Avis Reviews

Our arrival at the vacation home at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida was late at night, so the following day, I proceeded to make contact with Avis. I had to make countless phone calls just to speak with the right person who could assist me, not to mention the exuberant amount of time on the phone waiting and being transferred using my cell phone and roaming minutes in trying to get the seat belt issue resolved. Upon finally speaking with an Avis representative and explaining the seat belt situation, Avis located a mini-van at the Clearwater Airport, Florida. Given the circumstance of the seat belt, I asked if Avis would drop off the vehicle at our vacation home since I did not want to risk putting my family in the vehicle without seat belts and they refused. I wasted an entire morning trying to reach an Avis representative that could resolve my situation, had to wait for Avis to locate a mini-van, had to drive the vehicle with the inoperable seat belts to the Clearwater Airport having to leave my family behind, and then I had to drive back to pick up my family so that we could begin with our planned vacation. The entire day from the start of our vacation was wasted trying to resolve their matter.

After returning home to Colorado, I sent an email to Avis customer service explaining the events and details, and explained that I would not do business with them again given the customer service, faulty equipment and their unwillingness to rectify the situation. Their response and opening line began with "We were appalled" but obviously not enough. Their solution was to offer and I quote, "As a gesture of goodwill, we are mailing to your address on file, Avis customer service certificates worth $30.00, which we hope you will use on a forthcoming Avis rental." Not only did I not get the vehicle reserved, spent a great deal of time trying to reach an Avis representative, used an enormous amount of roaming minutes, had to drive to a different airport to exchange the vehicle which should have been dropped off, and then had to drive back to pick up my family, and the best I was offered is a $30.00 gift certificate issued in good faith and to boot, towards the rental of another Avis vehicle which was made clearly I would not be doing business with them again.

The expense alone using roaming minutes on my cell phone was already beyond $30.00. Tell me, how is that providing the customer with any incentive to rent from Avis again? I travel extensively both business and pleasure and Avis is always a preferred choice. But after the kind of customer service experienced, I will not be renting from Avis again. I want to reach out to as many people as possible so that they are aware and hopefully, prevent anyone from having to endure the hassle I did. Avis has lost my business as well as from any family member. With the economy the way it is where traveling and vacationing is becoming increasingly limited, can Avis afford to lose all this business?

The second rental date was 01/12/08 and I was mailed a violation notice on 10/23/08 in the amount of $45.40 ($0.40 toll + $20 citation fee + $20 admin fee). I disputed the violation (by phone and website complaint) and then apparently both the citation fee and admin fee were waived, because my Amex card was billed only $0.40. During the dispute of the second notice, in May '09, I spoke with a lady named ** at Avis e-Tolls, at 516-684-9584 ext. ** (I can check the exact date from my cell phone records, if needed). As I'd said before, I told her I had never not paid a toll, and it was inconceivable that I would just not pay tolls every time I visit Chicago. She replied that one way this could have happened is that I had not paid the "exact" fines. I asked her if that meant that if I had paid $0.50 instead of the requested $0.40 I would be fined for not paying the exact amount. Incredibly, her reply was "yes".

I could not believe that an arm of a city or state agency would ask for $0.40, gladly take the $0.50 given, and then later charge greater 100 times more ($45) because the amount paid had slightly exceeded the amount requested. In May '09 I filed a dispute on the Avis e-Toll website, taking this position, and also said I was considering filing complaints with the Illinois and New York State Attorney General's Offices. Apparently, they accepted my arguments as they subsequently charged my Amex card only $0.40. Interestingly however, they never responded to my filed dispute, either by phone or in writing.

Now, I just received a charge on my Amex card for $4.00 from Avis e-Toll related to another rental in Chicago on 08/04/09. I called Avis and was told again that Avis e-Toll was a separate company and I had to call them. Here we go again, three times in three rentals, in the same city, over a space of about one year.

I can't accept this abuse. I believe the pattern of behavior from Illinois Highway Tolls, Avis, and Avis e-Tolls is very unfair, and perhaps illegal, and if so is being perpetrated on large numbers of people. There is the apparent assumption that the renter is guilty until proven innocent. But there's no way to do that, except through the force of reason and much time and effort. That ensures most people will pay the fines even if they shouldn't.

There's the ridiculous (if true) practice of levying fines for overpaying tolls, while at the same time accepting the paid amount in the first place. I believe any peer would find this to quite surprising and unfair. There's the apparent pattern of not replying to written disputes, quite possibly to avoid admission of guilt, while simultaneously waiving amounts to perhaps avoid further investigation. There's the absurd amplification of the amounts due, from in my second instance, just $0.40 to greater than 100 times more ($45.40). There's the practice of the rental car company passing the renter's credit card information to Avis e-Toll who then automatically levies the charges to the card, sometimes before the renter can dispute them (as in my most recent instance).

This issue has been bothering me now for over a year, costing me about 20 hours of my time (which is worth $1,200 based on my annual salary), has caused me to lose several night's sleep due to frustration, and undermined my feeling of well-being by making me feel powerless against what I believe is an obvious injustice. More importantly, I am trying to put two children through college and keep my job and cannot afford the time to dispute these unfair charges. Most importantly, if this is happening to me, I can only imagine that it's happening to thousands of people every month who travel through Chicago, and potentially many more throughout the country in other cities that may have similar practices.

