AVIS only excels in shady overcharging and inconveniencing customers

I wish I'd checked the reviews here first. When we picked up the car in Durban Airport, they told us we had to call Avis Durban to renew the rental before 30 days were up. (The rental was 48 days long.) It seemed like a silly policy but we comp**** or tried to. We ended up ringing and ringing the Durban airport office for several days. Each time, the phone either rang out or was answered and hung up. We rang Avis Johannesburg who connected us to the same line that was never answered. In the end, we had to drive a round trip of 120km to Avis to sort the matter out at huge inconvenience. Crazy! Checking reviews, we see that is standard for Avis Durban Airport. They never answer calls. They also have no email address apart from a 'no-reply' one. Then when we dropped back the car, they alerted us to a tiny chip on the bumper which we could only see wearing our glasses. (The chip was probably there when we picked up the car, but we wouldn't have spotted a crater in the bodywork such was the teeming rain that day. We asked to see the chip repair when it’s completed, but it was made clear that won't be forthcoming. I suspect many more customers will be paying for that chip long after us.) We were charged R1800 for the chip. When the bill was emailed to us, we also saw they charged us R237 for a two-hour late return. We were there 45 minutes late and have the petrol receipt from 3 minutes away to prove it. Regardless, in most reputable places you are given an hour's grace. As we worked our way through the bill, we saw they also charged another R400+ more than the original quote for no reason at all! You have been warned. The only thing Avis excels in is shady overcharging practices and inconveniencing customers. Lesson learned.