Avis - Sneaky 'drop fee' in ANC

After avoiding Avis for 20 years because of several bad experiences I recently rented for a week in ANC. Normally such a rental would go to Hertz but their rate was more than $200 higher. Airport fees are about $100 so I rented from the Avis downtown location to drop off at the airport. That works fine with Hertz in the US and Europe. My Avis reservation confirmation only mentions no additional fees for this scenario and when I picked the car up there was not a peep about this. But when I dropped the car off, bingo, a $29.90 'drop fee' had to be collected. Turns out it is printed at the bottom of the contract so not much to contest. At that time the downtown location was closed and I had still avoided most of the regular airport fees but still, I really hate these kinds of surprises. The lady at the booth was nice and apologetic, she told me she got a lot of push back for this fee. They should really disclose this better. I guess I'll have to continue my boycott for another 20 years....

Was this not quoted in your original quote? If not, and you have proof, complain to Avis.com. If they give you nothing, then go to your credit card, as it's a change of contract. I understand it's on your contract and you signed the contract, but you were already at the location without much choice when they changed the terms of your CONFIRMED reservation.

Was this not quoted in your original quote? If not, and you have proof, complain to Avis.com. If they give you nothing, then go to your credit card, as it's a change of contract. I understand it's on your contract and you signed the contract, but you were already at the location without much choice when they changed the terms of your CONFIRMED reservation.

Agree.

Here's a sample price quote on a one-way reservation from the downtown office to ANC:

Weekly rate
1 week(s) @ $594.00 $594.00

Subtotal $594.00
Taxes and Fees Help $106.92
Drop Charge $0.00

Total due at rental counter : $700.92

Here are the specific terms and conditions in the GDS about one-way drop fees:

FOR ACCURATE RATE QUOTE, ENTER LOCATION CODE OF THE DROP
OFF LOCATION IN THE APPROPRIATE FIELD FOR THE BEST AVAILABLE
RATE. IF A DROP OFF CHARGE APPLIES TO THE RESERVATION,
IT WILL BE RETURNED WITH THE CONFIRMATION. CARS ARE SUBJECT
TO ONE WAY AVAILABILITY AND FEES.

Therefore, if Avis refuses to credit you for the drop, refer back to your reservation and state that it explicitly said that a drop fee did not apply and would not be applied if it was not quoted to you in the reservation.

Avis Alaska is an independent franchise and tries to get away with policies and procedures that are contrary to Avis corporate standards, and you may encounter some resistance from Avis HQ in dealing with them because of their status as a franchise, but press forward. If you get nowhere with Avis, I would file a dispute with your credit card company.

Avis Alaska is an independent franchise and tries to get away with policies and procedures that are contrary to Avis corporate standards, and you may encounter some resistance from Avis HQ in dealing with them because of their status as a franchise, but press forward. If you get nowhere with Avis, I would file a dispute with your credit card company.

I would also immediately file a Better Business Bureau (BBB.org) complaint against them. Avis Alaska tries to be sneaky on these kind of things and if enough of us complain, maybe others will not rent from them or they will change their policies..

Great advice everyone, this is good to know, thank you! I mailed Avis to have the fee reversed and I'll give them a few days to respond. The fee was not mentioned on the original reservation but not in the way posted above.

I also don't like it that they do not automatically deduct the AWD codes. When I got the car I did not remember what the code in the reservation was for so I did not get the discount. I'm going to try and get that back as well.

Will report back later.

Great advice everyone, this is good to know, thank you! I mailed Avis to have the fee reversed and I'll give them a few days to respond. The fee was not mentioned on the original reservation but not in the way posted above.

I also don't like it that they do not automatically deduct the AWD codes. When I got the car I did not remember what the code in the reservation was for so I did not get the discount. I'm going to try and get that back as well.

Will report back later.It's Avis of Alaska, a franchise.

Renting from them, it's more like you rented from some completely different company than Avis. They don't honor most of the Avis coupons, they don't participate in Avis First, they don't do anything much for President's Club members, they don't ..(I think you are getting the idea here.) :rolleyes:

They are really good at collecting for every ding on your car, though. :(

Avis Alaska is an independent franchise and tries to get away with policies and procedures that are contrary to Avis corporate standards, and you may encounter some resistance from Avis HQ in dealing with them because of their status as a franchise, but press forward. If you get nowhere with Avis, I would file a dispute with your credit card company.Yup.

David

Got mail back from Avis that their computer system is "not-mechanized" meaning that they can not see rental contracts from ANC. They refer me to a phone number in ANC. I submitted my request through the ANC Avis website, will see what that brings.

And no, they did not even look at the car when I dropped it off. There were a few very minor scratches that I photographed before driving off just in case. The lady just asked a couple of times if there had been any problems with the car (no).

Got mail back from Avis that their computer system is "not-mechanized" meaning that they can not see rental contracts from ANC. They refer me to a phone number in ANC. I submitted my request through the ANC Avis website, will see what that brings.



