Local man claims rental car company not honoring reservation days before scheduled trip

PITTSBURGH — A Collier Township man contacted Channel 11, claiming a rental car company is refusing to honor his original reservation, days before a long-awaited vacation.

“I’m angry,” Mike Adamski said.

Adamski has been looking forward to taking his three girls to Hershey this upcoming weekend. On longer trips, they prefer to rent a car, and last month he snagged a deal with Hertz.

Channel 11 reviewed the reservation, which indicated Adamski had an SUV booked for four days, for about $430 total, at the company’s Baum Boulevard location in Pittsburgh.

Adamski figured they were all set, but on Wednesday, he received two phone calls from the business. In the first call, an employee apparently indicated he’d have to pick the vehicle up on Friday, one day ahead of schedule. But then, shortly after, he received a second call.

“I get a phone call back, ‘hi this is Hertz at Baum Blvd again, unfortunately our office is going to be closed for the rest of the week, so we won’t be able to give you your rental.’ I’m like, ‘well, okay, can you have another place fulfill that?’ He’s like ‘no, the only thing we can do is you have to cancel and rebook.’”

But when Adamski attempted to do so, he says the price had nearly tripled, to well over $1,000.

“It’s almost like selling a scam. ‘Yeah, we got you in at this low price, now you have to cancel and rebook and pay $1,400 now for that same reservation.’”

Adamski told Channel 11 he called customer service but received a runaround and a refusal to rebook him at the original rate.

He attempted to find a better rate elsewhere, but told us that companies were either fully booked or offering luxury vehicles at high prices. Channel 11 has previously reported on both an automobile shortage and worker shortage nationwide.

While Adamski is determined to pull this trip off no matter what, he contacted us to spread awareness of what he believes is unfair business practices.

“Hopefully, you can step in and come up with some sort of resolution for us,” he said.

Channel 11 reached out to Hertz Media Relations. We received this emailed response: “We’re still looking into this but have confirmed that the location is still open and will be honoring all reservations as booked for those dates and beyond. Management is reaching out to this customer.”

Channel 11 also visited the business on Thursday. While it was open at the time, a sign on the door read that the business would be closed on Friday and Saturday due to staffing. Inside, we spoke with someone who identified as a manager, but claimed it was his last day. He ultimately said he was unable to comment.

Hertz reached out Channel 11 by email Friday morning saying: “Mr. Adamski has been contacted by management and they apologized for the miscommunication. As previously shared, the location is open and honoring all reservations as booked.”

Channel 11 contacted Adamski who said Hertz did reach out to him.

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