Beware of deceptive AVIS billing practices

[jayally]

This is an FYI for those shopping for MCO car rentals.

I started out about 8 months ago paying $757 for a full-size sedan with Alamo and currently I have a Budget Compact immediate SUV for $410 and I am very happy the prices have dropped. I price it out every few days or so and found a deal on Avis website for $316 if I PREPAID the rental which was better than the $401 Avis was showing on Costco for the exact same car. I signed up for their Avis Preferred so I can skip the counter and felt this was a good savings and what it SHOULD cost so I booked directly with Avis.

It was not until AFTER I submitted my credit card I saw the charge was actually $446 which included taxes and fees not listed in the big, flashing PREPAY NOW advertised price and it did not show anywhere on the screen until after I got the reservation confirmation. Costco and Budget's prices always showed the full price so I had no reason to doubt it.

I tried to cancel immediately but they are charge a $50 cancellation fee. I called Customer service and after some back and forth the representative said he was giving me a FULL refund, including refunding the $50. I was satisfied but when I got the cancellation email it says the refund amount will be minus a $50 fee. This is deceptive in so many ways. I tried calling back to Avis and spoke to "Nancy" who said the $50 will be "refunded 3-10 days later" after I get the $396.06 refunded but when I asked for confirmation she hung up on me.

I am in California and I don't feel they can legally charge a cancellation fee if the charge was deceptive/misleading and/or the cancellation happened immediately after noticing the discrepancy on the website. I also don't trust Avis after what they did and I caution you to be VERY CAREFUL when booking and prepaying. I decided to prepay because our trip is in 5 days and we are not canceling and it was a good deal but if you see the fine print, it's not. I will keep my budget rental even though it's $9 more (I know they are the same company but I am so mad at them!) although I hope Alamo drops their prices in the next few days.

 

[JenLanDisney]

Sorry this happened. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[davper]

just an FYI, Avis and Budget are the same company.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

This is an FYI for those shopping for MCO car rentals.

I started out about 8 months ago paying $757 for a full-size sedan with Alamo and currently I have a Budget Compact immediate SUV for $410 and I am very happy the prices have dropped. I price it out every few days or so and found a deal on Avis website for $316 if I PREPAID the rental which was better than the $401 Avis was showing on Costco for the exact same car. I signed up for their Avis Preferred so I can skip the counter and felt this was a good savings and what it SHOULD cost so I booked directly with Avis.

It was not until AFTER I submitted my credit card I saw the charge was actually $446 which included taxes and fees not listed in the big, flashing PREPAY NOW advertised price and it did not show anywhere on the screen until after I got the reservation confirmation. Costco and Budget's prices always showed the full price so I had no reason to doubt it.

I tried to cancel immediately but they are charge a $50 cancellation fee. I called Customer service and after some back and forth the representative said he was giving me a FULL refund, including refunding the $50. I was satisfied but when I got the cancellation email it says the refund amount will be minus a $50 fee. This is deceptive in so many ways. I tried calling back to Avis and spoke to "Nancy" who said the $50 will be "refunded 3-10 days later" after I get the $396.06 refunded but when I asked for confirmation she hung up on me.

I am in California and I don't feel they can legally charge a cancellation fee if the charge was deceptive/misleading and/or the cancellation happened immediately after noticing the discrepancy on the website. I also don't trust Avis after what they did and I caution you to be VERY CAREFUL when booking and prepaying. I decided to prepay because our trip is in 5 days and we are not canceling and it was a good deal but if you see the fine print, it's not. I will keep my budget rental even though it's $9 more (I know they are the same company but I am so mad at them!) although I hope Alamo drops their prices in the next few days.

We went through Auto Slash this summer and changed our reservation multiple, multiple times up to the time we landed to get the lower rate. We rented at Budget but Avis is also now the same company. We had no problems. Not sure if we had a cancellation fee because we did not cancel we only changed the reservation.