I hate that Avis claims that ANC (and ILM, another franchise that I regularly have issues with) when they claim "sorry, they are a franchise and we can't do anything about it." Some of these franchises are not following corporate standards and Avis looks the other way.

Got mail back from Avis that their computer system is "not-mechanized" meaning that they can not see rental contracts from ANC. They refer me to a phone number in ANC. I submitted my request through the ANC Avis website, will see what that brings.

Ugh, not a good sign. I would press forward with Avis corporate, not Avis in ANC, and tell them basically "Tough, it's not my problem that you can't see ANC's contracts. You deal with it internally; I expect my problem to be solved by you."

Avis ANC won't do anything for you--or if they do, I'll be shocked.

I hate that Avis claims that ANC (and ILM, another franchise that I regularly have issues with) when they claim "sorry, they are a franchise and we can't do anything about it." Some of these franchises are not following corporate standards and Avis looks the other way.

It's very stupid. As a premium company, you'd expect them to have procedures in place for this. Dollar Thrifty has systems in place to import the rental data from their franchises, and even in situations where it isn't working right, their customer service department will manually contact the individual franchise to obtain records by fax. Dollar Thrifty's customer service department even has the ability to make judgments on customer service situations and back-bill the individual franchise if a judgment is made in favor of the customer. If the value brands can do it, certainly Avis should.

Got a call from Avis ANC that they will apply the coupon and return the drop-fee, basically going back to the rate I agreed to in the original reservation. Will give them a few days to get this back on the credit card (nothing yet). We'll see....

Got a call from Avis ANC that they will apply the coupon and return the drop-fee, basically going back to the rate I agreed to in the original reservation. Will give them a few days to get this back on the credit card (nothing yet). We'll see....

Well, color me shocked.

Well, color me shocked.

Same here, I'm not counting on anything until I see it on my CC statement.

Well, color me shocked.

Same here! Too bad it takes one complaining to get the originally agreed-upon contract. How many people aren't as proactive as those here and are getting hit with charges? In cases like above, I'm still a fan of contacting the BBB if they "fix" the issue so that others can be alerted to your issues.

Just to paint the other half of the picture- not all Avis franchisees are bad. I usually rent from Avis corporate offices in airports, but sometimes rent from a small town franchisee. They own two or three offices. They regularly upgrade me at no fee, and are generally pleasant and reasonable.

Just to paint the other half of the picture- not all Avis franchisees are bad. I usually rent from Avis corporate offices in airports, but sometimes rent from a small town franchisee. They own two or three offices. They regularly upgrade me at no fee, and are generally pleasant and reasonable.

Most Avis "franchises" are actually what Avis calls "Agencies"--they are basically contract-operated "storefronts" for Avis. The Agency operator supplies the real estate, local marketing (often just buying brochures, etc. from Avis corporate), staffing, uniforms, and other such miscellaneous expenses. Avis corporate supplies the biggest line item: the cars. In exchange for renting them, Avis pays the operator a small percent of the base rental rate as well as a portion of additional sales (coverage, gas, etc.). Avis corporate determines (based on analytics such as demand, supply, and past performance) the ratees and how many cars each Agency location gets to rent, and cars can be given to or taken away from them at any time.

With these stores, though, you're pretty much renting from Avis corporate, except that a contract employee is filling out your rental agreement. Any issues you have with the rental after that point can be handled by Avis corporate--you can stop at a full corporate store (like a nearby airport) to exchange the car if you have problems, or you can call Avis's central phone number to process modifications to your rental (extensions, change drop location, etc.). These Avis Agencies use the Avis corporate computer system ("Wizard"), and to anyone at Avis pulling the rental up in their system (whether another Avis location or a post-rental customer service representative), it looks just like a regular Avis rental. To the customer, too, it's a pretty transparent process, since Avis provides the computer system, sets the rental policies, and requires the Agency to adhere to Avis corporate standards

Avis in ANC is a very rare type of Avis franchise (since they've been a franchise since 1956)--a fully-independently-owned-and-operated licensee. Instead of Avis corporate paying them a small percentage of the revenue, they buy their own cars, set their own rates, and get to keep all of the revenue they earn (except for a small portion--a few percent--they pay to Avis as part of their franchise fee). Of course, they're responsible for the car payments for the thousand or so cars they keep around--not an insignificant sum. Since they maintain full risk and responsibility for any things that might happen to their vehicles, they are free to set their own policies (within reason). In short, they're basically an independent rental company that happens to carry the big red Avis logo (and pays a small premium to do so).

They also provide their own computer system that isn't integrated well with Avis corporate's (as mentioned above). In fact, Avis once offered the Alaska franchise the option to move to Avis corporate's computer system in order to provide better service to Avis customers, but Avis Alaska declined. Why? Because that would have given Avis corporate the ability to fully see into the franchise's operations and financials. (Avis Alaska has a tumultuous relationship with corporate over the years--check out this story (http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2009/10/avis_fined_16_m.html), which made big headlines in the industry trade publications.)

