Hertz Lost & Found

During my trip to the USA in February, I rented a car from Hertz in New York JFK Airport. When I returned the car I forgot my GPS Navigator in the car. Unfortunately, I realized it after I was back home in Turkey.

I searched the internet about what to do and usually found discouraging experiences (1, 2, 3, 4). I tended to give up (I am lazy) but my wife Derya insisted that I at least try. So I did. Below is the timeline:

Feb 28: I found the Hertz Lost and Found Page and wrote the details of the car (most importantly, the licence number) and the item I lost and where in the car it was.

Feb 28: Got an email saying "Your request is being forwarded to the appropriate Hertz City Manager. The manager, or a member of their staff, will investigate and get back to you as soon as possible. You should receive a response within five business days."

March 2: I got an email from Janice at Hertz JFK Airport saying that my navigator was found and that "Customers are expected to make the necessary arrangements for retrieving their items." and that after 30 days the item would be disposed of. I was pleasantly surprised. The only problem was how to retrieve it. I had no colleagues travelling through JFK soon.

March 19: We asked a friend in the US to pick it up and he thankfully agreed. The only problem was that he was far away from NY. So he had to arrange a pickup by FedEx. By the way, FedEx has an abnormally complex procedure to have even a one time shipment. It is not enough to just give your credit card. You have to fill out forms etc. I emailed Janice about the details. She agreed and she said that she could package the item since it was small.

March 19-March 29: A couple more coordination emails with Janice, Fedex and slight frustration.

April 3: Our friend emailed that he had the GPS navigator in his hands. Yay!

Hertz JFK did not disappoint and we were able to get our GPS back. I hope this is not an exception. Thanks to Janice, our friend, and Derya, "without whom this would not have happened" :).