Wow, I can’t believe 4th of July has already come and gone! The time is flying by. I’ve done some traveling in the last month and have a few more trips planned over the next few months. One of the things that we need to consider when making our plans are to expect the unexpected!
I plan a LOT for most of my trips. On this last trip I decided to rent a car as mine is getting older and I plan to replace it soon. So…I rent a car from Hertz. Great pricing through AAA. I was so happy. The pickup went smoothly and I was on my way….or so I thought! The drive on the first day went great. I was up and in my car by 7:05 am (that’s early for me!!) ready to hit the road to my actual destination. I hit the button and…nothing. Hmmm did I do something wrong? I press it again and it comes up with a message. “incorrect key”. What? I had been driving it for an entire day.
So, I call customer service at Hertz, after being on hold for almost an hour, I hear, “it might be the battery in the key fob isn’t working, just go to a local auto parts store and get one to see if that works” Roadside assistance can’t bring one to me. They could come and tow the car to a nearby Hertz store and see if they have another for me to drive. Seriously? I’m in the middle of the mountains, the auto parts stores aren’t open yet and I don’t have a car! After wating for an hour for a Lyft driver, I tried to contact them again. Finally I took matters into my own hands and called an Uber. It took a half hour for them to find a driver (that’s how secluded the area was) that took me to and from a car parts store and back to the hotel. 3 1/2 hours later I was finally ready to head out. Sorry if this seems like rant, but it was such poor customer service all the way around, I’m not sure if I will ever use Hertz again.
The point of all this is, sometimes random things happen and you have to be able to think out of the box and know that later, you will have a story to tell. At the end of this long day of driving though, the reward was there…Jekyll Island, GA. It’s a beautiful island full of nature and history. My next posts will share some of that adventure where I met up with my daughter and son-in-law and three grandsons for the week.
So for now, what kind of unexpected detours have you experienced and how did you deal with it? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.