Avis car rental through BA
Jan 16, 2019, 12:53 am
#61
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Dorchester, Dorset UK
Programs: BA Gold, BMI, ANA, HH Blue, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,063
Nightmare post rental
My experience has been that it’s really easy picking rental cars up, using Avis Preferred, but the contracts rarely acknowledge the BAEC free additional driver perk and it’s really difficult getting this rectified with frequent overcharging.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
Jan 16, 2019, 1:55 am
#62
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold / Oneworld Emerald
Posts: 69
My experience has been that it’s really easy picking rental cars up, using Avis Preferred, but the contracts rarely acknowledge the BAEC free additional driver perk and it’s really difficult getting this rectified with frequent overcharging.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
I’d booked both through the car hire option in MMB so through BA Holidays.
The counter in Seattle states that despite it being listed in the ‘benefits’ section of the voucher, if it wasn’t also specifically listed on Inclusions section, it wasn’t included.
i called the BA holidays duty line, and within 3/4 hours had an email confirming AVIS had removed the charge from the active Seattle rental, and a few days later a refund was processed against the Houston rental that had concluded a week earlier.
Jan 26, 2019, 4:45 am
#63
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold, LH SEN , A3*G & others less exciting that don't fit in my wallet
Posts: 1,657
Avis UK emailed me the invoice so I emailed it back to them with a complaint as that was simpler than calling up BA holidays .. let's see where it goes ... My impression of previous rounds of this is that Avis UK know exactly what Avis South Africa are up to and they need to ask them to justify them, which they won't / can't and then they'll issue a refund
Jan 26, 2019, 6:02 am
#65
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Lincolnshire, UK
Programs: BA GGL - maybe only briefly!
Posts: 1,378
My experience has been that it’s really easy picking rental cars up, using Avis Preferred, but the contracts rarely acknowledge the BAEC free additional driver perk and it’s really difficult getting this rectified with frequent overcharging.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
I am really fed u with the difficulty getting satisfaction from customer service post rental.
Jan 26, 2019, 6:50 am
#66
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,680
One of my issues with Avis, repeated across the US rental companies is that the or similar frequently isn't. They'll pick a single aspect and match it. So rent say a Standard Elite SUV and what that really means is 7 seats, and not the slightly better model I infer from the Elite part. Why not call it a 7 seat SUV, and no way is Dodge Journey the equivalent of a Durango, Explorer or Pathfinder. I usually book through BA and usually get the Avios OK, I don't need 2nd driver so can't offer anything on that.
I seem to always be returning in office hours, always allow time, and wait for close out receipt, then query anything I see as wrong straight away. It doesn't protect you from incorrect toll charges, or some of the read about but not experienced personally accusations that are made subsequently, about damage and missing spare wheels, but it does handle the small stuff like fuel and other decline/accept things.
Jan 26, 2019, 9:43 am
#67
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA GGL, BA LTG/GFL, Honors Diamond, Accor Platinum, Bonvoy Silver
Posts: 716
Avis CPT. Booked as a flight and car as a BA holiday.
Second driver - attempted fee but then agreed not to charge.
A documentation fee - avis couldn’t explain it. Do I want the car yes or no. If yes pay fee.
I asked for the value of the prepaid voucher to he applied. “It’s not a prepaid booking sir”. Despite the voucher for car hire stating very clearly it was prepaid.
Phoned BA holidays 24 hr duty office. They couldn’t resolve after speaking to avis.
Only solution if I wanted a car was to pay avis again directly for the BA rate, but in ZAR. Then ask BA holidays for a refund of the GBP value of the car hire voucher.
I forsee a s.75 with Amex, possible MCOL with BA, for the total amount paid in ZAR today (as converted to GB£ by NatWest black) minus the value of the GB£ refund (if any) received from BA.
Ok for me with sufficient credit capacity to front the double charge of the car hire. Pity the person who doesn’t have that capacity and may have diffuculty enjoying a holiday with an unexpected ZAR7,000 held on their card.
Avis Safe Drive app (total garbage telematic data skimmer) added at a cost of 180 ZAR. Agent said it was included at no cost. I didn’t spot it because the rental agreement was all done without it. Then the Issue of the voucher came up. Once I agreed to pay in full it’s an e-signature and you can’t go back onscreen to see the agreement which had the 180 added without me knowing.
petrol tank 3/4 full. Handover person already gone so I couldn’t query.
Second driver - attempted fee but then agreed not to charge.
A documentation fee - avis couldn’t explain it. Do I want the car yes or no. If yes pay fee.
I asked for the value of the prepaid voucher to he applied. “It’s not a prepaid booking sir”. Despite the voucher for car hire stating very clearly it was prepaid.
Phoned BA holidays 24 hr duty office. They couldn’t resolve after speaking to avis.
