Terrible service

Avis, Francis Baard Street, Pretoria – shocking service

The clerk signing out my rental car, Nkofinathi (Nati) Mthembu was arrogant, bordering on rude, on the day I fetched the rented car. Their branch is in an unsafe part of downtown Pretoria (was nearest to the panel beaters my insurance selected). I was informed telephonically that the deposit was R1300; which I brought in cash as I have not been able to active my new credit card. Nkofinathi informed me it was R1350. I asked whether I could EFT the rest or pay with debit card; the answer was an abrupt no, and I was told to go and draw the cash. Thankfully I managed to sc**** together an additional R50 from my parking money, as I was extremely unfami**** with the area and the last thing I felt safe to do was drive around to withdraw cash.

Nkofinathi didn't hand me back my drivers' licence after he had copied it – after I signed everything proceeded to take me to the vehicle. I headed out of there as fast as was safe to do. I received a call more than half an hour after I had left from Sharon Somo exclaiming "You have LEFT your driver's license here". No apology, rather choosing to place the blame on me, the customer, while the fault was theirs! No, I didn’t leave it there; the clerk failed to return it back to me after he required it! She then put Nkofinathi on the phone, not to apologise and offer a solution, but to interrogate me about where I was so I could turn back – I said it was irrelevant where I was, it wasn't possible for me to turn back, I was going to pull over and think about what I was to do – it is after all ******* to drive around without your drivers’ licence; and I had urgent business to attend to, I didn’t have more time. I was upset and it was evident to them from the conversation. I asked him to call me within 30 minutes with a solution, but he did not. I phoned back, he didn’t have a plan, and of course no apology for the HUGE inconvenience he had laid upon me. I insisted on a delivery to my home address. He said he had to check with management. I queried why he had not checked with management in the last 30 minutes since we last spoke? My agitation was clear. Why was he not trying to come up with a solution to fix his own negiligence? Still no apology at this stage… I said I wanted it delivered to my home address that same day. Later the afternoon I received a call from the Menlyn branch stating “mam your drivers’ licence is here ready for collection”. This is not what we agreed and it was impossible for me to drive from Silver Lakes all the way to Menlyn in 16h30 traffic!! I explained this to the Menlyn clerk who immediately apologised for all of this and fixed the issue – he got it delivered to my front door before dark that same day. Thank you for that – the only silver lining in this whole story.

I returned the car nearly 3 weeks later, but forgot to take the inspection sheet as the panel beater informed me on short notice that my car was ready for collection. When I got to Avis I dealt with Sharon Somo and the general attitude was certainly better than my previous experience. Nkofinathi took notice of me, but still did not choose to use this opportunity to apologise to me for the earlier blunders and poor service. Sharon could not locate the original inspection sheet – “We can’t find it anywhere”. OK… so the problem becomes mine yet again due to your incompetence. Thankfully I kept the copy at home and scanned it to them a few days later, as soon as I could (days later they were still unable to track your official original document... simply pathetic). There was a scratch in dispute and it was proven by the inspection sheet that I didn’t cause it; so next question – when can I get my deposit back? After I sent the inspection report I receive an sms from Avis stating that my account totals to R1387.72. I called the number provided but could not be helped with further information; I had to speak to the branch. The clerk was helpful and put me in touch with the branch. Although they had ignored my previous email that day, they immediately responded to Vivian Sibanyoni's email.

The next question was - when can I expect my deposit back? Sharon appeared to be more helpful at first, but in the end has not come to light either. When I enquired yet again later in the day about my deposit she simply wrote back “contact customer care it is not showing on my side”. When I called her to query this – of course no answer on their land line, so I had to send another email for her to call me – there is absolutely no effort to assist the customer and to find out what is going on ON THEIR SIDE. What would have been great is if she could have done the homework and let me know what was going on. When I start complaining about my entire shocking experience with Avis to her, she interrupts me time and again, with excuses like "your account is not closed because of the scratch". I have worked in customer service for many years and I find the way Avis does business and treat customers, appalling and extremely disappointing.

I strongly advise that you either get new staff, or provide thorough customer service training to your staff. This experience was (still is!) infuriating! I am contemplating switching car insurance companies so that I would never have to deal with Avis again!

Will someone please contact me and inform me (a) when I can expect to see my deposit reflect in my bank account and (b) what amount I can expect back after Etoll deductions?