Avis is supposed to clean out the vehicle before renting it to another person. They said that they cleaned it out. I checked my E-ZPass account and I see that my EZ-Pass was used on 8/5/09. So if they cleaned it out, that means someone at Avis stole my E-ZPass and has been using it. Everyday someone said they would call me and get back to me, so I did not cancel my E-ZPass. No one ever called me back and they kept giving me the runaround. During this time, someone was using my E-ZPass. I have to pay for all the tolls acquired on this account which adds up to $21.50 plus $21.00 to replace the E-Z Pass card.

I asked how I could get it sooner than later. They told me I have to fax Avis over the dollar amount owed to me and the bank would release back my funds owed to me because I rented using a debt card. The cost for the car was $275.13 (including tax and insurance) and their policy is to take $400 from your account due to the debt card. Upon return of the car, they subtract the $275.13 from the $400 and return the balance to your account. When the first week of renting went past, I came in and said I would like to get the car for another week. Avis said since they have my card on hold, I don’t have to pay another $400 and I should just pay the fee, tax and insurance for $275.13. I was like great. So I had $400 cash in hand, told them that I would go to the bank and deposit the money.

They said you can pay cash so you don’t have to run to the bank. I told the manager my mother gave me the $400, so how much would I owe my mom because I could not figure that quick what $275.13 from $400 was? The manager summed it out for me and I gave them cash for that week. Mind you, I had no extra cash in my account, so they only had $400 from my bank on hold and I paid the cash $275.13 for that following week. So once that week ended, the one I paid cash for, I called Avis and spoke to Lodi, an agent that for the most part had handled most of my transactions. I told him I would like another week and I will deposit another $275.13 into my account, but I will call him once I put in the cash so the transaction will go through. I called and he deducted the $275.13.

When I asked them this morning to fax the amount owed to me, they faxed only the money I owed them that they have already. When my bank said they received the fax and Avis didn't add the dollar amount. I called Avis and got Lodi on the phone; he said they don’t owe me anything. That’s when I got pissed and started to yell and curse because I knew he was lying. They never gave me my receipt and he kept on denying it and he hung up on me. I called again and asked to speak to the manager. She said the same thing as he said. I asked for the GM's number and it was the general Avis number and I told her that I was going to make sure she was fired and Lodi as well. She hung up on me. I called the general number and got no help.

I called another location, explained my situation, and the Avis employee agreed with me and gave me the direct cell number for the GM. I texted him and left many messages, but there’s no return call. I called my bank. We conferenced Avis that I rented from and Lodi was saying, “Oh, you will get your funds released tomorrow,” when he knew my bank was on the phone as well. The Avis manager came on being very condescending and rude, so I told her I am going to get them fired because at first they said I was getting nothing, and now my bank is on the phone now they say I will get my due funds tomorrow. The GM has yet to call. His name is Dean and his number is **.

Having arrived at Port Elizabeth airport on 29th May 2009 to return the car, I was met by a male who received the car. I had filled the tank up with fuel as previously requested and handed him the paperwork. He had a look around the car and said to me that it's all fine, "Would you like your invoice now or in the post?" I told him that we were in a hurry and I would rather it in the post. I had expected two pre-arranged charges on the invoice which were a one way drop off fee and a delivery fee, as the car was delivered to me at the start and I wasn't retuning it to the pickup location due to my self-drive tour.

I immediately phoned Avis customer services on 8th June '09 and they said it would be investigated by foreign damages team. It would take 30 days. Thirty days had passed and I had no reply. I phoned again on 8th July 2009 and the male I spoke to said the car was damaged and had to be repaired and that I haven't been charged for the damage or the excess but only an admin fee of 412.75 ZAR. I explained that there was no additional damage so there shouldn't be an admin fee for damages and that it wasn't fully investigated as an investigation includes all parties and I wasn't contacted. I wasn't getting anywhere with him so I requested a supervisor/manager.

On the same day, I received a call from a male I believe was called Hilton. I explained the situation again and he said he understands and that the damage wasn't perhaps noted thoroughly enough, etc. and it could quite well be damage that was already there. I know it was. He told me that he will contact me in 5-7 days and we will resolve the issue. On Thursday, 16th July 2009, I received a credit card bill from Halifax dated 13th July 2009 and had another charge of 195 ZAR dated 22 June 2009. This is nothing more that theft and I haven't even been contacted by phone or in writing advising me that this was to happen or what it was. They have just kept my details and added a further charge. I called Halifax to cancel the card as they were taking further unauthorized monies. This is a separate issue that needs resolving too.

Friday, 17th July, came and no call. I phoned to speak to Hilton and a female stated that he is on the phone and he will phone me back when he had finished. I asked her about the charge of 195 ZAR and she said she'll try to find out and let me know but probably a traffic charge? Again Hilton didn't return my call. On 22nd July, I phoned again to speak to him and again he was busy and she told me that he would phone me back by 1700H. This again didn't happen. This matter will not get resolved by myself as they are ignoring me and having charged for something that is incorrect they hope it will go away. I have researched this on the internet and this type of thing is happening worldwide with this company. The fact is that the total value is about 35-40 ZAR for admin fee for damages and 15 ZAR for the additional charge on 22nd June '09. This cannot continue to happen and there are other people in the same situation that may find it too hard to pursue but this is how they are getting away with it.

I called the main office and spoke with several people in the complaints department. Their suggestion was to go to another car rental business. The other rental companies would not rent to a "walk up," and all the cars had been reserved. We were stranded at the airport. After several more calls and no assistance from anyone at this company, I secured the money to cover the $500 from my mother. This took more than 3 hours. I told them at the time we signed the paperwork that I would be paying with the check card originally presented for the car upon return.

