The landlord initially remained stubborn and refused to refund the fee, although there were several reasons for this
- A very loyal Hertz customer found a $277 gas charge on his bill after returning a rented Tesla Model 3 to Hertz.
- He fought the charges, but the car rental company initially rejected his request for a refund.
- Now, after the story caused a stir, Hertz has withdrawn the charges and issued a full refund.
Renting a Tesla in California can have great advantages as charging is cheaper compared to a gas car. That’s what Joshua Lee thought when he traveled to Golden State earlier this year. Perhaps the last thing he expected was that Hertz would charge him $277 for “refueling” at the end of the trip.
After hearing the details, you’ll wonder how on earth the car rental company ever came to this decision.
Read: Hertz unloads another 10,000 electric vehicles due to massive loss in value
First and foremost, Lee was a die-hard Hertz customer. As he told The Drive, he has achieved “President’s Circle status,” which I didn’t even know existed. The point is that he is very familiar with renting from Hertz.
In addition, the Model 3 is his favorite rental vehicle, so he knows it well. Additionally, Lee checked the “Skip the pump and save time” box. That means he could return any vehicle, electric or not, with any fuel level, without the need for more charging.
Somehow none of these factors stopped him from being charged $277 by the rental company for gas. As The Drive also points out, Lee actually returned the Model 3 with a battery that was 96 percent full. That’s the same percentage as when he picked it up. All of this seems to be a clear misunderstanding. An employee may have accidentally charged Lee this fee when he intended to transfer it to another tenant, but no, Hertz doubled down.
Hertz refused to lift the “gas fee.”
When he contacted customer service, he received the following muted response. “I am unable to make an adjustment or refund as the service has been provided and the contract is closed. Your signed rental agreement is also the basis for us to ensure that you are fully informed about the fuel option added to the agreement. I hope I was able to clarify this with you. Thank you for allowing me to review your concern and help you resolve your issue.”
So the company realized that Lee had enabled the “Skip the Pump” option. It obviously knows what he has rented. So how could such a high fee come about? Even at California’s wild prices, $277 would equate to more than 40 gallons of fuel. Luckily, this story has a happy ending.
Only after the story came out did Hertz respond to The Drive, confirming that “apologizing” to “return this erroneous accusation” would make everything okay.
Lee may have the $277 back in his account, but he says he will never return to Hertz. Maybe it’s the terrible mishandling of electric vehicles that caused Hertz to sell so many electric cars earlier this year.
