Don't ever under any circumstances book a rental with Avis at Calgary Airport. The last thing you want to do after traveling all night and morning is wait two hours in a line, even though you prepaid for the rental. Do yourself a favor and look up the "Avis Pre Check" online if you end up with Avis after all. read more

Always good to enroll in Avis Preferred as one can jump the line and get service right away at the counter. I would say the service was quite slow at this location vs others I had been to. Even with all my information on file, it took over 15 minutes for the whole rental procedure. The rental car was ok. I got what I paid for. The selection of cars in this location is quite good with a lot of European cars available if you want to get into a BMW. And of course, the SUVs are popular choice here if you want to drive that up all the Mountains! read more

Avis Car - Car Rental Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

Never use this company or location!! It took an hour to get a car & the customer service was awful. There was a very tiny chip in the windshield when we got the car, but when we returned it they tried to blame it on us. We disputed it, so they said they would be able to go back & see that it was already there, so there shouldn't be any problems. Almost 3 months later we got a bill saying we have to pay for a new windshield. This is clearly a scam for people not from their country. Lesson learned, we will always take a full video of any future car rental locations. We travel often & have never run into any problems like this. Avis has lost our trust forever!! read more

been in lineover 1 hour . other staff including management has walked up looked at line turned and walked off. read more

After reading the reviews on Avis Calgary Airport car rental, there seems to be a trend and I'm wondering if it is racially motivated but for sure this place is looking to scam people. My husband used his corporate company family and friends discount code to prepay and reserve our rental car. A benefit that his company specifically expressed can be used between employee, spouses, family, and friends. We were actually able to get our rental for a lot cheaper than Costco travels. When we went to check-in, the lady didn't greet us or anything, she just looked at the reservation and asked which one of us was the employee. My husband immediately responded and she went on to ask for proof of his employment. The thing was, he works for a company that handles government contracts so he cannot access his work email or portals outside of the company. They insisted that they have to verify all employees and kept asking us to prove his employment or else they will rescind the discount and charge us full price. After explaining this to several employees and finally the manager, we were able to move on from it and the manager just gave in. There was really just an issue with one lady (so mad that I didn't get her name) but she kept giving us a hard time even after her manager approved the usage of our code. The thing is, we did the same thing in Vancouver and they didn't even question us and we've used this code before and never was questioned. But this lady was interrogating us like we stole something when it was just a corporate code discount that my husband rightfully used. read more

Save yourself the pain. Save yourself the heartache! Use Hertz. Use Enterprise. USE YOUR LEGS TO WALK. But I beg of you to not use Avis. You will get sooo hangry waiting three hours and counting for a rental car you prepaid for. It's so hard to watch other people live your dream (people at enterprise and hertz receiving their keys and driving away before the sunsets.) read more

We booked an SUV for our five day trip to Calgary from the airport. I have got rentals from Avis before, and so far it has been a very positive experience, including this one. I had booked the car online before coming. The rental car counters for Avis (and other companies as well) are on the opposite side of the arrivals exit (so, you cross the road, take the elevator one level down and take a right after coming out). There wasn't any rush when I reached - just one customer ahead of me. The gentleman was really good and friendly. It had probably taken 3-4 minutes to get the whole process done. The car we received was also great. It was pretty much a brand new GMC Acadia (just 102kms clocked). The car ran very smoothly for all the five days. No complaints. The return process was also extremely smooth. Hardly any time was taken. Definitely recommended. read more

Erik L. - Rental Sales Associate is unprofessional , argumentative, a bad communicator, and threatens to not rent to you (in spite of a reservation) if you have too many questions. Generally incompetent . read more

Avis Car - Erik from Avis. A real national treasure. - Car Rental Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

