My experience booking through Kayak could not have been WORSE. Through Kayak, I made a car reservation with Avis (one day, Sun Jan 26, Mesa Gateway airport pickup, Santa Fe airport drop off). Confirmation number 19969723US4. Total rental fee - as per email confirmation received Mon, Jan 20 - was $75.69. When I arrived at the Mesa car rental counter on Jan 26, the agent processed the rental and asked me to insert my credit card for payment. I asked for the total charge before doing so. He told me that the rental fee was $201 USD. VERY LONG story short, after showing him my rental confirmation, arguing my case for over an hour, speaking to an AVIS customer service supervisor on the phone, I was told there was "nothing they could do." Of course, they claimed that the difference in price was because I had "booked with a third party" (Kayak). And of course, they had me over a barrel because I had to get to Santa Fe that day. Finally, in tears, I agreed to pay the $201. I was then told my reservation had been canceled! The stress, not to mention financial cost, of this experience has left me shaking. I need to rent a car to return to Mesa airport on Feb 12 and I am filled with anxiety just thinking about it. If Kayak and Avis want to do business with each other, you need to get on the same page. Do not offer prices that will not be honoured at the counter. Do not tell me this is a matter to be taken up with Avis (I have contacted their customer service and they are not responding). YOU TWO - Kayak and Avis - need to sort this out. It is not my job to get you both on the same page. I am currently preparing to take my case to the next level for attention.
They gave me a gas guzzler instead of a compact vehicle and gas was overpriced and taxes ended up being an extra $200 just for gas
Booked a car through kayak, got to the Avis location at the Mesa Airport and they told me they had 0 cars available. Guy behind the counter couldn’t care less it was 8pm, I had no car, just gave me a pamphlet on how to get a refund. How is this possible? I had reserved the car hours in advanced with a confirmation. Absolutely ridiculous. Had to spend $60 to uber home because “airport fees” as the uber driver described and I lived less than 10 miles away and still had to find another rental car. Ended up renting with Turo. Even with the fees, overall better experience.
I needed to call customer service to change the pick up and drop off location, and the Avis staff were helpful, friendly, and quick to solve my problem. I had a great experience!
