repaired. Today was a different story. I tried to rent at enterprise but they would not rent to me due to my temporary license. I have rented from Enterprise many many times and yet they would not make an exception. I called my insurance company and they reserved a car for me at Hertz.
Hertz sent someone to pick me up, her name was Daryn. She was very accommodating and helpful. Even though she was still rather new, she still exhibited great customer service. She set me up with a great car and only charged me ½ the reservation deposit that Enterprise wanted to charge me.
I highly recommend them over enterprise.

Small but handy local, but you should have reservation unless just dropping off. Cars are in back lot behind per store towards Costco. Starbucks next door so if you have someone picking you up it a comfortable place to wait.

Absolutely horrible service!!! Any cost savings will be offset by extra time spent waiting and hassle. Gave one star because the app does not allow me to select zero stars.

I will never rent from Hertz again. On Friday morning my boyfriend and I rented a car from this location and drove down to San Diego. Much to our surprise the registration on the vehicles had expired FOUR months ago. We were pulled over twice by police over the course of the weekend. When we returned the vehicle the person at the counter was not very helpful and in a very cavalier way basically told us $ 30 off was the best she can do with no apology whatsoever for the hassle we had to endure. I then called and spoke with the Manager Robin who was incredibly rude and also not helpful. After giving us a car that was illegal to drive and all of the hassle that came along with that — it was a huge disappointment to also have to deal the incredibly poor customer service from two different employees. I recommend you stay away from Hertz if you want a good car rental experience!

Made a reservation for a car this morning, came to pick it up and they have NOTHING available. Not the car I reserved or any other cars. What does reservation mean again???

I had a reservation for a car at 8am. The office is supposed to open at 7:30am. I arrived at about 8:05, and there was one employee outside the office, which was not open. He was courteous and apologized for the office still being closed, but he did not have any information about why the office was not open. I waited until about 8:45am and then left — never planning to go back.

If they had a“O” stars option I would have used it !
I normally book thru Enterprise but after checking online I found a better deal with Hertz. After pre– booking on line last week and pre-​paying as well (4 days in advance) I arrive at the San Ramon location and the line is out the door and every person in line is complaining (that should have been my first clue) waited 1 hour and 20 minutes to even get to the front desk with 3 people working only to have them tell me once I finally got to the counter that they were out of cars??? They told me that pre-​booking the reservation doesn’t mean they hold the car that just means it’s a pre made reservation ??? okay so what’s the whole point in doing that if you don’t hold the cars?
I obviously was dropped off and now have no vehicle. Asked for a ride and was told no one was available to drive me for another 40 minutes. Um are you kidding me.
Then he says to me «well just come back
later we should have cars by then»
Needless to say I told them to cancel the reservation and wanted nothing to do with that company. He then says to me well how about I give you a certificate for a free rental for your next visit… ummmm nooo !!! Did they really think I was going to come back here ??? unbelievable… poor customer service … Doesn’t care about the customer at all and to add to the madness they charge my credit card $ 357.28 and I never even got the car!

This place has absolutely horrible service. Added the LDW and LIS without me even really knowing what I had purchased. Ended up being very surprised with a large bill at the end. They are also extremely understaffed, so expect to be there for at least an hour.

I’m comparing the service here compared to every other Hertz location in the U.S. Being Gold or President’s Club status does not matter to these folks. The service is super slow (particularly from Steve) and they are very anal about inspecting their vehicles when they leave; verifying gas and mileage when they are returned. Even when you are returning one agreement to open another, on the same car, they will have to validate all those things.
Want any gold service? You will barely find service here but especially not one wrapped in Gold lining (no upgrades, no dedicated Gold lines etc).

what a bunch of scam artists!
I returned the car on-​time and you charged me an extra two days because your location was closed. Failed to tell me what time your location closes so that I can return the car before that (despite what my contract said).
Now when I call the store, you guys tell me there is nothing you can do. I call corporate and they say there is not a single person I can talk to on the phone. I have to send a note through
and wait 10 – 14 days.
Thanks but no thanks. You can bet that no one in my social circles will ever rent from Hertz again!
You DO understand how many other car rental companies are out there right? Why rent from a company that is going to take your money and run?!

Having rented from Hertz many times while traveling, I was floored by how badly this location is run.
The office is run down and smells. Having a reservation doesn’t seem to matter as I waited for over half an hour while they «cleaned» the car.
While the outside looked washed, the inside was filthy. Cigarette burns on the seat, dirt on every surface I touched, just killed any chance I will ever rent from this location again. I do plan on sending a letter to the main office as well.

I’d never willing go here again.
As stated in other posts, the smell is rank and the store hasn’t been updated in about a decade. If you are looking to rent a car, I would travel two minutes down the road to Enterprise. The service is faster and the people are more professional.