Dear Avis,

I'm surprised to see your tag line on your website 'we're in the business of treating people like people.' I recently parked in an Avis spot by accident while waiting for my brother to rent a car from Enterprise (the spot was not clearly marked and was in front of the Enterprise booth at the Long Beach Airport). A young gentleman knocked on my window and told me to move the car or he will have it towed. I agreed and moved the car to idle in front of the enterprise booth.

Shortly thereafter, three police vehicles surrounded my car and multiple officers interrogated me about the situation--claiming I refused to move the vehicle when the Avis employee asked and that he reported I was being difficult and belligerent. I don't understand what compelled your employee to call the police and lie about the situation. I did not catch his name at the time as he simply asked me to move the car and I did. I am still in shock of the Avis employee and the officer s that answered the call. Thanks for treating me like a criminal--I will be sure to keep this in mind for future reservations.

Location in downtown Calgary

Customer service - appauling

When I called in advance to see what I needed to - I was told a Credit Card with $50 when I got there they charged the whole amount to my card!
2- I have a deal with my work that get a discount with AVIS yet when I went to redeem it their system would not accept it and all the guy had to say to me was 'it is what our system is telling me - it is out of my control'
3 - When we finally finished he told us we could collect our car from bay 7 in the parking lot and that was it - we had NO IDEA where the parking lot was!

lgurdia

the worst car rental on earth no costumer service i said to be charged $250 for leaving some dirt on floor i wanted to take it to claen they did not let me i eaven was ready to pay for a full day and rent it agein they did not let me they allways act very rood to you worse then the food stamp office do not rent there rather pay few $ more and get costomer service u will any way end up paying more try ebterprice they are much better people

very bad company

It was cheap

When you leave the rental area you'll get on a highway that's going to charge you.

We got charged for leaving the Avis rental on a toll road which we had no idea was a toll road, but it was the only way out of Avis. We got charged 21 $'s in toll charges and a 10 $ convenience fee from Avis for the use of their pike pass thingy.

Similar Products Used:

Almo,Hertz & Budget

None

Bait and switch

Made a reservation with Avis in Wichita KS for a sub-compact. Wilfe picked up the car, a Ford Focus, and didn't check much before signing it. Turns out, they gave her what they classify as a compact and not a sub-compact and charged her $13 more per day. When we called to dispute, they simply stated that since she signed a legally binding contract, there is nothing they will do.

A company that cared for clients or has an interest in providing customer service would have removed the charges and asked the client to confirm the rate up front going forward. This may have lost them a few dollars up front, but would have gained them a long term customer. Instead, they decided to keep those few dollar and not only lost a customer, and hopefully and potentially many more who read these reviews.

ess then terrible...NEGATIVE
Never Again GUY's BE CAREFUL... We flew into Orlando airport and were ready to enjoy 8 days away from home. We had a reservation with Avis through Hotwire.com for a compact car (travel only in Orlando-Disney).And, rental counter was busy and it took 45 minutes to get on to a counter/service rep, she was talking all cock&bull stories,there it started the trouble, she was trying to sell more what actually I requested via hot wire and I decline all (example: go for upgrade, insurance) and I clearly told no upgrade and no smoking car and she said ok and for that they charged me $30 plus taxes per day and it was my bad that I didn't check the documents before leaving the counter in-spite of my telling no upgrade she printed the documents as upgrade and i noticed this only on the day i was returning the car and I went to the counter for that it was Horrible response as they got what they want and no need of this customer that was behavior. Then, I noticed if we book as package via any agency i.e. hotwire they get ... We flew into Orlando airport and were ready to enjoy 8 days away from home. We had a reservation with Avis through Hotwire.com for a compact car (travel only in Orlando-Disney).And, rental counter was busy and it took 45 minutes to get on to a counter/service rep, she was talking all cock&bull stories,there it started the trouble, she was trying to sell more what actually I requested via hot wire and I decline all (example: go for upgrade, insurance) and I clearly told no upgrade and no smoking car and she said ok and for that they charged me $30 plus taxes per day and it was my bad that I didn't check the documents before leaving the counter in-spite of my telling no upgrade she printed the documents as upgrade and i noticed this only on the day i was returning the car and I went to the counter for that it was Horrible response as they got what they want and no need of this customer that was behavior. Then, I noticed if we book as package via any agency i.e. hotwire they get less then what they get for direct deal. Guy's be careful reading the screen display at counter in front of you, that may even fool you like that happened to me, check/verify the final printed copy before leaving counter don't trust what they talk.. Please. It was a horrible way of ending my vacation!

0

Customer service

I travel frequently, and while I can't rave about the airlines, I will say I haven't been treated horribly like I have more than a few times by Avis. Again, I am renting cars frequently, but never again from Avis. I've had cars that smell terrible from improper cleaning, GPS units that continually cut out as I'm driving (4 different rentals!), and the worst was a rear seat belt that would not work. I had to pick up my family and my 3 kids sat in the back, one without a seat belt, real safe. The latest was an incident with a GPS that broke. They charged me 290 for it and would not give me the device either. It fell from the windshield once but I didn't notice the crack than. Of course it fell because the windshield, like the rest of the car was once again, not very clean.
We are a corporate account and the way that the Mgr in Ft. Wayne, and even works the Avis customer serv mgr treated was HORRIBLE. I reluctantly came to terms with paying for the GPS, but not giving it to me was bad. Even worse was the tone of the conversations. I passionately hate this company and will never use them again. And for Avis's sake, that's a good thing because there's no crying over spilt milk, especially if a gallon or two were to spill in the back seat.

