What was the biggest rip off you ever had by what you would generally consider a reliable company in your travels?

Mine was at the hands of Avis in MXP.

I had made my reservation through the Avis Tel Aviv headquarters and had CDW included. However, I was given a written sheet saying that if I did not accept a further CDW in MPX I would be liable for a 300 Euro deductible.

When I picked up the car the agent didn't ask me about the deductible but checked on the policy that I had accepted it and that the charge was Euro 0. In other words, the contract said I was given it for free.

Two weeks after I returned the car my credit card was charged for Euro 1000. I called Avis Tel Aviv and they promised to look into it for me. They reported back that I had damaged the windshield and was charged for that.

This infuriated me because: 1. I knew there was no damage, 2. My contract said I had been given the complete CDW and 3. Even if I had not, I should have been responsible for only Euro 300.

I told this all to Avis Tel Aviv and they promised to check it out further. At the end, they told me that MXP refused to refund the money but Avis Tel Aviv gave me a check for it because they checked the rental records and found that the damage (apparently a tiny hole made by a pebble) had been made, and paid for, by the renter who had the car before me.

I continue to rent from Avis, but never again in Milan.

[This message has been edited by Dovster (edited 10-27-2003).]

sixt (sixt.com) was great to us in Milan.

I don't put "rip-off" and "from a reliable company" in the same sentence. You rip me off, and I shop elsewhere because you are no longer reliable as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of Avis, I once reserved a car for four weeks. They interpreted that as one month. When I returned the car after three weeks, they charged me for one whole month. I called them and straightened that out.

Another Avis one -- one time I reserved a car for one day (cheap weekend rate), but I kept it for one week. The charge wasn't for a one week rental, it was for a one day @ cheap rate rental followed by 4 expensive days. How they figured 1 day + 4 days = one week is beyond me.

I calculated what the one week no-discount rate would have been, and it was only slightly less than what they charged me, so I didn't bother following up.


I figure every company screws up once now and then. If I have to call or speak with someone more than once to correct a rip-off, that's when I shop elsewhere. That's why I will not stay at the Crowne Plaza.

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"Yippie-kay-yay, Mr. Falcon!" -- John McClane, Die Hard II As Seen on TV

[This message has been edited by JS (edited 10-27-2003).]

My biggest rip-off was at Budget on Maui. They tried to charge us several times for the same rental. They put almost $1,000 on our credit card for a few day rental and then denied that they did it. We had to wait days before it showed up at our credit card company, then had a conference call between us, the credit card company and Budget. The credit card company is telling them that they (Budget) put through all these charges and Budget is denying it to the credit card company. The woman there was asking my other half why he was doing this to her! It was so bizare! The credit card company finally took the charges off our bill. We never even received an apology from Budget.

Biggest ripoff for me was Avis. It's a very, very long story, but let's just say that there may still be a wrecked Avis Neon sitting in the Paw Paw, Michigan Big Boy parking lot.

My biggest beef with Avis regarding this whole situation was their customer service and people not using their brains to think logically to find solutions to problems.

As for the ripoff part, at some point I think Avis tried to charge me about a thousand bucks to either retrieve or fix their broken-down piece of ****, but I never paid it and they eventually stopped bugging me.

I still have one of those Avis Wizard cards and rent from them about once a year with no problems. I half expected them to sh*t-list me for future rentals, but they didn't...

Funny enough - or not as the case may be - but MXP and LIN have the most complaints about car hire rip off than anywhere else in Europe for Hertz

I don't know about Hertz, but Avis Tel Aviv told me that they get a great number of complaints about MXP. Of course, this took place about three years ago so it is possible that things have changed since then.

Biggest rippoff was with United Airlines. Bought one way ticket to Kiev, Ukraine and paid for it and then upgraded to first class with 40,000 miles. Was confirmed with first class seats from Mileage plus but when arrived at airport only one segment was first class all others, two of them were in coach.

Don't upset yourself over this matter. Today's frontline workforce are trained to NOT use their brains to think logically. I assume the corporate logic is that an employee that thinks does more harm than good. I run across this on a regular basis and have given up hope in trying to discuss any problem situation in a logical manner.

Too true. Had a case over the weekend at Thrifty like that. Not that it's unique to the travel industry - it's that way in many other industries, too. Seems like they all would love to have a typically Asian workforce, i.e. drilled with a work ethic and in rote-repetitive tasks, but not able to think outside the box.

Of course, without the independent thinkers the U.S. would have no edge in innovation and new businesses. They just typically don't find a home with large companies.

[rant]

I know...I know...I shouldn't let it get to me. It seems like every day I have to deal with someone who either can't or doesn't want to think.

And it's not like I come from some high horse or anything. I sacked groceries for minimum wage for a few months. I'd like to think that I did it efficiently, correctly, and was able to solve problems to serve the customer. Not that grocery-sackers are asked to save the world, but neither are hotel and car rental clerks. It's totally frustrating to see people that can't logically think their way through a situation. Is it our companies? Is it our schools? Is it the dumbing down of society to make everybody feel good? I don't know...

[/rant]

I think, and this is just my own theory about corporate America, that if they allow their employees to think outside of the box then they become less effective. Thinking takes time and acting on your thoughts takes even more time.

This whole problem started with cash registers that tell you how much change to make during a sale. I dare you to go into a Walmart or a McDonald's and give the cashier $14.02 on a $13.77 sale and see if they know what to do without using the register to calculate what coins they need to give back to you. Pretty scary huh?

[This message has been edited by Elite Nomore (edited 10-30-2003).]

>>> Originally posted by EliteNomore
>>> see if they know what to do ...

I'll jump the gun on you a bit.

Doing the arithmetic in their heads is not the only correct answer and had better not be your expected answer. Even I can't. But I can use pencil and paper.

They have every right to use pencil and paper if not a pocket calculator or the register mechanism.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

By the way, the clerk has the right to say "eighty ninety fourteen" instead of "eighty two ninety two, fourteen oh two".

>>> Originally posted by EliteNomore
>>> ... thinking takes time ...

I will mercifully leave it up to the rest of us customers and travelers to mull over the far reaching ramifications to us considering that that the above is a true statement.


[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited 10-30-2003).]

I've completely given up trying to arrange well-rounded change at checkout. I'd just give 'em $14 and dump the 23 cents in the Ronald McDonald House container.

McD's is going to credit cards soon: I wonder if that'll kill off their RMH donations. (I give $10-20/yr., about 50 cents at a time.) Maybe they should have a "round up to the nearest buck" function on the CC machine. Hmmmm... Sorry I spiraled this thread wildly off-topic, but I guess the on-topic traffic had already tapered to begin with.

Hallelujah! Hopefully this'll extend to the UK and they'll take AmEx