When I think of a 5 star rental car experience, I look for a car that meets my needs, efficient customer service, and a car that's well maintained. Overall, this was a great rental with some moderately serious safety issues that could have been resolved by slight process improvements. Car: 5 stars. We ended up with a Hyundai Tucson with fantastic winter tires that were great on the ice and snow of the Icefield Parkway. Android Auto and a heated steering wheel were appreciated. Service: 4 stars. I was initially assigned a vehicle that did not have winter tires despite booking one. This appeared to be an administrative error since the car was indicated in the system as having had winter tires. Maintenance: 2 stars. The vehicle's wiper blades had chunks of ice attached even before we left the lot. The washer fluid was definitely not the -45 degree stuff since it was constantly icing up during our trip. read more

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We had booked our car in Calgary (for the summer busy season in Banff National park) months in advance, but landed and faced a snaffoo with Hertz. It was 10pm and I went to the Avis counter ready to plead for anything available. Erik was a true gem! He was amazingly kind and helpful from the very beginning. He really turned a high-anxiety moment right around and we could not be more thankful for his costumer service. We were able to secure a rental on the spot at a reasonable price. Thank you Avis, and specifically, thank you Erik!!! read more

Be aware of what you are assured! I am downgrading them on their customer service not the vehicle. When our flight from Seattle was delayed for the third time and we realized we'd be arriving in Calgary after 2am when they'd be closed, we called ahead to figure out what to do. The gentleman who answered assured us he'd wait until 3:30am for our flight, due about 3am). You guessed it. We arrived at the counter just before 3am and no one was there. We called again and of corse it was transferred to a main Avis switchboard where it was confirmed that they'd open at 6:30. We missed out hotel reservation. We napped in the airport. We were not upset that they close at 2am, but since we called ahead so that we could figure out other arrangements and we're told our car would be waiting, we were beyond frustrated, disappointed. The manager eventually agreed to offset some of our gas cost, but he did not seem concerned and was not taking any responsibility for our situation. Customer service was pitiful! read more

I wish I could leave a 0 star review. After a long day of traveling to get here this just ruined our day. The line was incredibly long and not because they were busy but was because their workers move in slow motion and have pathetic customer service. I think I could have applied for a job, been through training program, and given myself a car faster than them. We checked in ahead of time and I don't even know why because it doesn't make the process go any faster. After you wait in the long line you get to sit and wait for them to have a car available. For some reason every time we got in our car the whole trip it smelt like gasoline; however, the car had lots of luxury features. Sorry Avis but a nice car isn't enough to save your review stars because you are a disgrace to customer service. read more

Worst experience ever!! The line to rent a car was more than 40 people long. Took 45 mins to get the rental car. You should be embarrassed to run a business with that kind of wait time!! I've been renting cars for 49 years and never stood in a line like this!! Add to that waiting for luggage for 45 mins. Come on Canada you can do a lot better than this!! read more

SCAM ALERT. Even though I prepaid and in the prepayment it included the standard "airport concession fee," I got charged for the concession fee a second time after I had already paid and returned the vehicle. I've been disputing the charge for two months but have not been able to get the money returned to me. I've never heard of any rental company that charges this twice -- their response was that their "terms are subject to change without notice" and could not give me any further justification for it. Renters beware. read more

The worst service ever. We opt for an online reservation. When we arrived we had to go to wait in line for an hour, and wait around 3 hours to get the car. They have the reservation number, they cannot work in advance to make the experience quick and sweet for people. I won't recommend their service. Go with Enterprise. read more

When I returned my vehicle I left a pair of $250 Head Set in the vehicle. I went into the airport for about 20mins and realize I didn't have my head set, went back to the front desk and ask someone to retrieve them for me. They returned without them saying they couldn't find them. Was told from Manager they are not responsible for lost property, but there is a difference in lost and stolen. Phoned the next day and still nothing, got an apology from morning manager which was nice but it doesn't replace my stolen property. Nice front desk staff but wouldn't trust the staff who cleans and parks the vehicles. Moral of the story don't leave stuff in rental vehicles when returning them for sure, but if you do make that mistake you should get those items back but on this day I did not. read more

