Customers from Hertz, one of the nation’s largest rental car companies, have found themselves with a rather peculiar charge after renting Teslas from the company.
According to a recent report from The Drive that cited a former Hertz customer, the company allegedly charged one customer a “Skip the Pump” fee of $277.39 because the driver failed to return the vehicle with a full tank of gas.
The customer, who had rented a Tesla Model 3, told the outlet they were informed the charge wasn’t refundable at first, but after a story appeared on The Drive, Hertz refunded them the money.
Evan Froehlich faced a similar situation, detailed in another report from The Drive. He shared that he was charged a $340.97 “Skip the Pump” fee, but he said he was never able to get a refund because he couldn’t get a hold of Hertz’s customer service.
But that’s not all, as The Drive also reported that Toan Le, another Hertz customer, saw his bill assessed a $475.19 fuel charge after he returned his Tesla Model 3 without a full charge. The recharge fee for the company is supposed to be a max of $35.
This is not the first time Hertz has been accused of overcharging customers, as other horror stories have popped up in the media and on social media.
Hertz acknowledged a problem for an unknown number of customers, but it placed the blame on its computer system.
“Some customers who rented EVs from us were inaccurately billed a refueling fee due to a systems error,” the rental giant said in an emailed statement to The New York Post. “It should never have happened, and we have fixed the problem that caused it. We also proactively reached out to the customers who were affected and refunded the erroneous charge. To compensate them for their inconvenience, we have offered them a credit toward a future EV rental.”