Don't rent car at Logan

This ticked me off. I rented a car in Boston from HERTZ for 2 days, upon return of my car, the inspector circles a little dot sized knick on the lower part of my windshield. What? I didn't hear anything hit my windshield. That knick must have been there before I drove off. I inspected the vehicle but I suppose the knick was so small and really had to look hard to see it. Never noticed it. He made me fill out a vehicle incident report sheet of paper. So I called up my insurance company and my cc company told them the BS story about the knick, so pending on what they do with this, I am ready to dispute that claim.

Also, they never issued me those sheets to fill out before you take off where you can note some discrepancies on the vehicle, so I assumed all was good to go.

Go to a pizza joint, great pizza, when I want a refill on my coke, it cost me 2 dollars. What? Rip off Boston again. I understand places up north are running tight on things like rent and cost of living is high up there but WOW, makes me glad I don't hang up there anymore for many years, and these visits remind me why I just don't like it there no more. That rip off mentality and shake down over petty crap.

Best thing about Boston this visit was viewing Boston through a rear view mirror on board a 737-NG.

Well, let me say something possitive. The clam chowder, excellent, the clamb plate, roast beef sandwich at Kelly's, on SAUGUS on route 1, excellent as usual. Also got a great view of Cape Cod coming in. Looks like one big sandbar from the air.

Well, one cool thing about the rental was the GPS. I didn't ask for one but they gave me one, must have had no other choices. I plugged in my buddies address in Glaucester, I shipped with years ago, and knocked on his door. He freaked out when I told him my rental had a GPS and plugged in his address. Unfortunately, no time to hang out and he was very disappointed but I told him I would come back in a couple of months and talk about the old days over a few beers and a clam plate. I stayed with him for around 2 days like in 1993, so that's been a long time, he showed me all over Glaucester and Rockport, its a beautiful coast, nice and rocky, and the statue of the sailors memorial. "To they that go down to the sea in ships".

Luckily I've never had this take place. Most months I have a rental car for 15-25 days, depending where I am. I've accidently damaged 2, one by backing into a pole, and another when a truck laid an egg.

I have been very upset with the customer service I receive somewhat regularly. I've had cars not full of gas, moldy/stained interiors, etc. I've had agents try to trick me into paying for an upgrade when they didn't have the car I reserved, same w/ GPS. Last night I was completely ignored for a good 2-3 minutes until the agents ended their conversation about their hours this week and acknowledged me. I've also had it before where the car was brand new and had no plate. It takes a lot of jumping through hoops to get a temporary airfield pass for a vehicle w/ no license plate.

Good luck with Hertz. They suck!

I think Hertz is all right, just that Boston itself like New York can be a rough location for rental cars and customer service. I bet if I had rented that vehicle in Albuquerque, 95% of the time it would be much better experience. Logan is congested and everyone can get a little uptight. Add winter snowstorms and foul weather to the equation and there you have it. Knicked windshields and grumpy attitudes. Do you have any suggestions on good rental car companies?

As far as good car rental companies, its the same with domestic airlines, they all suck.

Actually it's pretty much just what you had said about location. You go to LSE or MOT and you just get wonderful service from a friendly agent at any rental car company or airline ticket counter; whereas you go to BOS/LGA/DCA you stand in line 20+ mins for a grumpy agent who really doesn't care about you as a customer, and alot of times doesn't know how to work the computer in front of them. In the odd chance there is no line, you still have to stand and wait until somebody decides to help you.

Obviously there are exceptions on both ends of this, but I agree that in general customer service in almost all industries sucks in the north east.

The one "bad customer service" thing I like is Pats Steaks in Philly. "ummmm, I think I'll ummm, I might have....." TOO LONG, BACK OF THE LINE...NEXT, MAKE IT QUICK