I would not recommend Avis to anyone due to hidden fees they attach but do not disclose online. We prepaid for our rental car, upon arriving they only had two smaller cars available. Thankfully both options had winter tires which we requested. We were shocked the security deposit was $750 which didn't state anywhere on the paperwork, and is quite a high fee. The car had stains inside, the phone charger didn't work and neither did the cruise control. We also found online the security deposit can take up to 2 weeks to be returned to the card. Too many hidden fees and not reliable rentals, would not recommend. read more

Shitty service at the front counter, workers were of no help and you can tell they hate their job lol

Calgary International Airport is the WORST place to rent a car.! It is SCAM! The customer service representative who assisted me over charged me with GAS which I made sure I did refill FULL tank when I returned it. Since the representative was busy I did understand her situation, I told her right away that she over charged me and asked a refund. She said she cannot do it right away so I called them back the next morning to ask them for refund and to no avail it has been four months and no cheque in my mailbox. I called the manager and even worst he cannot do anything and even blamed e for not calling them as soon as possible...he even made me sound stupid because he does not want to give his full name and insisted it is the law!!! for fuck's sake I JUST wan to get his full name so that I will know who is the right person to address to..... whether lawyer or what not I'm still a customer and without ustomers they cannot make money read more

If there is an option to give a 0 star I would be happy to do that. I rented a Suburban SUV for a week from the Calgary airport for a family vacation. When I received the vehicle there was a small damage to the right rear deflector lens. I spoke to the crew and the crew told me the damage was small enough to be ignored and told me I could proceed with it. I was in a hurry after a long trip so I did not bother to escalate but later this became an issue. Now 2 months after the rental an AVIS agent, name Jim Andal, emailed me with a $866 repair bill which consists of not only the lens, but also to paint front and rear bumper! Besides being extremely rude and verbally threatening and abusive, the agent insisted that I should be responsible for that without providing any concrete evidence to back their claim. They even did not provide any photo of the damage to show the bumper needs to be repainted. What a shlthole company and I will NEVER rent from them again. Filed complaint to BBB and see what they will say. read more

Renting the car was without issue. The problem arose after I left a pair of prescription sunglasses in the car. It has been a nightmare trying to contact the Calgary office or anyone at the primary number for help. No one answers the phone, the lost and found option is non-functional, and it has now been several days since I elevated the matter to customer service, but no follow-up call from them. I presume these expensive and indispensable glasses are now lost. The quality of a service provider becomes most revealing when one most needs help. On that score Avis has failed me, and I will likely not be renting a vehicle from them ever again. read more

Be prepared to wait hours to get your car. Never again, hertz and enterprise have no line.

We waited in line for over an hour to be seen while the people at the front desk kept doing files and going to the back. Our flight arrived at 1 AM, so we were already tired, and we weren't seen until 2:30 AM. There were four employees working and a line of less than 10 people in front of us. At one point three of the employees went to the back for at least 30 minutes leaving one to deal with the whole line. Completely unacceptable. read more

Poor service! We had a problem with the credit card chip linked to the reservation, which was already paid for. The Calgary airport counter was of no help. We had to cancel our reservation and redo the reservation, but at a price $ 520 higher than the reservation that was already paid for. No payment method other than the credit card chip was considered, although it was nowhere indicated that payment by chip would be required. Also, the people at the counter refused to add a second driver to the reservation and to take the second driver's credit card. Ultimately, we were not reimbursed for the original reservation. So the total of our car rental for a week was CAD $ 1,240, when we had paid $ 360 initially. Frankly disappointed with the service received. No effort was made to help me. read more

Excellent service and clearly the preferred choice for car rentals given how long the line was compared to the other companies. They were also the cheapest by a landslide when I was considering my options. read more