Once we got the car, it was beaten up. We took pics of all the damage and had one of their garage workers sign off on the damage for our protection. When we returned the car on 7/14, the return guy said the card was charged. We had to go back to the airport and stand in line to have the charge removed. When we gave them the check card again, they ran it and told us it was declined. We then had to get out of line, find an ATM for the same card, get cash, get back in line, and pay it with cash. We were assured the change was reversed.

As we were waiting in line, I saw 2 more people hit with the surprise $500 charge. When we were waiting to get our receipt, I spoke with the manager and told him they needed to have the charge posted somewhere, so people would know what they were going to be required to do. He swore that it was posted "somewhere." I told him they were unethical and that they're scammers. As we were walking away, I saw him put out the sign stating the "policy."

On 7/15, they charged my check card again. I had to spend 45 minutes on hold with their complaints department for them to tell me it wasn't a charge and that it was a hold that would be released in 48 to 72 hours. I work at a bank. It wasn't a hold; it was a charge. I had to have her conference in the bank to release the funds back to my account. I will never rent from Avis again. I would encourage anyone thinking about renting from these scam artists to pony up the extra money and save your self a lot of hassle.

I received another letter on approximately June 23rd to say they have attempted to charge my credit card that I used to rent this card. What do I do? I am not responsible for damaging this car. They are attempting to charge my credit card and I have no idea what fine print I may have signed that would allow them to do this. I declined the insurance as it is covered on my credit card and it appears they are using this and taking advantage that perhaps after this much time people will just pay? This is time consuming trying to stop this company from doing something like this. They are probably banking on the fact that most people are busy and just pay, but this is not right. I would appreciate your advice.

Friday morning when I arrived, they did not have a car for me, no GPS available, my confirmation number did not come up again, and they could not accept my Visa debit card. I'm unaware that I needed a major credit card. The only vehicle they had was an SUV, so they gave me that for the price I was quoted for. I had to borrow my mom's credit card for the SUV.

Teresa (another customer rep) promised me that they would not take out any money from the card, because we agreed I would pay cash when I arrived back. My mom did not want me to take out any money. So she promised that would not happen. She (Teresa) lied to me and my mother about the transaction, and my balance came out to $180.00. I would never rent from Avis again, and I will pass this on to friends and family about this business.

When I brought back the car in Las Vegas, my bill came out to $911.72. They said it was because of an underage fee and GPS fee. He didn't explain to me that at the end, there will be any additional charges. Turns out in the contract that I signed in small letters stating there is a $27 per day underage fee which came out to $243.00 and a GPS charge of $69.97. When we gave back the car the associate in Avis said that all charges on the contract need to be circled and initialed which he didn't do. The only thing he did circle and initial is the original amount which was $301.71. I also asked for the GPS and asked him how much it was, he said there is no charge for GPS. I called Avis 3 times, and tried to dispute my charges; and they just ignored what my issue was with them.

Per the Avis Panamanian representative's instructions (via the volunteer translator), we left the car in the airport parking lot and dropped the keys into the drop box (hole) in the Avis counter. Avis still continues to charge us a daily/hourly rate for a car we turned in. We returned the car with a full tank of gas. The mileage was 89729.4 kilometers. The time was 1600 local time on Friday, 27 March. I suspect the car is still sitting in the parking lot, or by now has been stolen. I am curious and apprehensive as to how long before the arrest warrant for us is issued.

It was particularly frustrating that we could not contact anyone with Avis in Panama City, Panama. It took many calls and hours on hold before we finally reached someone at Avis Customer Service that was even willing to take some ownership of the issues. While Avis USA customer support has rendered some assistance, they also were unable to contact anyone in Panama who could speak English. Finally, Avis USA supposedly sent a fax and asked us to wait another 48 hours. Avis has not replied to any of our emails. I personally feel that the Avis operation in Panama City needs a complete evaluation of its operational and management practices. As a long-time Preferred Avis customer, this has been a terrible experience, which still has not been resolved!

After all this the guy at the counter gave me a number to call and I called for 2 days before I got someone on the phone. Then she gave me the runaround! Finally after a month and a half, I got the adjuster's name and talked to her secretary. She told me to get an estimate and fax it to them so I did and after 3 months haven't heard anything from anyone. I have called several times every day and left several messages and get nothing back!! If I don't hear anything by the end of this week, I am going to see a lawyer. This is beyond ridiculous!!

About two months later, I get a letter in the mail, telling me that I needed to pay $1100 for repairs. Even their documents are vague as to the severity of the damage. I ahve tried to resolve this, and even said the heck with it and mailed the signed form back to them a month ago. Now I am getting another notice in the mail saying that I am ignoring them. I have never made using Avis a common practice, and I will certainly never us Avis again. I will warn everyone I know not to use Avis.

I've been trying to work this out, but it seems I am now liable for $350 instead of the $42 or so for the original ticket.

The Avis representative was checking the computer for my information and suddenly looked up and in a very loud voice proceeded to tell me and everyone else standing within 15 yards that I could not get a rental car as my credit was not good enough. I said what are you talking about and she said loudly that my credit score was only 500. I said what are you talking about, how would you know what my credit score is when you did not run my credit? I informed her that my credit is well over 700 and that I wanted a rental car. My job would not even allow me to work where I do if I had a credit rating like she said. I never have been so embarassed in my life.

