Avis Lost and Found?
 

We are currently renting a car from Avis, and have found a video camera in the car. We reported it to our local Avis office, who have no report on a missing camera. After checking through the files on the camera, we have figured out that, most likely, the car was previously rented in Illinois, returned in Illinois, and then driven to Oklahoma by an Avis employee. So we have no idea where the previous renters are from, or the exact location where they rented the car. And they, in turn, would have no reason to call the Oklahoma location to find their missing video camera. I would really like to return this camera and its vacation videos to its owner, but I have no idea what to do next. If anyone has any suggestions on what to try, I would really appreciate hearing them.

Call the National Avis Customer Service Line: 1-800-352-7900

The car's rental history is well-kept in their computer, so they shouldn't have too much difficulty knowing where it was rented the last couple times.

Not sure that they'll tell you this information of course, but if they will then you'll have the name of the location to call and report it.

In any case, I'm sure that they'll give you their own advice.

Thank you for caring about this homeless video camera! I know that personally when you lose something like that it's not all about the actual device, but often more about the videos, etc. that you lost. Regardless, I'm sure the owner would be glad to know that you cared about getting it back into the correct hands.

That's a wonderful idea; I'll call them first thing Monday morning. The local Avis office took down my contact information in case someone reported the camera missing, but they said they weren't able to track the previous rental and had no other suggestions. I didn't even think to look for a national number; but hopefully they would have the capability of finding the previous renters. There are dated videos taken inside the rental car, so I know exactly when it was rented. These are someone's vacation videos, and the owner must be looking frantically for the camera. We just need to find one person willing to spend a couple of minutes to put us in touch with each other. Thanks so much for your suggestion - I'll write with an update if I get good news.

Hope it works, and that the material gets back into the right hands.

A couple years ago we had a major trip with our family, which was a cross-country adventure where the whole family was together and was one of those few-in-a-lifetime things. My father-in-law discovered that he'd left his new camera (along with his precious photos of the trip) in the last hotel we stayed in, which was on the other side of the country!

Luckily, we called the hotel immediately and they in fact had just found it. They were nice enough to overnight it, and saved the day.

You never know, the videos may in fact be just another day in the life or someone, or they may be someone's honeymoon video.

Either way, it's nice to know someone out there cares about it! Thanks for that! ^

Kudos to you!
 

To the OP - bravo to you. I hope you are able to find the people who lost their video camera. I just wanted to chime in and say that it is awesome that there are still people like you out there (I know most of the FT'ers would do the same). Thanks for caring - it makes all the difference in this world! ^

Edit: Forgot to mention - if you find out the likely rental location you could also post a Lost & Found ad under the appropriate city on Craigslist. You'd be surprised how often this works and who reads those ads. It has in the past for me.

Thanks to all of you for your good suggestions! I called the national customer service number and talked to the nicest guy. He was able to tell me that the car WAS previously rented from my location, which means the local Avis person I talked with was either misinformed or apathetic or both.

I called back to the local office this morning, and got someone who could obviously use another cup of coffee before she answers any more phone calls. She said that lost and found claims go through their regional lost and found department, but she repeatedly refused to give me their phone number. She said to just bring the camera in when we return the car (my son's car is in the shop for repairs, could be a while longer), and Avis will "take it from there". I've read several dozen Avis horror stories of things not making it back to its rightful owner. It's not that I don't trust them, but I trust ME more. I feel confident that if I was going to steal it for myself, I would have done so by now. Every time I tried to explain to this woman that I wanted to return the camera directly, I got the "You have to turn it in to me!" speech, only louder. I really don't want to do that and just hope for the best.

All the video was taken in Chicago, so I've been keeping an eye on Chicago's Craigslist lost and found; I guess I'll start looking a little closer to home. It's hard to believe that no one reported it missing - we've had the car (and the camcorder) for a week and a half. I probably burned my bridges with the local company; when the Avis employee started literally yelling at me over the phone, I said "Never mind!" and hung up on her. But I might try the national number again, and definitely Craigslist. Thanks so much for your help!

Likely true! How sad. When you run into a place with employees like that you really wonder how they stay in business. You might try asking for the manager of the location, to see if they are any better or if you feel any more comfortable with them.

I don't know them or you either, but I trust you more too!!! ;)

Some good news! Maybe...
 

I resumed calling local Avis offices this afternoon, and while on hold on my third call (for 23 minutes 51 seconds) (seriously), a co-worker stopped by my office. She made the mistake of saying "How are you?" so I let her have it, and told her all about my experience in Avis Hell. It turns out that she used to work for Avis! She was still in contact with a current employee, and she put him in touch with me. He tracked down the previous renter, and he's going to contact her tomorrow morning to ask about the camera, and give her my contact information.

There's a lesson to be learned here. They say it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness; I spent four days lighting candles in vain, but when I started cursing the darkness, everything fell into place. : ) Thanks so much to both of you, not only for your suggestions, but for motivating me to keep trying and for reminding me of why it's important.

How cool is that! Wow. That is amazing.
:eek:

Avis lost and found
 

On Sunday, September 18, 2011 I returned a hire car to Avis at Boston Logan Airport. However, my daughter left her Samsung Galaxy S cellphone in the car, and we hadn't much hope of getting it back as we were returning to Ireland that night.
However early on Tuesday, September 20 I called the Avis Logan number, took the lost property button option and made contact with an Avis representative.
Within a few moments she told me the phone had been found and arranged to have it couriered to Dublin via DHL. It arrived on Thursday, September 20. Avis was fast and efficient and the DHL option was lot cheaper than buying a new smartphone.
So, in this case, a good experience with lost and found.

We so often hear only the bad experiences - - thanks for posting your good news!

Lost cell phone - LAX
 

Monday, 6/23, on a ride from LAX to hotel in Culver City, most likely left an LG Spectrum in the cab. can provide some identifying details. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Wanted to mention an awesome experience I had with lost and found.

About a year ago, I lost my personal parking garage fob. The Avis ppl managed to track down the car to their regional vehicle depot, find the car even though it was a generic Chrysler 300 parked amongst hundreds of others, and return the items to me.

I see this is your first post on this forum, but this isnt a lost-n-found board for posting lost items left in a taxi cab.....

FOUND Mophie Portable Charger
 

Hello,

I have followed the suggestions that others have posted, but AVIS lost and found center did not seem to be particularly helpful in helping me locate the owner of this device. Did anyone happen to lose a Mophie Portable Charger? I found it in my rental car, I picked up the rental car from the Philadelphia airport. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Chelsey