Unprofessional
 

After a couple trips to Costa Rica I decided to try a rental car. Driving there can be downright scary unless you're a very quick and adaptive learner. My real issue though is with the complete lack of professionalism I was subjected to from Avis Costa Rica. If your necessary arrival time at the airport is before they open at 5:30 then your in trouble. Best bet is to drop it off the day before and catch an uber ride back to your hotel. Fine if you're staying near the airport, big hassle if not. So I called the rental agency for a better plan than 2 taxi rides just to catch a plane. They recommended, for a $50 upcharge to leave it at the airport. So I called the day before to make the arrangements and was then informed that if I showed up at the rental lot and found the security guard he would call me a taxi. So obviously a bit confused by two different unconventional remedies
to the situation and too little time to make other arrangements, I put in the Avis location to Google and was twice routed to the airport. So I decided to go with the original plan to leave it at the airport. The vehicle wouldn't allow the key to be locked inside so I stashed it on the tire. Not a secure plan at all. A $450 rental fee turned into $1,800 rental fee. The agents at Avis Costa Rica have their own version to support their fraudulent abuse of my credit card. I have registered my grievance with Avis however they are siding with the rental agency. That is one rental agency I will never use again.

Cool story bro. Tell it again.

Welcome to FT.

This really has nothing to do with Avis or professionalism. Presumably you knew the opening times of the agency and the timing of your flight at the time of booking, so you had plenty of time to make appropriate arrangements. Leaving a rental car in an airport parking lot with the key on the tire is, well, not very smart. If the car had been stolen (not unlikely in my opinion) you would have been on the hook, and the damage to your credit card would have been a lot greater. I doubt whatever theft insurance you took out would have covered such a scenario. I think that, under the circumstances, you got lucky here.

Additionally, Avis CR is NOT Avis. They are simply a franchisee who pays Avis to use their name, reservation system, branding, etc. You were dealing with a local company so while Avis corporate has some sway there, it honestly isn't much as you found.

This part isn't clear to me. What was the charge?