Long wait and concerns around baby seat installations

This was my sister’s and my experience at the branch in OR Tambo International Airport. While we did eventually get a car and it worked with no glitches, the process leading up to that was really not great.

It took around two hours to get the car, and the main cause of the delay was difficulty locating the baby seat that we had ordered for the car. The staff member helping us made phone call after phone call trying to find it, and just as she thought she had located it, my sister and I went to meet said person who had it, but the person wasn’t where they had said they would be — essentially, it was a mess.

Once we did ultimately get the baby seat, another staff member assisting us tried to install it in the car, but it was evident that they did not know how to (the seat was facing the wrong way, for instance). Then another staff member notified her and us that she actually wasn’t allowed to install the baby seat for us as the company could not carry the risk of something going wrong and the baby’s life being in their hands, basically.

Very well then; with the staff members who were there being unable to at least guide the installation AND with the installation instructions on the baby seat faded and illegible, we just had to wing that installation and hope to God we had done it correctly and securely!

This happened over three months ago, but we are making a point of writing this report as a plea to Hertz to do better. The two-hour wait was appalling, the confusion around the whereabouts of the baby seat was unsettling, and the lack of instructions/guidance on how to install the baby seat was so, so irresponsible. Please, please do better.