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Avis Car Rental complaint: Bogus Charge

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Filed 9 Dec 2023 by Daniel

I have rented exclusivily with Avis for a long time. Never had a problem, UNTIL NOW.
2 weeks after returning home from Colorado Springs. (Rental U648463826) Picked up Tuscon, dropped off Colorado Springs
I received a letter from Nora Henry at Avis Operations Team, telling me they were charging me $450 for cleaning, stating there was smoke smell.
Neither my wife or I smoke, and we were the only ones in the car through the entire rental. This is TotaL BS. We had the car for a week, and there was NO smoke in the car, and there was NO smell when we returned it.
When we returned the car to Colorado Springs, we had to walk the key to the rental booth as there was nobody at the return aisle to check us in.
There was an Avis woman standing outside the booth. I had accidently grabbed an Avis pamphlet when I took my paperwork out of the glovebox. When she came back in the booth, she told me I had to put the pamphlet back in the car. I told her we were in a hurry and asked if she could just have one of their people put it back in the car. She was super rude, and without even saying anything, she walked back out of the booth, and walked all the way to the car to put the pamphlet back. She made us wait the entire time, outside in 25 degree cold, as she was doing it, and slowly walked back to finish checking us out. She KNEW I told her we were in a hurry.
I have never been treated so rude, and will now take my business to Hertz.
This charge is totally made up, and I would think by the totally rude person checking us out.
Bye Bye Avis. Obviously my years of loyalty to you meant nothing!

A charge from Highway Toll Administration you do not recognize? What E-TOLL AVIS on a bank statement means

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Discussion

7 comments

  1. CW Nellie

    Same thing happened to me on a rental in Detroit in early May, 2024. Letter from the same person "Nora Henry". They were going to charge me $450 for "Smoke Smell" in the car when nobody smoked in the car at all. My credit card company caught it as a scam or fraud, and declined the charge. I'm thinking it is a scam either by Budget/Avis itself, or by some of their employees.

    Reply

  2. Tim

    Exact same thing happened to me at Detroit airport. $450 for “Smoke Smell” according to Nora Henry four days after I returned the car. Additionally, Budget tried to charge me $135+ for returning vehicle with an empty tank for my 174 mile rental (I had a receipt for filling-up the tank prior to drop-off). Furthermore, I had to return the first vehicle because the “check engine” light was on when I started it; and the replacement had the “left turn signal out” light on when I started it. It took me hours to get all this resolved and the fraudulent charges removed. Never, ever again with Budget!

    Reply

  3. Abigail MET

    Same thing just happened to me. They stopped the charges though. Something very weird is going on at Budget, at this point given the volume of similar events happening to many of us, I'd advise anyone looking to rent a car to steer clear of this company for the time being.

    Reply

  4. Person1

    Same here in OHare, I do nor have the charge yet in my credit card, but I received the email telling me that. Did you guys get the charge in the bank statement or just the email letter from Avis?

    Reply

  5. Albert McAlister

    Hello everyone,
    It is time to report these incidents directly as FRAUD! BUDGET/AVIS should be getting ready for a class act lawsuit. Please refer to the links below:

    Here is a link from a thread from Reddit of the BUDGET/AVIS scam:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/1fqbzuw/avisbudget_rental_fraudulent_charges_post_rental/?rdt=32793

    REPORT THIS AS FRAUD TO FTC:

    https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

    REPORT IT AS A SCAM:

    https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/reportscam

    WRITE THE REVIEWS WITH ALL DETAILS TO THE BUDGET RENTAL LOCATION ON GOOGLE.

    Reply

  6. Terrance

    Im currently in the same situation with the airport SDF!

    Reply

  7. Edwin

    It just happened to me too — they charged me $424 supposedly because the key stopped working.
    I called them and told them off, very angrily, until they refunded what they were trying to steal from me.
    I think a lot of people don’t complain or don’t even notice the charge.

    Reply

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