Complain about a product or service

Avis

Avis • Corporate Points program • International thievery • Disputed return date • A visit from Repo Man • Additional driver charges • Young drivers • 4WD vs. AWD • Misc. problems

Renting a car may seem like a small thing but it can quickly turn big and ugly if things go sour. In particular, if the car is damaged or if the company loses it and blames the renter, as happened to Michele, things can get very nasty.

Anton of Raeford, NC June 5, 2009

Avis rental has wrongfully over charged me for a compact vehicle that I rented from them for 6 weeks. I have called and left messages over and over again. The overcharged me 8,139.41 All they tell me is the manager will get back with me by the end of the day.

Gerald of Alvarado, TX May 23, 2009

I rented a Chev Impala thru AVIS at BWI. Two weeks into my three week stay I happened to look at the rear tires, the sunlight was hitting just right, and discovered they were bald. BALD! How can AVIS, a professional rental company, justify sending me on the road with bald rear tires. The front tires look fairly new. I took it to the closest AVIS and the guy says, "You've had the car since May 5th and just now you're noticing the rear tires are bald?" Like I was a dummy for not finding this when I picked up the car. Brother! They gave me another car. I took pictures for future reference.

M of LENOIR CITY, TN May 20, 2009

Beware of gas pre-pay scam at AVIS. My rental experience with AVIS was disastrous. I got duped when I picked up a rental car at FLL in Florida. At the counter I was asked if I wanted to pre-pay for the gas. I asked for an explanation of pre-pay. I was told that it is the cheapest and most convenient way to pay for the gas used. That turned out to be a complete lie.

When I contacted AVIS customer service to complain I was told in a condescending way that I should have read the rental contract instead of relying on what the AVIS representative told me. No one told me that if I select pre-pay, I would be charged for a full tank of gas no matter how much gas was left in the tank when I returned it to the airport. That amounts to customer deception and is a complete scam. I was refused a 29 refund which was the amount charged for filling up a tank that was already full.

Cha of Cambridge, MA May 15, 2009

I made a reservation with Avis for 1,348 NIS in May as I was going to Israel for prayers as my dad had just passed away. When I arrived - I was given a different car that was not clean or checked for safety. The transmission was gone. The tires were flat. The windshield was covered with dirt and bird droppings. The interior lights did not work. The brakes were faulty and making a loud crunching sound and were faulty. Other interior dashboard items were broken.

I have rented with Avis 9 times and was a loyal customer before this ordeal. They have destroyed my vacation, put the lives of myself and my passengers in jeopardy and been treated horribly with lies and unbelievable carelessness. For three days they don't even answer the emergency line phone!!! I am so angered by this that I demanded a full refund. The purpose of this trip was to mourn the loss of my dad. Not to have my own life at risk and fight with Avis DRT Ltd.

jc of Hollywood, FL May 2, 2009

I rented a car from Avis at the Durham NC airport. I also rented a GPS. The GPS worked for about 3-4 hours and then nothing. It just went blank and didn't work, so I put it in my hotel room and downloaded maps instead. I returned the car to Avis at about 4:30 am a couple of days later. I left the GPS in the glove compartment. There was a long line of cars at the return place, and nobody was checking them in. There was also nobody at the counter. There was a shuttle bus about to leave for the airport and as I was running late I just left the keys in the car, and got on the bus. Later Avis called to say that the GPS was not turned in. BS! It was in the car when I left it so either someone misplaced it or stole it - I don't know - but it wasn't me.

Then Avis charged my credit card 450 for this broken down piece of junk and refused to take the charge off. The manager said I "should have given the GPS to the bus driver". I say - there were no instructions like that in the rental agreement, nor any instructions at all to tell me what to do with the GPS upon returning it (other than leave it in the car). I'm not going to pay this charge so we'll see if anyone at the company will hear my complaint and act on it. After reading all these others - I doubt it! I would definitely go all the way to court with this one, as they are blaming me for bad employees or bad security. I was told there are no security cameras in the car return area!

Stuart of San Diego, CA May 2, 2009

Rented care, and I am an AVIS preferred customer, the car was filthy. If interested email me and I'll send you digital photos. Dramatically overpaid for renting a filthy car.

Bruce of Sidney, NE April 27, 2009

I rented a car from Avis in Cheyenne, WY after I had an accident and as soon as I left their office, I noticed an indicator light that said there was a problem with a tire. I checked and found that the right front tire was extremely low on air (obviously they had not checked this car out before renting it. I drove to a service station to put air in it, but as soon as I started putting air in, I heard it leaking out the back and noticed a large dent in the wheel.

There was no way I could use this car to drive the 100 miles to my home. I called the agent and they referred me to roadside assistance. They told me that they would have to give me another car but that there would be none available until the next day. So I was forced to spend an extra day in Cheyenne entailing considerable expense and missing work and school for myself and my family.