This rental experience was an absolute nightmare. As a long time customer, I was extremely disappointed by the support we received. I will best describe my experience in detail below. My gf and I booked a midsize SUV at the Calgary International Airport (YYC) for a road trip to Banff and Jasper. We were given a giant Yukon XL at pickup time because there were no smaller options but we were content with it at the time. We stayed in Calgary for a quick night and headed to Banff early next morning. Upon getting on the highway, we quickly realized the check engine light came on in the vehicle and the cruise control feature stopped working. We immediately contacted AVIS and was told we could "resolve" the situation at the AVIS center in Banff. This was extremely inconvenient in two ways. First being the fact that we had to embark on a long drive without cruise control and secondly, our entire vacation plans for the day was ruined because of this car safety issue. We had to detour our plans and visit the Banff AVIS rental location upon arrival in Banff. When we spoke to the customer rep at Banff AVIS, not only was he not able to help us, he only wasted more of our time by inspecting only the exterior of the vehicle and suggesting that nothing was wrong because it is a brand new vehicle. He did not offer us a replacement vehicle at the time and because of our schedule, we had to carry on our trip with the current rental. For the rest of our trip, the Yukon XL vehicle randomly displayed the check engine light signal and the cruise control also would stop working sporadically which made our driving experience very inconvenient. Not to mention the emotional stress it caused us to constantly worry about our vehicle safety as we felt random vibrations while driving the vehicle. Overall, as a customer, I felt very neglected by AVIS for my safety as no corrective actions were suggested/taken despite our concerns and have no intentions of booking with AVIS again in the future. read more

I feel a little bit better about Avis after my sojourn with the rental vehicle completed.. Even though they tried to pull some shenanigans with the fuel tank upon rental, I still had a largely positive experience with them in retrospect. Upon renting, I made a point that they write down the less than full gas tank on the contract, which they did with a good attitude.. It turned out I needed the car much longer than initially intended, and extending the rental was a breeze. The car, a Passat, was the smoothest and quietest ride I'd ever had..and despite all the driving into the Rockies etc, I never even had to refill the tank. The trunk was huge too. Upon returning the vehicle, it was duly noted that the gas tank was not full at rental time (even though it should have been) and they had no problem crediting me (since I always prepay for gas). So all in all a bitter sweet experience read more

We picked Avis just because it was the cheapest. I'm not a member of their special club or anything. This location's service was great. They took at face value what I booked online: didn't try to sell me a GPS rental or a pricier car. or a full tank of gas. or insurance we already had. Actually, we had already used an Entertainment Book coupon to upgrade a class higher than what we paid. The lady offered us something even higher. A convertible! ...though we had to turn it down because we needed a car for five. We did get a higher class car, though! Another bonus: I got to collect Aeroplan (Air Canada) miles. read more

