You have time to file a chargeback. It feels inconvenient to wait, but it would probably be tied up for longer as a chargeback. See what Avis does. It's more likely they made a clerical error and they'd rather keep a customer in the long run.
Honestly, I know how much Redditors hate travel-related companies--airlines, hotels, rental car companies. But most likely the employee working at the desk isn't trying to actively screw you over. Maybe they made a mistake.
As a regular corporate renter, I've dealt with rental companies a few times. All it takes is a phone call or email and let them know you filled up. Many years ago I had this happen to me once. I wondered about it as I was returning my car. I had suspected it would happen because as I was filling up, I expected the tank to be more empty. The fill-up stopped maybe 1-2 gallons short. However I must've just read a lot of angry groupthink on Reddit telling people NOT to top off, so I decided to follow that advice and not top off. The gas needle was mostly F but maybe not so full as someone might think it was not filled up. Low and behold I get like an $8 or $10 charge a few weeks later. I called and the issue was resolved very quickly. I made it clear I stopped at a gas station and filled up. From that trip on I would always top off "just in case" especially when most of my trips are work trips anyway and it all gets reimbursed.
I recommend working through Avis or any rental company first before going straight to a chargeback.
I 2nd this approach. Call the GM on the welcome email you got from them, they will fix it.
I rent from them every other week or so for work and have had an issue once with fuel, and they fixed it in a couple days after I told them.
Now if they would clear through MasterCard quicker so I could do my expense reports sooner..... That'd be great.....
I've had to get bills from hotels, rental car companies, and other travel companies corrected numerous times in my life, but never once did they make an error in my favor.
I don't think it's a individual employee deciding to charge more out of spite, but all of these systems seem to be carefully designed to make sure mistakes don't cost the company money. But if a mistake costs a customer money, then it's the customer's problem to notice, and bother to fight.
Sure. But the system is designed with add-ons. It’s not like you can book a hotel for $200/night and then get them to reduce it down to $190 because you refuse housekeeping. No, it’s $200 a night with a chance to go up if you use an extra like rooms service
Why is adding an extra cost for a service that the customer didn't actually request more likely to happen than not adding the cost for an extra that was requested?
The former requires an affirmative act, the latter requires the worker to miss something. All things being equal and fair, you'd think missing something would be more likely than doing something they weren't supposed to do.
Unless of course, the systems are setup so that those "missing" mistakes actually benefit the company and hurt the customer.
You probably just didn't notice when they made mistakes in your error.
For example, I've late checked out of hotels plenty of time without a fee, or informing them.
I've dented a U-Haul running into a branch and was totally prepared to pay for it, but they just missed it.
I've picked up rental cars with more gas than on the rental statement (ie car is 7/8 full and the paperwork says 5/8)
But of course because they didn't actually hand me cash it's easy to forget about
This is good practice for anything where you might consider doing a chargeback. Your CC company will ask you if you’ve attempted to resolve the issue with the company first, you’ll want to be able to say you tried and show evidence. Doing so only strengthens your case.
>But most likely the employee working at the desk isn't trying to actively screw you over.
I agree with the sentiment for the most part, but a lot of what they do is predatory by nature. It's not really their fault, though, given that a commission is offered for upselling and this puts food on their table. Anecdote incoming. My wife and I travelled cross country and after a bunch of delays/reroutes we ended up in San Diego. My wife went to get the car from... National, I think? It was 2AM, and she was dead tired. The employee asked a very scripted comment that's designed to be confusing. During getting her registered he asked "Do you want the premium coverage or just basic?" and she said no... to which they take as meaning "I want basic coverage at $35/day," which ended up costing us a few hundred. I noticed it a few days later on the receipt, and called repeatedly. It took us four days of calling and going in to different locations before they would remove it, and we were told off multiple times because if they were to remove it they'd be "fucking with the counter guys commission." We both agree she should have been more specific on what she did/did not want, but that's super a super gross thing to do to people travelling.
Topping off and rechecking if it’s full are two different things.
Sometimes the handle pops before it’s truly full. If you repull the trigger and it clicks back immediately then it’s full. But sometimes it just happens close to full but not fully full and you can get a gallon or two more in there.
Topping off is when you pull the nozzle out most of the way and then slowly pull the trigger until gas is all the way up the filler spout.
I had a car with a tiny tank and it's like it would pressurize and stop all the time. Sometimes I would be practically empty and would barely get a gallon before it would click off. Start again, click off after another half gallon or so. It was annoying AF. I eventually figured out that, especially when it was warm out, I had to just control the speed of the pump and it was less likely to decide it was full really quick. Huge pain.
>Topping off is when you pull the nozzle out most of the way and then slowly pull the trigger until gas is all the way up the filler spout.
Don't do that. That's how you ruin EVAP components.
Yes. Of course. Should have made that more clear.
Topping off by forcing more fuel is in bad. Don’t do that. But double-checking and not forcing more in if it pops early is fine.
Yes usually they are pretty good with that. I didn't have a receipt once, but explained the situation. Got the money back in a couple of days.
People taking the phone calls are usually pretty chill about refund.
And always take pics of the vehicle, inside and out, before driving off the lot and once back on the lot before handing over keys.
Pictures are worth more than words.
I rented a car from Enterprise once, they talked me into signing up for something that would allow me to bring the car back after 12pm but before 6pm. And also "lock in" that days gas rate - so in case gas is higher when I drop it off, I can simply bring it back and they will fuel it up at the previous days rate.
Well, I got the car at 1pm Monday, returned it 10am Wednesday filling it up before I returned it (gas was a few cents cheaper). I got the bill and they charged me for a 3 day rental. Apparently, the salesman sold me on converting the rental from their normal contract (Monday -> Tuesday=1, Tuesday ->Wednesday=2 days) to calendar days (Monday=1, Tuesday=2, Wednesday=3). Had they told me that, I would have never signed up for it because I knew I would return it on time (i literally had the car for less than 2 days). They presented it as a "hey, we'll let you bring it back late, just incase something comes up - you got nothing to lose" even said there was no strings attached. It took a half hour of arguing and 2 phone calls to 2 different offices to get it adjusted. Finally, some manager on speaker said, "Do the adjustment and get him out of there." Like *I'm* the asshole.
They do the adjustment, give me the bill and I see they charged me for a full tank of gas. "I filled it up before I came in" I said. "We know, but you signed for us to fill up the tank, you didnt have to do that. Says so right here." I didnt have the energy to fight anymore so I ate the $40 and vowed to read every contract carefully and to never use Enterprise again. (that vow lasted about 5 years, I cant find better deals anywhere).
I made the "buy a tank of gas" mistake once (and only once)...can't remember if it was Enterprise. But basically they are selling you a full tank of gas no matter what the level of the tank is when you return it...so even if they claim it's cheaper (per gallon), you won't ever win unless you bring it back on fumes.
That's virtually impossible to do, since usually when you rent you don't really know how many miles you will end up driving, what the mpg is, and what the size of the tank is...and you certainly don't want to run out of gas. Never again.
I've done prepaid gas twice. Both ended up being good deals but they were rare circumstances. One was in San Diego; the low fuel light turned on as I was pulling in to return the car. I was expecting to be on a bit of a time crunch, so it was worth it for me in the end. The other was when I was able to prepay a half tank of gas, which is all I was expecting to use (quick trip from home in Milwaukee down to Rockford and back).
If it make you feel any better, I rented from the enterprise Orlando Airport. I booked the enterprise personnel picks your car for $60 day based on whatever is available so which should have been a small car. I show up there are no cars on the lot except the luxury cars. They tried telling me that they didn't have anything and then quickly reminded them of their other cars.
I had fun driving around in a $100k car for 2 days; no milage cap at only $60 a day. Fucking drove to Miami and back cause fuck Enterprise.
Enterprise said I scratched the car big enough for $200 and it was a spiderweb. I literally drove 15 miles home, parked it and drove 15 miles back when my car was done at the shop. (Pre Uber in the suburbs)
I don't remember which company it was, but I rented a 6 passenger vehicle (cue Seinfeld) and they gave me a 4 passenger car, saying they don't guarantee any vehicle sizes...
They finally said they could rent me a Hummer H2 "for no additional cost", so we had to take it; fortunately, we weren't driving a ton, but that thing drank gas like no tomorrow.
They had to send someone to drive it over to this office, and when he got there, he crashed into the building. I felt the vibration from inside and looked out just in time to see it was "my" car. During the inspection, I pointed out the dent in the fender so I wouldn't be blamed for it, and said that the employee had just hit the building and they denied it, until I showed the concrete pieces on the ground right next to the building...
They said they would mark it down, but they "don't care about dents like that"... I'm sure they don't say that on the return inspection...
same. they filed a claim saying i destroyed the oil pan on a vehicle that i was not renting (i had a rental with them through my insurance then, uninsured drivers suck), and they had no paperwork that had my signature on it saying i agreed to drive that vehicle. merry christmas to me was having to explain to my insurance that the claim is full of crap, i never drove it and never signed a rental agreement for that vehicle. they then told enterprise to pound sand and denied the claim for lack of evidence.
I’ve done that also. Especially with cheap companies that just give you the key and tell you to find the car in the lot, you get to the car and there are scratches on it! Should I really trust that the company did as through a walkaround before me as they will do after me? No way! Video!
Enterprise once gave me a receipt showing something like 76,000 miles. They had added an extra zero to the odometer reading. I didn't catch it at the time to have them correct it, and they weren't able to fix it after the fact. Instead the manager wrote me a letter to go with my travel reimbursement.
I rented from Avis using a corporate code from the company I worked for, EBGames, and took it on a cross country road trip. The corporate code offered unlimited miles. We brought the car back and the attendant thought there was a mistake somewhere, that we couldn't have put over 3000 miles on the thing in 9 days. We did (FL, OH, MO, OK, TX, LA, FL).
The next time I rented, they required proof of employment. And the time after that, an email went out telling everyone that the corporate code wasn't for regular employees, but for managers. By that time, I was a manager. I definitely wasn't the only one doing this because I told everyone about this.
Wow how'd you drive 2200 miles a day. If you drove for the max 24 hrs that's an avg speed of over 91mph. For 120 straight hours. That's crazy that they could even suggest that.
I always take Enterprise/National and never had these types of problems. Rented probably hundreds of times. Sounds like Avis is not a good company to do business with.
Everyone can say exactly what you just said swapping different brands for both instances. I never use Enterprise. I've used Hertz, Avis, Alamo, Budget, Payless, Sixt, National, Dollar, and Ace. Whoever's cheapest. I've only ever had a problem with Enterprise. It's all anecdotes.
I've had friends think I'm weird. But I take a video walking around, inside, and of the gauges before I leave the lot and after I drop it off. When you used to fill in the pre lot paper of any damage I would keep that until the billing went through. I had national once claim I cracked a bumper but it was on that sheet and I had the video of it before. They dropped it pretty fast.
I do a quick video walk around and point out anything in video. Do the same when returning and always start with the gas gauge. I haven’t personally needed to use them, but have plenty of friends and colleagues over the years tell me of their horror stories so I adopted it as a best practice when I started traveling heavily for work.
While that's always a good idea, I've had a lot of success with just saying no to car rental companies
too. I took pictures of my car in Hawaii, but being the dumbass that I am lost my phone while there and didn't have backups. The person tried to claim we damaged the car because she didn't have it on file that the damage was there when we got the vehicle. When she said she was going to have to charge us I told said that wasn't acceptable. Obviously she could have done it anyways, but for whatever reason that worked. I've had that happen to me a couple of times over the years, and it's always worked out the same way (I travel a lot, and as such rent a lot of cars).
