10 best companies for customer service

Hertz couldn't ask for a better customer than Richard M. Garber. The business development manager typically rents cars from the chain 20 to 40 times a year when traveling on business for materials manufacturer FLEXcon.

But now Garber is rethinking that loyalty. In the past month the Cleveland resident has returned Hertz cars to the Boston and Minneapolis airports only to find nobody waiting with a handheld check-in device. In Minneapolis, Garber had to drag his bags to the counter to return his car; in Boston, he finally tracked down an employee who came out and explained that some colleagues had just been laid off.

"When you're rushing for an airplane, every minute counts," says Garber. "The less convenient they are, the more likely I am to try someone else."