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Avis… We try hard (to piss you off!).

Recently, I had a horrible experience with Avis in New Orleans…. Read my complaint letter, then read their response….

To: Avis Rent A Car

I’m writing with a complaint about the picking up the car at Avis Rent A Car, and I hope someone will take this seriously.

I recently rented a premium car from Avis Rent A Car. I am an Avis preferred member that rents quite frequently. Over the past several rentals I have been unable to go directly to my car and have been diverted to the rental office for a variety of reasons. What’s most annoying is that your customer service reps can’t get my credit card number right, which is why I continue having to make these side trips.

However, my last pickup, at the New Orleans Airport post, was completely out of line. Again I was diverted to the office where I had to wait for the customer service agent to finish making her personal phone call before she came to help me. Then, I asked what the problem was, she said there was no problem and that I could go pick up my car in space 100. If there was no problem, why was I diverted to this office? I get out to my rental car and noticed one thing right off; this car was NOT clean! I looked into the car to retreive my rental documents, I noticed that the front seat was spotted with a darkish brown substance.

I go back inside to complain to the rep who had to go outside and confirm my claim of stuff on the seat before she’d give me another car. What happened to customer service? Do you know how furious I am?

Here’s what I’d like to see happen: I would like Avis to send their customer service reps to customer service school. I would also like a few free upgrades or free rentals for my troubles.

I’ll probably rent from you again since my company prefers Avis, but I might just steer my friends away from your company.

Please get back to me quickly about this issue. I hope to hear from you within 10 business days.

Sound like a form letter? Yeah, I used PlanetFeedback to send the complaint.

Now, here’s their reponse, over three weeks later:

Dear mr. Kyle,

Thank you for contacting us through the Avis website.

Again please accept our apologies for any inconvenience.

Providing good service is a major factor in separating Avis from the competition. To learn that you were not provided with the level of service you would expect from Avis was perhaps as disappointing for us as it was for you. Avis takes great pride in supplying its customers with mechanically sound and well-maintained vehicles. This commitment to Avis customers is taken very seriously; therefore, a copy of your report, along with your comments, has been forwarded to the responsible manager as well as Avis’ Quality Assurance Department. You can be sure that your comments have been well-noted and appropriate action will be taken.

We view with extreme gravity any report of discourteous treatment of a customer. Under all circumstances, our customers should be treated with respect and professionalism. We regret any breach of this standard made by the Avis agent with whom you spoke.

We thank you for taking the time not only to bring this to our attention, but to provide an opportunity to demonstrate the true quality of our service. We are not able to issue Upgrade coupons or Free Rental Day coupons from Customer Service, however as a gesture of good will, we will send you some Avis Customer Service Certificates which we hope you will use on a forthcoming Avis rental. Please advise the mailing address you would like the certificates to be mailed to.

Again please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience. Thank you for contacting us.

Sincerely,
Racheal Jones
Avis Customer Service
Fax: 918-621-4819

Obviously a form letter back from them! I didn’t contact them through the Avis website! And WTF is a customer service certificate? Am I gonna hang it on my wall as a shrine to Avis and show it off to my neighbors? I sincerely doubt I’m going to rent from Avis in the future, their lack of customer service at the NATIONAL level just sealed that deal. I don’t think Avis could have tried harder to piss me off in this instance. Any of you frequent travellers out there have good experiences with anyone else (Hertz, National, Thrifty, etc)?

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