We have been coming to Puerto Rico yearly, just after Christmas, for nearly a decade. In this time, our family has seen the San Juan airport Avis go downhill year by year - But this year was a steep drop-off, and their service was so unbelievably poor that we will avoid Avis at all costs in the future. So much for their slogan, "We Try Harder". Avis made absolutely no effort to make their mistake right. Our reservation, made a month in advance, was worthless.
We caught the Avis shuttle, and as usual, that went smoothly, and the driver was courteous. Like other reviewers, we arrived at the Avis office to find a crowd of irate customers, most of whom were waiting for a taxi to go elsewhere. The desk staff were overwhelmed, but were being unnecessarily curt and rude to everyone that we saw walk up to the desk. They refused to provide a date when we might have a car, did not offer any accommodations, such as a discount (An upgrade was out of the question, as we had rented the highest priced car available, a Chrysler 300), and begrudgingly offered to provide a single taxi fare to our apartment.
We rely on a car every year for traveling the island and doing the things we came here to do. We drive across the island to see sights, go out to dinner, and even get groceries, since we rent an apartment with a kitchen. We tried to explain that not having a car was devastating to our vacation. This was met with "too bad", and they refused to pay for more than one cab ride. After a long argument, they agreed to pay for the cab to stop at a supermarket on the way to the hotel (which is less than a minute out of the way). The entire family piled into a van... Livid.
The cab ride was not under the direct control of Avis, but it was downright frightening. A member of our party vomited due to the poor driving of the cabbie. Once we finally arrived at our apartment, the cab driver turned to us and wanted payment for stopping at the supermarket. This was clearly negotiated before we left Avis, but he was after our money. He refused to give us a receipt to bring back to Avis, and left in a hurry. If Avis tries to charge us for this cab ride, I will update the review accordingly.
Over the past few days, we have been completely unable to reach the airport Avis office. They just let the phone ring. We even called the number for reporting an accident, and no one answered. That's a terrifying lack of customer service - if they don't respond to a car accident, what does that say about "We Try Harder"? Corporate has been of no assistance, and there has been no word of a possible car in the coming days. We picked up a rental car at a local company today, and will not be bothering to pick up our Avis reservation, even if a car magically becomes available.
Our entire family is disgusted with Avis at this point, having paid hundreds of dollars every year for almost a decade, and getting treated like an inconvenience and an annoyance to the airport office staff. We will be taking our business elsewhere in the future, unless every other rental company on the island magically disappears. read more
