Hertz' AI System That Scans for "Damage" on Rental Cars Is Turning Into an Epic Disaster
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Too many people these days don't use or have access to credit cards for services like this. Many people I know only use bank debit cards, or worse, use the debit preloaded cash cards issued by their employers' payroll service provider.
Credit cards motivate banks to help you, because if you won't pay, and the business doesn't pay, the bank has to take the hit.
Debit cards will work as well if your bank values it's reputation - but not all banks do.
And I would not trust a preloaded card provider to assist. You are neither their business partner nor their customer and that puts your interests at the bottom of a very long list. You have to hope some law is on your side or that your issue is so trivial that resolving it is more cost effective then dealing with you.
Huh? I don't think I've ever used a rental car service that didn't require a credit card. Exactly so they can charge for this sort of thing.
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Sounds like they want to lose those customers.
That's why the matching strategy is mergers to combine all the competitors into one company.
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Holy shit. The contract that dude signed had a maximum fee of $35 for EV recharge, yet they charged him $277 and claimed the contract allowed that. Thankfully, the worst I've had from Hertz is they just told me to fuck off and didn't give me my reserved vehicle.
I've had from Hertz is they just told me to fuck off and didn't give me my reserved vehicle.
And here I thought they just didn't like me... WTF kind of business is this lol
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But sometimes the nicer packaged product is better, it depends on the product.
Sometimes is doing a lot of work here though
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I don't understand how this works out badly for the person using a debit card. You pay for the vehicle and if they try to make you pay more you ask for proof and if you don't get it you walk away.
Or do they require a collateral fee when renting?
Or do they require a collateral fee when renting?
Yes
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I'm not sure how you can make the points you make, and still call it a "generally brilliant solution"
The entire point of this system - like anything a giant company like Hertz does - is not to be fair to the customer. The point is to screw the customer over to make money.
Not allowing human employees to challenge the incorrect AI decision is very intentional, because it defers your complaint to a later time when you have to phone customer support.
This means you no longer have the persuasion power of being there in person at the time of the assessment, with the car still there too, and means you have to muster the time and effort to call customer services - which they are hoping you won't bother doing. Even if you do call, CS hold all the cards at that point and can easily swerve you over the phone.
It's all part of the business strategy.
I'm not sure how you can make the points you make, and still call it a "generally brilliant solution"
Because the technology itself is not the problem, it's the application. Not complicated.
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And all those uses are correct, because AI is a broad field. We should just use the more specific terms these days though: machine learning, LLM, Bayesian networks, etc.
Agreed. But most people have neither the time nor capacity to track all of these specifics, so popular discussions of AI-related technologies inevitably break down into a mud pit of people talking past each other about various different topics.
Which, if you think about it, is true of most public discussions about any complex topic. It almost invariably devolves into a miscommunication or a discussion about semantics.
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I've had from Hertz is they just told me to fuck off and didn't give me my reserved vehicle.
And here I thought they just didn't like me... WTF kind of business is this lol
I'm not unconvinced that it isn't just an elaborate money laundering company
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I don't understand how this works out badly for the person using a debit card. You pay for the vehicle and if they try to make you pay more you ask for proof and if you don't get it you walk away.
Or do they require a collateral fee when renting?
It's about who's lawyers you can rally to your defense in a dispute.
With a credit card you're spending the bank's money. If you can convince the bank you're in the right, it's you and the bank's lawyers recovering the bank's money.
As a debit card user, the banks will support your legal rights, because it's good business for your clients to prosper. While the bank's lawyers won't go to bat for you, many will be willing to give you quasi-legal and quasi-financial tidbits or point you in the right direction.
As the bank's client's employee, you're basically on your own. Good luck.
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Sometimes is doing a lot of work here though
Sure, I'm just not sure if it's more or less often than when it's equivalent. It's frequent enough that you should be careful if quality is what you're after.
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I'm not sure how you can make the points you make, and still call it a "generally brilliant solution"
Because the technology itself is not the problem, it's the application. Not complicated.
The technology is literally the problem as it’s not working
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The technology is literally the problem as it’s not working
There's literally nothing wrong with the technology. The problem is the application.
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There's literally nothing wrong with the technology. The problem is the application.
The technology is NOT DOING WHAT ITS MEANT TO DO - it is IDENTIFYING DAMAGE WHERE THERE IS NONE - the TECHNOLOGY is NOT working as it should
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Sounds like that shit with dodgy smoking detection in a hotel from last week..
Those do exactly what they're supposed to do. They're even explicitly advertised as providing new revenue streams.
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The technology is NOT DOING WHAT ITS MEANT TO DO - it is IDENTIFYING DAMAGE WHERE THERE IS NONE - the TECHNOLOGY is NOT working as it should
Just because THE TECHNOLOGY IS NOT PERFECT does not mean it is NOT DOING WHAT IT'S intended to do. Sorry I'm having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE.
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Fair game. Give me a grease pen and let me mark everything I see. By the time I'm done, they'll owe me money.
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I don't understand how this works out badly for the person using a debit card. You pay for the vehicle and if they try to make you pay more you ask for proof and if you don't get it you walk away.
Or do they require a collateral fee when renting?
The other thing not being mentioned is that credit cards and debit cards have different legally required protections.
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I'm not sure how you can make the points you make, and still call it a "generally brilliant solution"
The entire point of this system - like anything a giant company like Hertz does - is not to be fair to the customer. The point is to screw the customer over to make money.
Not allowing human employees to challenge the incorrect AI decision is very intentional, because it defers your complaint to a later time when you have to phone customer support.
This means you no longer have the persuasion power of being there in person at the time of the assessment, with the car still there too, and means you have to muster the time and effort to call customer services - which they are hoping you won't bother doing. Even if you do call, CS hold all the cards at that point and can easily swerve you over the phone.
It's all part of the business strategy.
That's why you chargeback. Don't waste time arguing with the machine, cut it off at the cashflow
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Plus they are worshipped as a god in some sectors of the universe.
Katniss everdeen
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Agreed. But most people have neither the time nor capacity to track all of these specifics, so popular discussions of AI-related technologies inevitably break down into a mud pit of people talking past each other about various different topics.
Which, if you think about it, is true of most public discussions about any complex topic. It almost invariably devolves into a miscommunication or a discussion about semantics.
People have the capacity to track genres and whatnot, what's so different about this?
I think people could understand if explained probably, but unfortunately journalists rarely dive deeply enough to do that. It really doesn't need to get too involved:
- machine learning - tell an algorithm what it's allowed to change and what a "good" output is and it'll handle the rest to find the best solution
- Bayesian networks - probability of an event given a previous event; this is the underpinnings of LLMs
- LLM - similar to Bayesian networks, but with a lot more data
And so on. If people can associate a technology with common applications, it'll work a lot more like genres and people will start to intuit limitations of various technologies.