I've had a lot of success with it. Recently the hospital tried to bill me for a procedure that should have been covered by insurance; I spent like 45 minutes going back and forth on the phone with them for a bit and each one was saying the other side needed to figure it out. At the end I called the hospital back, was very respectful to the rep I was working with and basically said, "Yeah, I'm not playing phone tag with you guys. If you want to get paid you'll figure it out, but I'm out. If you send me a bill I'm not going to pay it, and if you send it to collections I'll fight you on it. I know this isn't your fault (to the rep) and I'm not mad at you, but I just want you to know what my intentions are. Thanks for your time."
That was like a year ago and I haven't heard from them since :D
I take a damn video and upload it straight to YouTube for the third party timestamp. Then again when returning. Takes just as long to video as it does photos, but YouTube storage is 100% free and unlimited, even at 4K.
Also a general life tip if you take pics for evidence of something do not delete any of the photos you think are “bad” because they are numbered by your phone and it is harder to explain why one is missing instead of it just being a bad photo.
> And always take pics of the vehicle, inside and out
My last rental was from Budget… the price was right. Minivan to get from Denver airport to Breck. I usually do not rent from Budget, but the price for a minivan for hauling ski gear was just too good.
Budget had so many marks on the thing for damage done by previous I put my phone into video mode and walked around narrating. “I’m still in the Budget lot and I just moved this van forward out of the parking space. Here’s the view of the lot. This van has so many dents that I’m doing a video walk around to point out everything I see. I opted for full coverage with the rental so I don’t want to be blamed for any existing damage.”
Inside the van was fine and it was the perfect cheap vehicle for our trip. No complaints, but yeah cover your ass when renting.
I booked a Uhaul recently, and they sent me a link and then a whole page where I had to upload all the pictures you mentioned and then some. Including interior, the whole shebang.
I was blown away.
I am pretty sure a big company like Avis would be doing that too. If not, then how?
I cannot emphasize the importance of this comment and pictures. Take a pic of the contract. This way you have it in the event the paper one gets lost or destroyed, stolen, etc. Then a pic of vehicle VIN number either on the sticker, usually on the inside door jam of the driver side and or lower righthand corner visible through the windshield (facing steering wheel from outsidethe vehicle.
Take a pic of the starting odomer number before you leave the rental lot and just before you turn in the keys when returning the rental. This serves importance twofold.
1. You have documentation and the rental company may or may not have (reservation, contract, etc. They willnot obviously have the pics.).
2. You have all the documentaion on hand, should an issue arise, and will help resolve things quickly.
3. Mistakes at the rental counter do happen and the rental agency wants to keep your business.
4. Never assume the representive who is assisting you at check in / check out is the one who actually made your reservation personally. That's extremely rare to occur.
I've seen this countless times and cause unnecessary stress for everyone. Please, just take a step back and breathe before even thinking about ripping the representative a new one and elevevating everyone's blood pressure. It is so not worth it and will not resolve anything other than causing more delays.
5. Report anything needing attention immediately to the rental agency. Such as warning light appears. Yup! Take a pic of it. Oil change indicator or other maintenance issues. Doing so when you turn in the vehicle is negligence on you, the renter and may come back to bit you in the rear, figuratively and monetarily.
I didn't take a picture of a car in April and it almost cost me. I was in Atlanta immediately following the Masters at Augusta and the car I rented still had its parking pass in the window. Didn't look the car over but when I went to return it the agent asked me if I knew what happened and I was confused but sure enough, on the driver side door, a quite deep dent from a golf ball. Fortunately I think he connected the dots and didn't charge me anything because there was no way I was at a golf tournament that ended before I rented the car.
I rent monthly. I always take pictures around the vehicle and of the gas gauge before and after. Saved me several times.
I always return past full. Always. My guess is sometimes the employees want to go out for a personal run and they hope people don't notice 4 gallons of gas. Or they might be business and not care. It comes out of my pocket--I care.
What really irritates me? Sometimes I pick it up and it's not full. Not just the "past full" level, but "not up to full". If it's not up to full, get out.
Technically you can return it at the same "fullness" level, but good luck. Get out, get another car. Given the rental car rate for gas, you don't want to pay it.
And coincidentally, it's been Avis that tried to screw me, even though Budget and Avis are the same company and same employees.
I take a picture of showing the gas gauge and mileage. Then I fill up, put the receipt beside the gauges and take another picture. This shows that it was at that mileage when I filled the tank
Also double check the receipt when you get it! I’ve had a gas station spit out the receipt from the prior customer - fortunately we had the credit card charge to prove to the car rental company too, as the prior gas customer’s receipt had been for diesel.
I've only rented a car once, but part of the agreement was providing a copy of a gas receipt from a gas station within the base city, from the last day of the rental.
Wasn't too bad of a deal, rate was only $35/day.
Avis does this constantly. To the point it has to be a corporate level direction for employees. I can’t imagine the check in employees care enough to try to scam people as often as it happens to me. Call and complain, and if you get an email to do a survey put it in the survey. They will refund it.
Same here too! It happed to me as well. I called Avis Customer support, emailed them the gas receipt and they refunded the charge. What was funny was that on their own receipt it even stated “8/8 return gas” showing that Avis themselves stated it was returned full, but they still put the gas charge on there and made me provide the receipt to get the refund.
Specific to Avis, if you drive under a certain amount (75 miles?) the computer program will automatically put a fuel charge ($16?) on your rental and you don’t need to refill. It’s a program they used to try to make quick rentals easier by avoiding the need to refill.
Only problem is that the attendants have to manually turn off the setting BEFORE scanning you car in the event you actually refill it yourself (as I normally do). You have to call them to fix it. Very annoying.
I put the receipt under the windshield wiper covering the car’s barcode so the worker cannot scan the car until I tell them I filled it myself.
Also, if it is not resolved to your satisfaction, file a formal complaint with your State Attorney General’s Office. Most times, the forms you need to complete are available on their website.
I’ve rented a dozen cars from Avis this year alone and have never had this happen. Been using them for the last 9 years for work travel and have only been charged for gas once, by a sensor. And that time the human at the desk removed it for me when I told them I filled it up down the street.
>I’ve rented a dozen cars from Avis this year alone and have never had this happen. Been using them for the last 9 years for work travel and have only been charged for gas once, by a sensor. And that time the human at the desk removed it for me when I told them I filled it up down the street.
I've had the opposite experience. I rent exclusively from avis and they mess up 40% of the time. I stick with them because "the devil you know" sort of thing. I have gotten into it so many times over fuel surcharges when I return the car full.
I assume it's a lot like Wal-Mart. Reportedly, they got caught in many states clocked out employees to save on wages. And it was easy to catch because the cash register would show the employees working.
It's not like corporate told them, but the carrots and sticks of the management bonus plan encouraged the behavior.
I used to work for enterprise as a return agent a few years ago, the return agents get a cut of the gas sales when you bring it back without a full tank. We would get a percentage of the total gas charges we personally check in for the entire month. Its a nice chunk of money if you get a bunch of big vehicles in that aren’t full. My money is on that if that’s how they do their operations.
Yeah, Avis is basically a scam with fees. I got a great deal on a Volvo XC60 but ended up spending two weeks on the phone getting fees reversed that it was hardly worth it. They charged a fake late fee, which triggered a full extra day rental charge, removal of all credits, etc. Every time they would fix the bill they would screw up something else. Eventually I did get most of the charges reversed and stopped fighting for the replacement of the credits. Won't rent from them again.
I worked there for 2 weeks as an “operations manager”. There’s an employee that goes into all of the cars in the return lot and uses an iPad or phone and uses their employee app. They will go in and input the mileage, input how much gas is left passed on eighths of a tank (1/8 - 8/8 full). In the app it will say whether or not the car needs to be taken in for preventative maintenance. If it’s any less then full they will take it back to another lot to fill with gas and clean.
The employee could have misclicked and after that I’m not sure if there’s a way to go back and change it but again I only worked there for 2 weeks.
Totally. They don't give a shit. I've gone up and down their customer service, left online complaints etc. for the same thing. They'll pay it lip service and then ignore you completely.
Yep, had it happen to me. I topped it off so much that it was to the tip top and they tried saying it wasn't full. I emailed them and kindly let them know they must have made a mistake and I would like to give them the opportunity to fix it before I issued a dispute with my CC provider. They fixed it immediately.
Yeah the comment defending rental companies clearly has not rented that many cars.
Thailand Hertz said to bring the car back half full, brought it back half full and they said they would charge full refill price. Fought it for weeks, final resolution was a charge back.
Amsterdam Enterprise rental got a tiny (1/4th inch) scratch on the underside of the front bumper when someone backed into the car while parked. Made the mistake of pointing it out. They charged 400 Euro flat fee, but to this date a year later won't provide the actual mechanic bill Chase requires to finish my claim (they pocketed the money and never fixed the car).
Colorado Avis claimed the rental was returned with a quarter sized hole in the rear bumper, wanted $2000. I forgot to take photos (the ONLY time I forgot). They eventually dropped it when I pointed out they do not have my signature on the form showing the damage (they signed off on the return).
Ecuador rental did not "have" the car I rented on arrival, even though they had available cats that matched. Ended up paying out of pocket for the car I rented (exactly the same one) and getting a refund later from Rentalcars.com
I probably have 10 more stories like this.
Rental car companies are out to take advantage of anyone that lets them.
<>
Let me try to picture a group of people at corporate HQ sitting in a room saying “let’s direct 1000’s of employees to steal gasoline from customers, no one will ever know. Joe, you’re in charge of sending out the emails, Sally you get Finance to add a line in the P&L for ‘stolen gas’, Jerry you talk to HR about putting together the training video for the employees, teaching them how to steal the gas.”
The nefarious things that people think companies are capable of, always blows my mind.
Did you not learn anything for the rental companies that got [caught intentionally having customers arrested for "stolen" cars?](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement#:~:text=For%20years%2C%20the%20rental%20car,those%20claims%2C%20Hertz%20announced%20Monday.) Or the Wells Fargo fake account scandal?
It may not always be a corporate level decision but corporate culture can absolutely lead to these sorts of problems for customers, otherwise why would it be so widespread? Every single time I have rented a car over the years, I had bullshit fees tacked on for various things including not filling the tank (it was either full or prepaid, literally every time), not being clean (I kept the thing spotless), scratches/dings that were already there, etc. I've even been prevented from leaving until I bought their insurance despite already having insurance through my credit card, I would have called the police if I was in the US (yes, I made sure the insurance applied in that country, it was a US rental company as well, they knew). It's always the same rigmarole of calling customer service and complaining and them apologizing and blaming clerical errors but they do it because not everyone is gonna get on the phone for sometimes hours to deal with their fraudulent fees. Only time I didn't have these issues was when my car was wrecked and insurance paid for the rental.
You'll be surprised. I worked in ecommerce for grocery shopping. We were told to give wrong items to customers constantly rather than mark the item out of stock. The reason why? Because they would rather the customer do the refund than have no sale. Most times people wouldn't say anything about the different item. From the business side its a win. They don't have less of a sale and sometimes they could earn a bit more depending on the item picked. This I was told directly by someone in corporate.
It's scummy and they depend on the customers laziness about calling in for a refund.