I am retired military, was a police officer for nine years (injured in the line of duty) and now work for Homeland Security and could not get a rental vehicle. The lady basically asked me to get out of the line so she could help some customers and I asked her if this was it as I needed this car to go to the Federal Law Enforcement Center for my job. She told me I could contact customer service if I wanted to. I tried to contact customer service for nearly two hours and finally got a recording telling me that customer service did not work on the weekend.

I was stranded until I went over to the Hertz rental car agency and asked if they could rent me a car. They rented a car to me without reservations and I was on my way in less than 15 minutes. If my card was bad then why could I use it right beside the Avis counter. The employee at the Hertz counter heard the entire conversation between me and the person at Avis ticket counter and he said well, You know where to come to the next time you rent a car. Very upset, hurt and embarassed the way I was treated at Avis.

It cost more money to get my car as I did not have a reservation and cost me an appointment and a two hour delay waiting while stranded at El Paso International Airport

Anyway, when I left the rental agent I asked him if any thing further needed to be done. He said "no". Then I started getting bills in the mail which I refuse to pay. We had the car in our possesion the entire weekend where it was parked at a private residence. When it wasn't there we were in it. The scratch was very small and could easily be buffed out for a few dollars with some polish. There was no more damage to that car than normal wear and tear. They want me to pay $1308 in damages. they are threatening to send the bill to collections.

RE:Document #835603834. I travelled to Ireland to go on a golfing trip the week of June 22-28/08. I rented my car from Avis and the other four rented from Thrifty. We travelled together and went to 5 different golf courses during the week. When I originally picked up my car I was sent out to the lot and had to find it without any assistance. I did not receive any instructions on how to start the car or know where to find it. It was backed up tightly against a fence. The only instructions I had received were from the Avis shuttle driver on the way from the airport who gave the group on the bus instructions on how to drive on the left hand side of the road.

The car worked fine and I had a good week. Neither my car or my friends cars had a problems during the week. Upon returning my car they asked how it went and made an inspection and checked the car thoroughly. He gave me a tag after the inspection and I went into the office to pay what I owed. I told them everything went well and they completed the bill and charged my Visa $238.07 Euros. Just before I was about to leave to get the shuttle to catch my plane a rep came in and said they now notice there was damage to the front right tire and asked me if I had hit anything. I did not have any accidents and could not recall hitting anything to which they responded that I must have hit something. I had insisted I did not hit anything but the rep said they would have to fill out a damage report.

I found this strange that they did not see anything during the first inspection upon returning the car (that was very thorough) when I first got back and wondered if they had just switched the tire after I had returned the car in the lot. They asked me if I had noticed the bubble/bulge in the tire when I picked it up and confirmed I had not checked the tires but only the body of the car. The bulge was not immediately noticeable and assumed it was either a tire defect or was already there when I picked up the car since the rep that inspected the car when I first returned it didn't notice it. I asked for a copy of the accident report and they refused to give me one and just gave me a new bill for $525.81 Euros. When I asked if I could speak to the manager they told me to go to speak with the customer service rep in the airport.

One my friends who was travelling with me is the Manager of Bridgestone Tire (has worked there over 20yrs) and looks after all the Gov't and Consumer Fleet Sales. He spoke to Megan C. Avis Rental Sales Agent at 1:55pm on June 28/08 at the Shannon Airport. He explained to her that the bulge in the tire could have been from a tire defect and may have been there for a while. He had a good discussion with Megan and she promised to have a mechanic look at the tire on Monday June 30th and would have someone contact me. I asked if she needed any further information and she assured me all the information they required was on the system.

In the interim my friend contacted his engineer from Bridgestone Tire and to get his opinion and he stated the following: "he agreed that you cannot tell for certain what the cause of the sidewall bulge would be until you examine the tire off the rim and cut into the area to really see what the cause was. He also stated that usually the bulge is caused by air leaking into the sidewall when the innerliner is cut due to a road hazard, but sometimes the bulge can take a few days or week to show up and as such could have been caused by driver before you even if it showed up while you were driving. The condition can be caused by manufacturing defect as well, but that would show up when tire was new likely although given that you didn't inspect sidewall the bulge could have been there already." I need to know that the tire was taken off the rim and that someone who knows what they are doing examine it thoroughly to determine the cause and when it happened. I need to see a copy of the report since I would like to have it reviewed by an engineer at Bridgestone Canada. As well I can not see how you can charge me an extra 300 Euros (from 1st invoice of $238.07 up to $525.81 on the 2nd invoice)for one tire and would challenge the cost of it based on some research on retail prices in Ireland.

Megan C. gave me the Avis car Inc address in Canada at 1 Convair Dr in Etobicoke to write to if I was not satisfied as well as a 1-800- number to call. I was hoping to hear back from someone at Avis but since I didn't felt I had to send this email. I am disappointed I did not hear back from Megan or some other rep as she had promised. My next step will be to contact the Consumer Association. I will also let TD Visa Travel know about this incident since they had assisted me in booking with Avis. My friends had all booked with Thrifty. They asked later if Thrifty has coverage for tires and were told they did and that the customer was not responsible.

