WayneR:

your comment:
It should not take so many complaints and civil actions for a business to be reprimanded for blatantly anti-consumer behavior. I guess an argument can be made that consumers should pay attention to the documents they’re signing, but I suspect that there is some breach of contract on the company’s part.

You're right. There is an breach of an implied contract that both parties are going to do the right thing by, and for, each other. It is called ethics. Something that seems to be lacking in almost every facet of life. Businesses take advantage of near monopolies to force onerous terms and conditions (binding arbitration, for example) on the other party without recourse. Of course you sign because you want the service/product and there is little choice you, as the consumer, have. Take it or leave it.

Not that all consumers are innocent in this matter either. They are out to 'get even' with any and all companies. Return policies used to be much more lenient. Now to get almost any thing returned, you need a recent receipt. People will buy clothes for an event and then return them. I've seen old used shoes on the floor at Walmart and I'll bet that the person walked out of the store wearing the unpaid shoes. So, consumers aren't always the angels they claim to be.

end of rant...

One other item about renting a car. Rented one from Hertz using AAA discount this summer. Everything went find, final cost matched the estimate, but why do I have to pay a separate charge for auto registration. It was about $1.20 a day. Shouldn't that be included in the daily price and not broken out individually? Yes, I would pay it eventually buried in the rate, but still, it seemed nit-picky.