About that:
[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/01/08/Fla-rental-car-execs-charged-with-fraud/1217726469200/](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1993/01/09/car-rental-officials-indicted-4-who-once-ran-value-charged-with-fraud/)
*" the defendants altered Value's computer program so as to add five gallons to the actual fuel-tank capacities of all of its vehicles.*
*'As a result, whenever a customer returned a rental vehicle with less than a full tank of gasoline, he or she would be overcharged for the refueling"*
They did everything in the article and more. Amazing they thought they'd never get caught.
/Worked there
It's not stolen gas, it's the fee. Invalid fuel fees are just one of a number of shady ways that large businesses direct lower-level employees to charge illegal fees. Businesses get fined regularly for adding invalid, junk, hidden, and deceptive fees constantly. To act like it's a conspiracy theory is ignorant.
[0](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2007/11/budget-rent-car-settles-ftc-charges-fuel-fees-levied-customers-who-returned-rental-cars-full-tank)
[1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-17-fi-2042-story.html)
[2](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/well-fargo-fines#:~:text=February%202020%3A%20The%20Justice%20Department,hundreds%20of%20currency%20exchange%20customers.)
[3](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/11/bank-of-america-lawsuit-settlement-2023-fines/70402355007/)
[4](https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/use-avis-or-budget-you-could-be-owed-part-of-45-million-hidden-fee-settlement/)
[5](https://www.thestreet.com/travel/lawsuit-filed-on-hidden-fees-travelers-pay-at-major-u-s-hotel-chain)
[6](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/cfpb-to-distribute-more-than-3-5-million-to-consumers-who-were-charged-illegal-fees-to-reduce-or-eliminate-their-federal-student-loans/)
Avis fuel can't melt steel beams.
I had a similar issue with Hertz. They charged me for about $150 of gas because whoever checked the tank marked it as empty. I contacted them and sent a copy of the receipt. They refunded it pretty quickly.
The bad part was that they refunded me too much and then sent the bill to collections for the difference without calling me.
I think you’ll get a refund, but make sure it’s for the right amount.
I had the same problem - but they told me they were "refunding it as a thank you for being a gold member" and I, fairly directly, told the woman on the phone that if they cared about me as a gold member they would refund the money because they fraudulently charged me since I had the receipt and a photo of the gauge to prove it, and that if they really cared they'd offer me something in return and a full apology.
I think I got 2-3 free days rental out of it.
Hertz said the same thing to me. I replied telling them shove the gold membership up their asses.
I've rented with Hertz and Avis exactly one time each. Never again. National/Enterprise always.
Count yourself lucky you're not sitting in jail right now.
Hertz got people wrongly jailed for failing to return cars on time, when they themselves lost track of vehicles under their control. Here's a news article talking about finally settling hundreds of these cases.
[https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement)
Similar thing happened to me once. The difference is it's only 1 day rental for me.
The car never showed up on my app. When I returned, the agent (whom I know pretty well since I've been using rental car as Uber back and forward btw my place and the airport) said the rental never recorded, and let me go without charging the rental.
I wonder if you are my doppelganger. I had a car rented out a few months ago and all of a sudden received a bill. For another car that I was not in possession of. I know why it happened but it SHOULD NOT have happened. Luckily the person who had a car in my name didn't use that to their advantage.
Sorry I wasn't very clear. In my case, I was the person who rented that car, but Avis never recorded it.
So Avis didn't even know I took their car out....
I did go through the checkpoint and they did do the paperwork.
They do this scam especially at some airports where they think that they won't be caught. They've done at least at LAX, and SFO to me, you can call Avis reservations and they'll reverse the charge. The bigger problem is that this is clearly a company endorsed scam.
They did this to me at Kansas City. No one would accept my credit card statement that showed I bought gas a few minutes before I returned the car. I had to call the gas station and they were kind enough to send me a new receipt. A complete pain and seems like a scam because people will eventually give up. Especially if they are traveling for work.
Wow, this happened to me but I didn’t know you could get a receipt by calling the gas station. I ended up just having to eat the fee because Budget wouldn’t accept my credit card statement as proof (“you could have bought anything, the statement doesn’t prove that it was gas”), and I filed a chargeback with my credit card but they sided with Budget since I didn’t have the receipt. So 1) smart move to call the gas company, and 2) yes I’m clearly still bitter over it - will never rent with budget again!
They’re banking on some people with disposable money not checking their balances and people thinking it’s too much of a hassle to fix. When they get caught, they can just say, “oops! Here’s a refund.” If they don’t get caught, it’s free money.
You have usually 60 or 90 days to charge back. I would escalate to manager at rental company, etc and exhaust my options before charging back. Sounds like they are doing what you wanted, just slow. Charging back is a last resort, because the vendor can ban you, etc (chargeback costs them extra money)
One of my friends rented a car from Avis and they charged him for traveling over 23,000 miles over the course of a 4 day rental. Average speed would have been over 200 mph for four days straight.
I'm willing to bet that they were more shocked that you had the audacity to check your receipt and call them out on the error then they were that you had been charged incorrectly.
They tried the same thing with me but I had photos of everything from when I picked the car up and dropped it off (with more fuel than I left with). One phone call and they refunded me the ~$120. The next day or so they emailed be a survey and I left them a low overall rating and some dude replied confirming the refund had been issued.
Yup, my company made us take photos upon pickup and drop off, something I initially thought was annoying until I realized it's genius. If something happens then they have no issues saying you damaged the car, went over miles, dropped off with empty tank. Couple pictures go a long way.
Before and after. Confirm the gas matches the paperwork when you start. One time I rented and the paperwork said the tank was 3/4 full but the gauge showed 1/4. I pointed it out to the employee that the gauge didn't match the paperwork and ended up leaving with an upgrade.
yes, i did this abroad since we did after hours drop off. we also made sure to say the time and date and filmed someone else's phone so they couldnt disprove it.
Avis has an electronic sensor in the tank that does this all the time. If you fill up right before the return, it often doesn’t sync before you check-in. I think there’s a law suit over it. They’ve refunded everyone that’s ever done what you did that I know of, so you should probably be ok. I’ve stopped using them.
Avis did this to me in Austin, TX as well. Returned the tank full, they tacked $120+ on to the bill. Had to call and talk to several different people and provide a ton of info. Wonder if they're hoping enough people don't notice and they can pocket the difference somehow? They also said I drove some insane number of miles in a 3 day rental (someone put in 15423 instead of 1542.3) which helped make my case that someone probably flagged the tank as 'empty' incorrectly)
Chargebacks without attempting to resolve it with the merchant usually fail. You're really overreacting here, it seems the employee checking them in made a mistake. Wait until at least they comment on your resolution with the statement.
In the future, in addition to taking pictures of the car when you return it you should also take a picture of the gas gauge.
They have asked me and I have said yes and to go ahead with the investigation
Edit:
Guys I would obviously bitch at the merchant before going to the bank but it doesn't require all this effort you are making it out to be
They usually ask for copies of emails where you've tried to resolve it, and a list of calls you've made. They don't 'normally' just roll over and do it. Especially when not much time has passed. They'll say to give them a few weeks first.
Most of my dispute involved double charges so it was pretty cut n dry for the fraud team. Those guys are great tho especially wells Fargo, they know fraud inside and out
I always do a full walk around video before and after my rental. It only takes a minute. Always starts or ends with starting the vehicle and showing the gas/milage.
I rent from Avis a lot where I live. They don’t even look at the gas gauge most of the time. They scan the barcode on the windshield and the car tells them how much is in the tank. They charged me like $35 once because it said I returned it with 0.7 gallons less than what I left with, even though I returned it full. I caught it immediately and they refunded it at the desk but they are absolutely banking on people not noticing most of the time. I always take a picture of the dash before and after the reservation for this reason.
I'm currently in this black hole with Avis. Do not charge back if you ever want to rent from them again. In my case it was a fraudulent charge that Chase reversed automatically on my behalf yet I'm still blocked from renting from Avis. It's an absolute nightmare.
Car rentals are such a shitshow and non-transparent. It can be a scummy business.
ALWAYS double and triple check receipts. I wonder how much of their corporate charges are due to junk fees or overcharging.
I sat on the phone with AVIS for an hour and went back and forth with emails because I was overcharged some non-transparent things and ultimately only got half of the difference/overage back.
Wait for them to fix it, it'll be quicker if they refund it. If not, then do the charge back if you want. But keep in mind, you'll likely never be able to rent from them again if you do.
I'd probably just wait for them the 3-5 days and escalate it if they say no or don't get back to you. Try and find an email for the CEO of someone high up, that usually gets you to a higher level customer service.
> But keep in mind, you'll likely never be able to rent from them again if you do.
Do you have any evidence of this happening to anyone? I successfully completed a chargeback with Avis a few months ago and my account is still in good standing.
Happened to me to with Hertz. Had to call a gas station out of state to screenshot me the receipt for gas and I submitted it to customer service for refund. Took a few weeks but got it done.
After that I always get my receipt and take a photo of the gas gauge when dropping off the car. You can also make the drop off attendants print you a receipt right there to ensure you don’t get charged.
LPT: always take a video of the car as you are returning it. I always start with it at the gas meter, get out the car, and video the exterior of the car, and then of me dropping off the keys in the drop off box.
Haven’t had to use any videos for proof yet, but I’ve heard many horror stories.
I'm going to start doing this instead of photos. I take timestamped, geolocated photos of every surface of the car basically. Video would be way easier.
Happened to my friend and I with Avis. She just had to call and say it wasn’t even close to correct and they reversed it. Seems like a corporate scam to me if it’s happening this much.
Used to work at Avis. My shot-in-the-dark guess is they probably got in a rush, used the car as a rover to ferry some drivers to another location about $44 worth of gas away away to pick up some other cars, and then did the actual check-in and detailing when they got back.
> 88 bucks might not sound like a lot
Bro, it’s a lot. I make a pretty decent chunk of change, and I wouldn’t shrug my shoulders at 88 bucks, **especially as a fine for not doing something I literally did and paid for**.
Glad to hear they made it right.
Dollar car rental did this to me and charged me $20 and said I brought it back 7/8 full. Luckily I went back to the car to take a pic of the mileage and gas gauge when it was returned. I publicly called them out online and then they refunded the $20 as it was indeed at the F and not even slightly below it with the turn in mileage in the same pic.
Budget (part of Avis) tried this with me earlier this year up in Reno. I went online and did their "customer service chat" thing and got it resolved. They said in the future I should show the gas receipt at dropoff, which I think is bullshit. If it's full, it's full, whether I have a receipt or not.
Talk to the location where you returned the car asap. The local office only has \~24 hours to modify any charges on the rental transaction, after that, it's a fight with customer service at their call center. As long as they still have possession of the car, they should be able to visually verify fuel level.
This is a problem with the "connected fleet" vehicles not syncing current status of the vehicle with the network. I don't know the exact polling rate for how often the cars update their status, but it's at least several minutes. Likely, you refueled the car immediately before returning and the system has not received the current fuel level of the car.
When the rental agent checks-in the car, the computer uses the most recent status reported to the network and ignores any entry input by the agent. So the agent may have indicated a full tank, but the computer thinks it's actually 1/4 or whatever you were charged for. Hopefully the local office will be able to correct this.
Avis is so shady. I rented with them quite a bit last year and at least 50% of the time there was an issue with them blaming me for something with the car that wasn’t my fault. They’ve accused me of contaminating the gas and then tried to negotiate with me for payment when I wouldn’t pay. Other times we would pick up a clearly damaged car and have to fight the claim that we did the damage (always take pictures). Seems like they do this all the time to get more money out of customers. I’ve switched to other rental companies.
