HAINES CITY, Fla. (WFLA) – Sylvester King wanted to be Super Uncle to his nephew. So, he rented a 2019 Camaro to take the recent high school graduate and his buddies on a trip to Miami.

“They wanted one fun trip before they went off to college,” King said.

King, a Gold member with Hertz, rented the car from the Orlando airport. The trip south turned into a nightmare that King says left him and the young men feeling like criminals.

Just a couple of hours into the trip, the group was pulled over by deputies with the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office. They discovered the tag on the Camaro they had just rented from Hertz in Orlando didn’t match the car, and King says deputies had to make sure the car wasn’t stolen.

“They checked the car to make sure there weren’t any drugs in the car, anything like that,” King said. “That’s what the police do, that’s their job. But we had people looking at us, driving by. It was so embarrassing. People are looking, shaking their head.”

King said the deputies realized they had done nothing wrong when the tag they ran came back as a Hertz rental car. Still, they couldn’t let them drive off in a car without a valid tag.

So, they confiscated the vehicle so Hertz could retrieve it it Hendry County. That left King and the young men stranded on the side of the road.

“We were in a strange place, embarrassed, uncomfortable,” King said.

The group called friends to come pick them up. They also called Hertz to let them know what happened.

Days later, King discovered that his credit card had been charged $420.37.

“Why would you charge me for something that you put me in danger, .. and you didn’t care what happened to me, but you’re still going to charge me?” King said.

When his repeated calls to Hertz were not returned, he knew he’d Better Call Behnken. I called corporate and a spokeswoman promised to look into this right away.

Two days later, Better Call Behnken received this statement from Hertz:

“We sincerely regret the experience that Mr. King had while renting our vehicle. We are investigating to see what led to this rare and unfortunate situation. In an effort to make this right with Mr. King, we have extended our apologies and have refunded the amount of his rental and offered him an additional $250. “

If you have something you’d like Shannon to investigate, call 1-888-BEHNKEN. You can follow Shannon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @WFLAShannonBehnken