Only solution if I wanted a car was to pay avis again directly for the BA rate, but in ZAR. Then ask BA holidays for a refund of the GBP value of the car hire voucher.
I forsee a s.75 with Amex, possible MCOL with BA, for the total amount paid in ZAR today (as converted to GB£ by NatWest black) minus the value of the GB£ refund (if any) received from BA.
Ok for me with sufficient credit capacity to front the double charge of the car hire. Pity the person who doesn’t have that capacity and may have diffuculty enjoying a holiday with an unexpected ZAR7,000 held on their card.
Avis Safe Drive app (total garbage telematic data skimmer) added at a cost of 180 ZAR. Agent said it was included at no cost. I didn’t spot it because the rental agreement was all done without it. Then the Issue of the voucher came up. Once I agreed to pay in full it’s an e-signature and you can’t go back onscreen to see the agreement which had the 180 added without me knowing.
petrol tank 3/4 full. Handover person already gone so I couldn’t query.
Last edited by rjn21; Jan 26, 2019 at 9:56 am
Jan 26, 2019, 9:51 am
#68
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: JAX
Posts: 84
As a data point, I booked with Budget through the Executive Club area on BA.com, part-paid with Avios. Had to change the rental due to a lucky change of flight/upgrade opportunity putting us at LGW a day earlier. Executive Club was able to cancel and re-book with no penalty and ended up saving us a chunk of Avios on the new booking as a bonus. I was immensely impressed with how easy and fast it was, and it required very little effort on my part, just a quick contact form online and a call back in less than 48 hours.
Jan 27, 2019, 3:06 pm
#69
Join Date: Aug 2015
Programs: BA Silver, SkyTeam Elite Plus, Star Alliance Gold (status match)
Posts: 31
I've twice booked a car through BA holidays, one in MUC and once in LIS - on both occasions the total amount in the rental agreement was more than what BA had pre-payed - in the case of the latest MUC Group G rental, the shortfall was EUR360 that was charged to my card saved in the Avis Preferred account (the flight + car booking for 2 people was GBP420 for comparison). Because the booking was automatically linked to my Preferred account, I was not asked for any card to pay any shortfall, nor was I told that the pre-payment by BA doesn't match the total cost (i.e. only half of the rental cost was covered), nor was I asked to sign an agreement (it's automatically emailed to you), so I only saw the total cost when returning the car on the handover receipt. Definitely not impressed.
Feb 12, 2019, 7:10 am
#70
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA GGL, BA LTG/GFL, Honors Diamond, Accor Platinum, Bonvoy Silver
Posts: 716
To report back on my post 67 above, I’m shocked - refund from BA holidays received to Amex within 7 days of their calculation of the value of the car voucher. Avis charge in ZAR near enough to the GB£ BA voucher refund value to not bother querying. 👍
Avis final charge invoice deducted some ZAR for only 5/8 fuel on pickup. The only scam being the SafeDrive rubbish.
Avis final charge invoice deducted some ZAR for only 5/8 fuel on pickup. The only scam being the SafeDrive rubbish.
Last edited by rjn21; Jan 7, 2020 at 4:59 am
Feb 12, 2019, 7:17 am
#71
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: *A
Posts: 1,390
To report back on my post 67 above, I’m shocked - refund from BA holidays received to Amex within 7 days of their calculation of the value of the car voucher. Avis charge in ZAR near enough to the GB£ BA voucher refund value to not bother querying. 👍
Avis final charge invoice deducted some ZAR for only 5/8 fuel on pickup. The only scam being the SafeDrive rubbbish.
Avis final charge invoice deducted some ZAR for only 5/8 fuel on pickup. The only scam being the SafeDrive rubbbish.
Mar 4, 2019, 8:56 am
#72
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: BRS/EXT
Programs: BA
Posts: 78
I'm thinking of burning some of my Avios on an Avis rental from BRS. I can't see anywhere that I can use Avios to also pay for the damage etc. excess (usually when I use a credit card for the rental, the excess is covered by my card’s insurance). Paying for the excess at the counter is likely to make in uneconomical to use Avios for the rental. Does anyone have any experience of if this is possible and how?
Apr 29, 2019, 6:16 am
#74
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold, LH SEN , A3*G & others less exciting that don't fit in my wallet
Posts: 1,657
Apart from the clear issues that this raises I didn't get the impression that tips were being solicited when I had the experience mentioned above .. not sure I'd have offered ... but they didn't seem to be looking for them .. was a rather gruff and aggressive approach that I can recall
Apr 29, 2019, 6:49 am
#75
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 1,349
Returned from CPT 13th March and got the all clear from Avis that everything was in order. On Friday gone, charge on my credit card for 550ZAR. Not a huge amount of money but nonetheless. Emailed BA hols with the details and looking for a refund
