I know we should probably move this thread to the Avis forum, but in the meantime here's my twopennyworth:

A previous employer had a corporate deal with Avis hence the loyalty scheme did its job and I continued to book with them even when I'd moved on :rolleyes:

Overall I found them fine on day-to-day basis, albeit terribly stingy with upgrades, but appalling at honouring their various promotional promises...

I did get fed up over time though and when a signing bonus from Hertz dropped into my inbox I though "why not ?".

My goodness, what a difference ! Upgrades went from 1 in 20 to 19 in 20. Customer Services are in Ireland and couldn't be more helpful (Avis are exactly the opposite :mad: ) Hertz promotional integrity is not great either but having a good CS team to sort it out helps a lot.

2 years later I have never looked back - frankly I would pay extra to use Hertz over Avis, they are that much better...

Even the shuttle bus experience at LHR is good - frequent with friendly drivers. BA have a really rubbish partner in Avis :(

There are several threads on the dibb website (a disney planning site) about this exact same problem so its affecting quite few other people as well. BA have been quite helpfull to those that have spoken to them about this.

I am a bit surprised by reading this. I've rented with Avis a couple of times and never had any problems. Maybe I was just lucky though!

This happened to me a few times (unexplained charges from Avis, e.g. on one invoice they've added "MISC" and could not explain what it was). These were usually reversed after a few rounds of emails or otherwise through Amex.

Interesting stories and comments... thanks :)

BA Holidays are investigating.

There is a big hole in Avis accounting.

Avis are looking in to it.

Seriously - thanks for posting on here. I am now suitably warned.

+1.

I had something similar before. I just queried the charge with AMEX who deducted it from my bill and I never heard anything again.

Car hire firms are notorious for this and I'm sure that credit card forms are used to having the charges disputed on a daily basis.

I hire Avis mainly in two locations; Oxford, UK and Munich, Germany. Never had any problems at Oxford, but have issues in Munich about 90% of the time.

1. Free second driver is often/usually charged for
2. Fuel charged for even though returned full
3. Voucher value doesn't match rental price.

so I now always make a point of;

a. Waiting to check the car in
b. Going to the counter to query/fix the charges (usually resolved then, sometimes not)
c. Email Avis (to fix charges) or BA (to fix Voucher-value problems).

It's a pain in the butt, but now I'm resigned to it. Munich had, for a time, an *awful* station manager(?) who would even refuse to look at the final invoice after checking the car back in.

The trouble is, are any other companies any better? And the "flight & car" pricing makes the trouble almost worthwhile.

Haven't had any problems at T5. Counter and car are at Airport Car Park. I walk in and my keys and paperwork are all ready.. Inspect the car and if any issues I get them to note it and then I'm off. Return the car on time or early, close the booking and get my invoice printed. And then off the GF lounge.

Great staff and always get a free upgrade(s)

Good luck to OP and hope it is resolved soon.

I have used Avis in the past and had a mixed bag of experiences. I always video me going round the car in the parking stall incase they try anything and also pay using a CC with a low credit limit in case they try hitting with additional charges.

Fortunately never had a really bad experience but Thailand Avis (Franchise) was nearly an extra charge when a hippy stole the hub caps off the hire car!!

The USA is when I go through the terms with a fine tooth come for the reasons that others mention above. I dont find this just related to Avis though as an industry I find most of them try it bizzarely my two best experiences are with Advantage of all people and Sixt

I was once told by one senior representative in MIA that the MISC is due to the fluctuate foreign exchange rate.

For example, when you booked your car in sterling but the USA office can only show the bill in USD. If you choose to pay at the location then the exchange rate you booked would be changed to the day you return your car (understandably).

However, I had prepaid reservation shown the MISC charge too. Annoying.

The advice to close out the rental and get a final receipt at the time of return is something I will always do in future... thanks.

Hi All,

A newbie here, so please forgive me if I have misunderstood the context of the OPs comments.

I recall the OPs original thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ost-900-a.html

He wanted to change the car pickup time, but BA Holidays? (ba.com?) wanted to charge him £900+

Advice given here at the time was it should be OK to change directly with Avis on arrival. It seems that was fine at the time. However, maybe not if the OP has now been charged.

As I said before and to save much speculation, is this the reason for the credit card charge?

If so, I am surprised the OP didn't mention this again.

I didn't mention it because I had called up Avis (twice - second time to confirm) and they said that if the car is collected no later than 15 hrs after the booked collection time then it is classed as being on the same booking and under the same terms. I did that so this is a collection within the allowed timeframe.

The £900 charge to change the booking is just a coincidence that it is a similar amount.

That charge to change my booking consisted of a booking change fee because my booking was a holiday and the T&Cs of the holiday required a significant change fee. I would have incurred that charge regardless of what changes I wanted to make so it wasn't specific to the car hire element. I realise that there numbers are so similar that it looks like they are connected but they are not. :) At least that is how it was explained to me by the BA representative when I tried to change the booking.