Avis Southern Africa Reviews 

AGR NO : E339549442

Good day,

I’m not agreeing with the following,

1. When I dropped off the car the mileage was no 20558 but the invoice says it was on 20568. I have attached the pic with time and location stamp.

2. When I dropped of the car the it was almost full (1 bar was out) I don’t see how it can be 48 liters to fill the bar that was 1 bar out whereas it costed me about R920 to fill the car when the was completely empty.

I need my money ASAP and stop scamming people.

Road assistance is very poor.
I called the Avis Road assistance because my car had a flat wheel, initially I have been told that I didn’t have the road assistance in my contract (false). they made me wait 30 min then after my 3 call, Finally, someone told me that they were coming to change my vehicle. The vehicle they brought to me, tough, didn’t have Apple car play which I had specifically asked for. The person who brought me the car told me that if I wanted another car I WAS SUPPOSED TO GO TO THE AIRPORT to change it! Which is something that I did, because I was completely overwhelmed by their way of dealing with my problem. Luckily at the airport I found only people that were keen on helping me. But this was insane, make me drive in a city that I don’t know whit a car that I didn’t want to make me change the car which is something that the assistance was supposed to do! Insane!

initial rental all ok .......until I returned home!
Additional payment for tank not full ? photo taken seconds before vehicle handed back .hey ho , next one admin fines charged by Cape town Airport rental office no problem there , but later Johanesburg charges me another two admin charges , two speeding fines equals two admin payments not three , your committing fraud !

If I could give Avis OR Tambo a zero I would. We were told on collection of the vehicle that Avis is not a partner of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club so no points could be accrued. Get back to the UK & guess what they are a partner! So now have to claim after the fact...thanks for nothing.
Went on a walk around before accepting the vehicle & every mark & scratch I insisted be added to the rental agreement was met with an eye roll. On return of the vehicle the car was full but we were charged for 3 litres...how do I know that we weren't given the car with 3 litres less than full. Next time we will take a photo & insist it's full to the top!! No surprise when we handed the car back none of the marks or scratches had been marked/saved on the rental agreement even after I insisted they are noted. It's all automated I was told patronisingly. Also charged etolls when etolls are no longer being collected by the government so where is this money going...that's right, straight into Avis's pockets.

Capetown airport.
Dissapointment is an understatement here.

Hired a car for 6 weeks.

They provided us as "an upgrade "with a Renault Triber.
The worst car I have ever experienced, not worthy to be an a fleet of any Carhire comp.

Totally underpowered, noisy, wrong gear ratios etc. No rear end wiper..So basic as almost unusable..Horrible.

After returning the car fully fueled at a petrol station at the airport they managed to squeeze some days later 5 extra liters in it, and with the subsequent fine....
It seems that even Avis has fallen for this well known petrol scam trick in SA.
But after mentioning all this....
They are still "investigating"..3 weeks on now and they stopped bothering me with the progress. ..
Bottom line shop elsewhere...

And o yeah, "sorry about the Renault Triber, yess we hear it more"....end of conversation no or ..or..

Excerpt from letter to the exec team:
Based on a formality in relation to a payment that had been followed up by the Strand Street Branch with me I did not have a chance to respond to an email I received in a timely fashion, being unaware that this would lead to the involvement of an investigator who was not only chasing me down the street by driving recklessly and breaking multiple traffic rules but threatened to physically harm me and verbally abused me - and finally broke the key of my car - which required me to return home unexpectedly and to wait for a replacement car to be provided.

As it stands this was all the result of an email that I hadn't respond to and I can't even express the level of disappointment and disgust in relation to the unprofessional, poor and unacceptable handling of the matter and will follow up on the physical and emotional abuse.

If you would please be so kind as to point me into the right direction with regards to next steps in terms of addressing the complaint at the highest level of seniority since I am of the opinion that no business, dealing with customers, and, more importantly, putting their customers first, should be treating their clients like this.

The fact that I had been put through this is an absolute disgrace and I trust in your ability to
find an appropriate solution for this.

They will never refund you your deposit money, they'll tell you that they've charged you for stone chips on the bumper but when you collect the car and tell them about stone chips on the bumper, they will tell you don't worry we will not charge you for minor stone chips. That's how they make money by scamming people, and they will take that car and give it to someone else without repairing those stone chips

I rent regularly for business from Avis both in the UK and South Africa. I'm generally pleased with the service but have to register complete dissatisfaction with the Durban branch in South Africa. Wait times even for preferred customers are far too long. Why is it just this branch that's so badly run?

Avis Johannesburg Airport (O R Tambo) is operating the windscreen chip scam. I collected the car from their parking lot and no handover or inspection form was presented or used. But by chance, two Avis staff were checking the vehicle. They said there was a minor windscreen chip. On return the agent went straight to the windscreen, and straight to where the two staff had been looking! – and found a chip! So small it could hardly be seen. He then said dramatically that it would soon travel right across the windscreen. I pointed out that I had never signed for anything and the coincidental presence of staff on pickup. I asked him if every car leaving the garage was as 'as new' condition and replied 'no, of course not'. I asked to see what the first two staff had found and, lo and behold! no record existed! I had taken out Avis's own windscreen insurance but this did not seem to be on record. I asked for the manager and had a very long discussion with him. He found that 'there had been some mistake'. I told him quite clearly that as far as I was concerned the well know windscreen chip scam was operating and he became, well, shall we say 'sheepish'. Shame on Avis. Car rental has one of the worst reputations for honesty and integrity worldwide. Avis would do well to not join in this. Next time I'll insist on a detailed vehicle handover, or write a disclaimer on any paperwork, or video the entire vehicle on collection. I might even make a counter claim for attempted fraud. Another tactic I've heard of is to insist on a condition report before collecting. Anything that will protect against deliberate sharp practice.

