Booked car not available then charged twice!!

“Booked car not available then charged twice!!”

Written on: 23/05/2012 by Cascott (1 review written)

If you can find an alternative to Avis then go with it. I had always thought Avis was an okay company and they were the first company I went to when booking a car to get from Toronto, Canada, to upstate New York. I booked online and couldn't believe the great rate. I finalised the booking and paid using credit card. I took a screen shot of the final booking screen, as I do out of habit now, and thank god I did. When I arrived at 9am to collect my car I was told that my booking was simply a 'request' and that I should have waited for a confirmation email (apparently you have to wait even after the time you requested has passed). They did not have a car available. At this point I explained that I had already paid for the hire, even though it said so on the screen shot they still insisted that I log into my credit card online statement to show them. After this they spent around an hour on the phone, the whole time ignoring the fact that I had to get back to my hotel to check out and collect luggage and was now going to have to pay $40 on taxis even though I had paid for my car hire. 2 hours later I was told to come back at 2pm and they would have a car for me.

At 2pm they still didn't have a car for me and told me I would just have to wait and see if one showed up. Eventually at 3pm one did appear and I was given it, though because this was a new booking and my original had been cancelled I would have to pay for this one separately and provide a credit card. When travelling on a budget it's hard to accept that you will just have to pay twice and hope that the first charge is reversed... The car they eventually gave me was a massive SUV, I had purposely reserved a compact knowing that I was driving 400 miles and wanted one with the best miles per gallon. My petrol costs were almost double what they would have been.

I must give credit to the gentleman who served me, whilst at first he was very dismissive and treated me like an idiot for not knowing it was just a request, when i gave him all my evidence he did eventually go out of his way to ensure that I got my car and didnt pay the much higher rate that is usual for the given car.

I did miss a very important business trip and have still not had my first charge returned. Never rely on Avis.