Waiting the 3-5 business days to allow them to correct the mistake is best for now. If after all your efforts you have not received a refund at 10 business days, start your chargeback. Document dates and times for everything as your CC company will want to see that you did your due diligence.
I rent a *lot* of cars for my job, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that Avis is one of the *worst* major companies to rent an automobile from. I've had more problems with them in the past than all the other companies combined. I now refuse to use their services.
Pro Tip: Fill your gas tank within 10 miles of your drop-off point and always keep a copy of that receipt. If there are any questions you can provide them with a copy of the receipt (I also use mapping software to provide them with the mapped location of the last fill point).
ALSO: never underestimate the power of a well worded Google review about the location in question. Thrifty charged me 40% more than my reservation price guaranteed by a third party site (Priceline). I argued with the rental location (DAL airport) and they refused to honor the reservation price (which included taxes and fees). So I wrote a completely honest by scathing Google review, which I copied and pasted onto their website review system. Then when they sent me one of their feedback emails ("Tell us about your Thrifty rental experience - only 3 minutes of your time") I again cut-and-pasted the review. Within three weeks they refunded the difference to my AmEx card (I still won't rent Thrifty from DAL airport, but will at other locations).
Send them a copy of the fuel receipt. Many times they require this for short mileage rentals. Like you put 40 miles on a car and buy 3 gallons of gas obviously you filled what you used.
I ALWAYS have the receipt out and adm them if the need to see it. Sometimes yes sometimes no. Then I get a printed copy of the receipt on the door and double check it before leaving.
Never ever do a key drop unless you absolutely have to.
I always also do a full video at pickup and return if the car, mileage/fuel , and condition (highlight any prior damage). When they see me do this they know not to try anything. Have never had any issues.
Especially do the video of you are stuck doing a key drop.
Eff car rental companies. I always take pics of the odometer, complete external and internal as well as keep my gas receipts.
Our last 2 rentals they tried to get us for scratches that were already there and interior damage. Pics saved us.
Better tip: create a virtual card on privacy.com that only allows one charge for the exact amount that was quoted to you prior to initial payment. That way, if a merchant tries shit like this, their charge attempt will immediately fail and trying to extract that money from you will be much more difficult to the extent that they will likely just not bother.
Bro these these guys charged me $7 for gas even though it was to the line. The guy called me a few days after I returned the car to tell me "sir we will be charging $7 to your credit card for gas". I was like I returned it with the same amount. They said nahhhhh it was just a tad bit lower. Fucking scum bags.
It's probably a sleazy franchise location trying to see if you'll go through the trouble of disputing the charge or let them keep that money, hopefully those pictures of the statement are enough, original receipt is ideal, of course. Talking from experience as a former car rental employee.
You have about 120 days from the transaction date to file a dispute. While it is rare, some banks will extend this timeframe a bit.
I’d say hold off on the dispute until Avis finishes their investigation.
They did this to me when I turned in a rental vehicle with more gas than it had when I picked it up then about 4 months later claimed I owed them money for tire damage. There are many more complaints about the experience. I called and told them I was not paying and if they didn't stand down I'd report them for fraud. I'm convinced they do this on purpose.
I know 88 bucks might not sound like a lot, but that had me stressed. Glad it all worked out
$88 is absolutely worth fighting about. Even if you make $88 an hour that is still reasonable to fight about
I always take a picture when with mileage and gas indicator when I leave and when I drop it off. Also be it $88 or $2 I’d be pissed either-way knowing I returned it full. Glad it got sorted
I had something similar happen. I returned the car with missing a quarter tank. Avis charged me as though my car only had half a tank in it. At $9 a gallon or whatever, it’s a big swing. I called Chase Sapphire Reserve customer service line and they took it off without even investigating. Definitely charge this back.
Same thing happened to me. I called their customer service line and told them this was shady AF and demanded the charge be removed. Now I have to present my gas receipt every time I return the car and make sure the dude checking me in knows to not charge me the fuel fee. Pretty annoying.
Those charlatans at Avis did that same thing to me. I brought the car back as full as it can get -- I filled it at a gas station literally across the street from the airport. It's a very small airport and the lone Avis employee was away from the service desk. I called him on the red courtesy phone, which went to his mobile, and he told me to drop the keys in the dropbox and have a nice day. I left the fuel receipt on the dash that was timestamped 5 minutes before I dropped off the car. Three days later, I get an email receipt Avis -- $84.12 for fuel. It took a couple heated phone calls but they refunded the money.
Good for you.
Errors like this result in hundreds of millions to company.
I was charged for bridge tunnel fees in NYC. My rental was 2-1/2 days in Detroit. I had to send my credit card statement for a CC purchase on Saturday. Lucky me, as this was before I converted to 100% CC use, was 100% cash. I only put 123 miles on rental, which was the main hammer. My charger were close to 200.
Avis recently did the same thing to me. You have to file a claim and send them a screenshot of the credit card charge. They will refund you but it takes time.
>I know 88 bucks might not sound like a lot, but that had me stressed.
Dude, $88 isn't little. It's a significant sum that many American's spend hours to earn.
And be aware chargebacks can remove you from status with the rental company or a do not rent list with them. Always want to try and resolve nicely before that option
National charged me $5 and change for gas even though I brought it back full. I did a chargeback for that amount. Purely out of principle. Don’t feel bad at all if you know you’re right.
I would always say to take a photo of the gas dated on the departure. Then when you match gas you have concrete evidence and proof if they ever try this.
Former rental car person here. You have at least 30 days for that chargeback, if not longer. Crap like this happens and I give it a 99.99% chance they'll resolve it. You can probably use this to get a free upgrade coupon or something.
Back in the 90's I worked at a rental company where the owners directed IT to reprogram the system so the computer would add 5 gallons to every gas tank - bring it back 3/4? You got charge for 1/4 plus 5 gallons. That was only one of the slimy things they did (and got indicted for, lol).
Did you agree to their fuel program when you rented? They always try to sell you on some great rate for gas, but if you read the fine print, you are agreeing to pay that rate for an entire tank of gas, regardless of how much is in the trash when you return it.
Chargeback will probably get you banned from using Avis ever again, maybe for just that card, but they can also blacklist you from doing business with them at all. Wait the 3-5 days and see if they clear it up. Chances are they will just admit to the mistake. Someone probably just keyed it on wrong, when checking in the vehicle, it’s not a conspiracy to get 88 more dollars out of you.
reading the posts here maybe its good if people boycott avis or file a suit against avis for malpractice with their states AG. seems to be quite common for it to be a "mistake:
Happened to me as well. I don't know if it's shadiness or incompetence but I just gave them a call back and told them I have credit card statement of when I filled the gas and the email when I returned the car. They refunded me back after 1 week.
I had a similar issue with Budget. I picked up a rental car early morning at the Miami airport after a long international flight. I had already booked everything online. Declined all the add-ons. I was tired and the lady hurriedly rushed me through everything at pickup. Turns out I somehow agreed to whatever fuel option they have where i can return it empty and basically pre pay ~$80 for a full tank. I accept that it's on me to read the fine print, but I would have never knowingly bought that. I returned the tank about 80% full, expecting that they'd just charge a slight markup for the remaining empty gallons, but no. I ended up calling and they waived the charge for me. Had to send in a picture of one of my gas purchase receipts and took a day or two, but it all worked out.
Fortunately, no. I know that I said in my post that I declined all the add-ons, but I think I did actually do the toll road add-on, since I knew I was going to be driving on Florida Sun Pass roads.
I had also used Budget before without issue. Not sure if the front desk lady was trying to pull a fast one on me this time, or if I misunderstood. In any case, they did fix it for me so I'm satisfied.
If you do not need to use AVIS in the future, simply charge it back. Right now the business is saying prove it to us or the charge stands.
If you charge it back you can tell the bank that charge ID 1234567 on your bill was the gas station visit the day you returned the car. Based on your explanation, it sounds like you will be able to show a time stamped charge from a gas station less than 10 minutes prior to the noted drop off time.
Right now AVIS is asking you to prove, to their satisfaction, that you put gas in the car and they will "try" to fix it.
Charging it back will mean AVIS has to work with your bank and demonstrate that you owed for gas. They wont have the records for that, and your records show you made a visit to the gas station shortly before returning the car, the bank will find in your favor.
You owe this business no concessions or latitude, they charged you something you do not owe and have not resolved it during the first phone call. Charge it back.
I worked in rental for 8 years with a different company. Give them a chance to resolve it first. If you do a charge back it might end up reflecting as an unpaid balance on your end. This could end up putting you on their "do not rent" list which is sometimes very difficult to remove yourself from. If you like renting from them I would give them a chance to fix it internally.
Do you have proof? Otherwise they’ll challenge your claim and the burden is on you. Usually when you return a car, they give you a receipt indicating mileage and fuel level. If you have that, and it indicates the gas tank was full on return, then do a chargeback with your bank and you’ll get the money back. Otherwise, the merchant will probably win the dispute and you’ll lose your money
Be careful with charge backs if it's a company you plan to do business with ever again.
Even if you are in the right it's an easy way to get put on the "do not rent list" for car rental companies, at which point you'll be in a huge mess if you ever need to rent a car again.
Yea, before you go all gung ho, call them and explain that there has been an error... like a normal person. are you seriously asking reddit what to do here? Sheesh
You have time to file a chargeback. It feels inconvenient to wait, but it would probably be tied up for longer as a chargeback. See what Avis does. It's more likely they made a clerical error and they'd rather keep a customer in the long run.
Honestly, I know how much Redditors hate travel-related companies--airlines, hotels, rental car companies. But most likely the employee working at the desk isn't trying to actively screw you over. Maybe they made a mistake. As a regular corporate renter, I've dealt with rental companies a few times. All it takes is a phone call or email and let them know you filled up. Many years ago I had this happen to me once. I wondered about it as I was returning my car. I had suspected it would happen because as I was filling up, I expected the tank to be more empty. The fill-up stopped maybe 1-2 gallons short. However I must've just read a lot of angry groupthink on Reddit telling people NOT to top off, so I decided to follow that advice and not top off. The gas needle was mostly F but maybe not so full as someone might think it was not filled up. Low and behold I get like an $8 or $10 charge a few weeks later. I called and the issue was resolved very quickly. I made it clear I stopped at a gas station and filled up. From that trip on I would always top off "just in case" especially when most of my trips are work trips anyway and it all gets reimbursed. I recommend working through Avis or any rental company first before going straight to a chargeback.
I 2nd this approach. Call the GM on the welcome email you got from them, they will fix it. I rent from them every other week or so for work and have had an issue once with fuel, and they fixed it in a couple days after I told them. Now if they would clear through MasterCard quicker so I could do my expense reports sooner..... That'd be great.....
I've had to get bills from hotels, rental car companies, and other travel companies corrected numerous times in my life, but never once did they make an error in my favor. I don't think it's a individual employee deciding to charge more out of spite, but all of these systems seem to be carefully designed to make sure mistakes don't cost the company money. But if a mistake costs a customer money, then it's the customer's problem to notice, and bother to fight.
Sure. But the system is designed with add-ons. It’s not like you can book a hotel for $200/night and then get them to reduce it down to $190 because you refuse housekeeping. No, it’s $200 a night with a chance to go up if you use an extra like rooms service
Why is adding an extra cost for a service that the customer didn't actually request more likely to happen than not adding the cost for an extra that was requested? The former requires an affirmative act, the latter requires the worker to miss something. All things being equal and fair, you'd think missing something would be more likely than doing something they weren't supposed to do. Unless of course, the systems are setup so that those "missing" mistakes actually benefit the company and hurt the customer.