In summary I feel I am being charged an unrealistic amt for something I did not cause and for some reason was not give a copy of the accident or tire report which means the rep may have had something to hide. Your motto is to try harder and I am very disappointed that such a large rental car company would treat a customer so poorly. I would like my complaint elevated to a higher level at Avis and would like a response with 14 days. I feel I have been mistreated and feel that due to all the uncertainties and poor communication I should receive reimbursement for all the extra charges. P.S. I notice the make/model and the rental agreement on the Avis vehicle condition report dated Feb 22 is different that what is stated on the Avis Rental Agreement.

When we came home from Florida to California, 2weeks later only to find a statement from Avis charging us a broken cable for $450.00 dollars. It was working perfectly fine when we turned it in and I think it's the negligence of the person who did not properly checked the car nor the gps. If the GPS is working, and only the cable is broken, that is if it's broken, Why did they charge us for the whole gps system and not for the cable?

Spoke to customer service which we were disconnected twice and the 3rd time I spoke with a assistant supervisor who looked into the matter and said we need to speak with the general manager and was given a phone number and left a message, didn't get a return call until the next day. He told us he would get back to us in 3 days, but didn't hear from him since and it's already been 5days.

Now it is passed the due date of the violation, they still have not paid for it. The court will issue a warrant soon and it I don't paid, I will lose my license. I call the avis violation department and no one answers. I left messages and no one reply.

My credit is being charged with finance fees. I have spent several working hours on the phone trying to contact someone. I cancelled my credit card thinking someone had fraudulently used my card.

After arriving at the air port and discussing with with the front desk officer the fact that i was not properly informed about the coverage she stated the flyer is always there, you should have looked. Afterwards I was told to contact some lady called Carolin and i was given a fax number. Since then and i am not able to reach her totaly and every time i call the avis number and mention an accident i end up on hold for long period s and given another number which ends up to be a wrong number.

Right now i nothing has been charged to me yet but i am feeling that i will be ripped of by them. Also i have requested to go through the estimation procedure in timely manner for am not a canada resident and i won't be able to repply back by teh time they finish their fraud procedre with no listener. Could you please advise of the action to be taken against them for it has come to my understanding that the legal system in the US & Canada is against such fruad actiosn and is well known for its integrity.

i expecting a large amount to be billed to my credit card at a time that i am raising a little kid and in need for every penny that i am making. this is not only about the physical damage but its the stress that i am living in feeling that i was ripped of and expecting more ripping.

I had declined insurance so I was responsible for the cost - which I assumed would be for fixing the bumper, paint, etc. I didn't take the car to get my own estimate because I figured Avis would call me with their own and give me a choice to get an estimate. A few weeks later I received papers in the mail saying that Avis had sold the car to a salvage yard and I was responsible for the difference between its market value and what they got for it, which was roughly $4000. Also attached was an estimate for damages totaling $5225, which listed replacements for everything from the headlamp assembly (which wasn't broken) to the radiator and fan. I think it seems fraudulent because there was only one estimate from a company they probably have a business relationship with and also because I wasn't given a choice to get my own estimate, even for comparison or verification. The car had 28,000 miles on it, and was over a year old. Avis was probably getting ready to sell it soon anyway, and this way they got a really good deal.

I did pay the repair cost for the rented car, it cost me 1100 US dollar and maybe another 3800 US dollar for the 3rd party car. It made me worry about this accident and cost for almost three months. I don't know what will happen next, and it also hit my finance limit from this accident.

The receipt that was given to us by avis was for the amount of $249, the cost of a weekly car rental, which we had agreed to pay even though we did not have the car for a whole week. On March 8th we made our weekly stop to our credit union and as I reviewed my account statement I came across a $679 transaction from Avis. We called Avis and asked if they remove $679 from our bank account on March 3rd when we used our debit for the amount of $249? Their answer was because we had the car for the week and there is nothing they can do about it. We have a receipt which claims a weekly payment of $249 for a car rental. Number one we didn't have the car for a week, Number 2 State Farm had refunded us the $249 so that we could go to enterprise a car rental company that they deal with directly. Avis removed money that didn't belong to them and could not come up with a reason why they took this money. Our Bank is currently dealing with the situation. We have witnesses to how long we had their rental for so we can prove we did NOT have it for a total of a week.

We can't pay our electric which is on a payment schedule, we can't pay our car insurance or buy groceries not to mention we had to go to a quick loan place because our rent was due and we didn't have enough to pay rent. So now we have to pay the loan place back including the outrageous interest. I hope that our electricity wont be cut of because now we have bounced a check.

I needed that car because I expected in the same day 4 guests (members of my family) from Romania, and my own car is a Toyota Aygo with only 4 seats. I was forced to travel twice Rhoon (NL)-Dortmund (DE) in order to bring all my guests safely at my place, and also I've had to cancel the travel plans for that weekend. Also I've spent a lot of time, nerves, and phone calls trying to get another car on Saturday, February 16. (It was impossible due to very short notice), and then on Monday. The moral damages (transforming a supposed nice holiday with relatives, all of them over 60 years old, was a nightmare) were considerably higher than the financial ones. I consider this also a clear case of discrimination against an EU citizen.

We presented a copy of our contract with confirmation number that we printed from the computer but could not get any explanation of discrepancies. We were told that the manager was not available at that moment and that we had to wait. However,we had flight to New York that would not wait. We refused to sign the charge reciept for 788.15.

When we came to New York, we called AVIS with complaint. They investigated the case and sent us a copy of the contract, which allegatelly, my husband signed (4 pages total) and only one page has my husband's signature on. ... There is no total amount that would be charged. There is rate per day(21.78) and insurance rate per day without total amount written.This was only page of contract that we have been ever presented. We assumed that the charges for insurance were those that we already paid (135dollars). We have never agreed to purchase any other insurance.

