Don't rent from Avis Car Rental
 

Don't rent from Avis Car Rental. I recently did and they added $171 to my bill without my knowledge. The clerk at the desk added insurance and other extras to the contract even though I clearly said no to all the extras they were pushing on me. The clerk said ok, told me what boxes to check and sign on the screen which unbeknownst to me included the very extras I declined. THEY MISREPRESENTED THE CONTRACT TO ME. When I found the charges on my credit card bill, Avis refused to correct the mistake because it appears on an obscure line of the contract. I have since heard of many other similar complaints on Avis.

Don't rent from Avis. If you do not take my advice, then make sure you carefully examine every line of their confusing contracts to ensure they have not snuck in additional charges that you didn't want. This happened at the Avis in Orlando airport, but after dealing with their customer service department for three weeks, I would caution against choosing Avis anywhere.

and YOU checked them without READING them didn't you??????

IMO your post heading should be, "Don't Whine About Rental Car Charges Which Nobody Forced You To Accept"

Read the dam* contract. You are responsible. Every time I have declined coverage I check a no box and initial it. The Avis contract is the same. Don't be lazy.

Frankly, AvisTeals, I don't believe you. I have been renting cars for a loooong time, and I have never, ever had a charge "snuck" onto the contract "without my knowledge". I *have* been urged strongly and in various slightly misleading ways to buy extra coverage, so what I know is, you have to be alert, say no, initial no, and confirm that your no was accepted when you receive a copy of the final contract. I suspect you fell down on one of those tasks.

She fell down on all the tasks and will not be back. Probably works for Hertz.

IMHO it pays to join the rental company clubs. we do Hertz - since DH's firm has a significant discount with them. But all of my preferences are in my membership profile - and since I did that they have never even asked me if I wanted extra insurance.

And agree that you need to check what you're signing.

Just joined to make a complaint. I smell a troll.

Not a troll - just a whiny little girl who won't be back to see the responses.

As if silly posts on all the websites she's joined today would make a dent on Avis.

>>make sure you carefully examine every line of their confusing contracts to ensure they have not snuck in additional charges that you didn't want.<<

Uh - yes. Reading is a good idea. If it was on the contract (which it was) they didn't 'sneak' in anything.

Kind of reminds me of those Fox Retal Car posts.

I'll never understand why people like this OP go around posting such inane stories to prove to everyone who incredibly stupid they are!

Since you have a copy of the contract with the decline boxes clearly checked and initialed by you, there can't possibly be a problem. Oh wait a minute, you don't have one, but you do have one with the boxes NOT checked and your signature at the bottom clearly accepting the charges? Hmmm. Wonder why that would be a problem?

Not making it up and not from Hertz but you are all very right that I should have scrutinize that contract before I waked away. Instead I trusted that the clerk was honoring the answers that I gavel as he told me which boxes to click and which I don't ever recall stating anything other than "declined". The printed contract that it resulted in was not at all obvious that there were additional charges. It was buried in columns of text and figures. No bottom line. Turns out it was on the paper yes but the way it went down was underhanded and the customer service afterwards completely inflexible.

I don't deny that I should have read it more carefully, but I was very clear what I wanted and the clerk misrepresented the check in process in a way that resulted in me paying for the extras that I said I didn't want.

Dismiss it how you will but use extra caution when doing business with them. especially at the Orlando airport

Thanks for replying back. A good lesson on always checking, and re- checking what you sign. A good reminder for all of us.

I, for one, do not have the time to read all 6,000 words of a rental contract. The fine print is too damn small.

yeah I probably should have chose another name but I am honestly still pretty bitter about the whole thing when I was setting up this account. Don't blame anyone for thinking I was a "troll". A bit of a fool perhaps…

"A bit of a fool perhaps…"

Do ya think?

FWIW, I think Avis (along with Hertz) are the best rental car company and I have never had a problem with them in years of rentals.

The amounts payable are also listed on the receipt you get when you check in, not just buried in the contract. Rental companies are required to print out a reasonable estimate of charges including fees. So the time to question is before you leave the counter, not as you return the car. People are usually in a hurry to get to their vacation, so they don't bother to even look in the folder before walking away. That seems to be what happened here.

In the OP's defense, car-rental companies do indeed engage in deceptive practices, by trying to scare you to buy additional liability insurance you don't need, by refusing to tell you the cost of pre-paid fuel by the gallon (usually just by the tankful), by not fully discussing costs associated with electronic tolls and license-plate-read tolls, by charging a ridiculous surcharge when you bring the car back more than an hour early or by more than 30 minutes late, and often by adding genuinely hidden charges and fees. Orlando airport is actually pretty bad about hidden fees, so I sympathize to some extent.

Having said that, I've never been charged an amount that I didn't know completely in advance when I made my reservation ... by any car-rental company. I do read the lists of extra charges when I make the reservation, so I know what insurance will cost if I decide to pay for it. And I know what a toll-pass will cost if I decide to take it.

Although I have never had an issue like this (yet), renting a car is always the most stressful part of any trip for me, and stories like this are one of the reasons why.

At this point, I think you are just seeking attention because you have posted the same complaint on two (2) different Fodors forums and Tripadvisor. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...o_Florida.html

The bottom line is you must <b>read any contract before signing.</b> This applies to car rental agreements, real estate contracts, business contracts, etc., etc., etc. At this point just chalk it up to a lesson learned.

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Well said, Doug Stallings. For the record, one of the reasons I object so strenuously to overheated posts about car rental companies is that they obscure the very real issues consumers face when renting cars, which you enumerated very well.