My husband and I rented a car from Avis through Priceline. We had a problem with our flight and had to fly out of a nearby airport instead. I called the Avis office and asked if it was ok if we dropped the car off at a different airport than the one which we originally picked up the car and we were told it was not a problem. To make an extremely long story short, Avis deducted $800.00 from my bank account upon the car's return because we returned it to a different location. As of today's date I have called 8 times, spoke with 10 people, wrote 2 letters and heard 4 different excuses. They admit that the money should not have been deducted but haven't gotten "the right person" to approve the refund yet. $800 - at holiday time?!?!? When I rented a Ford Focus for 2 days!! One of the reasons I heard (the most recent) is because I returned the car 3 hours EARLY!!! EARLY! Apparently, they say when you return a car early OR late - you breach the contract and it defaults to the standard rate (which I guess is apparently like $300 per day for a FORD FOCUS). I am a practicing attorney and I can say I have never heard of such BS. As if it wasn't bad enough that they are holding my money hostage, the customer representatives have been rude, disrespectful or ignorant. I honestly have run out of words for how frustrating this has been. I would never use Avis again. Not for myself, not for my law firm, clients, family or friends. Absolutely horrible.

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AVIS - DO NOT Rent From AVIS

Be very aware of AVIS’ unfair rental policies!

During our visit in Spain this past August we were traveling within an Avis rental vehicle when we were rear ended by a local's vehicle (very minor damage). We then exorcized our due diligence and completed an accident report with offending driver's information.

Upon return of rental car to Avis we submitted said form with explanation of what had occurred. Even though we had purchased CDW (collision damage waiver) at an additional cost of $30. per day over and above all other exorbitant fees, we were still charged yet another additional fee of over $70. for an “administration fee for damage”. We were told by the returning agent that this admin fee would be refunded once insurance companies sort the claim within 2 to 4 weeks.

After waiting for more than 2 months without a refund, we contacted Avis only to discover that according to them, because WE rented the car, WE are responsible for so called “Administration Fee for Damage”, NO MATTER WHO IS AT FAULT!

So why does Avis insist on the purchase of additional insurance only to have to pay even more fees when SOMEONE ELSE HITS YOUR CAR AT NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN! Does it not stand to reason, if it’s your fault then you must pay deductibles, fees etc, but if the other driver’s fault, their insurance company cover all fees and expenses?

Yes very nice policy AVIS, way to go, now that’s great customer service! I know I will NEVER rent a car from AVIS again and the best way for the public at large to avoid such a ridiculous injustice of a policy is to do the same and NOT RENT FROM AVIS.

It is not so much the money but the principle of these large companies taking advantage of vacationing customers with all their nickel and dime fees and we should really not stand for it any longer by virtue of voting with your wallets and NOT doing any business with AVIS.

Carlos Gracia, Canada.

The gentleman in Savannah who provided the replacement vehicle

Roadside assistance, customer service departments sadly lacking.

I rented a full-size car (Impala or similar) for 5 days for about $230. When I picked up the car, I thought it looked smaller than an Impala, but I'm no expert so I didn't question it. However, when I began to load my and my companions' luggage, it was then evident that this was no full size car (although I believe Avis says it is). We had a 900 mile trip to make -- approximately 15-16 hours to So. Carolina. When we began the trip in early morning in Albany, it was fairly cool ( this was mid-May) so we didn't need the air conditioning. As we got further south, we put it on. We noticed that it didn't work very well. Then I noticed that the car was overheating. We pulled into "South of the Border" a well-known tourist attraction on the border of North and South Carolinas. I called roadside assistance for help. I won't bore everyone with all the gritty details, but I will say that after waiting more than 3 hours for a replacement vehicle, several calls to roadside assistance and customer service - who couldn't even tell me where the closest Avis dealer was --- we ended up continuing our trip in a overheating car. We traveled three more hours with the windows open and the heat on (to keep the car from overheating). When dealing with roadside assistance, I was asked ridiculous questions about the address ... I kept insisting that there was no street address - that it was a huge tourist attraction well seen from the highway and that any local tow company would know where it was. They were fixated about getting an address and kept warning me that if I wasn't where I said I would be, the tow truck would go away. Well, for all their warnings, it wasn't as though the tow truck had come and gone; it hadn't come at all! I don't have a clue why it didn't come and, frankly, I didn't care. All I cared about was that I had already been on the road for 12 hours; I waited more than 3 hours for nothing and had to make the rest of my trip in extreme discomfort. In addition, we had to take time the next day (when I could have been at the beach!) to return the car to the Savannah Airport and get a replacement vehicle. They were very nice and didn't charge me for the used gas (boy, would they have gotten a fight if they had!). When I returned to Albany, I asked that the entire cost of the trip be comped. The manager looked at me as though I was crazy and said I drove the car more than 2000 miles and I wasn't getting for free. He did give me half off. I wrote to the company afterwards and they ended up charging me for just one day (at least they said they did ... I do not believe I have seen a credit for the trip). I feel strongly that they should have comped me. I'm not one to try to get something for nothing, but for a measly $230, Avis could have created some good will that I would be sharing with you instead of my horror story. I do appreciate what they did; I just don't think they did enough and will probably never use them OR Budget (a subsidiary) again. It wasn't so bad that the car overheated -- it was a new car with less than 4000 miles on it. But the service, or lack thereof, that I received from roadside assistance soured me forever.