Hertz Car Rental - San Francisco - Ellis Street — Local services in San Francisco

The absolute worst experience renting from Hertz.

I’ve been renting with Hertz for over a decade. All over the globe. Mostly airports, occasionally small town shops. Presidents circle, etc etc. I know my way around hertz, and have had a few rough experiences but nothing compares to this location. That I believe is running some sort of numbers scam on customers.

We rented a car for four days over a weekend, prepaid for $160. From 9am Thursday to 9 am Monday. Usually there is a $200 deposit that charges the day of the rental and falls off a few days after. The day of this locations rental was $308. I called to inquire and after being transferred to several different people a very helpful 888 number woman assured me the location had assigned a car but couldn’t see exactly what they had done until we had physically picked up the vehicle, and that we would only be charged a deposit and that we had indeed prepaid and everything was good.

We picked up the car. The first physical experience at this location. There were three associates, three work stations, one customer in front of us being helped and we waited about 15 minutes before being helped. We were handed the keys to the car we had reserved, and after another 10 min we were on the road. Not bad. Not good.

After our first charge the TPS light went on, we went to a gas station, put some air in the low tire, light went off and we continued our journey. The next morning, sure enough, flat tire. Now I can’t say where the screw came from, or if was or wasn’t in the tire when we picked it up. Low and behold we were on the hook for the repair or replacement. We aired up the tire with a compressor in the car, went to the nearest tire shop half a mile and had the tire repaired for $35 at our expense. These are important details I promise. We were quoted $335 to replace if the tire was too damaged, the shop said it was good to go just a small screw and we were on our way again.

Now. Back to this location. Here are quick notes: we picked up the car 9:30am Thursday. drove 874 miles. $35 tire repair at our expense. Brought car back to this same location we picked up the rental from at 9am Monday morning. At 9:08 we got a $1200 invoice.

We pulled into this locations garage, as instructed when we picked it up “just drive it in by the chargers on the wall” so that’s what we did. After pulling in a woman told us no back it out on the street, I wasn’t too confident in backing it out on the street and told them I was just dropping of and was going to park by the chargers where there were several open spaces, but the woman was persistent and so we were forced to back the car onto a very busy street and just left the hazards on.

After we got home and called the special 888 number the agents on the phone verified that this location had swapped out our original reservation with one of their own, charged us .99 a mile for 874 miles and for a $397 tire replacement. Plus tax.

Now I mean I get that corporations make mistakes and computers and clouds and data burps or whatever. Humans are here to make sure these charges are correct. The associates working at this location are openly rude, disrespectful, and spiteful over doing exactly their jobs. The humans working at this location make a mediocre experience into a insane situation that’s not for the better. My advice would be to stay far far far away from this location.

The outcome. Obviously the 888 agents picked up that something was wrong, the case was escalated up the ladder rather quickly and allllll the extra charges for a tire replacement that didn’t happen and $874 for miles driven on a rental were reversed. Ultimate I was charged only the $160 prepaid amount, because the car was returned in the same condition it...

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS LOCATION! They are scamming people. I had a 10 am reservation. Only one attended at the desk and he was making reservations, and bringing the cars down which had us in line for 2 and a half hours. 30 minutes at the desk per person which sucks. Then I got a blue Nissan Sinatra it was dirty and he sprayed water on that's it. The inside was dirty and smelly. Smells like a bear was living in the car. Also, the car had some issues when driving not sure if it was a fuel pump issue or what because I'm not a mechanic. But I drive Muni. So I am familiar with vehicles and their functions.

The first day maybe one hour after receiving the car I called the Ellis office where I got the car to let them know it had issues and can I return it. They said no. I'm not allowed to cancel the contract just have to keep this raggedy rental.

Then the next morning I returned the car promptly at 8 am when they opened. They took the keys and said they would email my recipient. I had to be at work so I left and continued to work.

Upon receiving my receipt Hertz on Ellis charged me 570 bucks because they added a 450 dollar fee for "SMOKE CLEANING"! Which is crazy work because I DO SMOKE! Even in my personal car, there is no one smoking. EVER! I do not even have any lighters so I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this charge.

So my husband being my protector immediately went to Hertz because I was at work and he knows we don't smoke so he was very offended by this as I was.

When getting to Hertz they informed him that "ASHES" was in the car not even SMOKE present! Which is 450 dollars to clean ashes.

My husband was able to get them to reverse the charges because they knew it was bogus. Upon the reversal of charges I also noticed on the receipt, they were charging me an underage driver fee of 25 dollars. I'm in my late 40s. Scamming any way they can.

That car was filthy from the jump. Because the same guy (light skin with curly hair) that had 10 people to help alone was pulling cars down himself and checking in everyone. He's overstretched and then they overcharge as a scam to make up revenue that Hertz is losing since Ford sold it. And Uber and Waymo are dominant in the transportation industry in San Francisco. SO THEY SCAM hardworking, San Francisco residents like me and you.

I only had to rent it because my truck needed service and was dropped off at the dealership for a day.

I am a Hertz Gold member and usually rent at Bay St when necessary. They are fast and convenient but were sold out this time so Ellis was the only Hertz with cars available.

The neighborhood was sketchy and so were the employees at this location.

Don't risk it. Go to the Airport if you can. Horrible experience. I will no longer be a Hertz gold member after this experience. Maybe ZIP Car will appreciate my money and I can conveniently get a car for a short-term without the scams.

If you want to wait 3 hours to receive a dirty smelly car, go to this Ellis location so you...

Hertz is honestly one of the worst companies I've ever dealt with. I recently had to setup a rental car through State Farm while my car was getting repaired and they referred me to this location. Initially everything went great as I was able to setup the rental online and then a Hertz representative called me directly to confirm everything however today (Saturday) I went to pickup my rental only to find the location is not open on the weekends (even though an actual human being set up my appointment at this location only a few days prior). When I tried to call the location it directed me to a voicemail "that had not yet been setup" and so the next step was to call Hertz directly. The first person who answered my phone call was obviously not from this country as there was a significant language barrier and she was never able to comprehend what I was actually calling about. Eventually she transferred me to someone who seemed like they were from America but who informed me that unfortunately there was nothing she could do until Monday even though she acknowledged that Hertz was the one who screwed everything up. I'm not ancient but I do remember a time where a company would do whatever it takes to right a wrong but that time seems to be long gone in a world full of nothing but corporations who could care less about the satisfaction of one of their customers. I will never understand how acquiring a rental car in San Francisco on the weekend suddenly became impossible (at least where Hertz is involved) but needless to say I cancelled the reservation and I don't plan on using...