I recently switched all my car rentals to Avis from Hertz at the request of my company and would like to see if my experiece to date is unusual or normal for Avis.

I do about two rentals a week and typically they are 2 - 3 days each. Last week I had a rental in Cleveland where I was delay from Seattle so sitting in the boarding area I used the Avis App to change my car rental to the latest possible rental time in Cleveland so as to still have a car.

Arrived in Cleveland and after a 45 minute wait at the desk was advised that my rental was cancelled as I was late. Upon showing the clerk my email confirmation of the change he did in fact find me a car through Budget and got me on the road. Told him that I wanted to return the car to Chicago and he said that is not an issue call CS tomorrow and have them adjust the contract it will cost you $200. Okay. Only took an hour and 7 minutes for that to happen.

Next day contact the CS line at Avis (the one that comes up when you open the Avis iPhone APP) and they too tell me that the cost is $200 and returning to ORD was no problem.

Here is the kicker, I return the car to ORD and the obnoxious check in agent tells me go to the front desk there is an issue with your rental. I get there are the gentleman at the desk tells me that the rental is $1900 for a four day rental.

I explain the story and he says nothing that I can do about it. So I ask for a supervisor, 30 minutes later he returns and no supervisor. State that I am not leaving the desk until I get a supervisor. Show him my call log to the Avis CS number and three different calls the prior day all of four minutes or more requesting the change and he says well let me call CLE.

One hour and fourty five minutes later I leave the Avis desk at ORD with a bill for $800 for a 4 day rental on a Ford Edge.

Is this normal for Avis after the quoted daily rate was $67 and the drop off charge was $200. It still seems to me that the final cost was $200 too high.

I am rounding the numbers but at this rate it is still going to be less expensive for me to return to Hertz.

Not sure if that's 'normal' or not, but I think the big issue here was that you didn't have anything in writing from the manager/agent at CLE stating that the ORD drop was approved at $200. Please don't misunderstand, I agree that Avis is at fault and they should have made a note on your rental, but failing that, always get hard-copy backup.

This all depends on your contracted rate, or your rate code with AVIS.

Not all rates have a "drop charge". For me, one-way rentals are charged at a rate plus 40 cents a mile, while roundtrips are just the rate.

Find out what your corporate rate is, and then you can figure out the differences.

Regardless, you can always fix things with AVIS Customer Service after the fact - you dont necessarily need the counter to fix things (although it may be more comforting to do so).

Will give that a shot.

Avis CS over the phone is such a nightmare, though, I would share the OP's reluctance to leave the rental station until the problem is proven resolved. I have found Avis customer service reps to be almost totally incoherent, via phone, email or snail-mail.

Call the Preferred number its 1/2 the hold time as the regular avis #.

I had a similiar experience with Avis this week. My company selected Avis as preferred vendor, so strike 1. HOwever we are supposed to have $39 rate anywhere in US anyday. My wizard profile was set up by my company with all of the relevant information. On the most recent rental someone at Avis changed my AWD number and I got the internet spot rate sending my normal rate of $39 to over $200 per day in St Louis. Now going back and forth with them to get it corrected, I had to send in my pay stub to a rental car company. Are these folks serious? NOt at all impressed with Avis service and to get an updated receipt takes over 48 hours, I mean its comical. Customer service agents are extremely rude and not at all willing to help even after escalating to a supervisor. Avis is not my preferred vendor, and will speak with Corporate Travel to get a better solution.