I have no beef with Avis Alaska and wish it much success. However, that success cannot come at the expense of not honoring the basic standards of Avis corporate, especially not honoring reservations and rates as promised and refusing to honor the benefits that elite members are entitled to as part of their loyalty. I also fault Avis Budget Group for not holding Avis Alaska to its standards and not requiring the infrastructure to allow Avis corporate to deal effectively with complaints about their Alaska franchise, especially when other companies (even discount brands that supposedly provide poorer service) do provide that infrastructure.

On a related note, here's an interesting article (http://www.bluemaumau.org/11108/agency_operator_hits_avis_class_action_rico) about the problems that Agencies have had with Avis corporate.

Glad they agreed to refund the fee, robbert. I hope it goes through ok.

I just did a similar ANC rental with a different company (rented in town, returned to airport). They said it would be a $15 fee (new this year), but they ended up not charging me. I can see where this would be a popular idea for renters (renting off airport, returning to airport), and hence why they'd have a fee. But like you say, they should figure out their procedures, be more upfront about them, and then honor them.

Just as an fyi - while it's certainly quicker, and more convenient to drive yourself to the airport, there are city buses that go to the airport. And if you had bags which you didn't want to carry, you could probably drive to the airport and drop them off, then return your car to the off-site rental location, and bus back to the airport.

Glad they agreed to refund the fee, robbert. I hope it goes through ok.

I just did a similar ANC rental with a different company (rented in town, returned to airport). They said it would be a $15 fee (new this year), but they ended up not charging me. I can see where this would be a popular idea for renters (renting off airport, returning to airport), and hence why they'd have a fee. But like you say, they should figure out their procedures, be more upfront about them, and then honor them.

I know who you rented from. ;)

The fee is because that company is trying to prevent all of its cars from congregating at the airport, necessitating additional staffing to move cars back from the airport to the offsite location when rental demand at the offsite location increases.

The difference between the fee Dollar Thrifty imposes and the fee Avis imposes is that the fee is disclosed on dollar.com or thrifty.com (or any third-party travel agency site) if you specify a one-way rental, while the situation described here is that avis.com did not include any mention of the fee when making the reservation even when the reservation was specifically made for a one-way rental. Dollar Thrifty also discloses the fee in the terms and conditions when making a reservation and also clearly displays it on the contract, so there is no stage along the way where it can be missed.

Due to the way Dollar Thrifty's computer program is set in Anchorage, they have no real way to enforce the one-way fee if you simply drop the car off at the airport without telling them. They can only add the fee on when you pick up the car and tell them you are dropping it off at the airport. So, the secret (for now, at least, until their computer system gets updated--which is likely to be never) is to book it as a regular round-trip rental and then drop it off at the airport without announcing it. (This only works for Anchorage, though.)

Both companies are better than Enterprise, though, who charges a minimum $50 one-way fee for any inter-location rentals in Anchorage. This is because each office is considered to "own" its own cars for accounting purposes, and so any car that ends up at another office can't simply be absorbed by the receiving branch and must literally immediately be driven back to the renting office. (This is changing in some metro markets as Enterprise begins to embrace its new subsidiaries' [Alamo and National] concept of floating fleets, but Alaska is slow to change.)

All Alaska Rentals are funky

Most charge drop fees

Most are cheaper in town.

Others do strange things to like enterprise no executive club points in town but ok at airport. It's also the first suburban I've ever rented with the basic work uk package.

If your rental conformation showed one way rental from downtown to airprt then I'd expect them to honor it. If you booked a round trip rental good luck.

There are other independents who own their car. Example Cayce, sc ... Capital u drive it llc. And boy do they have a nice selection of well equipped cars but the drop fees are often 400 or more out of town.... Ie cost to ship them back home with a carrier... Ad not reservable online in many cases.

But not common...

Others do strange things to like enterprise no executive club points in town but ok at airport.

No National Emerald Executive credits at Enterprise at the airport, either. I rented several times there and got credits for two of the rentals but not the other six. I wrote in to ask for credit and they told me that location was not eligible. I wrote back that not only is that asinine but I also got credit for two of the rentals (sandwiched in the middle of the non-crediting rentals), blowing holes in their story that the location changed participation mid-stream during my series of rentals. I did end up getting them to extend my Executive status for another year based on the rentals, but don't expect future National credits at any Enterprise location in Alaska.

Thanks everyone for your insights, it is very interesting to read how the ANC locations are so independent of the national chains, and not just AVIS.

Well, color me shocked.

I hate to to shock you any further but the refund posted! All it took was a friendly request by email and they immediately responded that the refund would be made. Apparently this was in the pipeline to be processed when I mailed a reminder but now it is all done.

It seems that they know they should not have charged this extra amount and simply count on people not following up. But that's the power of Flyertalk, it has given me the background, knowledge of the rules and how to follow-up. And it all worked out this time. Thanks guys!