A growing number of customers are claiming that they have been accused and even arrested at gunpoint and thrown in jail after Hertz reported cars they rented as stolen.

There are 191 claims in federal bankruptcy court from Hertz customers who say they were arrested in false grounds as of Friday, according to CBS News. Among the customers who say they’ve been wronged are some who say they did not even rent the vehicles themselves.

A NASA employee driving a Hertz SUV was seen in video obtained by the TV station holding his hands up as police officers in Florida pointed a gun at him. Hertz had filed a stolen vehicle report on the car that NASA had rented for him. The unnamed employee was not charged, and authorities released him.

Similarly, Steven Robinson said he did not rent a car from Hertz. But police arrested him for car theft in June and he spent two days behind bars and is being prosecuted on felony charges.

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‘I mean, this was the worst experience ever in my life. And I can’t believe that Hertz and it was a good slogan I heard, but Hertz really hurts people,’ Robinson told CBS News. ‘Their negligent practices is like, it’s terrible.’  

Meanwhile, Carmen Bosko rented a car from Hertz in Florida in January and said she returned it in April. But cops in Georgia arrested her for car theft in August and she served 40 days in jail away from her two-month-old baby and two other children.

‘I had to explain to my kids why I was gone for 40 days,’ she told the TV station. ‘And I missed time with my youngest that I’ll never get back.’

Unlike the NASA employee, Robinson and Bosko, Rejeana Meado has not been arrested – but fears she will be. Meado rented a Hertz vehicle for three days to attend a wedding in Houston in May and returned it on time.

However, she said Hertz emailed her last week saying they reported the car stolen.

‘I have a husband. I have kids. It’s terrible,’ Meado told CBS News, tearing up. ‘Sorry… My doorbell rings and I am fearful that it is the cops coming to get me.’  

Attorney Francis Alexander Malofiy said that many Hertz customer think they’re an isolated incident.

‘They don’t realize that this is a systemic issue that is happening across the nation,’ Malofiy told the station.

Hertz declined to comment on the recent reports but in a November 2 statement said the lawyers representing the upset customers ‘have a track record of making baseless claims that blatantly misrepresent the facts’.

‘The vast majority of these cases involve renters who were many weeks or even months overdue returning vehicles and who stopped communicating with us well beyond the scheduled due date,’ the statement read.

‘Situations where vehicles are reported to the authorities are very rare and happen only after exhaustive attempts to reach the customer.’

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