Richard and Carole Marzi were all set to start their vacation in small-town France. They just had no way to get there.
"We were stranded at the airport. Had all our luggage, ready to go. I was 100 miles from where I needed to be," Richard Marzi said.
When he booked a rental car in April, Marzi thought a Volkswagen Golf would do just fine. He pre-paid for the 15-day rental, a total of $670.
Then a few weeks later, Marzi realized he made a mistake. He scheduled pick up for July 30th, forgetting to factor in the time difference. It would actually be July 31st when the Marzis landed at Orly Airport.
Marzi made the reservation through Rentalcars.com. When he previously called customer service with a question about the pickup location, he was directed to Dollar Rent-A-Car.
So this time, Marzi tried calling Dollar. But he never got through and ended up doing a live chat with a representative from Dollar’s parent company Hertz.
Marzi said the rep assured him the company would hold his reservation for 48 hours. But when they arrived at the airport, the Marzis were told they missed their reservation.
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"Unfortunately was told in no uncertain terms that they didn’t have a car for us," Marzi said.
After what Marzi calls a heated discussion at the rental desk, he agreed to pay $825 for another car.
He filed complaints with Rentalcars.com and Hertz as soon as he got home. But without a copy of the live chat, he couldn’t prove what the Hertz rep promised.
"It just rubs me the wrong way. I paid for 15 days. I let you know I was going to be late, but even if I didn’t, I paid you for the 15 days," Marzi said.
The cancellation policy on Rentalcars.com urges customers to contact the company with any schedule changes as soon as possible.
"If you do not, there is no guarantee the car will still be available – and you will not be entitled to any refund," according to the policy.
Hertz Corporation’s policy states, "If the customer does not cancel the reservation prior to the time of pick-up and the rental vehicle is not picked up on the rental date, the entire pre-paid amount will be forfeited."
Both sites also offer the option to amend a reservation online, which Marzi said he didn’t realize.
"I never contacted Rentalcars.com about the amendment. That was probably a serious error," he said.
NBC Connecticut asked Hertz if those live chats are archived. A spokesperson did not directly answer that question, but issued this statement:
"Please extend our sincere apologies for the misinformation regarding the reservation as well as the additional charge assessed for the upgrade.
After reviewing the charges and the information provided by Mr. Marzi we have issued a refund of €500 to the credit card used for the rental, which will appear in 5-7 business days.
As a service oriented company, we rely on customer feedback to help us maintain and improve our service performance standards. The information you have provided is very important to us, as it tells us how our various locations and departments are doing and where improvements are needed. Please be assured this issue will be shared with the appropriate Hertz management."
A spokesperson for Rentalcars.com confirmed Marzi never reached out to them about changing the reservation.
The spokesperson said, "We advise all customers to let us know of any changes to their booking as soon as they possibly can - we can amend booking times up to two hours before the scheduled pick up.
If it is more than 48 hours before the scheduled pick up time, customers can amend the details via their online account with us.
If it is within 48 hours, we ask customers to call us direct.
We would only direct a customer to contact the car hire supplier when it is incredibly close to the pick-up time, this is to ensure that the information is successfully passed on within the given time constraints."
