bostontraveler

I've had several issues recently with Avis and some misleading business practices.

Specifically, when I have tried to make reservations using my Wizard number the system automatically charges me MORE and does not allow me to deselect insurances even though my profile says I decline them.

Second, when I pick up a car overseas the default billing currency is in US Dollars- I have no option to modify this and Avis preemptively includes this without my consent. Why should I have to pay in USD in Europe or elsewhere at their inflated exchange rate?

Finally, this weekend I used an Avis Corporate Rewards one day award. Apparently now the certificates are not really valid for one day anymore. I ended up paying 2/3 of 2 days since unspecified insurances (despite my declining them) were included.

Avis, come on. Transparency please.

thenovemberman

I've spoken with Avis customer support and have been told that the issue with charges not aligning with "estimated totals" is something that they are aware of and trying to fix. Whether or not that is true or they were just trying to placate an upset customer, I don't know. I do know that I was overcharged $14 on my previous rental and $9 on the rental before that. Initially reached out to them at their [email protected] address and was told that they'd reverse the charges. Instead, they applied an additional $9 to my card. Took several more emails before they finally got it resolved.

Gig103

If your rental agreement shows you declined it (i.e. you didn't point it out when you picked up the car), then I don't see why you'd be charged for them and would call customer service or your credit card company.

It is definitely misleading to add things that you have excluded to the rental, but you can have them fix it before leaving the site. I'm not a trusting person so I always review that the mileage is still unlimited, and that the rate is the same, etc.

Regarding the currency -- My overseas billing currency is USD also, but in my case it was quoted that way, so it matched when it hit my credit card. Are you saying that you were quoted in Euros, and when they charged your card it was in USD at their rate, instead of converted by your credit card?

bostontraveler

You would think, right?

I reserved and was confirmed in Euros, paid with a European Euro-based credit card and still had the charge billed in USD.

Point is that Avis has really gotten sneaky... and as I read through some of the posts here apparently this isn't new news!

Makes me not want to use them anymore at all.

sdsearch

Well, where did you pick up / return the car? In the USA or elsewhere?

And which exact Avis site did you book on? Avis.com, avis.eu, or what?

And in which country is your Avis Preferred address? (I'm not clear on whether you're based in the USA, which your username implies, or France, where your Profile location implies.)

In the Wood

Not the OP but I had the same issue while booking from avis.no, using a Norwegian credit card for a rental in France. I was quoted in EUR (because I chose that on the website) but when I got the contract that I do not need to sign as I am PC, it showed something like the following in small letters: "I accept to be billed in Norwegian Kroner ...". Of course the rate is not very favorable.

I have also experienced issues with things added to my contract that I have never asked for, requiring to take the time to read it carefully before taking the car.

sdsearch

Oh, yes, DCC (dynamic currency conversion). There've been multiple threads in the Avis forum about it over the years:
It's easy to find them once you know the term DCC and what it stands for. There's not easy to find for someone who isn't familiar with that term.

bostontraveler

Here is the problem. DCC is an OPTION, not a DEFAULT. Retailers are required in Europe to give customers the option of paying in local currency or in their home currency.
So what they are doing is really unethical.

hotttoddie

is there anyway to prevent this preemptively?

jackal

IIRC, there was a checkbox somewhere on the site in your profile--on the US site, at least--that you can un-check, which results in you being billed in local currency instead of your home currency.

However, I just logged into my profile and wasn't able to find it on first glance. Hopefully it hasn't been removed.

hotttoddie

dont have an avis account, i booked through priceline :-/ maybe i need to re-book that.

28isGreat

I just had a rental from LAX (without Preferred, so no profile option to set) where the agent refused to charge the card in US$, instead of my home currency (C$).

The counter screen says, "I was offered an option to pay in US$ but chose to pay home currency" (or similar words to that effect). Not only was I not offered any such choice, I argued with the agent, asking to have it billed in US$. The agent refused to do anything, and said that my "choice" was to present a US$ credit card on the return (I don't have one). The receipt on return further repeated, "I was offered an option".

To add insult to injury, my credit card has no foreign currency transaction fees.

The actual money lost to Avis on this is hardly worth fighting for, but the principle of it has me fuming...

This is really shady stuff, Avis. This is walking up to the line of fraud and spitting across the line (though probably not technically fraud, since I continued with the rental knowing about this instead of walking out of the building).

Wanderlust888

I think the solution is to pay with Amex