In the comment section, the customer (who has Hertz President's Circle status) provides even more baffling interactions with Hertz:
> Hey y’all! Josh here! To clarify, I did receive an email that the quote in the article was pulled from, but I also had three interactions over the phone with people who were most definitely human (and most definitely rude) who confirmed to me that yes actually, the charge is legitimate. Yes, it’s also my fault for asking them to fill it up if I didn’t want to get charged. And yes, really, that was the cost to fill up the Tesla with gas. No, really, sir; the Hertz teams on the ground know their cars. If they say a Tesla Model 3 standard range takes $277 gallons of gas to fill up, it must have taken $277 to fill up the tank. So… there ya have it! There must be a secret gas tank that only Hertz knows about that all the Tesla owners have yet to discover. Maybe it’s an Easter egg? ;)
> Hey y’all! Josh here! To clarify, I did receive an email that the quote in the article was pulled from, but I also had three interactions over the phone with people who were most definitely human (and most definitely rude) who confirmed to me that yes actually, the charge is legitimate. Yes, it’s also my fault for asking them to fill it up if I didn’t want to get charged. And yes, really, that was the cost to fill up the Tesla with gas. No, really, sir; the Hertz teams on the ground know their cars. If they say a Tesla Model 3 standard range takes $277 gallons of gas to fill up, it must have taken $277 to fill up the tank. So… there ya have it! There must be a secret gas tank that only Hertz knows about that all the Tesla owners have yet to discover. Maybe it’s an Easter egg? ;)