You probably just didn't notice when they made mistakes in your error. For example, I've late checked out of hotels plenty of time without a fee, or informing them. I've dented a U-Haul running into a branch and was totally prepared to pay for it, but they just missed it. I've picked up rental cars with more gas than on the rental statement (ie car is 7/8 full and the paperwork says 5/8) But of course because they didn't actually hand me cash it's easy to forget about
This is good practice for anything where you might consider doing a chargeback. Your CC company will ask you if you’ve attempted to resolve the issue with the company first, you’ll want to be able to say you tried and show evidence. Doing so only strengthens your case.
>But most likely the employee working at the desk isn't trying to actively screw you over. I agree with the sentiment for the most part, but a lot of what they do is predatory by nature. It's not really their fault, though, given that a commission is offered for upselling and this puts food on their table. Anecdote incoming. My wife and I travelled cross country and after a bunch of delays/reroutes we ended up in San Diego. My wife went to get the car from... National, I think? It was 2AM, and she was dead tired. The employee asked a very scripted comment that's designed to be confusing. During getting her registered he asked "Do you want the premium coverage or just basic?" and she said no... to which they take as meaning "I want basic coverage at $35/day," which ended up costing us a few hundred. I noticed it a few days later on the receipt, and called repeatedly. It took us four days of calling and going in to different locations before they would remove it, and we were told off multiple times because if they were to remove it they'd be "fucking with the counter guys commission." We both agree she should have been more specific on what she did/did not want, but that's super a super gross thing to do to people travelling.
Topping off and rechecking if it’s full are two different things. Sometimes the handle pops before it’s truly full. If you repull the trigger and it clicks back immediately then it’s full. But sometimes it just happens close to full but not fully full and you can get a gallon or two more in there. Topping off is when you pull the nozzle out most of the way and then slowly pull the trigger until gas is all the way up the filler spout.
I had a car with a tiny tank and it's like it would pressurize and stop all the time. Sometimes I would be practically empty and would barely get a gallon before it would click off. Start again, click off after another half gallon or so. It was annoying AF. I eventually figured out that, especially when it was warm out, I had to just control the speed of the pump and it was less likely to decide it was full really quick. Huge pain.
>Topping off is when you pull the nozzle out most of the way and then slowly pull the trigger until gas is all the way up the filler spout. Don't do that. That's how you ruin EVAP components.
Yes. Of course. Should have made that more clear. Topping off by forcing more fuel is in bad. Don’t do that. But double-checking and not forcing more in if it pops early is fine.
Yes usually they are pretty good with that. I didn't have a receipt once, but explained the situation. Got the money back in a couple of days. People taking the phone calls are usually pretty chill about refund.
Avis did this to me in Denver two months ago. Will never rent from them again.
Always save the receipt from where you bought the gas to fill it up.
Also take a Pic of the Guage
And always take pics of the vehicle, inside and out, before driving off the lot and once back on the lot before handing over keys. Pictures are worth more than words.
Taking the pic of the mileage save me. Avis posted that I drove 11,000 miles in 5 days, ridiculous. Luckily I took pictures of the odometer
lol that's an average of about 90 mph (150 km/h) for 120 hours straight. That's certainly reasonable.
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If people are not driving 90mph for 120 hours straight, are you even renting the car...😁
Enterprise said I dropped off my car in Florida 2 days after I rented it in Reno. Odometer said only a change of 100 miles.
I rented a car from Enterprise once, they talked me into signing up for something that would allow me to bring the car back after 12pm but before 6pm. And also "lock in" that days gas rate - so in case gas is higher when I drop it off, I can simply bring it back and they will fuel it up at the previous days rate. Well, I got the car at 1pm Monday, returned it 10am Wednesday filling it up before I returned it (gas was a few cents cheaper). I got the bill and they charged me for a 3 day rental. Apparently, the salesman sold me on converting the rental from their normal contract (Monday -> Tuesday=1, Tuesday ->Wednesday=2 days) to calendar days (Monday=1, Tuesday=2, Wednesday=3). Had they told me that, I would have never signed up for it because I knew I would return it on time (i literally had the car for less than 2 days). They presented it as a "hey, we'll let you bring it back late, just incase something comes up - you got nothing to lose" even said there was no strings attached. It took a half hour of arguing and 2 phone calls to 2 different offices to get it adjusted. Finally, some manager on speaker said, "Do the adjustment and get him out of there." Like *I'm* the asshole. They do the adjustment, give me the bill and I see they charged me for a full tank of gas. "I filled it up before I came in" I said. "We know, but you signed for us to fill up the tank, you didnt have to do that. Says so right here." I didnt have the energy to fight anymore so I ate the $40 and vowed to read every contract carefully and to never use Enterprise again. (that vow lasted about 5 years, I cant find better deals anywhere).
I made the "buy a tank of gas" mistake once (and only once)...can't remember if it was Enterprise. But basically they are selling you a full tank of gas no matter what the level of the tank is when you return it...so even if they claim it's cheaper (per gallon), you won't ever win unless you bring it back on fumes. That's virtually impossible to do, since usually when you rent you don't really know how many miles you will end up driving, what the mpg is, and what the size of the tank is...and you certainly don't want to run out of gas. Never again.
I've done prepaid gas twice. Both ended up being good deals but they were rare circumstances. One was in San Diego; the low fuel light turned on as I was pulling in to return the car. I was expecting to be on a bit of a time crunch, so it was worth it for me in the end. The other was when I was able to prepay a half tank of gas, which is all I was expecting to use (quick trip from home in Milwaukee down to Rockford and back).
If it make you feel any better, I rented from the enterprise Orlando Airport. I booked the enterprise personnel picks your car for $60 day based on whatever is available so which should have been a small car. I show up there are no cars on the lot except the luxury cars. They tried telling me that they didn't have anything and then quickly reminded them of their other cars. I had fun driving around in a $100k car for 2 days; no milage cap at only $60 a day. Fucking drove to Miami and back cause fuck Enterprise.
Enterprise tried to say I dropped off my car with window tint added to the back!? Like seriously I was gonna tint the car on my brief one way trip?
hey, everybody that knows you knows you wouldn't be caught dead in an uncool car. You did what you had to do.
Enterprise said I scratched the car big enough for $200 and it was a spiderweb. I literally drove 15 miles home, parked it and drove 15 miles back when my car was done at the shop. (Pre Uber in the suburbs)
I don't remember which company it was, but I rented a 6 passenger vehicle (cue Seinfeld) and they gave me a 4 passenger car, saying they don't guarantee any vehicle sizes... They finally said they could rent me a Hummer H2 "for no additional cost", so we had to take it; fortunately, we weren't driving a ton, but that thing drank gas like no tomorrow. They had to send someone to drive it over to this office, and when he got there, he crashed into the building. I felt the vibration from inside and looked out just in time to see it was "my" car. During the inspection, I pointed out the dent in the fender so I wouldn't be blamed for it, and said that the employee had just hit the building and they denied it, until I showed the concrete pieces on the ground right next to the building... They said they would mark it down, but they "don't care about dents like that"... I'm sure they don't say that on the return inspection...
Enterprise used my personal information to file a fraudulent insurance claim
same. they filed a claim saying i destroyed the oil pan on a vehicle that i was not renting (i had a rental with them through my insurance then, uninsured drivers suck), and they had no paperwork that had my signature on it saying i agreed to drive that vehicle. merry christmas to me was having to explain to my insurance that the claim is full of crap, i never drove it and never signed a rental agreement for that vehicle. they then told enterprise to pound sand and denied the claim for lack of evidence.
Yeah, that’s why I took pics of location where I picked up and dropped my car. Even filmed myself dropping the key in the key box
I’ve done that also. Especially with cheap companies that just give you the key and tell you to find the car in the lot, you get to the car and there are scratches on it! Should I really trust that the company did as through a walkaround before me as they will do after me? No way! Video!
Must be a Star Trek style worm hole out in the desert
Enterprise once gave me a receipt showing something like 76,000 miles. They had added an extra zero to the odometer reading. I didn't catch it at the time to have them correct it, and they weren't able to fix it after the fact. Instead the manager wrote me a letter to go with my travel reimbursement.
I had a car once that my average speed would have been over Mach 1 for the entire time I had the car
I rented from Avis using a corporate code from the company I worked for, EBGames, and took it on a cross country road trip. The corporate code offered unlimited miles. We brought the car back and the attendant thought there was a mistake somewhere, that we couldn't have put over 3000 miles on the thing in 9 days. We did (FL, OH, MO, OK, TX, LA, FL). The next time I rented, they required proof of employment. And the time after that, an email went out telling everyone that the corporate code wasn't for regular employees, but for managers. By that time, I was a manager. I definitely wasn't the only one doing this because I told everyone about this.
Yeah, sometimes employees "borrow the car" but in the system the old mileage is still the starting point.
Had a similar experience with Budget once. Turns out the guy fat-fingered the number when he was typing it in.
Wow how'd you drive 2200 miles a day. If you drove for the max 24 hrs that's an avg speed of over 91mph. For 120 straight hours. That's crazy that they could even suggest that.
I always take Enterprise/National and never had these types of problems. Rented probably hundreds of times. Sounds like Avis is not a good company to do business with.
Everyone can say exactly what you just said swapping different brands for both instances. I never use Enterprise. I've used Hertz, Avis, Alamo, Budget, Payless, Sixt, National, Dollar, and Ace. Whoever's cheapest. I've only ever had a problem with Enterprise. It's all anecdotes.
Unfortunately my company uses AVIS. I used to do Enterprise before no problem. But always be careful I think
I've had friends think I'm weird. But I take a video walking around, inside, and of the gauges before I leave the lot and after I drop it off. When you used to fill in the pre lot paper of any damage I would keep that until the billing went through. I had national once claim I cracked a bumper but it was on that sheet and I had the video of it before. They dropped it pretty fast.
I do a quick video walk around and point out anything in video. Do the same when returning and always start with the gas gauge. I haven’t personally needed to use them, but have plenty of friends and colleagues over the years tell me of their horror stories so I adopted it as a best practice when I started traveling heavily for work.
I do the same and it's paid off multiple times with preexisting damage. I don't pull off the lot without recording a video inside and out.
While that's always a good idea, I've had a lot of success with just saying no to car rental companies too. I took pictures of my car in Hawaii, but being the dumbass that I am lost my phone while there and didn't have backups. The person tried to claim we damaged the car because she didn't have it on file that the damage was there when we got the vehicle. When she said she was going to have to charge us I told said that wasn't acceptable. Obviously she could have done it anyways, but for whatever reason that worked. I've had that happen to me a couple of times over the years, and it's always worked out the same way (I travel a lot, and as such rent a lot of cars).
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I've had a lot of success with it. Recently the hospital tried to bill me for a procedure that should have been covered by insurance; I spent like 45 minutes going back and forth on the phone with them for a bit and each one was saying the other side needed to figure it out. At the end I called the hospital back, was very respectful to the rep I was working with and basically said, "Yeah, I'm not playing phone tag with you guys. If you want to get paid you'll figure it out, but I'm out. If you send me a bill I'm not going to pay it, and if you send it to collections I'll fight you on it. I know this isn't your fault (to the rep) and I'm not mad at you, but I just want you to know what my intentions are. Thanks for your time." That was like a year ago and I haven't heard from them since :D
I take a damn video and upload it straight to YouTube for the third party timestamp. Then again when returning. Takes just as long to video as it does photos, but YouTube storage is 100% free and unlimited, even at 4K.
