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Instead of going after Steam for NSFW content, payment processors need to crack down on AI customer service traps. If your company doesn't have a meaningful way of getting a hold of an actual human and disputing a charge, your company should be shut off from the payment processor networks. After all, the process of a chargeback normally asks if you've first exhausted their customer service options to resolve the dispute. Companies that don't have any meaningful customer service simply shouldn't be eligible for Visa/Mastercard payments. The chargeback risk is just too high.

The real "win" for Hertz here is that they can outsource their "accountability" to the machine. Associates love to say "I wish I could help you, but the system does X", "We can't override the system"

It's all bullshit... Hertz put the system in themselves and could include as many overrides or as much control as they please. This is a transparent, customer-hostile money grab. They KNOW that many people won't contest these charges. They KNOW it's an extra revenue source.

If you want to see something similar to this scumbaggery, there's a new "vape/smoke" detector marketed towards hotels. It says RIGHT IN THEIR sales material "Unlock a new revenue stream!"

Companies aren't doing this to make things more fair or efficient. They are doing it to siphon money out of the customer's pocket, and they are praying you either don't notice or just accept it.

Really disgusting and makes me wish we had some of the same consumer protections as the EU.

One of the problems is having our current "swindler in chief" at the White House is it's emboldening companies to do this type of shenanigan. After all, if the president runs various scummy businesses, why can't anyone else? The fish is rotting from the head down.

It seems that every corporation in the US has openly turned into a con that's openly fleecing its "customers". There are no straight transactions to be found any more.

And inevitably, this will percolate into all the other regions so that the rest of the planet's shareholders can enjoy this new bounty.

if this happens to me and I cannot reach an agent immediately to reverse it, they get a chargeback and I never rent from them again. simple.

It could have been worse. This is a shout out to not use Hertz.

Hertz will pay $168 million to customers it falsely accused of stealing its cars

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement

They also own

• Dollar
• Thrifty
• Firefly

This isn't an AI problem. It's an accountability sink.

I wouldn't bother chasing Hertz. I would send an email and issue a charge back. Then they will cal me.

Chargeback. Credit card companies won’t accept that BS and a chargeback is for the entire amount.

Hah, this is very similar to AI based smoking detection scam in hotels which is advertised as guaranteed revenue increase via smoking fees.

A “longtime” Hertz customer

Wait, those exist? Has Hertz not been the laughing stock of rentals for years now?

No matter how the inspection is performed, it should not be done without the customer present.
Also if the car is moved after the customer returned it, the damage could have happened while the car is moved. Or for other reasons after the customer returned the car.

I don't see how an AI scanning or even a human evaluation at a later point in time can be legally binding?

I bet this shitshow doesn't happen in EU, because I don't think it would be legal here without the customer present.

I don’t understand the point of this. Minor scratches and dings are a cost of doing business. Driving away your customers over a nickel or dime will leave you in bankruptcy. It’s bizarre.

All the car rental companies suck but Hertz is undoubtedly the worst. They have refused to extend my rental twice, when I refused to exchange cars they were like “it’s okay, we know where you are, we can just come and get it”. They frequently have errors checking the car in after return, creating a customer service nightmare to get a receipt. The last time I returned a car I demanded a paper receipt in order to avoid this, they told me to go to the service desk. After waiting in line with all the people waiting to receive their rentals, the customer service rep told me that they “couldn’t find the car” that I literally just returned. After 30 minutes of waiting they still hadn’t figured it out so I just left. Got the receipt the next day, but I have never used Hertz again. Fuck them right to hell.

Imagine hooking this clanker up and have it start billing your customers automatically.

It's not a bad idea but maybe run it offline for a while and then compare its findings against your current system's... And then decide to roll it out?

I'd love to know how many false defects it has identified over a period, versus their previous systems. The article really only has a few incidents with half a million cars in their fleet globally... But then was this system only rolled out in that Houston store?

I have so many questions that I'm sure have unhinged answers, but I will be gleefully buggered before the daily mail will do any investigation outside of some social media posts, good day.

I rented a car in Canada a few weeks ago and it required a lengthy argument with their staff to get written proof that the car was returned without damage. I'm done with Hertz too.

Hertz keeps failing again and again with their automated systems. Only within the past few years did they finally settle with 364 customers that were falsely accused/arrested for stealing their cars.

They have an automated system for generating police reports on stolen cars, but there were many instances of customers falsely reported when they had actually called in to extend the rental, or if they had rented a car which had previously been flagged as stolen (but not corrected in their system).

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement

These companies are all scams. Expedia advertised cancellations and not needing a credit card. When we tried to get the car we rented from the rental company they said we needed a credit card. Expedia refused to let us cancel or give a refund or even give us that amount in store credit.

Don't use Expedia. Horrible service. Even if you wanna blame this on me for whatever reason, the fact that they refused to give us store credit for the money we already gave them (not even a refund) shows they won't care about your problems either.

This festering AI dogshit covered in bottleflies will be the end of us.

At some point these companies gotta feel the pain. If they deliver a bad product, just don't pay them. They need us to give them money

I had a rental car after I lost mine in an accident, it was a rental through hertz. They tried to charge me a late fee onto my credit card even though I returned the car on time, my insurance agent called them out on it and I didn't have to pay.

isn't AI fantastic. Hertz could probably downsize at least 1/2 a worker or so pr location, and all it cost are 100k++ in investments and terrible customer experiences. But it's AI!11!!

I use rental cars at work all the time and Herz has pissed me off so much that I simply refuse to use them, even if my employer is paying.

In fact, most rental car companies have pissed me off... But SIXXT has pissed me off the least, and at times they've even managed to pleasantly surprise me.