Adding Avis preferred # to third party reservation

[joxer1014]

I know that this may have been asked before but I am hitting a brick wall here. I bought a pre paid rental from that discount agency that shall not be named on the boards. It starts with a U and ends in Cover if you get my drift.

I have an short 4 day stay coming up in a few weeks and by far the pre paid rental from U was by far the cheapest at Avis. I usually go with Alamo but its coming in $40-60 higher. I have already contacted Avis to have the reservation linked to my Preferred membership but have been unsuccessful being told that they cannot do that for rentals bought from a third party. However, I have read here previously that there were some of you who were able to have the reservation linked. For those of you who did, how did you do it? Did you call a specific number? Did you just call numerous times until someone was able to do it? I called twice and got the same answer which I could barely understand because I felt like I was talking to someone on the other side of the world from their house with the heaviest accent possible.

If this is possible please let me know what to do. Thank you!

 

[Lewisc]

You should contact the company you booked through. They might have a solutions.
Posters just called and got lucky. Sounds like Avis is getting stricter. What to Do? Nothing. Show up with a printout of your reservation.

Preferred programs are for loyal customers. A loyal customer can mean a customer who will pay a price premium to book with them.
A customer who uses a third party site in order to book a cheap rate isn't considered a loyal customer.

Notbing wrong with the way you booked. Its wrong to insist on loyalty perks if you're not entitled to them for your reservation

 

[EACarlson]

It might be an issue with the corporate code that is on the reservation giving you that great rate. Some of them preclude adding a loyalty number. I've never tried with Avis, but didn't have any issues with Budget when I booked through Priceline using an Autoslash link.

 

[joxer1014]

You should contact the company you booked through. They might have a solutions.
Posters just called and got lucky. Sounds like Avis is getting stricter. What to Do? Nothing. Show up with a printout of your reservation.

Preferred programs are for loyal customers. A loyal customer can mean a customer who will pay a price premium to book with them.
A customer who uses a third party site in order to book a cheap rate isn't considered a loyal customer.

Notbing wrong with the way you booked. Its wrong to insist on loyalty perks if you're not entitled to them for your reservation

I called the company. They said call Avis. i called Avis they said call the company. Go figure.

I was just looking to try to avoid a possible long line at the counter at Orlando since I have heard horror stories lately about extreme long lines and aggressive upselling of add ons. Maybe they should let first timers the privilege of using their preferred programs, that way they might give them repeat service. That would make them a loyal customer.

 

[Lewisc]

I called the company. They said call Avis. i called Avis they said call the company. Go figure.

I was just looking to try to avoid a possible long line at the counter at Orlando since I have heard horror stories lately about extreme long lines and aggressive upselling of add ons. Maybe they should let first timers the privilege of using their preferred programs, that way they might give them repeat service. That would make them a loyal customer.

Maybe, considering the rate you paid, Avis wants the opportunity to share the benefits of their optionsl extras.

First time customers are good candidates for extras

 

[EACarlson]

I was just looking to try to avoid a possible long line at the counter at Orlando since I have heard horror stories lately about extreme long lines and aggressive upselling of add ons. Maybe they should let first timers the privilege of using their preferred programs, that way they might give them repeat service. That would make them a loyal customer.

Those are the trade-offs to paying less. How much is it worth to you to be able to skip the counter and go directly to the car? How much are you saving by using a corporate code that you got by buying a movie ticket? As a general rule if there isn't a place to add the number during booking, you're not going to be able to add it later.

 

[NotUrsula]

IME, company policy says no points in these situations; however, also IME, it is not completely unheard of for a counter agent to go ahead and add the number when you pick up the vehicle. You probably still will not get points, but your usual account preferences should get linked.

 

[joxer1014]

First time customers are good candidates for extras

Maybe for others but not me! I just cant afford the regular prices from any of them!

 

[joxer1014]

IME, company policy says no points in these situations; however, also IME, it is not completely unheard of for a counter agent to go ahead and add the number when you pick up the vehicle. You probably still will not get points, but your usual account preferences should get linked.

I'm not looking for points. I want to try to eliminate any possible long waits at MCO. I was spoiled by Alamo all these years, being a regular customer, but now they are without a doubt the most expensive right now.

 

[Lewisc]

I want to try to eliminate any possible long waits at MCO.

You want some of the benefits of the loyalty program without paying a qualifying rate.
Some posters got lucky. Sounds like you're not getting lucky.

