Avis Car Hire **WARNING**

peterbaker

Congratulations taffjones, and thanks for coming back with the outcome.

I am also a regular hirer and to be honest I think what you have experienced is sadly reflecting the norm with all the companies. Avis used to be a name you would associate with tip top service. How things change.

Some defences against it I believe are:

• maintain a good relationship with the people in your favoured car hire team (assuming you use the same airport mostly) and be prepared to pay a little extra sometimes to maintain that loyalty and save your sanity (as a regular you surely already appreciate that loyalty to a big name team will often be rewarded with very nice upgrades anyway). Then if you need to complain, they will notice you are unusually serious and may be more likely to rapidly back down.
• Irrespective of how well you know the team, spend time even if it is dark checking the car before you move it - photos (of no damage!) sounds easy but you will need to be a very good closeup photographer to actually show up small scratches. Fingertips are best especially on alloy wheels which are a classic little earner for them I think. Don't forget to check that emergency accessories and any tools in the boot are not missing.
• Never assume that if you get given or emailed a report of existing damage that it is correct
• If you really can't inspect before you drive, do ensure you inspect before your grace period expires next morning - typically 10am AND if you then report your findings by phone, follow that up with an email including a close-up photo - sometimes even staff you know forget to record your call - but as in one unexpected bill I've experienced, they will hopefully put their hand up.
• if all the above fails, a little hardball organised customer response occasionally works wonders, as you have amply demonstrated!

I sometimes feel for some of the stalwart members of these teams trying to offer old style customer service - they are frequently under a lot of customer queue stress, and they do often seem to be ruled by more transient ruthless types and may from time to time have to suffer wise-a$$ colleagues who are trying to play the boss's games in order to get promoted or favoured in some way.

Clearly it is a business where damage does occur which doesn't get immediately reported/noticed by the firm or by customers, and I think allocating as much as possible to customer accounts based solely on who admits noticing it and when it gets noticed has become a KPI for all of them, as opposed to old ways where the cost was probably a cost that was absorbed/taken off their bottom line.

I think car hire is now another example of the spread of the dreaded lo-cost model idea (or rather shifted cost from business to customer) that is making things so ugly for many customers and staff alike in so many "service" businesses now.

I also feel for customers who are not as savvy as the OP and I, just as I feel for those who fall victim to lo-cost airline rules because they don't fly often enough to subconsciously side-step most of the pitfalls.

rakjain

Hi I recently hired a car using my Avios " British Airways" points- I used over 70000 points ( monetary value of over £400) for 2 weeks car hire at Faro airport in Portugal. The voucher included CDW etc and having hired a car many times I knew to refuse the so called "extra" insurance that they always ask if you want at the desk when you arrive. I was asked about this as usual and firmly refused it ! however after arriving back my card was charged with over £480.00- meaning that I had paid over £800 for 2 weeks car hire !!! I called Avis and they said that I had signed the agreement. I only hired a saloon car not a Ferrari !
Now I know that I refused the extra insurance so I presumed I was signing to take the car away! I have been duped by the Avis car Hire team. Also to add insult to injury British Airways Exec Club ( Avios) have been no help whatsoever- just repeating what Avis had said- has anyone else experienced this ?
Now Avis are employed by British Airways to deal with their car hire so you think they would help or investigate properly. Please do carefully read all documents with Avis as they will try and hoodwink other people.

EveryWhere

rakjain wrote: »

Hi I recently hired a car using my Avios " British Airways" points- I used over 70000 points ( monetary value of over £400) for 2 weeks car hire at Faro airport in Portugal. The voucher included CDW etc and having hired a car many times I knew to refuse the so called "extra" insurance that they always ask if you want at the desk when you arrive. I was asked about this as usual and firmly refused it ! however after arriving back my card was charged with over £480.00- meaning that I had paid over £800 for 2 weeks car hire !!! I called Avis and they said that I had signed the agreement. I only hired a saloon car not a Ferrari !
Now I know that I refused the extra insurance so I presumed I was signing to take the car away! I have been duped by the Avis car Hire team. Also to add insult to injury British Airways Exec Club ( Avios) have been no help whatsoever- just repeating what Avis had said- has anyone else experienced this ?
Now Avis are employed by British Airways to deal with their car hire so you think they would help or investigate properly. Please do carefully read all documents with Avis as they will try and hoodwink other people.

Did they take a credit card authorisation at the beginning of the rental?

rakjain

Hi yes they did take pre- authorisation

thanks

EveryWhere

rakjain wrote: »

Hi yes they did take pre- authorisation

thanks

Doesn't help now, but I advise everyone to write 'Declined all extras' next to their signature.

stevenhp1987

On a side note, that's a very poor use of 70k Avios... That's almost enough for a Business class return to NYC...

But yes, always read what you are signing. I use Avis a lot and always check what I'm signing before I sign it! Never had a problem, if there's anything there I always ask them to take it away.

Not always as easy as writing "declined all extras" because lots of stations now have electronic signatures.

EveryWhere

stevenhp1987 wrote: »

On a side note, that's a very poor use of 70k Avios... That's almost enough for a Business class return to NYC...

But yes, always read what you are signing. I use Avis a lot and always check what I'm signing before I sign it! Never had a problem, if there's anything there I always ask them to take it away.

Not always as easy as writing "declined all extras" because lots of stations now have electronic signatures.

You can write it alongside your electronic signature. Not everyone is good with small print.
They'll be a lot less inclined to attach that extra when they see that they won't be able get away with it so easily.
They will likely move on to the person who didn't write 'Declined all extras' along with their signature.