Yahoo Autos Denver Mayor, 20-Plus Others Find Hertz Abandoned, Take Whatever Has Keys
What would you do if you landed in an unfamiliar city one evening planning to pick up a rental car, only to find the rental counter completely lacking in staff? Waiting for someone to show is one choice; a taxi or mass transit another. Or, of course, there's always option is to simply grab a car with keys in it and drive away, as the mayor of Denver, Colorado and a gaggle of other Hertz customers did an upstate New York location in July.
CBS News reports that Denver mayor Mike Johnston was one of what the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority said were more than 20 customers delayed when they arrived at the Syracuse airport's Hertz counter on July 20th, to find the station unmanned. The counter was reportedly abandoned by staff at 7:13pm, then briefly staffed again from 8:25pm to 8:41... then empty again until 6:57am. Airport officials said the Hertz location was meant to be open until 1:28am. The location does not offer any automated or computerized way to pick up or drop off a car, according to airport documents.
With nobody around to actually assign and sign away reserved cars, some would-be renters took matters into their own hands by simply taking cars with keys inside. Mayor Johnston was among the people who grabbed a car, which he tells CBS was the one he "thought was for [him]." When it turned out to be a random car assigned to someone else, he returned and exchanged it for the correct rental, according to the news report.
The anarchistic delivery system worked for some, but eventually the location apparently ran out of cars that were available to take, according to the report. At least one customer called the airport for assistance because she could not find a car with keys in it to drive away.
The situation was apparently resolved when the airport reached out to Hertz to remind them of their obligations to travelers. An area vice president from the company responded, according to CBS News, apologizing and saying that the group "actioned immediately."
Via Carscoops.
You Might Also Like
