Avis car change - potential problem - advice on how to handle.
 

Many, many months ago we rented a convertible with Avis from Annecy. As in the past, the car shown was a renault megane (or similar) which is a 4 seater with space for 3 bags. This is the car shown on my email, but when I look online it now says Citroen DS3 Cabriolet (or similar) which is a 4 seater with space for only 1 bag - but maybe more importantly isn't really a convertible. It basically has a glorified sunroof - http://www.ds3-cabrio.citroen.com/

My husband will have his bike box, plus we will have our luggage. There's no way it will all fit into this car!!! We've done this before and have had just enough space with the Renault, but had to put the bike box into the car with the top open. There's no way to do this with this car.

I've sent an email to the Annecy office but did not receive a response.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on what we should do at this point. We arrive on Thursday and the car is booked for Friday so I was thinking of going over on the Thursday in case they would be able to find us the correct car but not sure.

Thanks in advance.
Hez

Don't wait until Thursday.

Go online and change your reservations.

In European countries, I don't depend on local, overworked staff to be of assistance.

Change it online and get a written reservation. Take the printed out reservation with you. This is something I've done, unfortunately, far too frequently.

There's no way to change it to a convertible. They are all booked or 3x the price we've paid.

And that's Avis Frances only convertible choice now. I don't know if they still have some older cars or not.

Well, call them. Or cancel the reservation and call AutoEurope and get what you want. Why would you wait until Thursday?

I am not aware that - except in very specific circumstances - usually a very high price - they guarantee you a specific car. It is usually a class of car you reserve - with the company having the option to give you what they have on the lot.

We have only reserved a specific car once - a Mercedes my brother was thinking of buying and wanted to test drive extensively - and it was definitely a premium price. (And we all ended up hating the car. (The model in europe must have had a completely different engine - since the car had no pick up - even one day with just my SIL and myself in it.)

I would start trying other companies immediately to see what they can guarantee.

I guess I was looking more for advice on how to talk to them to hopefully have them try to find me the right car.

Like I said, convertibles are either sold out or are 3x the amount.

Also, I feel it's not a matter of guaranteeing a specific car, but totally changing the class of car - one with a big sunroof is not the same as a convertible. And changing from a car with room for 3 bags to one with only space for 1 is unreasonable.

Well, hell, CALL them! What is the issue? If you're so insistent on getting something specific, pick up the freaking phone!

If you think that Avis is unreasonable (and I would never in a million years book with them in Europe), cancel the reservations and start over.

Stop whining and get ON it!

Geesh, I thought this forum was for asking for help, not for having people accuse one of whining when asking for it.

I was asking for some pointers on 'how' to talk to them. What might be said to perhaps grease the wheels and encourage someone to help me out. My French is not great so I though perhaps someone might have a bit of insight into the best way to approach the situation.

I've already stated twice that there are no other suitable cars available, cancelling the reservation and starting over is not an option, unless we want to pay more for a crappy non-convertible car. For reference, we paid $700 for a 16 day rental. Like I said, booked months and months ago.

Also I've rented from Avis in Europe at least 6 times now and have never had a problem so not sure why such a major issue on that point.

The Renault Megane is not a convertible, so I'm not sure what you reserved months ago.

I really doubt Avis will expend the time and effort to find you the "right" car, whatever that would be at this point. As you said, "... convertibles are either sold out or are 3x the amount."

Did you pre-pay the $700 for a 17-day rental? If so, that could be one reason why prices are higher now (72 hours out).

Autoeurope.com is showing the availability of a Renault Megane at Annecy for 16 days at US$545 (basic package) or US$882 (insurance package).

Yes - the Renault Megane comes in a convertible - http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/...cabriolet.aspx - we've rented it in France from Avis before.

I realize prices are more expensive now, that's why I can't just go and book another convertible for the same price elsewhere now.

Also my email confirmation from Avis is for the Renault convertible (with picture and all).

Did you specifically rent a convertible all those many months ago? If so, I'd contact Avis to verify that is what you are going to get.

Yes - I rented a convertible - my email confirmation states convertible and my email shows the renault. If I go online and look at the booking it shows the Citroen DS3 which has a retractable roof (see my original post) but is not, in my opinion, a real convertible. Hence my problem.

Contact Avis to confirm that you will receive the convertible and not the retractable roof car.

What is a retractable roof? Is that like a sun roof or moon roof?

>>I was asking for some pointers on 'how' to talk to them.<<

no one on here can tell you 'how' to talk to them Just <i>talk</i> to them

And you insist nothing appropriate is available so what are you expecting them to do?

IME a specific model is never 'guaranteed', just like an automatic won't 100% be guaranteed.

Have you considered a van?

StCirq is right.

Talking - arguing with posters here does not solve your problem.

It's your problem, fix it. If it's too late to get your precious convertible, so be it.

If there happens to be an acceptiable convertible, you get lucky. If not, carry on.