Comments on: The Avis policy on returning a car “out of hours”

By: Rob White- Marketing, Avis UK

Rob White- Marketing, Avis UK — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:29:19 +0000

Hi Caroline, I’m not sure why the A4 Estate was not appearing (it should’ve been!) but I’ve spoken to our Pricing team to ensure we advertise availability. I just got a quote for June on avis.co.uk and the A4 Avant is now being advertised at GLA.

On to the issue about 40 days… the website only allows to bookings for up to the 30 days. I’ve listed a few SE Asia reservation numbers below to help you make this booking as it will need to be booked through our reservation centre. Let me know if you need to make the call from a different country listed below and I’ll look up the number for you:

Thailand – 662 251 1131 / 662 255 5300
Malaysia – 1800 881054
Singapore – 1800 737 1668

Let me know if you need anything else!

Rob

By: Caroline Robertson

Caroline Robertson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:52:49 +0000

Not quite the same issue, but related to above…as I currently have the opposite problem. Your website offers ” Select Cars”. However, no Audi A4 Estate is available at GLA Airport from late May until early July. Secondly, no alternative is proposed and apparently as I’m trying to rent for 40 days I receive a message saying that I must contact either the UK or Ireland nos given, neither of which are applicable to me as I live in SE Asia!
Have tried another route via your link to KLM as I am flying with them and am a gold card member. The pop-up proposes a car for 40 day hire and gives the option to view others. I follow this , select my vehicle group, but then all prices disappear and it would seem that they will only reappear once I have given all my details including credit card info. Would appreciate some clarity on the situation, otherwise I’ll have to try elsewhere.

By: Stephen Spiers - Avis UK Customer Services

Stephen Spiers - Avis UK Customer Services — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:10:13 +0000

Hi M Robson-Scott,

I’m sorry to hear about your experience. As available cars are very limited over the Christmas period, charges are usually applied when changes are made to the rental period and return locations. This is because we have to move the fleet back to the correct locations for the next hires. However, I appreciate that you may have been informed differently.

Please can you send the details of your rental (including rental agreement number) to comments@avis co.uk and I will investigate for you.

Stephen

By: M Robson-Scott

M Robson-Scott — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:14:38 +0000

I am returning a car to 88 Eversholt Street today (Boxing Day 2008). I telephoned a week and was told this was OK. No extra fee was mentioned. Today I phoned again to check and was told there would be a fee (£46). I was not told this in my earlier call. On the contract it says ‘additional charges MAY apply if returned…not to the agreed location.’ I rent very frequently from Avis, often for long periods such as 6 weeks or more. I request that this fee be dropped. Many thanks. Also – I was not very impressed at the representative I spoke to at Heathrow. He did not know that there was such a location as Avis at 88 Eversholt Street. When I asked him to confirm that it was still there, he hung up the phone.

By: mmo

mmo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:04:00 +0000

That policy makes sense..if you bring it to off hours and something happens to it you can’t expect them to take a loss on it.

By: Rob White- Marketing, Avis UK

Rob White- Marketing, Avis UK — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:35:08 +0000

Thank you for all the feedback A Dale. You are correct the North Terminal is open from 6am, closing at 10pm. I’ll amend the blog post above to specific that it is Gatwick South Terminal that is 24 hours.

I’ll pass your feedback on to the Gatwick team about the late flight, the courtesy phone and having someone to inspect your car when you return it. You should be greeted by an Rapid Return agent whenever you return your car to Gatwick.

With regards to the issues you sent to our Customer Support team, if you could send me your Rental Agreement number to comments@avis.co.uk, I’ll send this to the team to chase up for you.

Rob

By: A Dale

A Dale — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:35:37 +0000

I have 2 comments to make on the above subject plus another completely aside. Ref the blog above, you say that the London Gatwick office (amongst many other major airports) is open 24 hrs. Not strictly true, as having flown into Gatwick North terminal recently, with an Avis car reserved at that location, i was faced with an unquestionably closed Avis office at 22:03 hrs. After wasting an hour to get to the Avis office South terminal (due works on the mono rail link and a lack of serviceable buses) i posed the question why the other office had closed. Apparently it always does close at 22:00, even in the knowledge that a flight due to arrive before then and carrying several passengers aboard with similar Avis reservations for the North terminal, had been delayed a little. Of note, the courtessy phone is surplus to requirement as no-one answers it.
As for dropping cars off outside of normal hours, your argument is not valid. I say that because i have only once had my car inspected during normal working hours. Often there is insufficient staff to inspect the car there and then, and so the situation for the individual remains the same.
Finally and on a separate note, i have raised several issues concerning recent rental agreemenrs with Avis (emails sent 2 Dec 07) to which i still await a response. I know your policy is to respond ‘normally with 3 days’ however it has now been nearly a week without so much as an acknowledgement.