"If your child dies, it will not be my fault"
 

So here's a fun one for you.

I booked with Avis in early November, for a rental on 23rd December. I paid upfront, which meant Avis had my money for 7 weeks prior to picking up the vehicle. It also meant, that Avis had 7 weeks to prepare for me to pick up the vehicle.

Cue the morning of 23rd December, and after the rental desk claimed I hadn't made a booking (I had), and claimed it was for 10 days not 13 (it wasn't), and claimed it was for a different car to the one I'd paid for (it wasn't), all finally seemed ok.

Upon reaching the Avis collection point, the lady at the desk handed me the keys, walked me around the vehicle, and I then asked about the child-seat I'd requested.

She showed me the seat, at which point my morning took a rather interesting turn, and that is where I'd like this Forums advice.

My little one is 2 years old. That means she is out of an 'Infant car seat', and into the bracket of car seats which stretch from around 12 months to 12 years. You can buy a seat which fits all, or you can buy a seat from 12 months to 4 years old (which is what Hertz, Enterprise and Europcar do, as well as Avis...usually).

Anyway, back to my tale.

The lady hesitantly points to the car seat on the floor and tells me that is the seat for my daughter. I tell her the car seat is an Infant Seat, and Avis have had 7 weeks to prepare for my booking. Said lady then tells me there is nothing she can do, at which point I decide I'm done with being polite.

So now we come up with options.

My Option 1
I walk over to the Hertz desk and ask them if they have any car-seats. "Yes sir, we do, but only on full rental of the vehicle". I return to the Avis lady - "The gentleman over there has a car seat he can offer me. You can give it to me for the day, and then bring me another seat". No Sir, I cannot do that

My Option 2
You can refund me the full rental cost. "No sir, I cannot do that as you have prepaid and I do not have authorisation".

My Option 3
You can go and buy me a brand new car seat from a shopping mall. "No sir, I cannot leave the desk"

Her Option 1
"Sir you can take the vehicle now, and your wife can hold your daughter". So to clarify, the Avis employee was encouraging me to do something both illegal, and high dangerous. "Ma'am unfortunately I cannot do that. I quite like my child, and what you are proposing is entirely unsafe and could result in an accident". She nods and then said "I understand sir, but if your child dies, it will not be my fault".

To provide some context, as she said the above statement, even the three other workers at the other rental desks looked over and paid attention.

I advised the lady that she was grossly inappropriate, and she admitted that it was the fault of Avis. Not only that, but she herself would not put her child into the seat.

What service!

In the end, someone was sent to a shopping centre to buy us a brand new car seat. However, the debacle took over an 90 minutes to resolve, and I was left with a horrendously poor experience. I mean seriously, should I have risked an accident because Avis made an error in not providing the correct car seat?

I don't know whether there is an Avis represenative on here, but hopefully some of the regulars could point me in the direction of what/who to contact.

The rental destination was Dubai DXB.

Thanks all,

M

Totally disgusting service and you were well within your rights to demand that they provide the car seat required.

Personally, I would give them a chance to respond (if you can) and if not then I would request a chargeback via your card issuer.

Wow, how absurd!

Unfortunately, they haven't made anyone available for help on here.

Thanks for letting me know!

M

@TheAvisGuy has recently joined us. I've no idea what his spear of influence is, but have tagged him to bring him to this thread.

Many thanks!

M

Definitely worth making a complaint.

Pardon me for saying however that my sympathy is lessened somewhat by the fact you are apparently quite happy to fly with a child - without ensuring they have their own seat. Recent flight in CW wasn't it? Child slept "on top of you " for hours? Yes, the risk is significantly lower... but it is not non existent.

To begin with, I'm not looking for sympathy - just options of who/how to contact Avis.

On the flight query, BA permit an Under 2 to fly for free on the same seat as an adult; so, as I'm not made of money, I opted for that route (and I dont know any parents who buy their kids a separate CW/F seat when under 2...nor if that's even allowed).

While I can sleep still, my little one was strapped in on top of me for close to 4 hours to ensure she didnt wriggle around.

Come March time, she will indeed have her own seat for a 12 hour flight - and all the risk that comes with her rolling off a CW seat!

M

Unfortunately, in other posts, he said he's a Corporate Account Manager. But maybe he can point to someone to contact.

Thanks for clarifying!

Hopefully he pops into this thread, and can point me in the right direction.

M

Paging TheAvisGuy

While it certainly doesn't solve your past problem, once old enough, I would check out something like https://ridesafertravelvest.com/ . We always brought our own car seat for flights and cars until 3, but after that, we use this vest everywhere it is legal.We just chuck it in a backpack when we get where we are going.

I've now emailed Avis Customer Service but will also be asking Amex to see whether they can do a charge-back; not sure how far back they're able to go.

Just to top matters off though, when I returned the car yesterday, the sole Avis employee in the office was fast asleep. I had to shout, quite loudly, to wake him up.

Ridiculous really!

M

Wow... remind me not to rent from Avis in DXB! :eek:

I've heard of poor customer service but this really takes the cake.

Please keep us updated... I am interested to see how this turns out for you.

-J.

What does the law say in DXB about car seat requirements? The rules might differ from those in the UK and USA.

And what did the reservation specify about the exact type of car seat that would be provided?

Avis on Twitter are following this up for me, far swifter than Avis by email; so we shall see what happens.

I have however, asked Amex for a full chargeback.

M

UAE law, from the UAE Road Safety government page states:

• Children up to four years of age must be provided with a child safety seat. Violators will be fined AED 400 and slapped with four black points.
• The front seat passenger should also be at least 145 cm tall and not younger than 10 years old.

So based on the above, the Avis employee asked me to commit an illegal offence.

With regards to the Avis reservation, it specified a Child seat.

M