Deposit Return Delay

Should have read the reviews first. I have rented several cars in my life but never have I had the experience that we are receiving from Avis. I rented a car on a monthly basis from them to try different vehicles before buying something permanent, I explained this to them with the initial booking and they assured me that transitioning between cars will be seamless. I drove the first car for 2 months, after which I wanted to change the car. With the inspection they pointed out damages and that they will have to deduct R19000 for them, we luckily had the pictures from the inspection and could show them that the damages were there before our rental. You can clearly see that their MO is to not return the deposit. They then said that I had to pay a new deposit for the different car and that the previous deposit will be sorted very quickly. It has been 2 weeks, I am being redirected by customer care back to the branch and the branch keeps saying that they can not tell me when I will receive my refund.

I am out of pocket 3 times the amount of my rental at the moment, this was not what was promised. I am currently still driving one of their vehicles and I am considering taking it back 2 weeks early just to speed up the deposit return