As promised, I wanted to offer a few comments on my recent trip to Lihue, Hawaii (LIH). This was a work trip for Lady Astrojets which I just happened to have the time and inclination to invite myself on!
As background, I am a Hertz # 1 Club Gold customer, and have been since 1997. If I have any choice at all, I rent from Hertz, and I always have. If you ever experience # 1 Club Gold service for the first time, you will see why. Long story short, you get on the bus and ride to the Hertz location. You get off the bus in front of a large board with lots of names and space numbers on it. You find your name which is next to your space number, walk to your space number where a car will be sitting. You get in the car and leave. No lines, no paperwork, no nadda! While I’ve gotten to a few airports and found my name missing from the board, it’s never been more than a 5 minute wait to get the situation fixed.
Well, the scene shifts to January 6th at 9:30PM in Lihue. This rental was under Lady Astrojets’ name as this was a work trip for her. She has recently joined me as a fellow # 1 Club Gold renter. The wait for the bus was a little longer than usual, but not by much. The driver was wonderful and personable. Loaded everyone’s bags onto the bus and off we went. Upon arriving at the Hertz building, I saw what looked like a refugee camp with lots of travelers, piles of luggage, and a line out the door! Not to fear….# 1 Club Gold would save the day I foolishly thought.
Just think how disappointed we both were to walk into this and see no names on the board! It was in the line for us. There were 2 frazzled employees working the counter for a very large number of frustrated renters. The wait took 90 minutes, but we eventually got a car which we took before it made it into the wash section. We couldn’t stand to wait any longer!
A Hertz employee flagged us down and apologized profusely. Turned out that he was the city manager! He was out washing cars! They did refund one day’s worth of rental charges, but this was just beyond rediculous. I’ve never seen anything like it at a Hertz location. And I hope I never do again.
