Downgrade for Avis First - First Time
 

Booked an Intermediate vehicle and received a Subcompact (Hyundai Accent) and charged the Intermediate rate. Has anyone else ever received a DOWNGRADE at the higher price? This was my first time ever being downgraded as Avis First. This is actually printed this on my receipt (Vehicle Group Rented: Subcompact, Vehicle Group Charged: Intermediate). This was in Shreveport, LA and was a horrible vehicle with a bad body odor in it. I have sent a note to Avis and have not received any response yet (now 72 hours later) other than a form email from customer service saying that they will respond to my issue within 24 hours. Really just curious to see if this has happened to anyone else... Seems crazy to me.

Never has happened to me and I would not be very happy about it. I would not have left the lot with it unless it was the last car left.

It happened to me once at PDX, arriving on Christmas night. I also got a Hyundai Accent after booking an Intermediate. I protested, but was told it was literally the last car available (even though I could see others). No amount of complaining did anything - they told me to take the Accent or go somewhere else. Not liking my odds of picking something else up at the last minute, I took the Accent. I called the next business day and spoke to the station manager, who gave me the lower subcompact rate and a free day. Not an ideal solution, but it was what it was.

What is a "Subcompact" at Avis??? :confused:
As far as I knew, Avis had these lower categories:

A = Economy
B = Compact
C = Intermediate

I've never seen a catogery (in the US, at least) called Subcompact. So I'm not clear whether your Accent was classified as a A = Economy or B = Compact.

Anyway, you only realized this after you got the receipt? :confused: The time to ask about it was of course while you had the car. The may not be able to change car, but they should certianly be able to either lower your rate or offer some other compensation.

From Avis.com's car guide, they have:
A=Subcompact (Accent)
B=Compact (Focus)
C=Intermediate (Cruze)

For the OP:
I agree with the above comments. They need to lower your rate since you didn't get what you reserved and it's not "similar". If they don't reduce your rate (and all the associated taxes/fees), then just dispute part of the charge with your credit card company.