I told the agent that I would not pay for this car and they said no problem, just bring it back the next day when they had a car. We limped to a hotel, came back the next day, got another car and were on our way. When I picked up the new car, I twice verified with the agent that the billing would start on that day. They said yes. I turned it in after hours on a Saturday because that was the only time I could get there. I called on Monday to make sure everything was OK and to get a copy of the bill. They said they would email it but never did. I called again on Tuesday, was told the same thing but still did not receive it. Finally, I asked them to mail it and asked what the total was.

I was shocked to discover it was almost 300 more than I thought it would be. They said there was nothing they could do (or even give me any details) and referred me to the 800 customer service number. The man at customer service I spoke to (after waiting on hold for ten minutes) was very sympathetic and seemed to agree that I had been overcharged. He said they billed me for more than ten dollars a day more than I had been quoted, that they had charged me a day for when I had the defective car, and that they had charged me for a tank of gas.

Since I had filled the tank just before dropping it off, this especially infuriated me. He said he would try to straighten it out and call me back, but he never did. The next day I talked to a woman who again was sympathetic and said she would be sure to get to the bottom of it and call me back. She did tell me that as far as the gas, I would have to produce a receipt to verify my purchase in order to be reimbursed. Apparently my word was not good enough. It never occurred to me that this was necessary so I had not kept the receipt. I asked for a copy from my credit card company, which I will be charged for. This woman never called me back either. I also never did receive a copy of my bill which I needed to be reimbursed (partially as it turns out) by my insurance company. I

called again and this time got a man that was downright rude to me. He insisted that they were looking into it and that they would let me know when they had resolved it. I then sent a detailed email to their customer service department describing everything I was going through. This never got a response either. I finally talked to a woman at customer service a week after this whole problem began who told me there was nothing I could do. Since I had not returned the defective car right away, they charged me a days rental for it (even though they had promised more than once they would not and despite the fact that the problem with the car ended up costing me a lot of time and money.) She also told me that the rate they charged was the established rate and that they were not going to back away from it. She also told me there were a log of surcharges and extra fees which I didn't know existed. At least she had the guts to tell me what was going on. I had to call back twice more to get the copy of the bill I needed (and every time I called I was on hold for quite a while.) And I still have not been reimbursed for the gas they charged me for. I have never been treated this badly by any company in my life.

I consider myself an honest and reasonable person, and usually this is enough to get treated at least somewhat reasonably. If they had been upfront with me from the beginning, I would not have as much problem with these charges. But being promised something, then charged for something else while being lied to, put off and even falsely accused was something that caused my a great deal of stress and anguish. I would never do business with this company again and am urging everyone I know not to do so either.

Lawrence of Sammamish, WA April 2, 2009

returned car rental, with half tank. and knew that there would be a fuel charge, for half tank. that is a hyyndai and takes about 14 gal in tank, or half tank is 7 gallons. A fuel charge of 140 DOLLARS was posted to my card. and the check in guy gave me an empty report of 0/8 [in eighths] as to the tank. Even if it was 14 gallons, at 10 per gallon? so there is some mistakes happening here, or some games going on. i am a preferred renter and am very unhappy with this GOUGE on the bill. Vegas has problems, not only with Avis, but with others such as Budget.

Over charge of about 100 bucks.

Dean of Reno, NV April 1, 2009

We have been on the telephone for hours over the past two days with Avis in the US and Panama and am getting nowhere. We rented a car in Panama last Tuesday, 24 March at 1045 in the morning. We returned the car Friday, 27 March at 1600, at the same location: Marcos A Gelabert Airport (PT2). When requesting a receipt on the Avis web site we were advised on the website that the car was never returned! We were supposed to pick up the car at 0815. When we went to the Avis rental counter at the airport there was no one at the counter, no telephone at the counter, and they did not answer their posted telephone numbers.

Another rental car company finally helped us contact Avis. They kept promising to be there in a few minutes. We waited from 0815 until 1030 for a man to show up with the car. He spoke no English and had a Spanish-only rental agreement to sign. With the help of a bilingual passerby we finally signed the paperwork and received the car keys. The airport office was supposed to be open from 0800 to 1700 daily. There was NEVER anyone there and no one to contact. 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 is particularly frustrating that we cannot 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; and still has not been resolved! The worst financial impact is that we are still being charged for the rental of a car that we turned in last week. Additional costs are in fruitless telephone calls to Panama and much wasted time on hold on the telephone.

Barry of Herzliya, OTHER April 1, 2009

On returning my rental car a small connector popped out from the rented GPS unit stand. I have a photo showing this is an inconsequential repair. Avis later charged my credit card 149.95 without any notice or explanation. Avis Customer Service replied to my complaint that the photo I sent them was too large and the charge is justified, without any proof of the cost of the repair.

Avis defrauded me of 150

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