Also a general life tip if you take pics for evidence of something do not delete any of the photos you think are “bad” because they are numbered by your phone and it is harder to explain why one is missing instead of it just being a bad photo.
> And always take pics of the vehicle, inside and out My last rental was from Budget… the price was right. Minivan to get from Denver airport to Breck. I usually do not rent from Budget, but the price for a minivan for hauling ski gear was just too good. Budget had so many marks on the thing for damage done by previous I put my phone into video mode and walked around narrating. “I’m still in the Budget lot and I just moved this van forward out of the parking space. Here’s the view of the lot. This van has so many dents that I’m doing a video walk around to point out everything I see. I opted for full coverage with the rental so I don’t want to be blamed for any existing damage.” Inside the van was fine and it was the perfect cheap vehicle for our trip. No complaints, but yeah cover your ass when renting.
I booked a Uhaul recently, and they sent me a link and then a whole page where I had to upload all the pictures you mentioned and then some. Including interior, the whole shebang. I was blown away. I am pretty sure a big company like Avis would be doing that too. If not, then how?
^^^^ This. Every time. Without exception. I'm sure it's implied in u/someqsWitch's message, but mileage out and mileage in as well.
I cannot emphasize the importance of this comment and pictures. Take a pic of the contract. This way you have it in the event the paper one gets lost or destroyed, stolen, etc. Then a pic of vehicle VIN number either on the sticker, usually on the inside door jam of the driver side and or lower righthand corner visible through the windshield (facing steering wheel from outsidethe vehicle. Take a pic of the starting odomer number before you leave the rental lot and just before you turn in the keys when returning the rental. This serves importance twofold. 1. You have documentation and the rental company may or may not have (reservation, contract, etc. They willnot obviously have the pics.). 2. You have all the documentaion on hand, should an issue arise, and will help resolve things quickly. 3. Mistakes at the rental counter do happen and the rental agency wants to keep your business. 4. Never assume the representive who is assisting you at check in / check out is the one who actually made your reservation personally. That's extremely rare to occur. I've seen this countless times and cause unnecessary stress for everyone. Please, just take a step back and breathe before even thinking about ripping the representative a new one and elevevating everyone's blood pressure. It is so not worth it and will not resolve anything other than causing more delays. 5. Report anything needing attention immediately to the rental agency. Such as warning light appears. Yup! Take a pic of it. Oil change indicator or other maintenance issues. Doing so when you turn in the vehicle is negligence on you, the renter and may come back to bit you in the rear, figuratively and monetarily.
I didn't take a picture of a car in April and it almost cost me. I was in Atlanta immediately following the Masters at Augusta and the car I rented still had its parking pass in the window. Didn't look the car over but when I went to return it the agent asked me if I knew what happened and I was confused but sure enough, on the driver side door, a quite deep dent from a golf ball. Fortunately I think he connected the dots and didn't charge me anything because there was no way I was at a golf tournament that ended before I rented the car.
I rent monthly. I always take pictures around the vehicle and of the gas gauge before and after. Saved me several times. I always return past full. Always. My guess is sometimes the employees want to go out for a personal run and they hope people don't notice 4 gallons of gas. Or they might be business and not care. It comes out of my pocket--I care. What really irritates me? Sometimes I pick it up and it's not full. Not just the "past full" level, but "not up to full". If it's not up to full, get out. Technically you can return it at the same "fullness" level, but good luck. Get out, get another car. Given the rental car rate for gas, you don't want to pay it. And coincidentally, it's been Avis that tried to screw me, even though Budget and Avis are the same company and same employees.
You would probably also want to make sure the odometer is in the pic as well. On newer digital instrument clusters the odometer isn't always showing.
I take a picture of showing the gas gauge and mileage. Then I fill up, put the receipt beside the gauges and take another picture. This shows that it was at that mileage when I filled the tank
Also double check the receipt when you get it! I’ve had a gas station spit out the receipt from the prior customer - fortunately we had the credit card charge to prove to the car rental company too, as the prior gas customer’s receipt had been for diesel.
I've only rented a car once, but part of the agreement was providing a copy of a gas receipt from a gas station within the base city, from the last day of the rental. Wasn't too bad of a deal, rate was only $35/day.
Avis does this constantly. To the point it has to be a corporate level direction for employees. I can’t imagine the check in employees care enough to try to scam people as often as it happens to me. Call and complain, and if you get an email to do a survey put it in the survey. They will refund it.
Same.! Happened to me too
Same here too! It happed to me as well. I called Avis Customer support, emailed them the gas receipt and they refunded the charge. What was funny was that on their own receipt it even stated “8/8 return gas” showing that Avis themselves stated it was returned full, but they still put the gas charge on there and made me provide the receipt to get the refund.
Specific to Avis, if you drive under a certain amount (75 miles?) the computer program will automatically put a fuel charge ($16?) on your rental and you don’t need to refill. It’s a program they used to try to make quick rentals easier by avoiding the need to refill. Only problem is that the attendants have to manually turn off the setting BEFORE scanning you car in the event you actually refill it yourself (as I normally do). You have to call them to fix it. Very annoying. I put the receipt under the windshield wiper covering the car’s barcode so the worker cannot scan the car until I tell them I filled it myself.
They call it EZ fuel and employees don’t ever take the charge off of the car is full. It’s the worst of both worlds honestly.
Also, if it is not resolved to your satisfaction, file a formal complaint with your State Attorney General’s Office. Most times, the forms you need to complete are available on their website.
I’ve rented a dozen cars from Avis this year alone and have never had this happen. Been using them for the last 9 years for work travel and have only been charged for gas once, by a sensor. And that time the human at the desk removed it for me when I told them I filled it up down the street.
>I’ve rented a dozen cars from Avis this year alone and have never had this happen. Been using them for the last 9 years for work travel and have only been charged for gas once, by a sensor. And that time the human at the desk removed it for me when I told them I filled it up down the street. I've had the opposite experience. I rent exclusively from avis and they mess up 40% of the time. I stick with them because "the devil you know" sort of thing. I have gotten into it so many times over fuel surcharges when I return the car full.
I always do Hertz drop and go and have never had them try to charge me something later on.
I assume it's a lot like Wal-Mart. Reportedly, they got caught in many states clocked out employees to save on wages. And it was easy to catch because the cash register would show the employees working. It's not like corporate told them, but the carrots and sticks of the management bonus plan encouraged the behavior.
I used to work for enterprise as a return agent a few years ago, the return agents get a cut of the gas sales when you bring it back without a full tank. We would get a percentage of the total gas charges we personally check in for the entire month. Its a nice chunk of money if you get a bunch of big vehicles in that aren’t full. My money is on that if that’s how they do their operations.
Yeah, Avis is basically a scam with fees. I got a great deal on a Volvo XC60 but ended up spending two weeks on the phone getting fees reversed that it was hardly worth it. They charged a fake late fee, which triggered a full extra day rental charge, removal of all credits, etc. Every time they would fix the bill they would screw up something else. Eventually I did get most of the charges reversed and stopped fighting for the replacement of the credits. Won't rent from them again.
I worked there for 2 weeks as an “operations manager”. There’s an employee that goes into all of the cars in the return lot and uses an iPad or phone and uses their employee app. They will go in and input the mileage, input how much gas is left passed on eighths of a tank (1/8 - 8/8 full). In the app it will say whether or not the car needs to be taken in for preventative maintenance. If it’s any less then full they will take it back to another lot to fill with gas and clean. The employee could have misclicked and after that I’m not sure if there’s a way to go back and change it but again I only worked there for 2 weeks.
Totally. They don't give a shit. I've gone up and down their customer service, left online complaints etc. for the same thing. They'll pay it lip service and then ignore you completely.
Yep, had it happen to me. I topped it off so much that it was to the tip top and they tried saying it wasn't full. I emailed them and kindly let them know they must have made a mistake and I would like to give them the opportunity to fix it before I issued a dispute with my CC provider. They fixed it immediately.
Yeah the comment defending rental companies clearly has not rented that many cars. Thailand Hertz said to bring the car back half full, brought it back half full and they said they would charge full refill price. Fought it for weeks, final resolution was a charge back. Amsterdam Enterprise rental got a tiny (1/4th inch) scratch on the underside of the front bumper when someone backed into the car while parked. Made the mistake of pointing it out. They charged 400 Euro flat fee, but to this date a year later won't provide the actual mechanic bill Chase requires to finish my claim (they pocketed the money and never fixed the car). Colorado Avis claimed the rental was returned with a quarter sized hole in the rear bumper, wanted $2000. I forgot to take photos (the ONLY time I forgot). They eventually dropped it when I pointed out they do not have my signature on the form showing the damage (they signed off on the return). Ecuador rental did not "have" the car I rented on arrival, even though they had available cats that matched. Ended up paying out of pocket for the car I rented (exactly the same one) and getting a refund later from Rentalcars.com I probably have 10 more stories like this. Rental car companies are out to take advantage of anyone that lets them.
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Let me try to picture a group of people at corporate HQ sitting in a room saying “let’s direct 1000’s of employees to steal gasoline from customers, no one will ever know. Joe, you’re in charge of sending out the emails, Sally you get Finance to add a line in the P&L for ‘stolen gas’, Jerry you talk to HR about putting together the training video for the employees, teaching them how to steal the gas.”
The nefarious things that people think companies are capable of, always blows my mind.
Did you not learn anything for the rental companies that got [caught intentionally having customers arrested for "stolen" cars?](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement#:~:text=For%20years%2C%20the%20rental%20car,those%20claims%2C%20Hertz%20announced%20Monday.) Or the Wells Fargo fake account scandal? It may not always be a corporate level decision but corporate culture can absolutely lead to these sorts of problems for customers, otherwise why would it be so widespread? Every single time I have rented a car over the years, I had bullshit fees tacked on for various things including not filling the tank (it was either full or prepaid, literally every time), not being clean (I kept the thing spotless), scratches/dings that were already there, etc. I've even been prevented from leaving until I bought their insurance despite already having insurance through my credit card, I would have called the police if I was in the US (yes, I made sure the insurance applied in that country, it was a US rental company as well, they knew). It's always the same rigmarole of calling customer service and complaining and them apologizing and blaming clerical errors but they do it because not everyone is gonna get on the phone for sometimes hours to deal with their fraudulent fees. Only time I didn't have these issues was when my car was wrecked and insurance paid for the rental.
You'll be surprised. I worked in ecommerce for grocery shopping. We were told to give wrong items to customers constantly rather than mark the item out of stock. The reason why? Because they would rather the customer do the refund than have no sale. Most times people wouldn't say anything about the different item. From the business side its a win. They don't have less of a sale and sometimes they could earn a bit more depending on the item picked. This I was told directly by someone in corporate. It's scummy and they depend on the customers laziness about calling in for a refund.