I'm surprised Avis isn't camcelling reservations. Package rates are normally bundled with hotel and/or air I doubt tickets qualify.

 

[joxer1014]

I'm surprised Avis isn't camcelling reservations. Package rates are normally bundled with hotel and/or air I doubt tickets qualify.

Why would they do that? U......Cvr trst has been offering the lower priced rentals for quite a while and it has always been available with any purchase from their website whether its one ticket or an entire vacation package.

 

[EACarlson]

Why would they do that? U......Cvr trst has been offering the lower priced rentals for quite a while and it has always been available with any purchase from their website whether its one ticket or an entire vacation package.

It may very well be in violation of their contract to offer that discount code to all customers. That is what happened to another service this summer an Hertz. What that ticket seller does or has been doing doesn't really matter if AVIS decides they are violating the contract. Everything in the car rental business has changed in the last two years.

 

[Lewisc]

Why would they do that? U......Cvr trst has been offering the lower priced rentals for quite a while and it has always been available with any purchase from their website whether its one ticket or an entire vacation package.

Right. Avis intends to offer their very best rates to casual customers of a small reseller of theme park tickets.

As opposed to members of their loyalty program, airline partners, large TAs like COSTCO, AAA, Expedia etc

At best the banned company is using a loophole. Maybe even violating terms.

Enjoy the rates, while they last.

PP mentioned recent Hertz issue. The discount code was ca canceled and existing reservations were reprised

 

[courtneymarieclare]

I had a rental two weeks ago with Avis booked through UCT. I called Avis at 1-800-352-7900 and spoke with someone who was able to add my Avis preferred number to the reservation. Note - I received an email after this that my reservation had been "modified" but I did not incur any additional costs. After they added my preferred number, the reservation showed up in my Avis account. I was able to do digital check in. When I got to MCO there was no line at the main Avis counter so I stopped there first to confirm if I checked in there or the garage. Even though it was my first rental, they told me to go straight to the garage.

 

[courtneymarieclare]

Also when I called I didn't mention my reservation was through a third party, although I'm guessing they could see. I just gave them my Avis confirmation number (not the UCT confirmation number) and asked if they could check if my preferred number was linked. When it wasn't, they asked for my preferred number and added it.

 

[joxer1014]

Also when I called I didn't mention my reservation was through a third party, although I'm guessing they could see. I just gave them my Avis confirmation number (not the UCT confirmation number) and asked if they could check if my preferred number was linked. When it wasn't, they asked for my preferred number and added it.

Do you remember if you spoke to a specific department? Did they mention specifically that they have to modify the reservation to try to add your number? I was told the same thing and was warned that the rate could go up. Like they said that to discourage me from adding my number.

 

[Brian Noble]

Everything in the car rental business has changed in the last two years.

Yep, they've been increasingly careful about to whom and when they offer discounts. National made some major changes to their contracted rate with my employer this past summer, significantly restricting the set of people able to use the rate for leisure travel.

I don't think we realized how often we used it until we couldn't anymore...

 

[courtneymarieclare]

Do you remember if you spoke to a specific department? Did they mention specifically that they have to modify the reservation to try to add your number? I was told the same thing and was warned that the rate could go up. Like they said that to discourage me from adding my number.

I don’t remember if it was a specific department. I chose whatever automated option was for an existing reservation. They did not even tell me adding the number would modify my reservation, nor did they mention a price increase. I only knew it modified the reservation because I received an email. When I logged into my account and viewed the reservation, it did show an amount due but I logged out and logged in again and it went back to zero. I’m guessing the amount I saw was what UCT paid Avis, if I remember correctly it was the same amount shown on my Avis receipt.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm not looking for points. I want to try to eliminate any possible long waits at MCO. I was spoiled by Alamo all these years, being a regular customer, but now they are without a doubt the most expensive right now.

I've been through MCO several times during the pandemic, and yes, the counter lines are sometimes horrendously long. However, even with a 3rd party reservation you can now normally use the kiosks, and as usual, most travelers ignore them. I've gotten out very quickly by just using the kiosks when they are available.

What tends NOT to work these days is going out to the garage "office" to try to bypass the main counter. IME, those offices are very seldom staffed now.

 

[joxer1014]

Thanks to all. After getting all the good advice and some preaching, I was able to "modify" my prepaid res and now it shows up in the app as well as on the website. I too received an email almost immediately after having the res modified. No change in price. Looks like us "one timers" can get the same benefits too.