Avis Is Ripping Me Off

[Kim&Chris]

Here goes my rant:

On 7/17/02, I made an on-line reservation for a mini-van. I'm picking it up at 7:00 am at a hotel located near my home. I'm dropping it off 11 days, 2 hours later at the same location. The quote I received was $576.26, which I reserved & subsequently received a confirmation.

Yesterday, I was going over some of my plans and went back into Avis' website. I wanted to take another look at the confirmation (mostly to read the fine print). I punched in my confirmation number and up popped my reservation.....they added another $25.00 to the total cost!

WHY????

I called Avis and spoke to a girl in their customer service department. She had no clue why this happened, so she switched me to her "supervisor", Keith. He was so rude! I explained that I simply wanted to VIEW my reservation and it is mysteriously more expensive. After taking a look at the difference, he said "well, you must have made a modification and don't remember it". WHAT???? I made it very clear that I had made no changes or modifications....I simply VIEWED IT. He got very angry with me and said, "look, ma'am, I guess your computer did it all by itself, right?".

I have never been spoken to in that way before in my LIFE.

I told him that I'd like to fax my original confirmation over to Avis, along with this new version. I told him I did not want the cost to continue to increase (I guess by the time my trip rolls around, I could owe upwards of $800 if they continue to add $25 bucks here or there to my reservation).

Does anyone have any advice? I want this taken care of, and the customer service at Avis stinks.

 

[Eeyore1954]

My suggestion: Go to avis. com and create a NEW rental reservation. If you like the quote on it, save it. Then go back and CANCEL your previous reservation -- the one with the $25 "surcharge."

I do this all the time for business/leisure trips. Sometimes I can catch a drop on their rates or find a new code to use.

Never cancel your old reservation until you have the new one confirmed on their web site with a confirmation number.

Hope this helps!

 

[A kid at heart]

you can also take the printout of the reservation with the right price on it. what was the surcharge that was added on? I would then go over the head of the supervisor and let them know how you were treated. In this day and age they need the customers, not to turn them away.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I had a similar thing happen, and Avis customer service had me fax my printout to them. When we got to the counter at MCO, everything was fine - no questions asked.

 

[Jeanny]

I guess WDW doesn't employ ALL the rude people... I see they're at Avis too...

Why do people think they can speak to the CUSTOMER like that??? or should I say a PAYING CUSTOMER who probably pays their salary!!

things that make you go hmmmmm..... JMO

 

[lawgs]

here is something interesting i have found about avis

depending on your country of residence....they have different rates ....

for example....we live in canada

when we do the reservation with USA as the country of residence the cost to rent is $$ cheaper than if we put in CANADA

i questioned someone from Avis why they do this.....she said that she did not know .....pointed out to here it was a double whampy to us since we have 1.5 exchange rate....

why should country of origin work that way.....????

if anything to get canadians to book with them they should "allow" better rates....to compensate for exchange...

 

[Kim&Chris]

Thanks everyone. I am going to call Avis first thing tomorrow and ask to speak to a supervisor regarding this.

IMHO, I believe that the original quote should be honored, and for them to attach a random $25 is absurd.

I'll post my results........

 

[kdibattista]

I have an idea - drop Avis. There are numerous other car rental places that you can use. I just got a really, really good rate from Budget for an SUV for 8 days.

Once you cancel your Avis reservation, then call and speak to the supervisor and inform them that you have switched companies and why.

 

[pinky]

I had a similiar experiance when viewing a reservation last year with Avis. I ended up canceling that ressie and going with National (I always book with multiple agencies in case there is a problem and cancel all but one about 48 hours prior to my trip).

We use Avis for corporate travel and our rep was on vacation and I panicked at the rate increase and cancelled my ressie. When I asked her later about it, she said the rates do increase but I would have been all right with the original confirmation print out. Their website has changed a lot, but I guess the "view my reservation" glitch still remains. Calling again is the right way to go - all supervisors are not alike.

It seems customer service is at an all time low but Avis does not have the market on it. That supervisor should not have spoken to you in that manner and I would definately report him to his superiors (written with corp execs copied) whether you chose to keep your ressie or not.

Good luck!