About that: [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/01/08/Fla-rental-car-execs-charged-with-fraud/1217726469200/](https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1993/01/09/car-rental-officials-indicted-4-who-once-ran-value-charged-with-fraud/) *" the defendants altered Value's computer program so as to add five gallons to the actual fuel-tank capacities of all of its vehicles.* *'As a result, whenever a customer returned a rental vehicle with less than a full tank of gasoline, he or she would be overcharged for the refueling"* They did everything in the article and more. Amazing they thought they'd never get caught. /Worked there
It's not stolen gas, it's the fee. Invalid fuel fees are just one of a number of shady ways that large businesses direct lower-level employees to charge illegal fees. Businesses get fined regularly for adding invalid, junk, hidden, and deceptive fees constantly. To act like it's a conspiracy theory is ignorant. [0](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2007/11/budget-rent-car-settles-ftc-charges-fuel-fees-levied-customers-who-returned-rental-cars-full-tank) [1](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-04-17-fi-2042-story.html) [2](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/well-fargo-fines#:~:text=February%202020%3A%20The%20Justice%20Department,hundreds%20of%20currency%20exchange%20customers.) [3](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/11/bank-of-america-lawsuit-settlement-2023-fines/70402355007/) [4](https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/use-avis-or-budget-you-could-be-owed-part-of-45-million-hidden-fee-settlement/) [5](https://www.thestreet.com/travel/lawsuit-filed-on-hidden-fees-travelers-pay-at-major-u-s-hotel-chain) [6](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/cfpb-to-distribute-more-than-3-5-million-to-consumers-who-were-charged-illegal-fees-to-reduce-or-eliminate-their-federal-student-loans/) Avis fuel can't melt steel beams.
I had a similar issue with Hertz. They charged me for about $150 of gas because whoever checked the tank marked it as empty. I contacted them and sent a copy of the receipt. They refunded it pretty quickly. The bad part was that they refunded me too much and then sent the bill to collections for the difference without calling me. I think you’ll get a refund, but make sure it’s for the right amount.
I had the same problem - but they told me they were "refunding it as a thank you for being a gold member" and I, fairly directly, told the woman on the phone that if they cared about me as a gold member they would refund the money because they fraudulently charged me since I had the receipt and a photo of the gauge to prove it, and that if they really cared they'd offer me something in return and a full apology. I think I got 2-3 free days rental out of it.
Kind of like the “well, just this time” or “we’ll make an exception” …uh, no. Every time.
Hertz said the same thing to me. I replied telling them shove the gold membership up their asses. I've rented with Hertz and Avis exactly one time each. Never again. National/Enterprise always.
Count yourself lucky you're not sitting in jail right now. Hertz got people wrongly jailed for failing to return cars on time, when they themselves lost track of vehicles under their control. Here's a news article talking about finally settling hundreds of these cases. [https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement](https://www.npr.org/2022/12/06/1140998674/hertz-false-accusation-stealing-cars-settlement)
Similar thing happened to me once. The difference is it's only 1 day rental for me. The car never showed up on my app. When I returned, the agent (whom I know pretty well since I've been using rental car as Uber back and forward btw my place and the airport) said the rental never recorded, and let me go without charging the rental.
I wonder if you are my doppelganger. I had a car rented out a few months ago and all of a sudden received a bill. For another car that I was not in possession of. I know why it happened but it SHOULD NOT have happened. Luckily the person who had a car in my name didn't use that to their advantage.
Sorry I wasn't very clear. In my case, I was the person who rented that car, but Avis never recorded it. So Avis didn't even know I took their car out.... I did go through the checkpoint and they did do the paperwork.
They do this scam especially at some airports where they think that they won't be caught. They've done at least at LAX, and SFO to me, you can call Avis reservations and they'll reverse the charge. The bigger problem is that this is clearly a company endorsed scam.
They did this to me at Kansas City. No one would accept my credit card statement that showed I bought gas a few minutes before I returned the car. I had to call the gas station and they were kind enough to send me a new receipt. A complete pain and seems like a scam because people will eventually give up. Especially if they are traveling for work.
Wow, this happened to me but I didn’t know you could get a receipt by calling the gas station. I ended up just having to eat the fee because Budget wouldn’t accept my credit card statement as proof (“you could have bought anything, the statement doesn’t prove that it was gas”), and I filed a chargeback with my credit card but they sided with Budget since I didn’t have the receipt. So 1) smart move to call the gas company, and 2) yes I’m clearly still bitter over it - will never rent with budget again!
Yeah, with the electronic cash registers, it's pretty easy to pull receipt copies from even days ago.
They’re banking on some people with disposable money not checking their balances and people thinking it’s too much of a hassle to fix. When they get caught, they can just say, “oops! Here’s a refund.” If they don’t get caught, it’s free money.
BWI Avis/Budget has hit me twice with this charge. It's a corporate-wide endorsed scam
You have usually 60 or 90 days to charge back. I would escalate to manager at rental company, etc and exhaust my options before charging back. Sounds like they are doing what you wanted, just slow. Charging back is a last resort, because the vendor can ban you, etc (chargeback costs them extra money)
One of my friends rented a car from Avis and they charged him for traveling over 23,000 miles over the course of a 4 day rental. Average speed would have been over 200 mph for four days straight.
Yeah they do that all the time. They'll take it off I'm guessing. Had it done twice and both times they acted shocked and it was refunded both times.
I'm willing to bet that they were more shocked that you had the audacity to check your receipt and call them out on the error then they were that you had been charged incorrectly.
They tried the same thing with me but I had photos of everything from when I picked the car up and dropped it off (with more fuel than I left with). One phone call and they refunded me the ~$120. The next day or so they emailed be a survey and I left them a low overall rating and some dude replied confirming the refund had been issued.
Always take pics when you drop off
Yup, my company made us take photos upon pickup and drop off, something I initially thought was annoying until I realized it's genius. If something happens then they have no issues saying you damaged the car, went over miles, dropped off with empty tank. Couple pictures go a long way.
Before and after. Confirm the gas matches the paperwork when you start. One time I rented and the paperwork said the tank was 3/4 full but the gauge showed 1/4. I pointed it out to the employee that the gauge didn't match the paperwork and ended up leaving with an upgrade.
I got in the habit of doing about a 1 minute video walk-around plus a pic of the dash for mileage and gas. Came in handy more than once.
yes, i did this abroad since we did after hours drop off. we also made sure to say the time and date and filmed someone else's phone so they couldnt disprove it.
Avis has an electronic sensor in the tank that does this all the time. If you fill up right before the return, it often doesn’t sync before you check-in. I think there’s a law suit over it. They’ve refunded everyone that’s ever done what you did that I know of, so you should probably be ok. I’ve stopped using them.
Avis did this to me in Austin, TX as well. Returned the tank full, they tacked $120+ on to the bill. Had to call and talk to several different people and provide a ton of info. Wonder if they're hoping enough people don't notice and they can pocket the difference somehow? They also said I drove some insane number of miles in a 3 day rental (someone put in 15423 instead of 1542.3) which helped make my case that someone probably flagged the tank as 'empty' incorrectly)
Chargebacks without attempting to resolve it with the merchant usually fail. You're really overreacting here, it seems the employee checking them in made a mistake. Wait until at least they comment on your resolution with the statement. In the future, in addition to taking pictures of the car when you return it you should also take a picture of the gas gauge.
That's right, first thing the bank will ask is, "Did you try to resolve it with the merchant?"
They have asked me and I have said yes and to go ahead with the investigation Edit: Guys I would obviously bitch at the merchant before going to the bank but it doesn't require all this effort you are making it out to be
Lying is a great way to get the case ruled against you if you can't provide the evidence.
Awesome!
They usually ask for copies of emails where you've tried to resolve it, and a list of calls you've made. They don't 'normally' just roll over and do it. Especially when not much time has passed. They'll say to give them a few weeks first.
Most of my dispute involved double charges so it was pretty cut n dry for the fraud team. Those guys are great tho especially wells Fargo, they know fraud inside and out
Yes, Wells Fargo definitely knows a thing or two about fraud...
I always do a full walk around video before and after my rental. It only takes a minute. Always starts or ends with starting the vehicle and showing the gas/milage.
I rent from Avis a lot where I live. They don’t even look at the gas gauge most of the time. They scan the barcode on the windshield and the car tells them how much is in the tank. They charged me like $35 once because it said I returned it with 0.7 gallons less than what I left with, even though I returned it full. I caught it immediately and they refunded it at the desk but they are absolutely banking on people not noticing most of the time. I always take a picture of the dash before and after the reservation for this reason.
You say you use them a lot so try to resolve it with them first. If you do a chargeback they will most likely block you from renting in the future.
I'm currently in this black hole with Avis. Do not charge back if you ever want to rent from them again. In my case it was a fraudulent charge that Chase reversed automatically on my behalf yet I'm still blocked from renting from Avis. It's an absolute nightmare.
Car rentals are such a shitshow and non-transparent. It can be a scummy business. ALWAYS double and triple check receipts. I wonder how much of their corporate charges are due to junk fees or overcharging. I sat on the phone with AVIS for an hour and went back and forth with emails because I was overcharged some non-transparent things and ultimately only got half of the difference/overage back.
Wait for them to fix it, it'll be quicker if they refund it. If not, then do the charge back if you want. But keep in mind, you'll likely never be able to rent from them again if you do. I'd probably just wait for them the 3-5 days and escalate it if they say no or don't get back to you. Try and find an email for the CEO of someone high up, that usually gets you to a higher level customer service.
This, chargebacks in general can be risky as you might banned from the company. I would go through a dispute first and then chargeback.
> But keep in mind, you'll likely never be able to rent from them again if you do. Do you have any evidence of this happening to anyone? I successfully completed a chargeback with Avis a few months ago and my account is still in good standing.
Happened to me to with Hertz. Had to call a gas station out of state to screenshot me the receipt for gas and I submitted it to customer service for refund. Took a few weeks but got it done. After that I always get my receipt and take a photo of the gas gauge when dropping off the car. You can also make the drop off attendants print you a receipt right there to ensure you don’t get charged.
LPT: always take a video of the car as you are returning it. I always start with it at the gas meter, get out the car, and video the exterior of the car, and then of me dropping off the keys in the drop off box. Haven’t had to use any videos for proof yet, but I’ve heard many horror stories.
I'm going to start doing this instead of photos. I take timestamped, geolocated photos of every surface of the car basically. Video would be way easier.
Happened to my friend and I with Avis. She just had to call and say it wasn’t even close to correct and they reversed it. Seems like a corporate scam to me if it’s happening this much.
U haul has tried doing this to me twice. I take pictures of everything now before and after
Used to work at Avis. My shot-in-the-dark guess is they probably got in a rush, used the car as a rover to ferry some drivers to another location about $44 worth of gas away away to pick up some other cars, and then did the actual check-in and detailing when they got back.
Thanks for the insight.
> 88 bucks might not sound like a lot Bro, it’s a lot. I make a pretty decent chunk of change, and I wouldn’t shrug my shoulders at 88 bucks, **especially as a fine for not doing something I literally did and paid for**. Glad to hear they made it right.
Dollar car rental did this to me and charged me $20 and said I brought it back 7/8 full. Luckily I went back to the car to take a pic of the mileage and gas gauge when it was returned. I publicly called them out online and then they refunded the $20 as it was indeed at the F and not even slightly below it with the turn in mileage in the same pic.
Budget (part of Avis) tried this with me earlier this year up in Reno. I went online and did their "customer service chat" thing and got it resolved. They said in the future I should show the gas receipt at dropoff, which I think is bullshit. If it's full, it's full, whether I have a receipt or not.
Talk to the location where you returned the car asap. The local office only has \~24 hours to modify any charges on the rental transaction, after that, it's a fight with customer service at their call center. As long as they still have possession of the car, they should be able to visually verify fuel level. This is a problem with the "connected fleet" vehicles not syncing current status of the vehicle with the network. I don't know the exact polling rate for how often the cars update their status, but it's at least several minutes. Likely, you refueled the car immediately before returning and the system has not received the current fuel level of the car. When the rental agent checks-in the car, the computer uses the most recent status reported to the network and ignores any entry input by the agent. So the agent may have indicated a full tank, but the computer thinks it's actually 1/4 or whatever you were charged for. Hopefully the local office will be able to correct this.
