The oral-promise part of this would seem to spell trouble, as it sets up a your-word-against-theirs situation. Could be the agent, if questioned, will just say they don't recall any of it, and there's probably not a tape. Under those circumstances I think you might get the free rental day, but it'll take an admission of error by the agent or a tape or something more substantial to get a money reimbursement, I'm guessing.

I don't care to know what the employee's name is. A copy of the termination document with personal information blacked out is all I want.

The after-hours part is irrelevant. The agent entered 4:55 PM in the reservation, so it's no surprise no one was there at 5:30 PM.

I have been misinformed in the past from other companies, but never have I been screwed over this badly.

I stayed in that crappy $95 Wonderland Motel in the middle of nowhere, which means I ate no dinner that night and ate no breakfast in the morning. I had no food for 22 hours in a row! Anything less than my three demands is unacceptable.

And if they dont meet them?

JS posted

I don't go in with guns blazing when something goes wrong, but when I get no response to a problem, I get mad. For example, one time the LGA Crowne Plaza overcharged me on a phone bill. I asked for a correction of it at the front desk and they refused, insisting that it really is long distance to call from Queens to Manhattan. That is when I load my guns and start blazing them.


BTW- it is a long distance call from Manhattan to Queens

Lifetime boycott.

It may seem like the outer boroughs are worlds apart but calls within the boroughs are local. That LGA hotel was pulling a fast one over JS. And he caught them obviously.

Not surprising that nobody was at the Avis counter waiting for you, I would think you should be compensated for the taxi fare, and hopefully a free day or upgrade in the future. You should have ordered in pizza and sent Avis a bill for that as well!

In being proactive, if I'm going to arrive at a small airport such as the one mentioned here, I always call the manager of that airport's rental car agency in advance to make arrangements should my flight arrive after they're "closed." With Hertz Gold, I've always had success in having someone wait for me should I arrive within an hour or so after they're supposed to be closed. If not, then they would leave the keys and rental contract at the airline's checkin counter or baggage desk for me to pick up. I never trust that these arrangements will be made by the 800 number agent! Perhaps YMMV with Avis!

If flew into DBQ once, and called the local counter and was successful in getting a local agent to stay a half hour after closing time when I knew my connecting flight from ORD was going to be late.

Getting to the questions of the OP; why ask for them to fire the agent? You'd get futher if you begin your letter suggesting they might want to retrain their agents to handle these kinds of requests. Then state how this mis-information caused you problems, then suggest what they could do to fix it.

I agree with previous posters that demanding people be fired or stating that "I'll never do business with you again" won't help your cause

I'd be prepared to take your car rental business elsewhere. Will the agent be "re-trained" because of this? Probably. Admonished? Maybe. Fired? Not a chance.

I agree with the others who suggest that you take a more constructive approach to your complaint. I agree with your second and third requests, and your logic is sound there, but asking for someone to get fired over this is over the top.

Yes. Wanting someone deprived of their livelihood seems a trifle mean.

Prepare to be disappointed.

I feel your pain. I have missed arrival times by 2-5 hours a few times this year and it has inevitably led to problems. In another instance, I made a last minute decision to head home before a hurricane, got a 5:30 am flight, and found out that the CLE car rental center is closed from something like 11 pm-6 am. My travel agent called the center and was told that a security guard was available for returns while the center was closed and that the bus ran regardless. Imagine my ire if I had returned the car at 4:00 am and found no security guard.

That being said, I would have reasonable expectations and focus on a response that benefits me. I don't see that getting someone fired, assuming it was possible, does anything but stroke your ego. So, raise your demands (ask for full reimbursement of hotel and taxi and multiple free rentals) and negotiate or accept something less.

And don't tell me you're protecting the rest of us from an incompetent agent unless you're willing to devote full time to finding all of them and getting them fired. One less barrier to smooth travel (assuming it wasn't an honest error or emergency) won't do the rest of us enough good.

And feel free to change rental car providers. People do that every day, including those that switch to Avis because of some perceived slight at another agency. Let me know if you find one that's perfect and won't screw up my life for the next 15 years. I tend to think that the worst companies either improve or are driven out of business as the marketplace avoids them.

I think you should have a free rental coming as well as an apology from Avis. Actually, you should have a free car, a nice one, delivered to your house. And the employee who took your reservation should be fired. No, beheaded. And Avis should mail his or her head to your house as proof. And the dead employee's house should be sold at auction, and you should get the proceeds.

Be reasonable, for goodness' sake. Someone made a mistake. The difference between getting peeved and going berserk ought to be demonstrable negligence. There isn't any here -- just honest human error.

The more reasonable you are, the more you'll get from Avis. I dropped a polite note this summer after finding the Preferred booth at MHT closed on a Saturday night when it should've been open, and they sent me a bunch of discount coupons. Your insistence on a firing over a no doubt innocent mistake puts you in a very special category... the pass-this-letter-around-the-office, wow-can-you-believe-this-guy category.

Enjoy Hertz.

Asking for this is an invitation to be ignored for any reasonable request you include with it. Whoever gets your letter or phone call will write you off as an unreasonable hot head.

A free car rental is reasonable to ask for. Not sure about reimbursement for taxi fare since I doubt you'll get that without a written contract for pickup time.

If I were you, I'd write a letter or write out a phone conversation and let it sit for a few days before sending it or calling. You're more likely to get something if you don't go into the situation with both guns blazing.

I'd choose another company to do business with--after using the free rental compensation.

I'm curious if you called central Avis reservations, or the local office. I wouldn't be surprised if an agent at a central location was quoting a company policy of staying late that the actual location chose not to honor- and that shouldn't be the booking agent's fault. If you called to the local office, then they should've said upfront if they didn't want to wait. If the agent was wrong, yes they should be made aware, but if we were all fired on one mistake, who all would have a job? Either way, Avis should apologize. Not sure about what compensation they could give, other than free car days and maybe the taxi.

Asking for the 3 things will get you labeled as a wacko.

Instead, it is better to appear more reasonable, making their performance seem ever more unreasonable in comparison.

But of course, it is your choice!

I am trying to figure out your purpose in posting this thread. Was it to seek input/feedback/opinions/suggestions on the matter? Or was it to simply vent?

In regards to the first question, if you are indeed seeking for suggestions on how to go about resolving the issue, it would seem that the majority of the posts seem to agree that approaching this matter with guns blazing may not be the best approach. Yet, it did not seem to sway your opinion in any way. Are you just waiting for someone to post and say, "Yes, you are right, get that agent fired."

Let me just point out something for you to consider. Let's say hypothetically that the agent whom you were/are upset with has an outstanding on the job track record. Let's pretend that this is the only time that they may have made a mistake. Would Avis automatically fire this agent based on one complaint from a really irate customer? My guess is that Avis would rather retain the services of a very efficient employee and be willing to cut its losses with the irate customer.

Have you also considered various union issues pertaining to hiring and firing of employees. The reality is that the majority of major corporations work with and at times against very powerful employee unions. As such, most will have to employ what we call progressive discipline--which often requires documentation, more documentation, supervisor's guidance, and retraining before resorting to terminate an employee.

But then again, perhaps this would still be unacceptable for you to even consider.