Every time I go to pick up a rental from Hertz in PHX I find that my name is not on the Gold board so I have to go in to the Gold counter with all the other people in the same situation.
Once at the counter we all go through the same thing.
Your rental is what you asked for but for $20 a day you can have something luxurious.
So renting a *premium* gets me a tired 30k mile Maxima...
Also since being scammed for a daily premium roadside assistance fee that I had not asked for/ agreed to I always double check my paperwork before leaving the lot.
Having experienced Hertz in LAX I do not think that the Hertz PHX experience is unusual for this company.