Avis Car - Car Rental Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

If I could leave this at 0 stars I would. This review is long, but it is the most honest and detailed warning I am able to provide of the red flags that you should look out for when renting with this fraudulent company. This is the 2nd time we were scammed by Avis; once in Vegas, and now in our home city of Calgary. Rental and Pick-up I called Avis to inquire as to car sizes, because we were looking to rent a mini van or SUV and I didn't know if they had cars that could seat 6 people. I got information from a phone rep (located in the US - he thought I was asking about New York) who informed me of the price, including all fees and extra charges in CAD. The price was $231 to rent from 6pm Friday to 8pm Saturday. He told me that I would receive an email confirmation, which I didn't; I received a text with the confirmation number *not the price, just to be clear*. Upon arrival at the Calgary airport to pick our vehicle with our friends who came to visit us, we were informed that the price would actual be $242, and that nowhere in our reservation had it stated $231. *RED FLAG 1*. The clerk at the desk explained the gas charges and that we would receive the car with a full tank and could either return it with a full tank, or drop off and Avis would fill up and charge 1.39/litre they needed to fill. But, reading through the agreement before accepting we noticed that it actually stated the price as 1.53/litre, and that we would be charged for the full tank regardless of how many litres were actually missing. *RED FLAG 2*. We asked the clerk about the discrepancy and he, feigning innocence, asked his co-worker why the price was different. She said that the prices had changed overnight and that 1.53 was in fact the new price. Hmm.. should he not be informed of this before writing this on a paper and pointing to it while explaining the gas agreement? That makes *RED FLAG 3*. Finally, we decide that we need the car in order to show our visitors around, and accept the gas charges and the "estimate" (I asked why it was an estimate instead of a total and the clerk said that it was due to the possibility of damage to the car), so we signed and received the keys. We walked out to find the car and received a notification of a charge on our credit card... the charge was $500. Where did that come from? I'm not sure, because the man I spoke to on the phone in the original reservation told me of a $250 "security deposit" to make sure that we returned the car, and that we would not be charged the rental fee until we returned the vehicle. Why the DOUBLING in price? Not sure. That's *RED FLAG 4*. Returning the rental We arrived exactly on time to drop off the car, with a full tank. We chose to fill it ourselves because we had not used an entire tank's worth of gas and were trying to avoid having to pay the flat rate for the entire tank of this huge vehicle. We went to the counter to settle our rental and were being charged almost $200 EXTRA FEES on top of our booking "because we had returned two hours late" and were being CHARGED FOR 2 DAYS.... *RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE* I should have trusted my instincts with allllll those red flags because this just floored us. What the actual heck (trying to stay PG here, but you know exactly what I mean). We asked to speak to the manager and he was condescending and extremely rude, talking down to us about how we had returned late and that he could "discount" a half hour off of that extra day charge, because it was the "only thing the system would allow him, no more than that". Further into us arguing over our money he then changed to "discounting" an hour but said THAT was the "only thing the system would allow him, no more than that". Interesting. Of course the customer service line was closed by this time so I will be calling them in the morning to request the recording of my initial conversation with the phone rep who helped me make this booking. We were robbed and lied to. I do not recommend renting from this company, ever. read more

NIGHTMARE EXPERIENCE. Renting with Avis Canada at the Calgary Int'l Airport was the worst car rental experience I've ever had. I booked and fully paid for a rental truck in advance for my 1 week vacation in Banff. Pickup was scheduled for 3pm. When I arrived to the Avis car rental area there was a long line of people waiting to be helped. From the very beginning the customer service was AWFUL. None of the Avis staff greeted the customers as they approached the counter and all of them appeared bothered or rude, and slow-moving. When i got to the counter, I provided them with the info requested and they told me to have a seat and they will call me up in a few minutes when the truck is ready. An hour passed and many of the people that were waiting in line behind me, some without reservations, were getting their rental car before us. I went back up to the counter and asked if our truck was ready. The Avis staff, appearing annoyed, told me that they would call me up in a few minutes. Shortly after, I saw her (the Avis staff) leave for the day. Another 30 minutes passed and I hadn't heard anything. I went back up to the counter and asked the manager about my car rental. He told me that it would be ready shortly. I then saw him leave for the day. After another 30 minutes, I went up to the counter and asked what was going on. I told them that I had reserved and paid for the the rental in advance and that it should've been available hours ago. They looked through their printed paperwork and somehow my paperwork got removed from the queue. After more than 2 hours passed, I finally got the rental truck. It doesn't end here. On day 5 of having the rental truck, the ignition wouldn't start. We were stranded at the park for 2 hours until it randomly started again. We tried calling Avis roadside assistance multiple times and it was extremely difficult to get a hold of a live person. We drove back to the hotel and the ignition wouldn't turn off. We called the Avis office in Calgary and they just told us to call roadside assistance. I asked to speak with a manager immediately. They arranged for a tow truck to pickup the rental truck and deliver another one. The tow truck arrived about and hour and a half later. Lastly, there are hidden fees. Initially, they look like the most affordable compared to other car rental companies, but they will tack on lots of other "fees and charges" including ones that are optional and should be left up to the customer. Again, I do not recommend Avis at Calgary Airport for your car rental needs. read more

