Avis Car Rental

DO NOT RENT A CAR FROM HERE! The staff is incredibly rude and incompetent. They rented me a brand new Chrysler with 1700km on it and it had a faulty battery. Got stranded and needed roadside assistance 3 days into the trip and the delay resulted in me getting caught in a snowstorm. I was travelling with handicapped person which was really hard on them. This cost me half my business trip and lost a lot of money and potential sales. The girl at the counter offered me a $50 gift card for the inconvenience! Gee thanks... They told me they couldn’t do anything else for me until a mechanic looked at the car on Monday. The girl Natalie at the counter was extremely rude and was trying to brush me aside. Told me her first day was five days ago like I care. She also gave me contradicting info on where the manager Deanna was who was clearly hiding from me. I never got to speak with her. I tried telling them I already had a mechanic diagnose the issue on the car because I was lucky enough that one of my hotels was next to a Chrysler dealership. Natalie did not believe me and asked me to prove it! Unbelievable. I had to call the Chrysler dealership to get them involved to prove what I told her. After this Natalie told me that it was my fault for not contacting them earlier and asking them to send out a new car for me. Then she blamed the weather for the cars battery problem which was clearly not the case. I eventually had to get on my flight without getting any sort of reimbursement from Avis. I am extremely angry and you have not heard he last from me. My company has been renting through Avis for over 20 years and this was our last rental from them.
7 years ago (23-03-2018)

Absolute worst experience I have ever had renting a vehicle. We arrived 30 mins early for my reservation (I was told this would cost me an extra day), which I had made about 1.5 months in advance. I was previously advised over the phone by staff at this location that I could change the vehicle return location when picking up the rental. Agent on the phone said there was a $150 fee to drop at different location. Original booked cost was $389 total. After modifying drop off location, agent told us it would be over $750. Agent said “reservation wasn’t made properly / is not complete” so she couldn’t see the rate that I booked at. I came prepared with the confirmation email, booked far in advance, and the agent said we had to book with today’s rate. I offered that it was not my fault the “reservation is not complete”, as I submitted all information on my end, and got confirmation via email. Worst of all, I could not believe the tone that was used by the staff member. Both my girlfriend and I were floored by the unprofessional, condescending, rude tone used by the agent. I was confused at why the rate and reservation was unclear, and I was met with scolding as if I am a child. I was speechless, I don’t know what kind of day this lady was having, but it was incredibly inappropriate to take it out on us. Needless to say I took 5 steps over to the adjacent Hertz / Thrifty counter and had a friendly experience, and obtained a cost effective rental. My experience occurred at 1:30PM on Dec 30, 2017. My girlfriend and I try to travel regularly, and we will not be visiting this company, or Budget, again. I recommend you rent your vehicle literally anywhere else, and be treated like a human.
8 years ago (06-01-2018)

I reserved a car with Winter tires (it is that time of year here in Canada) and the only option was a VW Golf or similar. I arrived to find I had been given a Toyota Corolla (not quite a Golf!). I got in the car and noted a very strong cleaning product smell and an underlying damp smell. I drove the 3 KM's to my house (I was driving for work the next day) and I had to keep the windows down because of the nauseous effect of the smells in the car. I called Avis when I got home and left a voicemail which was only returned a couple of hours later. They offered a possible swap for the same type of vehicle the next morning but I was leaving the next morning prior to Avis being open. I left the smelly noxious rental car in my driveway the next morning and drove my own car to my meetings (3 hour round trip driving). I returned the unused rental car when I go back but was still charged full price for not being able to drive the horrible little car due to it smell (I left the windows open on the drive back to Avis as well - not fun in cold weather!). No offer of anything from the rental agent. Guess it's time I looked at other rental options. As a Preferred Elite with Avis and frequent renter, I would have thought better treatment was in order.
8 years ago (25-11-2017)

Was very disappointed. They are usually, along with budget, our preferred option. As an airline employee, they are also preferred provider. When we landed at around midnight, we went to the counter to find a rep to get us a quote. The rate we had, and again, which is supposed to be discounted, was 10 times the rate of the competitor right next desk. I confirmed with the chap that he had input our preferred rate, which he confirmed, but he justified his ridiculous rate by saying that's the rate for a truck and that's all he had left. When reminded that this was not my problem and that we were hoping he would honour a decent rate, especially since it was a weekend and that this is what they generally do. He would not oblige. So we walked over to National, who gave us fantastic service and an equally great rate. Very disappointed and will reconsider doing business with them from now on.
10 years ago (27-03-2016)

I've rented close to 30 cars this year in most provinces. I am AVIS first and almost never get frustrated. I can confidently say this AVIS location is the worst. The staff do not know what's in their fleet, the cars are very dirty & smoked in, they have no winter tires and will not allow you to return rentals early or trade into something else. The YQM location either likes to take advantage of loyalty members on purpose or they need extensive training. They told me I had a 4 wheel drive (it's not), they told me it had winter tires (it doesn't), when I picked it up the KM did not match their records so I instantly am paying more, I tried to return it immediately and they wouldn't take it back. I was told to use it for at least 2 days until they have something else in their fleet. Because I had a job to do I couldn't wait around. I've called them and they won't help, I am on day 3, very frustrated and ready to drive the worst rental ever into the river which is more difficult than it sounds since they stuck me with a front wheel drive, summer tire, terrible crossover in the middle of winter. DO NOT RENT HERE!
10 years ago (21-12-2015)