.... it can help you get rental car overcharging fixed!
I returned from an eight day holiday on the South Island of NZ on Saturday evening. Flew into and out of CHC. Picked up a rental car from Avis at CHC the day after I arrived, as I didn't have a need for it until then and didn't want the hassle of parking it in CHC CBD (which, with the benefit of hindsight, would not have been an issue), plus I also wanted to have a few drinks in the lounge and/or on the flight, without worrying about having to drive after the flight at midnight in an unfamiliar city. Again, with the benefit of hindsight, none of this would have an issue.
Avis booking was for pick-up at 12.30pm and drop-off at the same time 7 days later (Saturday), for my 4pm flight home. This pick-up/drop-off time was a compromise - would have liked to pick up the car a little earlier to drive to Queenstown and dropped it off a little later, so check-in would definitely be open, but from all my research, it was unclear whether Avis in NZ have a grace period, like they do in Aus (59 min. - very generous!) and the US (29 min.), though it appeared not. A 59 min. grace period would have worked perfectly. Actually picked the car up a little early - about midday. As I'm Preferred, my rental agreement still showed 12.30 and did have an hourly rate of 1/3 the daily rate, so I figured if they do actually start the clock at collection time, like they do in Australia (I wish they were consistent - some countries/locations start the clock from time of collection and some from time on agreement, irrespective of collection time - either can work to your advantage, as long as you know they use!), I might be hit with an extra hour charge, depending on the time of return and whether they do actually have a grace period.
Ended up dropping the car back at a few min. before 1pm - no-one in the preferred office (only open M-F business hours!) but their was a key box. Wasn't sure whether I was supposed to just drop the keys in the box or take them to the Avis desk in the terminal, like I normally do. In the absence of instructions anywhere, I took the keys to the counter. Was told I could've dropped them into the box, but all good. No receipt offered. Should've insisted, like I normally do! Every time I don't, something goes wrong! Received an e-mail later that day, with a drop-off time of 4pm - the time of flight departure! And an extra day's charge! Annoying. Return time appeared to be processing time, rather than the time I dropped the keys off. Very poor set-up/business practice, if you ask me! Surely the person I gave the keys to, could/should have noted the return time.
Tried to ring Avis on the 0800 number on the receipt, but Skype doesn't recognise it as a free call number, so wouldn't connect the call without me paying first! Then tried their Australian number, hoping they could deal with it, given I'm an Australian member. In any event, the Aus number gets you to a NZ call centre anyway (as does Budget - same call centre, given their common ownership), so I figured I'd be speaking to the same people anyway! After several minutes on hold, I explained the situation to the person from Avis, who said he would refund the extra day if I e-mailed a copy of my boarding pass. Great that he only needed a copy of my boarding pass, as I haven't got anything else - my travel mate paid for the petrol at the airport and it was an unmanned pay at pump, which didn't give a receipt for some reason, even though it offer one (printer may have been out of paper?). If boarding pass wasn't enough, not sure what I would have done! Hopefully the refund is processed smoothly and quickly! Nothing was offered for the inconvenience, not even an apology. Not a great way to treat customers, especially members!
On a side note, why, as preferred, do Avis often try to give me their older cars? Surely, as preferred, I should get their newest cars! Their inconsistency is annoying! Is it laziness? poor training? Something else? They tried to do it again in NZ! And I've have had two rentals back to back - at OOL and MEL - OOL gave me one of their oldest vehicles and it was parked at wrong end of the car park, dropped it off, flew back to MEL and picked up another car - was brand new and parked out front of the Avis office!
I returned from an eight day holiday on the South Island of NZ on Saturday evening. Flew into and out of CHC. Picked up a rental car from Avis at CHC the day after I arrived, as I didn't have a need for it until then and didn't want the hassle of parking it in CHC CBD (which, with the benefit of hindsight, would not have been an issue), plus I also wanted to have a few drinks in the lounge and/or on the flight, without worrying about having to drive after the flight at midnight in an unfamiliar city. Again, with the benefit of hindsight, none of this would have an issue.
Avis booking was for pick-up at 12.30pm and drop-off at the same time 7 days later (Saturday), for my 4pm flight home. This pick-up/drop-off time was a compromise - would have liked to pick up the car a little earlier to drive to Queenstown and dropped it off a little later, so check-in would definitely be open, but from all my research, it was unclear whether Avis in NZ have a grace period, like they do in Aus (59 min. - very generous!) and the US (29 min.), though it appeared not. A 59 min. grace period would have worked perfectly. Actually picked the car up a little early - about midday. As I'm Preferred, my rental agreement still showed 12.30 and did have an hourly rate of 1/3 the daily rate, so I figured if they do actually start the clock at collection time, like they do in Australia (I wish they were consistent - some countries/locations start the clock from time of collection and some from time on agreement, irrespective of collection time - either can work to your advantage, as long as you know they use!), I might be hit with an extra hour charge, depending on the time of return and whether they do actually have a grace period.
Ended up dropping the car back at a few min. before 1pm - no-one in the preferred office (only open M-F business hours!) but their was a key box. Wasn't sure whether I was supposed to just drop the keys in the box or take them to the Avis desk in the terminal, like I normally do. In the absence of instructions anywhere, I took the keys to the counter. Was told I could've dropped them into the box, but all good. No receipt offered. Should've insisted, like I normally do! Every time I don't, something goes wrong! Received an e-mail later that day, with a drop-off time of 4pm - the time of flight departure! And an extra day's charge! Annoying. Return time appeared to be processing time, rather than the time I dropped the keys off. Very poor set-up/business practice, if you ask me! Surely the person I gave the keys to, could/should have noted the return time.
Tried to ring Avis on the 0800 number on the receipt, but Skype doesn't recognise it as a free call number, so wouldn't connect the call without me paying first! Then tried their Australian number, hoping they could deal with it, given I'm an Australian member. In any event, the Aus number gets you to a NZ call centre anyway (as does Budget - same call centre, given their common ownership), so I figured I'd be speaking to the same people anyway! After several minutes on hold, I explained the situation to the person from Avis, who said he would refund the extra day if I e-mailed a copy of my boarding pass. Great that he only needed a copy of my boarding pass, as I haven't got anything else - my travel mate paid for the petrol at the airport and it was an unmanned pay at pump, which didn't give a receipt for some reason, even though it offer one (printer may have been out of paper?). If boarding pass wasn't enough, not sure what I would have done! Hopefully the refund is processed smoothly and quickly! Nothing was offered for the inconvenience, not even an apology. Not a great way to treat customers, especially members!
On a side note, why, as preferred, do Avis often try to give me their older cars? Surely, as preferred, I should get their newest cars! Their inconsistency is annoying! Is it laziness? poor training? Something else? They tried to do it again in NZ! And I've have had two rentals back to back - at OOL and MEL - OOL gave me one of their oldest vehicles and it was parked at wrong end of the car park, dropped it off, flew back to MEL and picked up another car - was brand new and parked out front of the Avis office!
