Hertz ORD Massive ADA Fail

I am traveling on business to Milwaukee and decided to fly into Chicago and drive to Milwaukee.  I rented a car from Hertz. As Hertz no longer offers hand controls in minivans, I rented a large SUV. My confirmation shows a large SUV being rented.  I requested hand controls left (HCL) and called Special Services to have the spinner knob added. The rep put me on hold and came back and told me that he confirmed with the location manager that the HCL and spinner knob would be added. This was on Sept. 8.  For the past few days, I have been trying to call the location to directly confirm the HCL and knob but nobody ever answers or returns the numerous messages I left.

 

Today, I arrived at ORD and took the bus to the rental location.  As usual, my name was nowhere to be found on the Gold board (not sure why I even bother using it).  I go and wait on line (the avoidance of which is the reason to use Gold) and the rep looks for my car, finds it, and asks her associate to confirm the spinner knob.  While waiting, the text telling me where my car is (which should have been sent while I was in the air) finally arrives, but that’s another issue.  The associate returns and indicates that there is no knob. The manager eventually comes over, says he has to find a mechanic to install the knob, and that I have to wait. 40 minutes later, I go over to the car to see what the delay is since installing the knob should take 10 minutes. I look in the vehicle and see that there are no hand controls!
I ask where the hand controls are and get a blank stare from the manager. I ask him how he expects me to drive the vehicle (I am a bilateral amputee in a wheelchair). Same blank stare.

 

I ask him to find out where the vehicle I need is located. An hour later, they cannot find the vehicle and have no options for me.

 

On top of all this,  my SUV was changed to a minivan without telling me and, as we all know, Hertz no longer installs hand controls in minivans (why, I have no idea). I prefer minivans, so that wasn’t very disturbing, but the fact that they changed it without notifying me is very problematic and may be the cause of this entire debacle.

 

Luckily, I am with a colleague who said he would drive today but he is leaving tomorrow and I have to drive to Milwaukee tomorrow night for a business meeting early Monday and have no idea how I am going to get there.

 

Hertz is trying to find a vehicle for me and will call me if and when they find one. I’m not holding my breath and plan on having a car service drive me and I will bill Hertz.

 

This is completely and totally unacceptable. The manager confirmed the hand controls as shown on the reservation below.

 

To be continued….

 

The Hertz reservation confirmation