Avis Rent A Car

This place is ridiculous! My wife and I reserved a 24 ft truck for the 30^th of April with a pickup time of 9am. We live in Mchenry which is an hr and a half away from St. Charles but they were the only location that had a truck left. We’ll the day of the 30^th I have this feeling that I should call and make sure they have our truck, 8am no answer, 815am no answer, 830 no answer, finally at 850am I get an answer when I am 10 mins away and she tells me she doesn’t have our truck.
So when were you going to tell us you didn’t have our truck, after we drove an hr and a half to St. Charles! If this isn’t bad enough they then charge us a $ 50 no show fee. So we call and explain that we weren’t the problem so we are not going to be charged for their issues if anything they should give us $ 50 for our inconvenience. They tell us sorry we don’t do that, but you can expect the money to be back on your card in 7 – 10 days. So if it wasn’t bad enough that you didn’t have our reservation you then charge us $ 50 that we will be out for a week and a half. Company is a joke. We rent 15 to 30 trucks a month and have a problem with them 85% of the time, then every time we call customer service we get hung up on. Do not use this location for cars or trucks. Horrible customer service and horrible products.

I wish we had checked Unilocal before reserving here. We, too, reserved a minivan 6 months in advance. We received a Flex for 6 people and their luggage. It was filthy, smelled of stale beer and cigarettes and had brown sticky stains on some of the seats. Will never use Avis again due to this experience. We were in a bind and had to leave quickly so had no choice but to take the car. Do not recommend at all.

The people who work at this location seriously lack any real communication or customer service skills and they lie right to your face. I reserved a 16′ truck for a one way trip. When I went to pick it up, I was told, condescendingly, that it had a flat tire and then they did everything they could to just get me out the door so I could «go be somebody else’s problem.» The guy I talked to was acting like this fiasco was my fault because he claimed that the phone number I gave him was a disconnected number and he couldn’t get in contact with me the night prior because of that. He ended up calling me twice the night before when I was in class and I called him back repeatedly about 10 minutes later and no one answered the phone. When I confronted him about his lie and told him that his number is in my missed call phone log, that I tried calling him back, and inquired as to why he didn’t leave a voicemail, he got defensive and told me he couldn’t do anything for me and told me to call customer service. I called customer service and they left me hanging; I ended up having to cancel on my movers which set me back about $ 50. Thanks, I appreciate that. Do not rent from this location. They do not value their customers, the employees have no integrity, and Budget/​Avis are not willing to lift a finger for you if things fall apart on their end. Buyer beware.

Horrible, horrible, horrible experience. I booked a minivan 1 month in advance to drive to Ohio for my wedding shower. I had three adults traveling with me and a large amount of wedding gifts, so we needed a van. The night before we were to leave (May 22), I get a call at 5:56 pm with a voicemail saying there will be no vans available tomorrow morning, but I can call back before 6 pm if I have any questions. I obviously missed that window, and I was upset and worried about not having a vehicle at all, as the person who left the voicemail (Scott) didn’t explain anything else. He was unapologetic on my voicemail. We were to leave at 8:30 am on Friday morning, so I woke up early to call him as soon as he was in the office. He explained now that the vans wouldn’t be in until «the afternoon» and «that was just how the travel industry worked.» He said I would have to pay extra for an SUV (even though I had pre-​paid in April for the van). I was so upset and frustrated, I asked to speak to his manager, and he connected me to the main call center. I spoke to three different people there, explaining the situation. No one could help. Also, no apologies were given throughout this whole disaster.
In the interest of not getting too behind schedule, I headed to the Avis location in St. Charles to hopefully get another vehicle. He set me up with a Durango. He didn’t do a walk around the car for damage, nor did he look inside the car. The outside of the car was filthy– fine– but the inside was just disgusting. Footprints all over the leather seats, food garbage in the side doors. He said he couldn’t do anything about that, «it was permanent.» He only performed the walk around when my friend asked him if he could check out the damage so we weren’t charged. He was unapologetic about everything. He had the worst customer service skills, and he was just plain rude.
I am set to return the car on Monday at 7 pm. My fiancé drives me over Monday (Memorial Day, the reason we booked with Avis because it was open on Memorial Day for a return), and it is closed. Again, I call customer service, and the man on the phone says there is an after hours drop box for keys. On the front door it says clearly, «No after hours drop box.» He says there is. We go back and forth until he concludes that there must have been a change since I booked in April. I leave it there and hope they don’t charge me.
First thing Tuesday morning, my fiancé brings the keys over. Scott charges him $ 216 extra, and tries to charge my card 5 times (two amounts of $ 157 and 116 which we have no idea what they could have been for and the customer service person I spoke to on Wednesday had no idea, either). He charges it so much that Bank of America shuts down my credit card for fraud. So, it’s now Tuesday, and I have no credit card, thanks to Scott at Avis. As I write this review on Sunday, May 31, I am STILL without credit card.
Finally, I talk to someone on Wednesday who says they can refund $ 137 of all this. Mind you, I paid $ 287 originally for the rental. Plus the $ 216 which is not explained to us for charges. And the rogue $ 157 and $ 116 charges that caused my credit card to be on the fritz.
It was a HUGE disaster, and I wouldn’t recommend Avis to my worst enemy. The rudeness of the person in charge in St. Charles was appalling. The whole situation added so much stress to my weekend and experience. No one from Avis was helpful– even those in customer service– they were curt and unprofessional on the phone.
I wish I could give this 0 stars!

