AVIS rip off at Orlando airport
 

I booked my 11 day rental through priceline.com for ~$193 (Full size car). When i was at the airport, I asked the rep if i can get any complimentary upgrade to SUV. She said no, and then i asked how much would it be if I have to pay.

Then she write $100 on a piece of paper, usually we charge $100, but i will give 50% off; so you pay $50, i can give you SUV.
I said no, it is expensive and I said I will stick with full size.
Then she asked me what airlines i was flying, i said United. Then she write $50 on paper, and after 50%, asked me to pay $25 for the upgrade.
I was happy, but at the same time i wanted to make sure.. So I asked her couple of times the following:

-So I just pay $25 extra through out the rental (in addition to the amount I paid to priceline) - she said yes
-Only $25 will be charged to my credit card - she said yes

When she handed over the rental agreement, it has higher charges; Even before I was asking, she said, don't worry about these charges.. you are prepaid, you dont have to pay anything.

I was happy and walked out. Two days after my return, my amex was charged $263.58 (just for the upgrade).

What should i do in this case? It is a complete cheat and rip off.

That looks like a complete bait and switch. I would contact customer service immediately and complain about how you were misled. However, the right time to rectify the situation should have been when you were handed the rental agreement. Did you sign/initial the rental agreement indicating you agreed with the charges regardless of what you were verbally told?

Unfortunately yes, I did sign the agreement as she promised without me asking for the additional charges. Also, she started with $100 upgrade (So I kind of believed her that it is for entire rental period).

Edit 1: I called Avis Customer Support (billing), they agreed to split the charges; that means she can refund 50% of the charges. When I was checking further, she told me that is all she can do. She asked me to contact rental location and see if they can do anything. She provided me the contact number.

Edit 2: I contacted the Avis airport location provided by billing department. Spoke to couple of people and one gentleman promised me that he will take care of charges and send me an email with the updated invoice. So they will only charge $25 for the upgrade.

So far, their customer support is good. I still haven't received the email, will update this thread once i receive the email and another update after getting the refund.

I am glad it seems you are getting a good resolution to the problem. I guess the moral of the story is "read before you sign and refuse to sign if you don't agree with it". Hope everything works out alright for you.

I received an email from Avis and they adjusted $230, so my final charge for the upgrade is $29.55.


Yes, I have to be very careful before sign the contract. Overall, pleasant experience with Avis other than this hiccup.

Although initially I was infuriated that an Avis employee would pull this, (come on, writing prices on a piece of paper!) if indeed it does get rectified after 2 phone calls, then I say bravo! for Avis customer service.

I have rented from Avis at MCO many times, and always found them to be fast and friendly, everything was just fine. Only twice have they pressured me to upgrade, and the "Avis" employee was wearing a "Budget" polo shirt. :(

At FLL Avis last year, I was told I couldn't decline $20/day LDW

At least that is not as bad as when my brother in law was picking up a car at Alamo at OGG, and the agent said that he would be thrown in jail if he was in an accident and didn't have LDW coverage.

CAR RENTAL and CAR SERVICE DEPARTMENT ( auto machanic ) does this all the time!

always a a bad surprise! $100 turns in to $200 and $50 turns in to $100.

I will keep chanting the MANTRA NOOOOOOOOOO at these place. you have to be the smart and the boss at these place, otherwise they treat like you a worth less piece of monkey cr*p. You are automatically their financial donor/sponser in their mind at their place

the guy was fired by BUDGET after he failed to make customers buy their $10 a day LDW charge for every rental

You guys do realize Avis and Budget are basically the same company right?

I pulled up the Avis availability screen for MCO a few days ago and they were short a few dozen cars, and budget had a few hundred extra. Where do you think Avis will refill from?

Yeah, but it hasn't always been that way. And while they share fleets, not all locations use the same staff so they have different regs/personalities/etc.

Avis/budget are the same. Avis is more business clients and budget are more bargain based for cheaper customers. Employee's can switch when needed and if the 2 brands are close.

The $263 charge looks similar to you being charged roughly $25/day for 11 days. In my experience when I've asked for upgrades to cool cars and was told I had to pay for them, they always quoted me the charge as $xx more per day (before the ~20% taxes too of course).