I have been unemployed since Aug. 22. When I went to my bank to withdraw $140, I found out that the balance available was $26 because of the unauthorized charge of $125 from Avis Rent-a-Car.

When I got to the counter at Avis in Va, I was not informed by the representative that there were additional charges. I showed her my confirmation with the total I was to pay and she did not state there was more charges. As far as I knew, I was paying $600'ish.

When I dropped off the car in Fl, the final bill came to $1300. I was told to complain in the office or call it in. I choose to call it in since I still had to get on a plane. I called twice to get resolution. Each time I was told to fax in my confirmation from Gap, which I did. Each time I was told that I should have looked at the Avis site with the confirmation number for additional charges. And I stated to both customer service reps that the confirmation did not state there were more charges, so why would I assume there would be. If there was, the person at the counter should have told me.

They said no. She does not know all the charges. Which I think is ridiculous. They can rent cars out, but not know what they are charging their customers?

I also mentioned that their online site said the charge would be $800-900, yet they are charging me $1300. They made no comment to that. As of yet, I still have not heard back from anyone and had to pay the credit card payment.

I think I was cheated out of $600 since they never informed me of the additional charges.

Upon our return to the U.S., we discovered a charge for $2748.47 on the credit card. We have been in contact with AVIS countomer service since August 10th to get a damage report to justify the charge. Without that documentation, we cannot file the rest of the claim with AIG to get the repairs reimbursed. We have talked to over 10 different people, all of which say it takes 30+ days to contact AVIS Spain.

It seems odd that in the age of technology, that it would take that long to make contact with their own people. Each time we contact AVIS, we get a different story. Each time they say the claim number is unknown, although they gave it to us. THey said they refunded 1700.00 to the credit card on 9/26, but it has not really occurred. However, even if it does happen, they are reimbursing us in Euros, not in US dollars, as it is charged on the credit card.

AVIS never returns our phone calls or messages. When we try to talk to the same individual, they say they never heard of the person working in customer service. We have a case number of 4732477, and we have been contacting the following number 1800 352 7900. We have tried to ask for a supervisor, but to no avail- they don't seem to exist at AVIS.

Our first call was to the Avis recovery number on our windshield. From there we were making and receiving calls from them all evening. Their first attempt was to try to fix/replace the tires by 9am on the 10th. Then they called us back and said they could not find the proper tires for the replacement. The next step was to recover the vehicle and have us get a new one at the closes Avis depot. We insisted they bring us a vehicle but they refused to deliver a vehicle to our location.

They found it necessary for us to accompany the recovery service back to the nearest Avis rental office which was in Inverness, approx. 60 miles away. The problem was that I would have to leave my family, two boys and my wife, on our first night in Scotland and travel to Inverness for the exchange. Upon their continued refusal to deliver a new vehicle to us, I decided to go with the recovery driver that evening. However, the driver did not show up as we were told.

In frustration, and because we were extremely tired from jet lag, we decided to let them pick up the vehicle the morning of the 10th (a Sunday) and we would get to Inverness on Monday to pick up a new vehicle. What we were not told is that we would be charged two full days of rental when we actually only drove the car..maybe three hours. We were also not told that the old agreement would have to be closed and a new one opened. And further, we were not advised that we would be charged a higher rate because the new rental was considered one-way, because we would turn it in in Glasgow.

Upon arriving at the Inverness airport on Monday to retreive the vehicle, I found out they had closed the old agreement and charged us the full amount for the original nine days of rental. Instead of refunding the whole bill and charging the correct amount, they gave us a L200 pound credit.

I picked up the replacement vehicle, which was a Peugeot 307, a smaller vehile than we had originally asked for.

The next disappointment came when we turned in the vehicle at the Glasgow airport on the 18th. We told the individual at the return counter about our experience, hoping to get a reprieve from some of the charges. She made a call to her colleague at Inverness to ask them about what happened. After she hung up, she basically told us that we had made up stories and proceeded to no longer listen to what we had to say. My wife suggested to her that she really didn't care about us and the response was that she didn't and it didn't matter to her because she got paid the same either way. Her name was Eileen MacTaggert or something similar.

We feel we were treated poorly by Avis and that they took advantage of us. When I originally reserved the vehicle, I was quoted in US dollars and the price seemed fair. We are trying to resolve this with Avis and are also disputing the charges with VISA.

We don't mind paying a reasonable rate for our rental but it has cost us nearly $1400 to rent a car from AVIS for nine days in Scotland.

Regardless of the outcome, we will NEVER rent from AVIS anywhere again.

The customer service rep informs me that Avis does not have to do this because it is appears in the rental agreement. I informed the individual that I was not informed of this agreement and that they prey on the rush, rush at the airports not to inform the customers of this. I was instructed that I could call the violations/citations department, which I did and had to leave a message.

I called several county courts in Florida to find out that the citations were given through SunPass because apparently I went through the express lanes I my SunPass did not get charge. The lady from SunPass informed me that Avis was suppose to notify their customers concerning these violation, which I was not! I was also informed that the toll tickets were for $25.00 each, which I could have resolved with one phone call within 75 days by calling them and giving them my SunPass ID number.

