zceuxbhjutf

Avis is running some scam, or completely incompetent.

I made a reservation that there was only a 5% chance I'd need. I couldn't find a way to note my circumstance in the reservation, but I emailed them right after they confirmed my res, and they replied back saying no problem reservations not picked up aren't charged yadda yadda.

8 days later, my CC posts the charge. I call Avis and they even have 140 miles driven showing up in their system. They actually acted like "Well the keys are right out there so somebody grabbed them and used the car." Does that make sense? No, because Joe Random still has to present a DL at the gate, right? So I'm classifying this as a scam perpetrated by Avis. YMMV.

Then I asked them to remove my CC from my preferences and they claim there's no way to do that, yikes. Online, I can't do it either but next I'm gonna try to replace that info with a debit card with $0 balance. I'd rather NOT have "Preferred" service if it means wasting time straightening out bogus charges. Scammers...

bkafrick

For Pete's sake... why does every little error have to be some conspiracy theory?

Mistakes happen.

I highly doubt your location was looking to snake out $140 out of you in order to make their budget goals for this quarter.

And your theory that this is a scam by AVIS? I'm sure they sent a secret memo to their locations in order to get additional revenue in the hopes that no one would notice.

Have you never made any mistakes in your job?

zceuxbhjutf

If the car was never picked up, how would the odometer advance 140 miles?
If the gate doesn't match DL to, uhhh, everything (pretty simple with bar codes on cars and magnetic strips on DLs), then what does the gate agent do?
If it were some random scammer, why would he fill it up (my receipt is online) when it wound up back on their lot???

Often1

Much ado about nothing. Ask for the credit. Give it 5 business day. Dispute on CC.

Less time than it took OP to write his two posts.

zceuxbhjutf

I did that, dude.

The purpose of the post is to share the info so that others in a similar circumstance (hint: reserving a car, then later not needing it is a very common occurence for business travelers) will know what might happen. The more likely that it's systematic rather than a mistake (answer the questions if you don't think it's systematic), the more likely it happens OFTEN.

bkafrick

I've literally reserved hundreds of AVIS cars over the years, and not picked them up... and never, ever, ever, have I been charged for rental.

This is not a systemic problem, as you are leading people to believe.

p.s. have you ever seen what the Gate security person does? They dont scan barcodes, they dont use the magnetic swipe on your drivers license... They literally look at your license, look at the computer (or ticket), and give you back your info and you drive off.

You're just unlucky.

Move on.

zceuxbhjutf

Okay.

Let's use this thread for the traveler at BWI that got a free rental then. Please sign in here, sir or madam, and thank the clueless gate agent. The premise is, you picked up a car the same time my reservation was for. The coincidence that helped make yours free (or helped make it so nobody would notice) was that you also dropped it off the same time (within 10 minutes! over a 60 hour period) mine was supposed to be dropped off, amazing!

Often1

Dude, one incident which can't be replicated is definitionally not systematic.

zceuxbhjutf

What do you think happened then?

To recap:

1. I made a res to begin Wed 10:30pm
2. ...and end Sat 10:30am
3. stranger begins using car Wed 11:15p matching (1)
4. stranger drives car 140 miles
5. stranger fills gas tank back to full according to receipt
6. stranger returns car Sat 10:20a matching (2)

I think all three of us agree the gate agent made a mistake. The rest, however, is too much of a coincidence to be a mistake. There's a flaw in the system allowing a dishonest employee to take advantage of reservations not picked up (whether or not the gate agent is in on it), or someone higher up is billing based on fictional information (3-6 are right on the receipt). Or some random traveler noticed the mistake mid-rental and decided it would be free if he returned it at almost exactly the proper time??? Yeah, right...

P.S. Please don't bump threads if you think they're worthless.

Doc Savage

Do you have a printout of the cancellation confirmation you got online when you realized you wouldn't need the car?

You did go online and cancel, didn't you?

zceuxbhjutf

Thanks Doc, I'll be doing that in the future. But I did ask their recommendation on how to handle my contingency......and their exact reply was...
I arrived on time, headed straight for the train, and hopped aboard. The res was cuz I was on a transcon flight to catch the last train of the day. If the flight was late I didn't want to have to pay a walk-up price at Avis. My phone doesn't work on the darn train.

jayer

Another thing to learn young is have somebody watching your progress whom you trust to cancel or adjust reservations. You usually have 30 seconds to make one phone call, even if occasionally you don't. Even if you are the gate runner you've got that long before the stern flight attendant taps you on the shoulder.

zceuxbhjutf

That was totally doable, my secretary on the West Coast coulda canceled at her quitting time based on flightaware.com thanks!

bkafrick

There's a flaw in every system... you can't fix dishonest employees. If they're going to steal, they're going to steal.

I'm convinced you could scam the system in your business, no matter what business you're in, if you tried hard enough.

Things happen! Get over it. Move on.

zceuxbhjutf

Avis, and their shills here, sure do a lot of rationalizing...

P.S. bump