Complaining about Avis
 

I had a nasty experience with Avis yesterday. They refused to honor a reservation I had made and confirmed both on the local and national level. Why would I reserve a car a month in advance if you get to the desk and find out they won't bother to honor the reservation? Fortunately I was able to work something out with the National agent next door and ditched the Avis reservation entirely; however, I still want to complain. Customer service was rude and unhelpful. Somewhere on this site I saw one time a link that told where to go to complain for various things and get results. Anybody remember the link I'm talking about or have suggestions? I have used Avis in the past without problems and wanted to make them aware they are slipping. Thanks.

Hope you get further than I did with Budget after having a similiar experience with them in Fort Lauderdale. Their customer service department couldn't have cared less.

Why did they refuse to honor your reservation? Was it because they did not have a car available? I can't think of nay other reason why they would refuse to honor your reservation.

Sorry I cant help with the link....but if you are dealing with a "franchise" location,you will probably receive no satisfaction, unfortunately.Corporate locations,yes the customer service reps are usually more cooperative.

Thanks for the comments. I'm sure I will feel better after writing a nasty note to customer service. I had a one way reservation, which I know can be problematic, so I double-checked every step of the way beforehand. When I initially called to make the reservation, the reservationist said she would have to check with the location and see if it was possible. I called back a few days later and was told they had checked with the location and that everything was ok with the reservation. I called back again to confirm with the local franchise that this was ok. When I arrived yesterday, they said the only cars available for rental were compact, when I had reserved a full size. We had seen full size on the lot, so then the agent said that only compact were available for one way rental. When we questioned her further she admitted that she had made this decision and indicated she was giving us the worst car on the lot because it was a one way rental and they wanted not to let their good cars go for a one way rental (not too comforting from a safety perspective). We called the national line, and they said there were no supervisors there to help us (actually first guy said he'd transfer me to a supervisor, then hung up on me, second guy put me on hold, third guy yelled at my husband and said there were no supervisors available). My major problem is that they made a contract and refused to honor it, lied to us about the availability of the car when we arrived, then the national line refused to back up anything they had previously said. I have a rental now from another company, so it's no great loss, but I don't like to be lied to.

So your main gripe is that you reserved a full size car and they would only rent you a compact for a one way rental?

Unfortunately, this is common practice among car rental companies and a situation, I think, almost everyone has encountered at one time or another. A car reserved at a particular rate is no garantee there is actually a car available at that rate when you check in. Good luck but I think you'll get no satisfaction. We didn't in a similar situation.

Jette, you're probably right. Travleis, my problem wasn't the compact car vs. the other size. My problem was the agent, then the customer service rep lying to me repeatedly. When I didn't buy their stories they changed it rather than admitting their mistake or admitting they were less than forthright in the first place. I always expect too much from customer service personnel...competence, honesty, etc. I guess I just don't like being lied to. At any rate, I sent an email to Avis, and I'm sure I'll get some lame response back, but I feel better since I voiced my complaint, and that's all that matters, right? Next time, I'll know not that making a reservation in advance means nothing. (Incidentally this happened to me before with another rental company, but they didn't lie about it and were able to offer me a larger size than full size rather than sticking me in a compact car...I'll go back to them.) I'm done complaining.