Car Hire Pick Up from HRH *Warning*

[MonstersFAN]

We arrived Saturday and due to the extortionate costs of picking up at MCO we booked with AVIS to collect the next day from Hard Rock Hotel.

We had booked to collect at 8am so we had time for breakfast before heading to a park.

We got an Uber and arrived at HRH for 8:00am at the AVIS desk to be told sorry we have no cars. Really but we have had this booked for a while. The response we got was well you booked on the website and that doesn’t link to our system - seriously! ? !

So what do we do? We were told cara were on there way and would arrive before 9:00am so we sat and waited. 9:00am arrived and we approached the desk again to be told they had not arrived but they would arrive at some point that morning. We asked to speak to the manager and was told he would just tell us the same thing so we asked to speak to someone with authority to sort something out as he had let slip they had a van but would not give this to us as it was an upgrade!

He pointed at a sign and told us we could call these numbers. I explained we have uk phones and thia would result in high charges could we use his desk phone to call - no! He then used his phone to call someone and disappeared! So we bit the bullet and called the numbers he gave us - both numbers were not in service!

Whilst we were waiting we spoke to another lady that was waiting for a car and she had booked one for the day before and they had none and was told to come back the next day and still they didn’t have any.

After 2 hours we eventually got a car ! Not the category we ordered (one below), 3/4 tank of gas and a warning light for low tyre pressure!

Still waiting for AVIS to contact us to discuss !

Hopefully we were just unlucky and this was a one off… 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Gryff]

It's a thing
A fellow dibber and villa owner I won't name them but they know who they are
We were here when they arrived so we picked them up at the airport dropped them off at theirs then went back to take them a supermarket run before taking them the next day to pick up their car locally ( that's another story ) got the car not what they had booked but enough to do the first thing days
Which the did by the time they got back to the villa a jeep Cherokee with 56 miles on the clock was in the drive
We had no issues at Miami but it's not new but well spec leather seats working sat nav and the size of a boat and a gas guzzler to boot

[Gryff]

Oh if you are arriving around Thanksgiving the car hire situation may be dire as on the local news tonite theybare expecting 100,000 at least Floridian to fly home after Being away 2 years as well as the rest of the world

[USAFanBoy]

We was planning on doing this pre-pandemic and before the trip got cancelled and I was tempted to look at doing it for my next trip.

Thanks for the warning - will stick to airport pick up and will just pay the parking charges. What a shambles.

[dan223]

Offt that is very poor. I've booked with Hertz next September at there Kissimmee location, I'm hoping prices drop and we can change to airport collection but we will see. If not I'm hoping they have what we have ordered. If they don't have a car they should certainly upgrade you rather than downgrade you!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I detest 9 o'clock critics or the 'should have' brigade. Sad to say I have been waiting to hear this type of experience. The Hotels etc are always a side show for rental companies and over the years in normal times we have heard of poor choices or the wrong size vehicles being offered.

Time will tell if things improve.

[tspill]

If the car is poor or of a lower class, can you not take it to an airport location for an exchange to the correct car?
I have exchanged cars with Alamo before when there were issues (different location from where I rented).

[tapley]

Originally Posted by tspill

If the car is poor or of a lower class, can you not take it to an airport location for an exchange to the correct car?
I have exchanged cars with Alamo before when there were issues (different location from where I rented).

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We have often changed cars with Alamo without problems.However next year Andy has fixed us a good price with Avis but has we haven’t hired from them before I have some reservations.

[MonstersFAN]

Originally Posted by tspill

If the car is poor or of a lower class, can you not take it to an airport location for an exchange to the correct car?
I have exchanged cars with Alamo before when there were issues (different location from where I rented).

See more...

Yes we are waiting to hear from them to see if this is an option.

Just sooo mad that they wouldn’t give us the car they had as it was a higher class unless we paid the upgrade but were then passed off with a lower class car with not a word about it or mention of a refund (of course not lol)

[tspill]

Originally Posted by MonstersFAN

Yes we are waiting to hear from them to see if this is an option.

Just sooo mad that they wouldn’t give us the car they had as it was a higher class unless we paid the upgrade but were then passed off with a lower class car with not a word about it or mention of a refund (of course not lol)

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Previously when I have done this, I have generally just turned up and said xxx is wrong with the car. Or in this case, you noticed it was the wrong class. Swapping with Alamo has always been very easy. I would hope Avis would be the same.

I hope you get sorted and it would be good to hear how you get on.