There’s nothing as cringeworthy as seeing someone be completely rude to someone they don’t realize has power over them.

Undercover Boss is a perfect example of this, because unfortunately, people tend to show their true colors when they think their actions won’t have any consequences.

But when this user was screwed over by a car company, he ended up having the last laugh when he convinced his company to pull tens of thousands of dollars worth of business.

Check it out!

Rental car company wants to rip me off? My multinational company won’t be renting from you again.

Years ago someone hit my parked car. My insurance covered a rental and set it up for me at, let’s call them, Company D.

They were supposed to have the car ready when I dropped mine off at the body repair shop in the AM – they didn’t.

Said they would deliver, so I grabbed a taxi to work (on my dime).

At the end of the day they show up, have a junky Chevy economy car ‘ready’.

Ready but I have to shuttle the worker back to the rental car place.

I rent a lot of cars (this is important later) so I look it over, decent shape, but the gas is like just above half.

I tell the guy and he’s like, ya, we had to run some errands. Just bring it back at the same level.

But when he followed his instructions, he was charged for returning it without a full tank!

Oddly, I had to rent a big SUV (from my usual rental car company A) for work that week and was out of town.

I worked for a multinational consulting firm (also important).

So this rental from Company D, I drove a whopping 16km when it was time to return it. I put in $5 of gas and dropped it off after my work trip.

I get my credit card bill and there is a $70 charge. The rental should have been paid for by insurance but my card was on hold.

I call and ask what’s going on. Was told I didn’t return it with a full tank.

He tried to explain the deal, but the company basically told him tough luck!

I explained I got it not full. He said, you got it at 13/16ths (no joke) of a tank and it was 11/16th when I dropped, so with the fuel and refuelling service charge, boom $70.

I fought, sent on my $5 receipt, pointed out in/out mileage was only 16km and this was a piece of junk 4 cylinder engine so how could that use so much.

I called the managers and corporate to argue. It was the principle at this point.

Eventually got a hold of some VP I found on LinkedIn or something.

I said, reverse the charge and apologize or I will make sure we never rent from you again. He didn’t care.

While that definitely cost the company some business, his true revenge came years later!

Fast forward a couple years. I had told everyone I know not to use Company D anymore. They lost some business but it didn’t hurt I’m sure.

Then, as luck would have it, our company was negotiating rates with all the big firms for hotels, cars etc.

Our head of procurement wanted feedback from frequent travelers from various operating companies.

My name was picked for feedback as one of the more experienced global travelers. Lucky me, unlucky Company D!

And he made his opinions on the shady company perfectly clear!

I told procurement that I liked this hotel chain or that airline, whatever.

I kept an even keel, nonplussed.

Then when it came time for rental cars, I had a big song and dance for how Company D can’t be trusted.

I included some various made up shady practices like not having safe cars, not offering extended services – whatever I needed.

So in the end, that $70 charge ended up costing the company thousands and thousands of dollars!

A month or so later, I see our online portal that we must use to book travel no longer features Company D (or the sister brands) as a car rental option.

I personally had probably spent $20k on rental cars a year on average.

If I extrapolate that to just my operating company’s 4000 employees, that was the most expensive $70 they ever ripped someone off for!

It just goes to show you to treat every customer as if they’re a valued client, because sometimes they actually are!

I bet that VP he talked to would be kicking himself if he knew the reason they lost that contract!

Reddit loved seeing this company get what was coming to them, with many sharing their own similar situations.

This user said they hoped that he called and told the company exactly why they lost so much business!

And finally, this person was reminded of their own husband and his petty revenge on big corporations!

You never know when Karma’s gonna come back to bite you in the butt!

One more reason to be kind when you can.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.