Denver mayor caught up in bizarre rental car meltdown

Renting a car at the airport isn't always a perfect experience. Your rental car may not have been cleaned, you may run into hidden fees or unexpected charges or the agent may try to upsell you. But Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and dozens of other travelers ran into a different problem when they showed up to pick up their rental cars at the Syracuse, New York, airport this summer: all the employees of the Hertz rental car agency had "abandoned" their jobs, leaving Denver's mayor and at least 20 other Hertz customers in an awkward position.

"Oh yeah," recounted Johnston, "I took my son to a summer program there."

But things took an unusual turn after Johnston and his son landed at the Syracuse airport and went to retrieve their rental car.

"We showed up and the rental car company was closed," said the mayor.

So Johnston and many other Hertz customers who had reservations just found Hertz cars with keys in them and drove away.

"So we took one we thought was for us," said Johnston, who said he later found out the car he took was not the correct one and he exchanged it for a different one.

Johnston's experience on July 20 was one of many, according to documentation from the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority. The Airport Communications Center began receiving calls from Hertz customers with pre- booked reservations that evening with travelers "seeking assistance" after finding no employees at the Hertz rental counter.

Airport administrators reviewed security camera footage of what happened and say video showed Hertz staff leaving their rental counter at 7:13 p.m. The airport says that was about six hours before they were supposed to leave, per the car rental agency's agreement with the airport.

Administrators say when they went to the counter within an hour of the initial complaints to look for Hertz employees, they found "Hertz areas abandoned."

Airport officials say they tried to call and text local Hertz officials but were unable to reach anyone who was on-duty.

At 8:25 p.m., they say a Hertz staff member returned to the counter but then left again 16 minutes later.

"20+ customers were not assisted during this time," said the airport, including Denver's mayor who said he arrived around 7 p.m. for his rental car, "and the place was still supposed to be open and it was all closed."

Johnston went on to say, "There were probably 40 of us all stuck at the same rental car company, there were a bunch of folks picking up cars ... But not the right cars."

According to the airport, the Hertz counter was supposed to be staffed until at least 1:28 a.m., an hour after the last flight arrived.

One customer contacted the airport that night saying, "Various customers with pre-booked reservations looked through cars in the Hertz section of the garage and just took random cars that had keys in them. The customer further stated that the reason she was seeking assistance ... Is that she was unable to locate a car that had keys inside and couldn't help herself to a car like some other customers had."

According to airport documents, "The counter remained abandoned from July 20th (8:41 p.m.) until July 21 at 6:57 a.m. The Hertz operation in Syracuse does not have computerized, telephone or other automated means of checking in and receiving keys," according to the Syracuse airport.

Jason Mehl, the Syracuse airport's Chief Commercial Officer, emailed Hertz a week after the incident reminding them of their obligations to travelers "to ensure a level of customer experience commensurate with a first class rental car concession."

Jillian Kober, a Hertz Area Vice President, emailed back in July and offered her "sincere apologies for the level of service that we have provided." She promised, "We have taken the feedback and actioned immediately."

CBS News Colorado contacted Hertz corporate communications Monday but did not receive an immediate response.

As for Denver's mayor, he seemed to take the rental car flub in stride saying "We resolved it all. I drove it back," said Johnston, as soon as he heard he had driven off in the wrong rental car.

UPDATE: Jamie Line, the director of external communications for Hertz, told The Post-Standard in Syracuse that the employees were fired shortly after the company learned of the incident.

"We regret the unfortunate situation that impacted several customers at our Syracuse Airport location in July," Line is quoted as saying in a statement to the newspaper. "The employees on duty were immediately terminated and we resumed normal operations the next day. We are committed to providing an exceptional car rental experience at Syracuse Airport and across our entire network of locations."