Complaint Review: Avis Car Rental - Sevilla Nationwide

We traveled to Spain in a big group and rented 3 units of 7-seater cars (Volkswagen Touran or similar) with Avis. Full payment has been made 3 weeks before the trip. They charged EUR 269.00 for each car.

RESERVED CARS WERE NOT AVAILABLE

Upon arrival we were told that the cars were not available. We were offered the alternative options but they are smaller cars like MINI !? It's clearly cannot accommodate such a big group with luggages. We have no choice, but have to rent the 4th car advised by Avis to continue the trip.

EXTRA INSURANCE FEE INCURRED

When we made the payment online, it stated that insurance was covered. However when we were there, extra insurance fee incurred. EUR 184.47 was imposed for each of the 3 reserved cars, not to forget that none of the cars provided was the same as what we paid. Different and smaller cars were provided.

2 OUT OF 4 CARS BROKEN DOWN AND WE WERE CLAIMED FOR DAMAGE COST NOT EVEN KNOWING WHAT IS THE REASON

The most ridiculous part happened here !

When we collected the car at Seville, Santa Justa train station, three of four cars ( Nissan Juke, Picasso and Audi Q3) has some smell of rubber burnt. We called Avis office but they assured this is fine and normal and we can continue the drive.

After driving more than 200km, a very smooth journey and we reached Granada, the Nissan Juke's engine emitted smoke and we immediately stopped the car and called for breakdown service. The car was taken, and we were informed that the clutch box was burnt and we need to pay. How can we damage the clutch box when it can be driven for more than 200km without any problem !? We keep calling for more than 10 times to clarify, but Avis just told me the car mechanic was closed so nothing they can do? Since then no updates from them at all.

During the next day, again we drove the Audi Q3 and there is no problem all the way. Out of sudden, the clutch pedal was not working and when we put the car in the first gear, the whole car could not move. This is extremely danger as we were driving on the road !! We stopped and called breakdown service immediately, again the car was taken by Avis, and we were informed later the clutch was burnt and need to pay.

Please note that we have to take the 4th car due to their unprofessional arrangement and we did contact their office to ensure the car conditions before we departed.

CREDIT CARD WAS CHARGED WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION

Calling more than 10 times and sent 3 emails but no respond from them at all, all the way from Spain back to Malaysia.

Once the cars was taken, no update, email, calls, or report to clarify any single details, then my credit card was charged EUR 2000 due to the burnt clutch box for Audi Q3 !!??

For Nissan Juke, we still remembered how rude the employee exclaimed that at least EUR 1,000 will be charged due to damage when were at the counter. So we cancelled the credit card for this car. Since they cannot charge for the alleged "damage cost", they twisted a new reason to charge us. Below a sudden email from them after all the failure to reach them:

We inform you that after investigating your case, we confirm that based in our systems and the information provided, there is no Damage charge in this rental.

Attached you will find the final invoice, where you can check the final amounts of this hire.

If you need any more information, please don’t hesitate in contacting us again.

Regards,

Ismael Blanco

Atención al Cliente / Customer Service Dpt.

Avis Budget Spain

Avis Alquile un coche, S.A.

Tel: + 34 902 248 824

www.avis.es

We have fully paid to rent this car before collection. Since the rental was paid and they said there is no damage cost, why there is new charge for the car again?

Is the car really damaged? Why none of any written explanation provided, or even just a call? You won't have the answer as it's all about single-sided story once the car is taken.

So we see how it worked:

If you are unlucky enough to cancel your card in time, you will be charged with an unknown amount anytime!

If you are lucky enough to cancel your card in time, so they found they cannot charge with this reason, they came with another reason !

We filed in the dispute form to the card issuing bank and hopefully they are wise enough to identify these scams.

Now only we found hundreds of complaints in various of websites. It's apparently that Avis is ripping off customer's money without caring their business conduct or reputation anymore. Same thing happened again and again but much more maybe coming on.

We wrote here as we experienced badly, how about those who just search a car service rental company online, just like what we did when we rented at the beginning.