Scare tactics are very rarely the way to go. The location that I planned on using this code for has a lot of locally owned competition, offering rates slightly lower than Avis. The only way I am going to rent with Avis is if I get the lower rate from this code.

If I am denied at the rental location, I will thank them for their time and rent from the locally owned business.

I wonder if AVIS' PR team knows that they have some rogue "Director Of Corporate Security" trolling message boards, undoing any good will the company has with some of their top customers.

I don't think we should be so strict and scrap Avis because of one rude member of staff, after all Avis is a great company, with many great and friendly agents.

I agree that Avis has many friendly agents who are great. I have almost always had good experiences with Avis.

However, this appears to be an official communication of Avis/Budget policy, and if that is so, I don't wish to support a company with such a poor attitude and tactless communication style.

I would LOVE to be proven wrong.

Perhaps I'm a bit behind of things, but are Avis and Budget one company (competing with each other)?

Avis/Budget Group http://www.avisbudgetgroup.com

Avis and Budget are one company.

National, Alamo and Enterprise are another company.

Thrifty and Dollar are yet another.

Hertz I think is still independent (ever since it was spun off by Ford).

Mr. Letts, thank you so much for clearing the air on unauthorized use of discount codes.

Let me be frank: although this is really not a matter of your concern, Avis is really not very competitive in most markets against other brands, particularly Dollar and Alamo. The use of the codes helps make them a little more competitive.

As many have stated, your missive, although undoubtedly well intentioned, probably is a loser for AvisBudget. Actually, a big loser. I'm sure you can appreciate people are going to want the best deal possible when renting a car, and most people in this forum are much smarter shoppers on average than the average renter. Then again, that's because we spend the most on travel than average renters.

Particularly in this challenging economy, you might want to consider that there is much more grey area in using these codes than you might suspect. At the end of the day, business is still business, and turning away business needlessly by, what's that again, threatening prosecution, is absolutely the wrong tack to take here.

I would suggest your energies are better directed to preventing real fraud and theft, not the relatively penny ante stuff which goes on around these parts.

Trust me, Avis could careless about their customers. They would rather lose all their most valuable clients than let anyone use discount code improperly. And yes, they DO put people on no rent list when you use the code you are not suppose to. This happend to a Chairman friend of mine.

I would never ever rent from Avis again. I will drive a Fox car before I step in Avis booth again.

It seems that this Dletts at Avis has a previous record of placing threatening posts (As Director of Corporate Security he feels this is his job), in fact all 4 posts he has on this site, sound more less the same, "warning" prosecute" "no rent list" Etc.

This is one of his other posts:

But lets not forget Avis is a great company, which I love using.

The threats from Letts are laughable. Sure, Avis can cancel your reservation or blacklist you - but corporations do not prosecute people, only the government has the right to do that - and using a discount code you're not entitled to is not a criminal offense of fraud, unless you use the code to avoid paying for damage to the car (i.e., it includes LDW) - and even that would be hard to prove and likely very low on the list of priorities for any urban prosecutor's office.

Maybe Avis can sue you - but is this really the correct way to handle it?

So, let him blow his fire and brimstone - the only real risk any of us have is losing a reservation or getting blacklisted from Avis. If they want to get rid of me as a customer because I'm using a code that saves me $5-10 a day and got my business instead of it going to a competitor, well they are dumber than they appear to be.

A "friendly" warning threatening criminal prosecution for using an internet discount code? This is laughable.

Anyone have the balls to call Mr. Letts and talk this out?

I sent him an email, he responded by explaining his position, that the fake vouchers sold on ebay by people not realising they were fake, caused some to be arrested Etc. and people told him that they would appreciate that a warning is given to be careful, as Avis has no choice but to take action, as this is causing them a big loss in revenue.

He is very willing to discuss this with anybody, he even sent me his cell no. that I can call him.

His email address is [email protected]

There is a HUGE difference between selling and/or using a fraudulent certificate for a free rental and someone entering an affiliate code to receive a discount off a paid rental.

While one can argue the latter is still naughty, it is far from being illegal or even worthy of blocking someone from renting.

If Avis was smart, instead of bellyaching over these codes, they would develop an affinity code for Flyertalkers which is as deeply discounted as any other code that's discussed here, make it only accessible via hyperlink from within the FT site so it can't be traded by the general public and then call it a day.

Even better - since FT sells a premium service (ad-free), the smart travel companies might find it beneficial to work with Randy and IB to create a package of affiliate discounts for premium subscribers that can only be accessed/used from a FT-specific booking engine - FT incentivizes us to buy the premium subscription and the travel companies get a savvy, ready-to-buy, interested and loyal audience to incentivize.

I'd rather do that than spend hours chasing codes all over the place.

Excellent idea!

I imagine this could also be revenue-earning for Randy/IB.