shrivastaw

Recently me and my wife were in Greece for a 2 week holiday, decided to rent a car in two places, summarizing my feedback;

1. Avis (Athens, near Syntagma):

Staff is courteous, polite, very professional, gave us a detailed walk through the policies and procedures. Explained to us the insurance policy and how it works, helped us understand what kind of car we should be getting (as we were planning a Athens - Olympia - Delphi - Meteora - Athens trip), helped us understand how the insurance works and quite importantly told us to top the tank up before returning as the charges in Avis are quite high when you dont do that. Also were very diligent in working with me identify scratches or dents etc.

Car was a Skoda Fabia Petrol, had just 55000 KM on it and had a in built GPS, was in excellent condition and smooth to drive.

Overall experience - 10 / 10, no complaints from me, if i have to do it again i would go for Avis again!

2. Budget (Santorini)

Staff comprises one person (an old man) who mans both the Santorini Airport Budget booth and the office in Ferrostefani (this is during off peak season when his staff was on leave). Very polite and courteous person who immediately fraternizes with you quite closely and guides you about Santorini in general, is quite attentive to your requirements and ensures you get a car to your liking. While this works great I feel compelled to mention minor irritants as well:
1. Not very particular about scratches and dents on the car, was quite dismissive and didnt even bother to check when we rented the car, while this did not turn out to be a problem later but i was quite worried when returning the car, note to self on this
2. We had a flat tyre on a road off the main road, as we didnt know much about Santorini we called him for some assistance, we were bluntly reminded of the Rules and regulations stipulations and paper work we had signed, as it was getting dark and both (me and my wife) were quite worried about being in a unknown part all we wanted was some help, unfortunately this was too much to ask for! (I have to write a special note about our hotel owner who promptly helped us out, even though he had to detour from his schedule!)
3. We took a Micra on rent, while in Avis they had very clearly shown us the spare tyre in the Fabia, here (my mistake, yes) we assumed the same facility of the same spare tyre would be available. only when we got a flat we came to know that Nissan Micra comes with a smaller tyre of reduced handling and speed capability whose primary purpose is to get you to the nearest service station to get it fixed, while i agree it should have been my responsibility to inspect this but per our experience from Avis (Where the staff showed us the spare tyre) we banked upon the car rent agency folks to give us a walk through and briefing as well.

Overall experience - 4 / 10
Areas of improvement - Budget needs to train its people better to give a standard check-list based walk through to customers on do's and dont's including a detailed inspection of their vehicle as well.
Pros - The car was in good condition, renting and returning the car was very smooth without any hassles thanks to the old man at Budget.
Recommendation - No, go for Avis, be detailed and thorough in your checklist (before taking a car for rent)

Sammorgan

Avis's customer service is an absolute disgrace. I am in a dispute with this company over a payment (they actually want £450 for a 2cm scratch to one of their alloys) Firstly they took the money off of my credit card without my permission - at the time of the damage they said if I signed the receipt they would take the money off my credit card - I didn't sign it and they still took the money off my card. Then when I disputed this and the damage costs by email I recieved no response (for 3 weeks now) To compound matters when I spoke to them this morning the customer service representative shouted at me (!) and then hung up on me! An absolute disgrace I will never ever use them again and strongly advise everyone to steer clear of this band of unproffesional, unresponsive cowboys. How a multi-national company can act in this way is absolutley beyond me. I will be going to the citizens advice bureau and indeed to court if need be.

ColtonJ

Sammorgan, it seems to be an unfortunate norm that car rental companies over-charge for damages done to their vehicles. Just one scratch or dent and they will charge you the cost of replacing the entire part!
In the interest of saving yourself time and presenting the best case in the event you do need to go to court (or even just in arguing further with Avis), do you have pictures on record or any documentation that states the scratch to the rim was there before you took the rental car off the lot? If not, then you are in a dire situation as you have no proof that you did not cause the damage yourself while you were driving at some point (whether or not you actually did). I can tell you from experience I am 100% sure your car rental contract (signed before taking the rental car) included terms that stated you would be help responsible for any damages specifically to tires, wheels, windscreen, undercarriage, etc. Standard insurances cover collision and theft but not isolated damages to these specific parts of the vehicle. Did you purchase additional insurance to cover tires, windscreen, etc.?
In regards to the charges made to your card, you may not have signed the receipt but you certainly did sign a rental contract before taking the car which, I can guarantee you, stated you would be charged for the types of damages you were. Legally speaking, Avis doesn't need you to sign the receipt to charge you; you had already agreed to pay the charges in your original contract and, without any proof that you hadn't actually caused the damage or any insurances covering it, your case in court will be quite open-and-shut. (Unless, of course, there are some sort of loopholes to take advantage of, as I'm not a lawyer but just someone with a lot of personal experience with car rentals and contracts).
The amount charged by Avis may be exorbitant or unfair but this will not affect the black and white verdict dictated by your terms and conditions.
Also sorry to hear about the rude service you received; what country was your rental and the customer service office based in?
Best of luck in acquiring your refund, at any rate.

Shrivastaw, also sorry to hear about the less-than-stellar service you received, as well. That type of reaction is especially not well-received in times of distress. But am I correct to say you gave Budget a 4/10 because they did not provide roadside assistance and because the spare tire in your Micra was for emergencies only? It seems you absolutely flunked them based on what you yourself describe as "minor irritations"? It just confused me a bit, as it seemed the rest of your experience with Budget was very positive