Complaint Review: Avis Rent A Car - Orlando Florida

Take this a a warning to avoid doing business with Avis Rent A Car in the Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida, and Avis in general.  I am not one to write negative reviews, but this whole experience has soured me against the Avis company and I will never do business with them.  I hope this review will at least inform you as to the high pressure scam they are running, and hopefully you will keep all of your paperwork.  You will need the paperwork because after you return the vehicle, they will bill your credit card for extra days that you did not use.

Here is what happened to me:  I bought the rental from Priceline.com and went to Avis after my flight landed in Orlando.  The guy that processed the rental mentioned the special deal on an upgrade from the mid-size sedan up to a minivan for half the usual price.  I decided to go for it so we would all have more room in the vehicle.  It was about $18 more a day, but I decided to go for it.  The original rental was $279 from Priceline, so for the 7 day rental I figured the extra $126 was not too bad, giving me a total of $405. 

The clerk then said to sign the paperwork, and luckily I looked at the bill.  He had it at nearly $900!  I told him there was a mistake, that it was way to high of a price, and he said I didn't figure in the extra taxes and fees that Florida makes them charge.  Right about there I knew I was being scammed and told him to forget the upgrade, I'll go with my original agreement.  He then checked his system, and realized that he had "accidentally" charged me for extra insurance, and would adjust it.  He printed the second bill, this one was still like $700 dollars.  I told him I figured it would be around the $400 plus whatever tax, that something was wrong. 

He continued to upsell the insurance to me, I told him I had insurance and Mastercard gave me more insurance anyway, and he agin went into the system and got the price to about $520.00.  My kids were tired of watching me haggle with this scammer, and I decided to surrender an just agree to that fee to end this mess.  I'm supposed to be on vacation.  I signed the papers and got the minivan.

I was disappointed that I somehow still paid more than a hundred dollars extra for the van, but vowed to never use AVIS again.  Well, Avis must have known I wasn't a return customer, because although I returned the car on the day agreed upon, they didn't "check it in" until four days later.  Luckily, I looked at my credit card statement and noticed that they tried to charge me an extra $360.00 for the days after I returned it and before they finally got around to checking it in. 

I am currently trying to get a refund for their incorrect check in info, and they have me sending them confirmations from my flight to prove I returned the car.  No refund yet, and I sent them the info.  It is clear that Avis uses deceptive practices at the rental counter to try and catch you off guard so they can sell you extra, unnecessary insurance.  Then, to top it all off, they lie about the return date to catch you on the other end.  Wow!  Shameful business practices, Avis should read these reviews and refund the people they ripped off.  Hopefully you don't become another victim.  Thanks for reading my review, I hope it helps you.