There have been numerous posting on renting from smaller companies, but we have rented from Avis recently and the experience is far from satisfactory. We paid over AUD$1,300 for 10-day in USA recently. Hubby sent an enquiry last week and heard nothing. I thought he should lodge a complaint instead of an enquiry. With that I dont want to post too much details but PM me if you want to know more.
We picked up the car from airport of a medium-size city. There was a big walk from check-out to the Avis counter, and hubby stand in the queue for sometime. When his turn finally came, I could see from a distance that the person is not customer-friendly. He was confronting and talked in a very authoritative/dictative manner. Hubby is an educated middled-age person, and had rented many cars in his life. The whole process took over 30 minutes and when I finally became impatient, I walked over and heard them talking about some fuel charge of $67; Hubby had agreed to pay some fees so that he didnt have to refill the tank on the last day. We dont know whether this works better but let's accept it for now as it was explained. We also paid for the insurance which we already plan to anyway.
Prior to that, he told hubby that he can give us a better car. Hubby naively thought that he was getting an upgrade so happily accepted it. Upon return we learned that we had been charged $20 per day! There was never any mention of this charge, otherwise we could have just stayed with the original request as per the quote. The "upgrade" was good but wasnt necessary.
Because we had travelled long hours and were really tired, hubby just signed the four to five pages given to him. The environment is just not conducive for brain work. The whole process took over 40 minutes standing-up. Also, the walk from the counter to the car was very far, and there was no offer to help with suitcases or pick-up whatsoever. We felt like refugees. I dont understand why as the quote was done prior to departure and it should be a simple case of picking up keys!
Another item added to our bill upon check-out was "Concession Recovery Fee" of over $100. This was never mentioned at the counter and the person at the check-out couldnt explain. Because we were coming home so we just had to pay for it and hope to deal with Avis or Qantas after we got back.
So my advice to future renters: stick to your quote, DO NOT pick-up car from airport counter, go to the suburb or somewhere near the hotel. The people are more friendly and laid-back and the taxi fare is worth it.
Happy travelling.
I'm not really sure what the alert is here, except the staff could be more helpful? We don't even know which airport counter to avoid!