Originally Posted by
pallino228
Last night my flight from EWR was delayed. We touched down at 12:30am. I knew the location closed at 12am, so I called national and asked if they could stay open.
They said they had a lot of customers coming in and would stay open until 2am.
Arrived, and they were closed. Many families and children running around the lot with not one person there. Avis was open and had a line that probably had 30-40 people in it.
Called national, they said there was nothing they can do. Really a terrible experience, left stranded with no car despite me calling them and confirming they'd be open.
There is no way you spoke to an actual employee at that location when you called. Even trying to call the location would be a waste of time because you’ll be speaking to someone in a call center - not on site - who can’t commit to anything.
I am not justifying what happened - I am just saying that, especially in this COVID era, you should have taken the midnight closing seriously.
I’m sure you could have taken an Uber to/from your hotel. The next day, the Manager likely would have put your uber costs towards the rental and deducted it, especially given what you were told.
Having said that - do you have status with National? Either way, you could ask for the contact info for the Area Manager. The directives come from them, or above, to shut down at the exact closing time.
They should know that they gave Avis a bunch of business. This may or may not help change their practices, but it is the closest you can come to affecting change at FLL. Also, the Area Manager has the authority to offer you some compensation for your troubles, if you do desire (again, stop relying on the folks in a mass contact center when you call).