The car was fine, and the physical real-life people I met in the rental location and car return were helpful.
However.
I have never had such an awful customer service experience over the phone. Or perhaps more accurately, I have never encountered such a lack of customer service.
I simply wanted to extend my rental by a day, so I called the contact number on the rental contract I had from the rental location. I was greeted by a lady who kindly told me "I can't do anything for you, you need to call this number after 7 to talk to the 'actual' desk, or drive back to the rental desk and speak to someone there". Now, obviously, I'm way out in the countryside on vacation; and spending half a day to drive into Shiphol to talk to someone isn't really ideal.
So I waited until 7, and called again; this time I immediately was put on hold for 50 minutes before I gave up. I tried calling another number on the contract and was told "nope, I can't help you, you need to call the actual desk." and was given two numbers for phones allegedly at the rental desk. After another 2 hours of trying to call these phones periodically, and no-one ever picking up, I called the customer-service line again and was told to send an email to their customer service line.
So I did.
And received an automated reply saying "we'll get to your issue in 10-15 days, but probably later than that because it's peak season"
Finally, out of desperation and having spent half my day on the phone trying to talk to someone who could help me, I called the reservations line, where I was IMMEDIATELY put through to an ACTUAL human being, who promised to file an "issue with the desk at the rental office and someone would contact me before the end of the day".
No-one ever called.
So, I contacted another company and within 5 minutes had an alternate plan that allowed me to go back to enjoying my vacation.
I will never rent from Avis/Budget again. read more
