6 ms·

Hertz accuses thousands of its customers of crimes, court papers show

hodgesrm 5y ago
This is an astonishing article. After reading this and following up with a few of the links it seems as if it's Hertz people who should be in jail.
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Hm. "Some people" were not guilty of theft. How many were? It hinges on that, and I didn't see those numbers in that article. Pretty hand-wavey. Sure, accusing folks of car theft unfairly is wrong. But it seems easy to resolve: present the contract.
  - pkaye 5y ago
    And if the Hertz people are wrong, put a warrant out for their arrest.
  - hodgesrm 5y ago
    > In a court hearing Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath ordered the annual theft numbers to be made public, siding with advocates for 220 people suing Hertz who argued that more details about Hertz’s internal anti-theft program should be public. The reason there aren't good numbers is that Hertz did not release them. It was ordered by the court to do so as the above paragraph from the article shows. From that decision and the CBS broadcast referenced in the article there's evidence that a non-trivial number of innocent people were arrested due to Hertz' incompetence.
    - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
      Not quite understanding that, but I think it says "no numbers in the article", right? CBS broadcasts are not the same thing as data.
DebtDeflation 5y ago
Personal story: As a tech consultant I travel (or traveled, pre-pandemic) weekly to clients all over the country. Back in 2018 or 2019, I went on a business trip, picked up my rental car from Hertz on Monday, returned it on Thursday on my way back to the airport, and didn't think anything of it. Usually my receipts hit Concur within 2-3 days and then I submit them for reimbursement. A week later my Hertz rental receipt still hadn't showed up so I called them. They had no record that I returned the car and told me to call the local Hertz. I did and they said I never returned the car and apparently was still racking up charges by the day. Then they put me on hold and came back a few minutes later and said they searched their systems and apparently the car was rented out to someone else the day after I returned it, so they apologized, marked it as returned, adjusted my bill, and sent me the receipt. My worry at the time was that I would be billed for extra days I didn't use, I had no idea there was an actual risk of arrest.
- cymian 5y ago
- nonameiguess 5y ago
  This happened to my wife a few years ago, except it took them weeks to finally find the car, not just a brief hold on the phone.
ameminator 5y ago
Sounds like it's time for a class action, if there are thousands of people impacted...
- MerelyMortal 5y ago
  Isn't Hertz already bankrupt?
  - sumedh 5y ago
    Their ads still show up in WSJ
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
neonate 5y ago
https://archive.is/92pHR https://archive.is/92pHR
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Can't you sue them for massive damages in civil court?

This is an astonishing article. After reading this and following up with a few of the links it seems as if it's Hertz people who should be in jail.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Hm. "Some people" were not guilty of theft. How many were? It hinges on that, and I didn't see those numbers in that article. Pretty hand-wavey. Sure, accusing folks of car theft unfairly is wrong. But it seems easy to resolve: present the contract.
- pkaye 5y ago
  And if the Hertz people are wrong, put a warrant out for their arrest.
- hodgesrm 5y ago
  > In a court hearing Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath ordered the annual theft numbers to be made public, siding with advocates for 220 people suing Hertz who argued that more details about Hertz’s internal anti-theft program should be public. The reason there aren't good numbers is that Hertz did not release them. It was ordered by the court to do so as the above paragraph from the article shows. From that decision and the CBS broadcast referenced in the article there's evidence that a non-trivial number of innocent people were arrested due to Hertz' incompetence.
  - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
    Not quite understanding that, but I think it says "no numbers in the article", right? CBS broadcasts are not the same thing as data.

DebtDeflation 5y ago

Personal story: As a tech consultant I travel (or traveled, pre-pandemic) weekly to clients all over the country. Back in 2018 or 2019, I went on a business trip, picked up my rental car from Hertz on Monday, returned it on Thursday on my way back to the airport, and didn't think anything of it. Usually my receipts hit Concur within 2-3 days and then I submit them for reimbursement. A week later my Hertz rental receipt still hadn't showed up so I called them. They had no record that I returned the car and told me to call the local Hertz. I did and they said I never returned the car and apparently was still racking up charges by the day. Then they put me on hold and came back a few minutes later and said they searched their systems and apparently the car was rented out to someone else the day after I returned it, so they apologized, marked it as returned, adjusted my bill, and sent me the receipt. My worry at the time was that I would be billed for extra days I didn't use, I had no idea there was an actual risk of arrest.

cymian 5y ago
nonameiguess 5y ago
This happened to my wife a few years ago, except it took them weeks to finally find the car, not just a brief hold on the phone.

ameminator 5y ago

Sounds like it's time for a class action, if there are thousands of people impacted...

MerelyMortal 5y ago
Isn't Hertz already bankrupt?
- sumedh 5y ago
  Their ads still show up in WSJ
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

neonate 5y ago

https://archive.is/92pHR https://archive.is/92pHR

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

Can't you sue them for massive damages in civil court?