Do not Rent a Car From Hertz in Doha!

To Whom it May Concern:

My firm has a small office here in Doha which requires a minimum of 4 employees to be resident in Doha at all times. There are approximately 200 people in my office; however, my employer (L-3 Communications) actually employs in excess of 100,000 people.

I wish to make you aware of a business predator in your beautiful city. And that is persistent fraudulent and abusive charges to customers by the Hertz Rental car office here in Doha!

Please allow me to give you just a few examples of this systematic abuse by Hertz towards unsuspecting visitors to your city, as follows:

1. One of my co-workers rented a car from them, and almost immediately had to put air in the front left tire. While in the parking lot, I pointed out to him that the tire had a crack in the side wall, which is symptomatic of what occurs when it has been run with insufficient air for too long. When he took it back to Hertz to get a replacement car, they told him that he needed to get a police report for an “unknown” accident. He refused to do so
2. Another one of my co-workers had to navigate a section of road that was being repaired. He was directed to drive through a certain section by a Doha police officer. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in Doha is well aware that road construction is an almost constant site all over the city. Since the road was being re-paved a small amount of loose tar got on the lower portion of the car. Being a responsible person, he immediately reported it to Hertz, and took in his car for a replacement thinking they would want to deal with it immediately. I should mention that there is a readily available product called “Tar Remover” that can be purchased in America for about $1USD which makes the removal of tar quite easy. I would think that anyone in the car rental business, located in a city with constant road construction, would also be aware of such a product. Instead Hertz told him he needed to get a police report for an “unknown accident”
3. In my case, my car was legally parked directly in front of my front door, at my Villa of Beverly Hills Al Rayyan. Judging by the yellow paint left on the car, I would surmise that a service vehicle hit the car. The tail light was broken. Yellow paint was on the left rear fender. It was a hit and run. And as you might guess, I was told that I needed to get a police report for an “unknown accident”.

All 3 of the events I just mentioned happened within a one week time frame. Evidently, everything that happens to a car @ Hertz is an “unknown accident” because somewhere buried in their fine print it says they can charge you for an "unknown" accident! I don't thin Hertz has ever seen any accident that wasn't "unknown"!

I actually did go and get the police report. I spent 5 hours of my time while I was supposed to be working, riding all over Doha, with a Hertz employee to obtain it. They actually wanted me to just ride around and look for it by myself, even though they know that none of us live here, and none of us know our way around! What is even more ridiculous is that even Hertz does not know where to go to get a police report; thus, the reason that it took 5 hours! I was also told that I needed to get the report, but the policeman told me the owner needed to get it – which of course is Hertz. What is even more aggravating is that now Hertz is trying to charge me $650QR ($150 for the police report which was free of charge). In fact, they have tried to charge my two colleagues as well. This is true even though we purchased the insurance for the cars when we rented them.

Please bear in mind that we each rent a car for two months, and Hertz gives us no long term discount, which is customary. So we are already overpaying for the cars in the first place. And, each one of us is a Hertz Gold Member to boot!

My company is already looking into retaliatory action against Hertz in Doha, and into finding another alternative car rental service.

I just to warn unsuspecting people of an abusive, and fraudulent business practice that is taking place in your city, because it will ultimately shed a negative light on Doha itself.

If you inquire, you will find that Hertz themselves will be forced to corroborate everything that I stated here.

I thank you for your time and consideration, and I submit this respectfully.