Truly a horrible and frustrating experience. My only comfort is in knowing I am not the only one. It seems that they do this to most people. I reserved a minivan a month in advance and prepaid. A day before the pickup the «owner» called to say that they don’t have a minivan but «don’t worry you will be safe» in an SUV. I thanked him but said I need a minivan. He told me that they are not available and that he is «giving me a 7 person SUV» and that I «will take it».
That seemed rude but thanked him for the offer and explained I needed a minivan. He told me to call customer service to cancel if I did not like it. I asked if there was a manager I could speak to at his branch but he advised me he was the owner. Feeling defeated and bullied I said I would call CS but asked his name to explain who told me to call them. He refused to give me his name and hung up on me. I called back and politely asked his name again. He refused and hung up on me after saying «you can call back all day I will never tell you my name».
After calling CS they told me he could arrange to have a van brought from ohare because they have plenty. They left it there and I had to ask if I was supposed to call him back and tell him this. They then offered to put me on hold and ask him for me. He would not answer the call. After an hour on the phone considering options and being offered to pickup somewhere else for an additional $ 200 I began to lose my cool.
You read that right. I was offered to drive to Streamwood, West Dundee or Crystal lake AND be charged more money. I declined and took my chances with St Charles. I asked the agent to call STC again and have a minivan available. They did and the van was brought to the location for my reservation.
Unfortunately it did not end there. When I picked up the vehicle it was filthy. Food and dirt all over the inside and there were trim pieces missing on the exterior. They tried giving me the car in this condition. I declined. They vacuumed it a bit and began spraying febreze on dirt which didn’t do anything. I ended up taking the vehicle through a car wash myself and then spent an hour cleaning the interior so it was clean for my trip. Before I left the agent tried having me sign paperwork staying there was no damage to the vehicle. I had to remind them of the true condition of the van.
I was so disgusted. The young girl who was left alone in the store asked me to drive the van into their garage so she could clean it because the opening was too narrow. She was afraid of hitting the wall. When asked who would be liable for damage if I drove it she asked me to go into the garage to spot her. I agreed. When I went into the garage the ceiling was covered with water damage and water was pouring down. It had not rained in a week. The ceiling tiles collapsed and appeared to have mold on them.
I don’t see how a place run like this stays in business. How can Avis allow a branch be run like this?

Terrible service! We booked a minivan rental 2 MONTHS in advance. My husband went to pick up the car the day before our vacation and they offered him a Ford Explorer! Yeah, to fit our family of 6 plus luggage for a car ride to Florida? Then they said that the minivan was at O’Hare airport and if we wanted that, we would have to go drive a different rental car out to O’Hare and swap it with the minivan. No thanks, get your own chauffeurs! This is honestly a horrible place to put a family in when they are about to take a trip and it’s a Saturday so other car places are closed or booked by now. Thank for nothing Avis! I really hope that this post helps another family not get let down by booking with them.