Let's start this with saying that, on Wednesday, I returned a car rental to Avis at the Ft Lauderdale Airport. I travel for my business, and we have an account with Avis. My personal car has a slow coolant leak, and I didn't want to drive it on the trip. I took my car to Sears that weekend, and that's where the drama began.
Unfortunately for me, rather than fixing my car that weekend, Sears managed to break the hood, so it wouldn't open. This meant that, even though I was low on coolant, I couldn't add any. Sears promised to get it fixed, which I thought was at least gentlemanly. They also offered to rent me a car.
So I walked, with the Sears rep, to the Avis in their building, with whom they have an account also. The woman gave me a steely glance and apparently determined to NEVER RENT ME ANYTHING, ever. I have no idea why; I was nicely dressed for brunch, and I'm no slouch. I truly got the impression that I was the wrong color for her tastes, and I'm white, and as metropolitan as they come. I presented her my company card, but she wouldn't take it. I gave her my personal debit card, but she said that I did not pass the credit check, which is odd, as my credit is pretty good. I pointed out that I rent from Avis all the time (albeit not at her location) and have a corporate account,for which I had the paperwork and credit card, on my person,
but she loudly declared that No Avis Should Rent to Me.
I have a perfect (literally) driving record, corporate account, not the worst credit, and a great track record driving Avis cars all over Florida. I was floored and insulted. Also, I had no ready way home. In the end my 78 year old boss had to come in to 'vouch' for me. At this point she said that I had "no choices" in cars and sternly advised me not to smoke...which I do not, by the way, but she made a loud point, having given up on humiliating me otherwise. The car had a transmission problem, by the way, and the AC didn't work properly. I promise that I was never rude or hostile to her. Beware. read more