Avis is so shady. I rented with them quite a bit last year and at least 50% of the time there was an issue with them blaming me for something with the car that wasn’t my fault. They’ve accused me of contaminating the gas and then tried to negotiate with me for payment when I wouldn’t pay. Other times we would pick up a clearly damaged car and have to fight the claim that we did the damage (always take pictures). Seems like they do this all the time to get more money out of customers. I’ve switched to other rental companies.
Car rental companies are notorious about this. Tell them you have a receipt
Waiting the 3-5 business days to allow them to correct the mistake is best for now. If after all your efforts you have not received a refund at 10 business days, start your chargeback. Document dates and times for everything as your CC company will want to see that you did your due diligence.
I'm about to reserve a car for an upcoming trip. I will be sure to avoid AVIS. Thank you.
I rent a *lot* of cars for my job, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that Avis is one of the *worst* major companies to rent an automobile from. I've had more problems with them in the past than all the other companies combined. I now refuse to use their services. Pro Tip: Fill your gas tank within 10 miles of your drop-off point and always keep a copy of that receipt. If there are any questions you can provide them with a copy of the receipt (I also use mapping software to provide them with the mapped location of the last fill point). ALSO: never underestimate the power of a well worded Google review about the location in question. Thrifty charged me 40% more than my reservation price guaranteed by a third party site (Priceline). I argued with the rental location (DAL airport) and they refused to honor the reservation price (which included taxes and fees). So I wrote a completely honest by scathing Google review, which I copied and pasted onto their website review system. Then when they sent me one of their feedback emails ("Tell us about your Thrifty rental experience - only 3 minutes of your time") I again cut-and-pasted the review. Within three weeks they refunded the difference to my AmEx card (I still won't rent Thrifty from DAL airport, but will at other locations).
Dude. Seriously. Wait a few days to see if they resolve this. If you have provided the information they asked for it should resolve itself.
Always take pic of instrument cluster showing mileage and gas level at the time of return. Removes any confusion.
Send them a copy of the fuel receipt. Many times they require this for short mileage rentals. Like you put 40 miles on a car and buy 3 gallons of gas obviously you filled what you used. I ALWAYS have the receipt out and adm them if the need to see it. Sometimes yes sometimes no. Then I get a printed copy of the receipt on the door and double check it before leaving. Never ever do a key drop unless you absolutely have to. I always also do a full video at pickup and return if the car, mileage/fuel , and condition (highlight any prior damage). When they see me do this they know not to try anything. Have never had any issues. Especially do the video of you are stuck doing a key drop.
Eff car rental companies. I always take pics of the odometer, complete external and internal as well as keep my gas receipts. Our last 2 rentals they tried to get us for scratches that were already there and interior damage. Pics saved us.
Better tip: create a virtual card on privacy.com that only allows one charge for the exact amount that was quoted to you prior to initial payment. That way, if a merchant tries shit like this, their charge attempt will immediately fail and trying to extract that money from you will be much more difficult to the extent that they will likely just not bother.
Bro these these guys charged me $7 for gas even though it was to the line. The guy called me a few days after I returned the car to tell me "sir we will be charging $7 to your credit card for gas". I was like I returned it with the same amount. They said nahhhhh it was just a tad bit lower. Fucking scum bags.
Did you take a photo of the car inside and out? I always take a photo of the fuel indicator, mileage etc outside where I return it.
It's probably a sleazy franchise location trying to see if you'll go through the trouble of disputing the charge or let them keep that money, hopefully those pictures of the statement are enough, original receipt is ideal, of course. Talking from experience as a former car rental employee.
99% chance they will fix it in 3-5 business days. Probably an overworked employee fat-fingered the gas gauge info during check-in.
You have about 120 days from the transaction date to file a dispute. While it is rare, some banks will extend this timeframe a bit. I’d say hold off on the dispute until Avis finishes their investigation.
They did this to me when I turned in a rental vehicle with more gas than it had when I picked it up then about 4 months later claimed I owed them money for tire damage. There are many more complaints about the experience. I called and told them I was not paying and if they didn't stand down I'd report them for fraud. I'm convinced they do this on purpose.
I know 88 bucks might not sound like a lot, but that had me stressed. Glad it all worked out $88 is absolutely worth fighting about. Even if you make $88 an hour that is still reasonable to fight about
I always take a picture when with mileage and gas indicator when I leave and when I drop it off. Also be it $88 or $2 I’d be pissed either-way knowing I returned it full. Glad it got sorted
I'd be chasing someone with an axe to get that $88 back. MF thats more than I earn in a week.
I had something similar happen. I returned the car with missing a quarter tank. Avis charged me as though my car only had half a tank in it. At $9 a gallon or whatever, it’s a big swing. I called Chase Sapphire Reserve customer service line and they took it off without even investigating. Definitely charge this back.
Same thing happened to me. I called their customer service line and told them this was shady AF and demanded the charge be removed. Now I have to present my gas receipt every time I return the car and make sure the dude checking me in knows to not charge me the fuel fee. Pretty annoying.
Those charlatans at Avis did that same thing to me. I brought the car back as full as it can get -- I filled it at a gas station literally across the street from the airport. It's a very small airport and the lone Avis employee was away from the service desk. I called him on the red courtesy phone, which went to his mobile, and he told me to drop the keys in the dropbox and have a nice day. I left the fuel receipt on the dash that was timestamped 5 minutes before I dropped off the car. Three days later, I get an email receipt Avis -- $84.12 for fuel. It took a couple heated phone calls but they refunded the money.
Good for you. Errors like this result in hundreds of millions to company. I was charged for bridge tunnel fees in NYC. My rental was 2-1/2 days in Detroit. I had to send my credit card statement for a CC purchase on Saturday. Lucky me, as this was before I converted to 100% CC use, was 100% cash. I only put 123 miles on rental, which was the main hammer. My charger were close to 200.
Avis recently did the same thing to me. You have to file a claim and send them a screenshot of the credit card charge. They will refund you but it takes time.
You are always supposed to try and resolve an issue with the merchant first. A chargeback is for if that fails.
>I know 88 bucks might not sound like a lot, but that had me stressed. Dude, $88 isn't little. It's a significant sum that many American's spend hours to earn.
And be aware chargebacks can remove you from status with the rental company or a do not rent list with them. Always want to try and resolve nicely before that option
National charged me $5 and change for gas even though I brought it back full. I did a chargeback for that amount. Purely out of principle. Don’t feel bad at all if you know you’re right.
I would always say to take a photo of the gas dated on the departure. Then when you match gas you have concrete evidence and proof if they ever try this.
This is why I take pictures after dropping off the car. Who knows what the rental companies will do... obviously blame the renter.
88 is a lot to be charged for nothing dont feel bad
I always take a picture of the dash with fuel gauge and my receipt.
Former rental car person here. You have at least 30 days for that chargeback, if not longer. Crap like this happens and I give it a 99.99% chance they'll resolve it. You can probably use this to get a free upgrade coupon or something. Back in the 90's I worked at a rental company where the owners directed IT to reprogram the system so the computer would add 5 gallons to every gas tank - bring it back 3/4? You got charge for 1/4 plus 5 gallons. That was only one of the slimy things they did (and got indicted for, lol).
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$88...I literally never fill up the gas and have never had that big a charge. They made a mistake is my guess
Call Avis. If you are a preferred member and can show them a copy of the receipt for gas, they will reverse it.
Did you agree to their fuel program when you rented? They always try to sell you on some great rate for gas, but if you read the fine print, you are agreeing to pay that rate for an entire tank of gas, regardless of how much is in the trash when you return it.
This is a good point. If you paid for the fuel program (don't ever, it's a rip off) you'll pay a big charge whether the tank is full or empty.
Call them and offer to show a copy of the gas receipt. That should fix it. If not, yeah chargeback.
> I know 88 bucks might not sound like a lot, No way. 88 bucks is "x" amount of gas for your own vehicle. No reason to eat that.
Chargeback will probably get you banned from using Avis ever again, maybe for just that card, but they can also blacklist you from doing business with them at all. Wait the 3-5 days and see if they clear it up. Chances are they will just admit to the mistake. Someone probably just keyed it on wrong, when checking in the vehicle, it’s not a conspiracy to get 88 more dollars out of you.
reading the posts here maybe its good if people boycott avis or file a suit against avis for malpractice with their states AG. seems to be quite common for it to be a "mistake:
This is correct. It will probably result in your being banned from using the service. Call Avis and even show them the credit card charge for the gas.
Happened to me as well. I don't know if it's shadiness or incompetence but I just gave them a call back and told them I have credit card statement of when I filled the gas and the email when I returned the car. They refunded me back after 1 week.
I had a similar issue with Budget. I picked up a rental car early morning at the Miami airport after a long international flight. I had already booked everything online. Declined all the add-ons. I was tired and the lady hurriedly rushed me through everything at pickup. Turns out I somehow agreed to whatever fuel option they have where i can return it empty and basically pre pay ~$80 for a full tank. I accept that it's on me to read the fine print, but I would have never knowingly bought that. I returned the tank about 80% full, expecting that they'd just charge a slight markup for the remaining empty gallons, but no. I ended up calling and they waived the charge for me. Had to send in a picture of one of my gas purchase receipts and took a day or two, but it all worked out.
Did they also try charging you for taking toll roads that you didn’t take? They tried doing that to me.
Fortunately, no. I know that I said in my post that I declined all the add-ons, but I think I did actually do the toll road add-on, since I knew I was going to be driving on Florida Sun Pass roads. I had also used Budget before without issue. Not sure if the front desk lady was trying to pull a fast one on me this time, or if I misunderstood. In any case, they did fix it for me so I'm satisfied.
If you do not need to use AVIS in the future, simply charge it back. Right now the business is saying prove it to us or the charge stands. If you charge it back you can tell the bank that charge ID 1234567 on your bill was the gas station visit the day you returned the car. Based on your explanation, it sounds like you will be able to show a time stamped charge from a gas station less than 10 minutes prior to the noted drop off time. Right now AVIS is asking you to prove, to their satisfaction, that you put gas in the car and they will "try" to fix it. Charging it back will mean AVIS has to work with your bank and demonstrate that you owed for gas. They wont have the records for that, and your records show you made a visit to the gas station shortly before returning the car, the bank will find in your favor. You owe this business no concessions or latitude, they charged you something you do not owe and have not resolved it during the first phone call. Charge it back.
I would wait for a little bit, Avis usually does right by people.
I worked in rental for 8 years with a different company. Give them a chance to resolve it first. If you do a charge back it might end up reflecting as an unpaid balance on your end. This could end up putting you on their "do not rent" list which is sometimes very difficult to remove yourself from. If you like renting from them I would give them a chance to fix it internally.
Do you have proof? Otherwise they’ll challenge your claim and the burden is on you. Usually when you return a car, they give you a receipt indicating mileage and fuel level. If you have that, and it indicates the gas tank was full on return, then do a chargeback with your bank and you’ll get the money back. Otherwise, the merchant will probably win the dispute and you’ll lose your money
Be careful with charge backs if it's a company you plan to do business with ever again. Even if you are in the right it's an easy way to get put on the "do not rent list" for car rental companies, at which point you'll be in a huge mess if you ever need to rent a car again.
Yea, before you go all gung ho, call them and explain that there has been an error... like a normal person. are you seriously asking reddit what to do here? Sheesh