The next day I received a call from Avis concerning the violations and I was again informed that this is the policy of Avis and that the agreement that I signed it appears. Now given that I received 3 violations I would normally pay $25.00 for each, but since Avis did not inform me and they have to process they are adding another $25.00 to each violation, so instead of $75.00 I have to pay $150.00. I informed the lady that called me that she would have to take me to court because I was never informed of this and that their company prey on their customers with the rush of renting and fail to inform us of the finer details such as this. By the way they charged my card as if it were another rental agreement.

Well having spent over 5 hours calling to Florida and finding out that I am required to pay $150.00 for 3 tickets that normally cost $25.00 each and that I may have to travel back to Florida if Avis decides to take me to court I may be looking at anywhere from +5 grand. I understand that it is only $150.00, but it is the principal of the matter, that they did not inform me of this policy, during the rental I felt rushed, and that I was not notified to try and rectify the matter, and all of this from a company that uses a motto WE TRY HARDER.

The argument AVIS is giving is that although the distance beween two points is less than 18 miles but they calculate the distance from the point where driver is located and charged me for a distance of 77 kms each way.

When I brought the car back to the branch on March 5th, Mr. Mario S brought to my attention the fact that there were two scratches on the right-side of the front bumper. I was really surprised by these scratches as I had not noticed them. As I told Mr. S then, I had only parked in a public parking lot for 2 or 3 hours the day before, and I guess the incident had occurred in that period of time.

At this point I would like to remark that prior to my rental, the cars condition was not pristine with respect to scratches and small body paint damage (the whole body of the car, including the bumpers, is white which may lead to easier damage). You can verify on the pre-rental car condition assessment, signed by myself on March 2nd that the bumpers already showed some small damage.

Thus, I asked Mr. S if I was going to have to pay anything for this damage. I remember that he told me I wouldnt have to pay anything, but nevertheless I had to fill in a claim. As a foreigner not yet used to the business rules in the U.S.A., I thought Mr. S implied the claim was purely formal and would not lead to any financial claim or dispute. I just really hope (and thats what Ill assume) that he didnt knowingly tried to abuse my poor understanding of spoken English to have me sign a claim without my fully understanding its content.

I rented a 2006 pontiac vibe at LAX with 18,311 miles around 10:20pm on july 4th and returned it the following afternoon with 18,358 miles to their burbank location on olive st. at inspection, the agent pointed out only a small dent centered in a 5-7 circular scuff on the back liftgate slight left where the license area is. the dent, localized only on the flat surface of the liftgate, was the only one pointed out. there with no damage elsewhere on the liftgate.

However, their claim for payment points out repair for the right and left panel outside; the liftgate shell,outside, moulding, adhesive emblem, and nameplate; and right and left rear combination lamp assembly. the car's color is also listed as green on the claim report but it was a dark, charcoal gray.

I denied all waivers and used a coupon which covered the total cost of the rental. i know i made the mistake of not checking the car when i rented it and was resolved to pay for the dent repair even though the dent itself looked very suspicious considering where i had the car parked in my possession and the 18 hour timeframe.(at the LAX lot, the car was backed into the stall, it was late at night and the lot lighting is not daylight visiblity). what has bothered me but i could not prove is that i believe the dent was already preexisting and was scuffed/marked as being noted.

If you rent from Avis be sure to read all of the contract, and dont take the word of the caring person on the other side of the desk. Because they really dont give a damn about you or your problems.

They over charged me as to my expectations but not what is in the fine print or details. I'm screwed. Buyer beware.

Now as a former professor, I have infinite tolerance for ignorance; its why people go to school. I have less tolerance for stupidity and marked intolerance for the Were stupid and proud of it and dont want to learn attitude. I am very angry with Santa Fe Avis. If it werent for nice folks like Connie in special accounts (wherever that 800 number goes) and Katie at the Hayden Colorado office, Id have dropped Avis immediately.

Robert makes some very good points. We suggest he a.) send a copy of his complaint to the Federal Trade Commission () and b.) file suit against Avis in Small Claims Court, which would quite possibly drain some of those free miles out of Avis' tank and into Robert's.

I am now firmly convinced that Avis France is diliberately taking advantage of people who don't speak and read French, and tricking them into buying services that they don't want. I am still pursuing this, but unless I find the corporate headquarter of Avis of France, or their parent company, Avis France is going to laugh all the way to the bank.

I was told during this conversation, Jan.30th, that I was being charged 2800.00 for failure to return the rental vehicle, not contacting Avis, and not returning the vehicle until Jan 22nd, 2003! This is untrue, I returned the car as stated above, signed out, and the odometer reading was taken by the Avis employee. The vehicle was returned with 3/4 of gasoline remaining in the tank since i only need to refill once on my journey home. I remember one fact, however, the employee was using a hand held computer gadget of some type to enter the information, was having difficulty, and used his walkie talkie to inform those in the booth. I then heard someone respond over the walkie talkie, the information given to that person and I was told I was finished, handed my receipts and I left to call supershuttle for transportation home.

I was given a number to call in Virginia to a person named "Laurie" identifying herself to be from the "Loss And Prevention" department of Avis. She proceded to tell me "certified letters" had been sent to me and accused me of failing to respond. I never got any "letters" other than the one dated Jan 23rd via regular mail. She further stated the vehicle was picked up from my house! I live alone, am retired, and spend the majority of my time in my house, therefore, there is little chance that I cannot be reached or a note left at my residence.

