What happens when a deposit you made misunderstood as a payment? What happens when the money you were supposed to get back slips out of your pocket? What will be your next step? Put yourself in this situation and think about a hefty amount you lost in such a situation?
The Actual Story
The same thing happened to an unfortunate person back in June 2018. Hertz is a car renting company, a person rented a car and had their credit card imprinted for £500, which were supposed to be refunded after the car is returned. But exceptionally, when the car was returned, the customer was told about a fault in the machine and refund will be proceeded once it is fixed. Still, after some time, when the refund didn’t initiate, they were told that refunds are still under process. Even after weeks after this incidence, when the refund was not reflected in account, the customer again contacted Hertz, head office this time, they were told that money should not be deducted on the first place and was advised to contact credit card company. When the customer contacted the company, they were told that the money was not a deposit, but instead it was charged for the damage done to the vehicle. There was no damage to the vehicle in the first place, and Hertz didn’t have any proof of the same. The customer was asked to take legal action for a refund by the credit card company. Which is not an easy task being a citizen of Australia.
Media Interference
The ordeal and cold war between the company and customer continued for a while until it was interrupted by Observer, afterwards money was returned to the customer. Hertz explained this case by telling that the deposit of £500 was categorised as payment rather than the deposit and it went unchecked and undetected when the branch did change its ownership. It would still be so-called “undetected” if the media spotlight hasn’t been involved in this case.
A Not-So-Happy Ending
The consumer was returned with money along with a voucher worth £200 for an unlikely event when one wants to use Hertz services again. These cases are quite common; money is often not refunded and being a minimal amount; it does not gain any media spotlight or exposure. But surely enough, other companies will learn a lesson from this case and will tend to improve their customer satisfaction and services provided.
Conclusion
Consumer awareness is continuously increasing in this world of social media; there are many platforms through which even a common person can express the injustice being faced by them. Now companies like Hertz need to increase their standards and moral values to stay in the market and demand both, such acts are not just a mistake, but a big question mark on the moral values of a company.
