Avis Rent A Car

NEVER AGAIN!
I rented an SUV online for a road trip. We used
and found a car through this branch. I made the reservation online via Priceline and the confirmations sent to me said to contact the individual company/​branch to confirm their policy of what credit card info they needed for rental.
I called this specific branch (not Avis corporate) about a week or two after the initial order (and several weeks before the trip) to ask what I should do to get the car without a credit card. I do not have a credit card, so I wanted to make sure that I could still rent the car with a debit card. The individual on the phone said that a debit card would be accepted but that a hold for the entire rental cost would be placed on the bank account when the car was picked up, and would ‘resolve’ after the car was brought back. That was fine with me, so the agent indicated that I would just need my license, proof of insurance, and my debit card.
The morning of the reservation, I went to the branch to pick up the car. The man who was working the counter (who I believe was Amjad Ansari, the «Agency Operator» whose card I picked up) began to run my info. I gave him the debit card and he swiped it and tapped away at the computer for awhile. He asked if I had a credit card and I told him that I had spoken with someone in that store who told me that a hold on the debit card would be fine. He said that he couldn’t accept it and he needed a credit card. He said that there was nothing he could do.
I offered to pay up front for the car rental, cash or debit. I told him that they could put a hold on the account for as much extra as they needed, whatever. But he said that a credit card was necessary and indicated that he had no idea how I could possibly have been told any different (which is odd, considering that I’m pretty sure he was the same person I talked to on the phone).
At this point I was pretty shocked and frustrated, considering that I had been told it was no problem. He then told me that each branch MIGHT have a different policy about credit cards and that he MIGHT be able to get me an SUV from another branch. He called a branch near MOA and told me that they had an SUV I could try to get… for about $ 100 more than my original reservation. I said no thanks!
If I had been told in my original phone call that I would not be able to rent without a credit card, FINE. I would have either cancelled the reservation or would have arranged with one of my trip companions to use their card. But to be told on the morning of the trip that I suddenly did not have a car, that was pretty upsetting! He never apologized (even in a formal, customer-​service way…) or gave me any recourse at all other than: pay $ 100 extra and drive to pick up a different car at a different branch (which he could not guarantee, so it was a gamble), or walk away.
So I walked away.