NEVER AGAIN! We flew in to Calgary and landed around 9 pm. Walked to the Avis line which had 30 people on it. Only 1 person servicing the line. Preferred line had 2 people working it and it only had 1 or 2 people in line at most. The killer was when one of the counter people was laughing and taking pictures of the line. Really? How about helping customers. I WILL AVOID AVIS AT ALL COSTS. read more

Horrible place. People at desk at least greeted us and helped us. But the place for the cars was literally closed when arrived and we would have had to stayed the night. But we changed car companies. read more

This airport location is extorting money from air travelers by charging them twice the amount charged by their local office just 10 minutes away... this is pathetic and they are adamant about charging such exorbitant rate! read more

Yep rental car company strikes again. Told our car would be right up in 15 - 20 mins. 20 mins later they say there are no cars in our class available but they are going to give us a free car upgrade. How about you not waste our time telling us you have a car when you don't and just give us the upgrade from the start? rolling my eyes read more

Awful experience, once I got home and looked at my credit card. The guy at the counter of Avis (Calgary International Airport location) insisted I needed coverage for the car and tried to upsell me to premium coverage. I told him I did not want to pay any more money for coverage. I then found a charge of almost $300 for basic coverage. This was not advertised and told me I would not be charged for it. Poor customer service when I called to complain. I highly recommend not going with AVIS, as they will do anything for more money. read more

What a ghastly experience! I'm an Avis "preferred" member, made my reservation thru Costco travel. I reserved an SUV and received a computer printout for a standard SUV. In small print though, on p4 of my confirmation, as I learned at the counter, Avis reserved the right to substitute a Tesla. When I realized this bait and switch, I explained that a Tesla was completely impractical. I had no place to charge it. Instead of trying to solve the problem, the Avis Manager on duty at the Calgary airport station, Mr. Tadelle Shiferan, couldn't have been less helpful. He was hostile, arrogant and completely unsympathetic. The only resolution came about because a helpful counteragent went to another manager who arranged for me to have a pickup truck. It was completely impractical but still, preferable to the Tesla. What a needlessly unpleasant experience. Whatever happened to solving a problem instead of as the Avis manager chose to do, making a bad situation worse!!??!! read more

SCAM business. They told us one thing when giving us the car, and then came up with extra charges that costed over double the agreed upon price. Their words are worth nothing, and they change the paperwork without telling you to get you with extra fees. I'll NEVER use Avis again and would not recommend to anyone. read more

So it is now 2:15 and i have been waiting for over 5 hours for the car that i reserved and paid for in advance. I am not alone here. It appears that they make commitments without any assurance that they will have inventory to deliver. That helps to explain how they went from second place to last place. read more

I have rented vehicles with a number of companies, and Avis exceeded my expectations! The rates were affordable and the process was easy from reserving a car online to pick up to drop off, everything was smooth. Communication was great with the employees on the phone and in person and I did not feel like I was being pressured to purchase additional items. I drove a brand new Camry which was perfect for my trip. I will definitely use Avis again for a car rental, now I just need to plan my next trip. Way to go Avis, you have a new loyal customer! read more

EDIT: We have been refunded the extra charge so the company has redeemed itself somewhat. However, it took a month for then to take action, so customer service could still use some work. My review has been updated to reflect my opinion. Within mere hours of picking up the car, it broke down in the middle of the highway and nearly got us killed. The acceleration failed and we started slowing down and had to immediately pull over. We had to get towed and the entire delay pushed us back nearly 3 hours. We had to shift our entire itinerary, which caused us to be around 2 hours late in returning the car in Edmonton. Because of this delay AVIS charged us an extra day's rent fee, despite the car breakdown being their fault and not ours. We paid the full fee and the extra fee on return, as we needed to catch our flight that day and could not stay to explain the situation. However, after returning home, we tried calling multiple types to ask for a refund and were always directed away. They provided the email of a manager and promised to respond to our email and asked us to call them back as well. AVIS has failed to deliver any sort of communication with us and now refuse to answer calls. In conclusion, dangerous car conditions, poor customer service, and outright scam. read more