Unfairly charged for accident damages to a rental vehicle.

Account: Anton Pienaar E*** | COMPLAINT!!! Unfairly charged for accident damages

In my 51 years of lifetime I have never experienced such bad service EVER renting a vehicle. I had to urgently travel and my son (Mr Anton Pienaar) assisted me with his credit card to rent a vehicle from Port Elizabeth Airport Branch to Kimberley Airport Branch. Before I took the vehicle over it was inspected and the scratches and marks and dent at the back has been written on an inspection sheet at PE Airport, but I didn't receive a copy of that inspection sheet, even though I requested one. The inspector said, no, it's okay. They don't give inspection sheets to customers. Everything will be good. (There I already felt a bit uneasy, but hey, never had problems and always uses them for rentals).

I had the vehicle back at Kby Airport IN TIME and with NO EXTRA DAMAGES than those that was on there. I left the town I traveled from that morning at 5am and it was still dark when I left, so I didn't see the dog scratches on the driver's side door panel up until I reached Kimberly Airport.

The inspector came out, I have two witnesses who's affidavits I also sent to Pakiso Phasha, who was present when he inspected the vehicle. I immediately showed out the dog scratches on the door. I communicated that the other damages WAS ON THE VEHICLE WHEN I took it over from PE Airport. He confirmed that verbally with me, I signed the inspections sheet, asked for a copy, he also said, they don't give the customer copy of inspection sheet. I left there trusting that all is good and the dog scratches polishing and fuel they have to replace in tank will be deducted from deposit of R5 587 I paid as an additional driver. The inspector even said it will not amount to the full amount of deposit, and the rest of the deposit that they don't use for those cost, will be paid back into my debit account in 4 to 8 weeks time. Now, AVIS Budget deducted the specified amount that we rented the vehicle for from my son's credit card. which is fine. But then they sent us an accidental damage cost account with the outstanding amount of R21 043.48 extra, noting its for accident damages to the vehicle and on that account my additional driver's deposit doesn't even reflect.

I sent emails to the accounts department from the very start, in December 2021, to the applicable personnel, yet nobody returned to us with a solution. The accounts department rather phones my son, Mr Anton Pienaar, on a frustratingly regular basis, threatening him to give his account over to the credit authorities. (The last phone call was on the 9th of Feb 2022).

I will NEVER rent ANY vehicle from AVIS BUDGET RENTAL again after this unprofessional handling of a situation and ignorance on their side. It is sad that an organization who had a very good name has deteriorated so badly. :-(