Father-of-3

So today I show up in Columbia, SC and go to pick up my car. No secured lot so have to wait at the Avis First counter. Very young girl helping me gives me the paperwork to sign and needs me to initial an agreement to pay a 7.5% 'tax' on the FF miles. My account is set for FF miles with Delta. I usually get about 200 for a rental. Not a huge bonus so if I agree to this tax I will be paying $10 for 200 points or $.05 a point.

I get clarification this is not just sales tax or something on the miles but a 'tax' on the whole bill. I try to get clarity that this is a 'fee' as opposed to a government 'tax', but she pretty much tells me to get bent.

I cancelled my reservation with them and walked the 15 feet over to Hertz and got a car from them. I'll be sending a nasty-gram to Avis but was wondering if anyone knew anything about this. I've had a dozen rentals in the past 3 months and this has never come up.

FlyerChrisK

Are you sure the "tax" was going to be $10 on 200 miles? I doubt they were going to use the cost of your entire rental rather than the cost of the miles alone as the basis for the tax.

sdsearch

There is indeed a 'fee' on miles but it's something like 50 or 75 cents a day with a cap I think. It's not a percentage of anything AFAIK.

(I've been taking hotel points instead of domestic* airline miles lately and get no fee on those typically. *I think you also don't get charged the fee with foreign airlines such BA, either.)

And, btw, I think Hertz does the exact same thing -- though maybe they explain it better.

Elola

Well, in this situation, both you and the rental agent are correct in a way. When you opt to receive FF miles from a US-based airline on your car rental the rental car company is required to buy the miles to be transferred to your account from the airline at a very nominal fee and is taxed by the federal government for this purchase. The amount of the purchase and the tax is then passed along to the consumer (you) as a FF surcharge.

+1, there is most definitely a cap (usually around $2-$5/week, depending on the rental company/airline) on the amount that can be passed through and hotel and foreign airline points/miles are exempt from this tax.

Father-of-3

Finally heard back from Avis. The charge was supposed to be 75 cents. So they lost 3 rentals because some idiot decided on 7.5 percent instead of 75 cents.

No compensation or apology from Avis. Glad I walked.

bkafrick

Compensation? Oh brother... You must be from Delta; everyone expects compensation for a light bulb being out over there.

Father-of-3

I thought they would try to do something to regain my business. I cancelled 4 bookings with them as I can get the exact same rates at Hertz and get my FF miles. I wasn't expecting anything of real value but at least an attempt to show me they care in some way. I told them what was important to me (my FF miles without a 7.5% surcharge), they showed me that I wasn't important to them. And forget about the people who agreed to this 7.5% charge!!

jvick125

Personally, I would have been content with them just adjusting the fee to the correct amount. I definitely would not have expected a free rental day or something outlandish for an $8 mistake...

Father-of-3

Nothing to adjust I ended up walking over to Hertz. They have apparently been overcharging customers at this location since 1/1/2012. I figured at the very least they might have given me a lame apology; I didn't even get that. Most companies In this situation (where a customer cancelled about $500 in business) would try to get you to come back. A 5% off my next rental might have prompted me to move a cancelled one back to them and saved my company $5. I already went to the effort to cancel and rebook those rentals and they gave me noreason to move them back. I'm not upset or concerned - I have no vested interest in Avis.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

OT, but could you get more value out of 1,000 Virgin Atlantic miles per Hertz or Avis rental -- even a one-day rental -- with no frequent-flyer charge? VS miles are redeemable with a number of carriers, including US and HA.

Father-of-3

Seems like someone was more frustrated with Avis over this than I was:

Personal ID No.: A34E676F18
Control No.: 6100758001

Schwartz v. Avis Rent A Car Sys., LLC
Civ. Act. No. 11-4052 (D.N.J.) Klein v. Budget Rent A Car Sys., Inc.
Civ. Act. No. 12-7300 (D.N.J.)
Members of the Avis Preferred Service Program and/or Budget Rapid
Rez with Fastbreak Program May Claim Settlement Benefits.

This Class Action Settlement May Affect Your Rights

A Court authorized this notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

This notice concerns class-action lawsuits filed in New Jersey federal court against Avis and Budget. In these lawsuits, Avis Preferred and Budget Rapid Rez members are seeking reimbursement for charges they paid Avis and Budget for frequent-flyer miles they obtained from Avis and Budget when they rented cars. Avis and Budget call these charges their frequent traveler program surcharge (or “FTP Surcharges”). Although these lawsuits are being settled, Avis and Budget dispute that they wrongly charged customers FTP Surcharges.
A settlement is a compromise of the parties’ respective positions. Depending on how often you paid FTP Surcharges, these settlements give you a choice between cash or a discount on one or more future rentals. Simply go to the Settlement website, www.AvisBudgetSurchargeSettlement.com, to submit an electronic claim or you can print a claim form and mail it to Avis Budget Surcharge Settlement, c/o Garden City Group, LLC, P.O. Box 10263, Dublin, Ohio 43017.
In particular, if between July 14, 2005, and June 14, 2012, you were an Avis Preferred Service Program member and rented a vehicle in the United States through www.avis.com, you likely paid an FTP Surcharge for receiving frequent-flyer miles from Avis’s travel partners. If this happened to you, you are eligible to make a claim for the relief described here.
And if between November 27, 2006, and February 17, 2013, you were a Budget Rapid Rez with Fastbreak Program member and rented a vehicle in the United States through www.budget.com, you likely paid an FTP Surcharge for receiving frequent-flyer miles from Budget’s travel partners. If this happened to you, you are eligible to make a claim for the relief described here.
You must file your claim by July 5, 2016, which is the “Claims Bar Date.” If someone appeals this settlement, payment of your claim may be delayed. The process for filing a claim is explained at Question 11.
Read this notice carefully because your legal rights will be affected whether you act or don’t act.

lougord99

You were seriously PO'd enough about this to search for lawsuits online? Are you going to attempt to join the class?

bkafrick

I received the Class Action notice too. I didnt go looking for it. It was sent to me.

Hey, i'll take whatever free cash they want to throw at me.