My communtiy is one of single family homes with community maiboxes located at the end of the street. We do not have individual mailboxes. Therefore, no messages from the post office were left on my door or in my mailbox regarding certified letters. I contacted the Balcones Postal Station located on Jollyville Rd here in Austin and was told there was no record of failed attempts to deliver any certified mail though my zip code was inaccurately written on the letter I did receive through regular mail.

I was also told by "Laurie" that numerous phone messages were left for me. I was perplexed by this because I never got any phone messages, but, I remembered I listed my mobile phone number which I lost and now believe it may have been left in the rental car. Further, in regard to the certified letters, it is feasible a single letter may not reach it intend address, but "Laurie" insinuated that more than one certified letter had been sent and that she had copies as proof. As for failure to receive phone messages, this is true, because I gave my cell phone number, had it wih me in the rental vehicle, noticed it missing thought I lost it, not thinking perhaps in the rental car, then I reported it as being lost to Verizon Wireless. Verizon, should have the date is on record which at this moment I cannot remember but will call to check.

This prompted me to make efforts to speak with an Avis executive at the main headquarters in New Jersey, Patricia Paft.

I was never told what condition the vehicle was in when found, there was 15,360 miles on the odometer. When I took possession of the vehicle in DFW it had 847 miles and Austin is about 400 miles from Dallas Fort Worth! Because of the general attitude of the individuals I spoke with representing Avis, and the fact that my credit card company authorized the charge with Avis receiving $2800.00, I doubt Avis will make any investigation regarding this situation and I am a victim of the malfeasience of some Avis employee who knew the car had not properly been documented as returned by me on the date I have stated because of some computer glitch and took that vehicle or allowed a person and/or persons to take it.

Judging from the mileage, it really went on a joy ride. Avis states, that beyond the computers they use, there is no back-up system to verify I returned the car. Unfortunately for me, I failed to keep a rental receipt after probably about a week once I returned the car never suspecting I would fall victim to what I believe was an "inside job" a person employed by Avis and knowledgible about the ease in which the computer systems can be tampered with.

Michele has been the victim of a crime, from the sounds of it an inside job by someone familiar with the Avis system. She has also been wronged by Avis and should immediately sue the company in Small Claims Court. She sounds like a credible witness and we'd wager she will prevail.

On returning the car twelve days later, the clerk thanked us for the keys and wished us a good day. I asked for a final copy of the bill, and he looked surprised. Let me just say now that I am astounded that an itemized final bill, requiring a signature, is not a mandatory part of doing business with Avis. That has never been my experience with any of my car rentals in the United States. The clerk eventually printed up a copy of bill which is barely legible and includes no headings or labels.

In particular, there is no label for Total Amount or Final Cost. However, I looked at the number at the bottom and saw that it read 815.40. I asked the clerk if that was our final total and he said that it was. I asked the clerk why the amount was so high, since our reservation had clearly stated the cost would only be $291.00. The clerk asked if the quote had been in Euros or dollars, and when I replied that it was in dollars he said that the final price was in Euros and obviously that was responsible for the discrepancy.

I began to get angry, with good reason. I explained, as calmly as possible, that the exchange rate was $0.95 to 1.00 Euro, and that his argument was ridiculous. Then I asked again about the discrepancy. At this point the clerk pointed to the circled initials made twelve days ago (when we were told we were waiving any additional charges) and said those represented mandatory insurances which everyone had to accept. We argued this point for the next few minutes, but the clerks point was very clear the charges represented insurance, and he regarded them as mandatory. At one point he even said that the charges had been automatically added by the computer and that he had no control over them.

I asked the clerk his name, he pointed to the name on the form (Rapezzi Giordano) and then my husband and I left. My charges of fraud are as follows:

1. Our quote says that certain charges (i.e. additional insurances, waivers, etc) are optional, but we were told by the Italian clerk that they were mandatory.

2. We were told at rental time that we were signing away our need for additional insurance (on a non-English form) and were then told when returning the car that we had actually signed a form accepting these insurances instead.

3. We were not told about any additional charges at rental time.

4. We were lied to by the Avis clerk regarding the reason for cost discrepancies (i.e. when he tried to blame it on currency conversion.)

5. We were not given a clearly understandable final bill. 6. We were never asked to sign any statement of final charges. In fact, the only form with any signatures on it (attachment #2) carries only my initials, and the Amount Due area is conspicuously blank, as are any signature lines.

We have never had any problems with Avis rentals prior to this past experience (during our honeymoon, no less), nor have we heard anything but praises for Avis in general. I can only assume that this behavior was the result of a mistake made by an errant clerk, and sincerely hope that this bad experience will soon be put right. We will obviously be glad to pay the original quoted price of $291.00, plus any small fees required in adding a second driver onto our rental agreement. However, the amount actually charged to our credit card is: $794.87.

Aside from the obvious consequence of an $800 charge on our credit card, which we can ill afford now that we are trying to pay off our wedding expenses, this experience also resulted in our ending our three-week honeymoon on a very bitter note.

I told them that there was no indication at the time of reservation that any of this was necessary, except the possibility of being charged extra because I'm under 25 years of age. The manager on duty told me it is my responsibility to call the company direct and ask about their policies, it is not up to them to advise you of them up front. They were extremely unhelpful and rude.

The car we ended up getting (through another company) cost us $160.00 more than the one we had reserved would have cost. I was traveling out of town with my best friend (we are both female) and was refused assistance when we were left without transportation in an unknown area at night. It took an hour to book a car with another company which cost a considerable amount more.