This week I seen that I had a horrible mishap once I checked my Hertz Rewards account and noticed that all my Hertz Rewards factors had expired because of inactivity on the account.
Hertz beforehand prolonged members’ factors stability as a result of pandemic, however apparently, that moratorium ended (at the very least for elite members) on Dec. 31, 2021 after which accounts with out exercise had been reset to zero stability.
Admittedly I haven’t paid a lot consideration to Hertz since 2019, and each time I visited the U.S., I began to hire from Sixt as a substitute as I obtained sick and uninterested in Hertz’s lackluster car choice.
I used to be an avid Hertz renter for the reason that mid-2000s once I lived within the U.S. and had a Hertz native version close by, the place I rented on common twice per week. After that, I principally rented at LAX Airport, the place I at all times acquired fairly respectable automobiles, first as Platinum and later as Presidents Circle.
Then Hertz took a flip for the more severe. First, they modified from pre-assigned automobiles to the Presidents Circle/Gold Alternative aisle, which meant that you just needed to wait round fairly some time till an honest car confirmed up. Then the automobiles obtained a lot worse in choice, high quality, and mileage, plus the eventual decay of Hertz, culminating within the chapter of the corporate.
In the course of the pandemic, Hertz prolonged the factors of their members as they introduced:
Whereas the standing was prolonged, factors weren’t. No less than not for frequent members although Elite members had their stability frozen till December 31, 2021.
John lined the tier extension coverage of Hertz final 12 months:
Nicely, as I discussed I haven’t used Hertz for fairly a while and the final time I attempted (2019) to make use of my factors, a redemption choice wasn’t out there.
Factors won’t expire so long as you could have a Hertz Gold Plus Rewards rental exercise within the prior 18 months. Exercise means a Gold Plus Rewards Level was both earned or redeemed on a rental.
In January of 2021, Hertz introduced that they waive Gold Rewards factors expiration for all elite members by December 31, 2021. This extension utilized solely to Platinum, President’s Circle and 5 Star members.
How did I study this simply now?
As I plan to choose up a automobile in Los Angeles close to the San Pedro world cruise heart in a number of weeks I needed to make a reservation with Hertz once more and seen once I logged in that whereas I’m nonetheless Presidents Circle for no matter cause, my factors are actually gone:
I imagine my newest stability was one thing round 1600 factors so sufficient for 2 free rental days below regular circumstances.
It’s a bit unhappy that I wasn’t in a position to make use of the factors. I may have both preserved or used them once I was in California in Might of final 12 months, nevertheless, I obtained a really respectable price at Sixt the place I at all times obtain at the very least a BMW3 or increased. So why trouble with Hertz only for the factors and find yourself driving some dinged-up Toyota Camry with 40,000 miles for an entire weekend? Nah.
Nonetheless, this was an oversight I usually don’t like to show myself to. You by no means know the place this factors would have come in useful however that’s spilled milk below the bridge.
Conclusion
I made a blunder not monitoring the expiration of my Hertz Rewards factors, and roughly 1,600 of them expired someday within the final 15 months (primarily based on what Hertz printed, probably on DEC 31, 2021).
Sadly, I gained’t have the ability to get these factors again. For my subsequent rental that I plan to choose up at a HLE location, I’ll simply gather Virgin Atlantic miles once more as I’ve completed so many instances up to now. Solely costly leases that earned a number of hundred Hertz factors had been credited to my rewards stability.
Availability for redemptions has additionally gone down, they usually have gotten costly. The great previous days are undoubtedly over together with for the corporate itself which continues to be reeling from the chapter course of.