Booked a Toyota Corolla or equivalent in Cape Town. No car available when we called to collect. After about 30 mins we were given a Triber, Renault, 999 cc, manual. The car would slow down to approx 75 km when climbing any basic hill at full throttle. Got a very poor response from Avis when we complained subsequently. The last email was not even acknowledged.

I hate the feeling of 'having' to use companies like this one. They just don't see you as a customer and someone that is looking to have a good experience.
I was clearly told at the pick up point that additional drivers are free yet they still allow me to sign a contract that states the opposite and that there's a charge for additonal drivers.
Yes I should have checked the contract before signing but I'm on holiday. I've got kids pulling me in all directions and I want to get on with my holiday. Why wouldn't I believe the rep behind the counter when he told me additonal drivers are free? He was a nice guy.
But I was essentially lied to about the additional driver cost and then lulled into signing a contract.
It could have been a decent epxerience but it turns out to be a really poor experience.

Avis are thieves, crooks and lack ethics and integrity. They will not communicate or invoice and bill you for things you aren’t even aware of, if you try contact anyone, they refuse to provide info and when they can’t answer questions, they simply hang up. This happened multiple times.

They referred to car damages, we have photo proof that the scratch was there prior to us collecting, but the simply emailed and billed us the excess with no further investigation. I tried to speak with management with no success. All the drama ruined our holiday and we will never use them again and suggest you find alternative vendors if you would like good customer services and transparent, ethical services.

We have stayed in South Africa the last year for a writing/research project, and rented cars from AVIS. The rentals have always had a surprising twist: One car was stopped by the police, turned out not to be registered. Another car had parts that fell out; they had been fixed with plastic strips and duck tape. Customer service hardly ever answers, at one point we waited nine days - and had to change to a competitor.

Rented a 7 seater Kia Carnival from Johannesburg airport. There were minor unrepaired cracks on the windscreen, but since I had Super Cover with no windscreen excess I accepted the car. They didn't have a like for like replacement in any case.

In the hot sun the cracks grew very large very quickly so I called Avis for a replacement and received a tiny 4 seat car. I requested a refund for the difference between the two vehicles, their reply was a simple no, they never do that.

On the N12 motorway slowing for the toll the middle rear seat shot forward as it had not even been attached to the floor, I raised this with staff at the airport and via e-mail with Avis Head Office 'Customer Care', they indicated that they couldn't care less.

They are dishonest and not safe.

I have been in SA in April 22. Since then they keep billing me fines almost every month for four months. I got the last one this month (OCTOBER) 6 months after being there. Enough is enough you burglars

I have rent a Bmw suv with a full tank as usual. When I returned it where I picked it up which was Cape Town Airport I filled up the tank at the BP gas station which is actually within the airport's territory.
Avis charged me with a fueling bill and when I mailed them they asked for a receipt, I sent them my credit card expense from that station but they said they can not except that.

I hired with avis airport Port Elisabeth, I did inspection and there were no dents and I did this inspection in their parking lot on my own in the late evening.
No avis inspector was on site but when I returned the vehicle at captown the inspector went in directly to the back of the vehicle on noted a dent that one wouldn't even see unless you focus on that area and I picked up the car in the night. I let them know that I hadn't bumped the car anywhere to my suprise I got invoice of 386 € without a breakdown of what was done to the vehicle.
I am sure , that no repair have been done and the next client has to pay for the same dent.

I WOULD GIVE AVIS A -5 STARS IF I COULD. In my experience, this is the worst rental company. I rented a car with them for a month (OR Tambo), and someone couldn't do their job right, so I got billed for more kilometres KMs than I was supposed to. It's been two months, and I've been trying to contact customer service. They constantly tell me that they'll refund me the R1500, but they never do. DO NOT GET A CAR WITH THEM. THEY'RE TERRIBLE.

I hired a car in Johannesburg for two weeks in July.

We waited two hours for our car to be ready. The tank was not full. Then, on our trip, I ended having to change a wheel and repair a puncture – which turned out to be as the fault of a previous repair. I did this at my own expense.

When bringing all of this to their attention, no compensation was offered. instead, I was charged an admin fee for damage to the wheel – in spite of having the highest level of insurance available. It's all in the tiny tiny fine print, you see, that you didn't have time to read because they kept you waiting two hours for your car!

Hearing us ranting almost consistently about the poor service and hidden charges, my ten year old son now referes to Avis as "Anus". They deserve this label.

The worst car hire experience of my life – and that is really saying something.

Incidentally, I almost immediately hired a car from First in Cape Town for two weeks. Absolutely brilliant!

We thought Avis was a good car rental company but unfortunately it is the worst I have ever had. We rented a car in cape Town. First car we had to take back as there was something wrong. I took full insurance with no excess. Apparently there was a supposed chip on the windscreen. Now we get a invoice for R500 for admin fees. Please beware. I will never use AVIS car rental again.

Hiring and extending was all very simple and good service.
The returning of the car at OR TAMBO Johannesburg Airport was not nice.
Although I waited until full inspection was done and report that all was OK was emailed, the next day a call that I had scratched a bumper.
I don't recall anything and forgot to take photos of the vehicle upon return.
I requested a damage report which was emailed and showed it was no scratch, but a dent in the rear above the bumper.
I can not check the vehicle now, but there were no dents, scratches whatsoever. Avis charged me Euro 290.- for this damage.
Upon my return from Cape Town I needed a car again. Avis closes at 2200Hr therefore used Sixt. What a dream.
Quick hand over of the key. Inspection with sixt staff upon collection and again upon dropping the vehicle off.