Shocker: Avis Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive from Renting

Observer.com ^ | 11/22/15 | Ken Kurson

[Nachum]

On Saturday evening, Dov Bergwerk arrived at the Avis branch on West 76th Street and Broadway. Accompanied by his wife Ruth, the Bergwerks were planning to join friends for dinner in Westchester. Mr. Bergwerk, a senior vice president and general corporate counsel at the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, got out his driver’s license, reservation number and “Wizard” loyalty card – he’s rented from Avis dozens of times before – and anticipated the usual smooth transition into a nondescript mid-sized sedan.

That’s when the trouble started.

A reservation agent named Angelline declined to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation, saying that it was company policy not to recognize Israeli documents. Stunned, Mr. Bergwerk explained that he had rented from Avis many times, including a car from that very same office on Thursday, November 19 – only two days earlier.

Mr. Bergwerk asked Angelline to access the profile attached to his Wizard card, which shows that he is an executive at a giant multinational company who has no regulatory issues and has rented from Avis, including at that very branch, many times without incident. She refused. They argued.

Eventually, a manager was called. Shamoura took the side of her reservation agent, also refusing to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation or recognize his documents. Stunned and stranded on a Saturday night in New York, Mr. Bergwerk called the Avis main number and got through to customer service. The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID and also mentioned that he could show his passport to ameliorate any ID concerns the on-site employees had. Mr. Bergwerk put the customer service representative on the phone with Shamoura, the branch manager, and at this point the story evolved. She now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car

[beelzepug]

“Why didn’t Mr. Bergwerk just use his passport and get on with his journey?”

At that point, according to the story, the agent switched her reason for refusing service from his drivers license to his attitude. She simply was NOT going to rent him a car, period!

[Fred Hayek]

I have never had a complaint about Enterprise. They are on the top of my list.

[Ready4Freddy]

aka, sheboon

[GreaterSwiss]

http://www.yelp.com/biz/avis-rent-a-car-new-york-8

[GreaterSwiss]

http://www.yelp.com/biz/avis-rent-a-car-new-york-8

[CodeToad]

Managers and executives are responsible for who they hire and their conduct. You fire the managers as well. Business 101. This, “I didn’t know”, crap has got to stop. Managers and executives are paid to know and must be held accountable. Otherwise, they always claim they didn’t know.

[EinNYC]

Wow. So according to Yelp, this particular Avis location has had horrible service to a lot of people. An Argentine guy even posted that no one with a foreign passport should use this place. Seems a local demonstration would be in line.

[CodeToad]

Seems like Avis hires AA hires as they are dumb as rocks.

[BlueLancer]

"...at this point the story evolved. She now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car not because of the insufficient documents but because Mr. Bergwerk had "argued about the way I was being treated in front of other customers," according to Mr. Bergwerk."

First, I wonder if I could get away with that if I don't like the attitude of the first black person who comes to see me in my office ...

Second, if they did this to me, they're REALLY not going to appreciate my attitude ...

[Grams A]

Good for you. We have tried Enterprise during our last few rentals and really pleased with their level of service. Had something of a disagreement with Avis in Denver on two occasions over ticky tacky issues and decided we really needed to look elsewhere. This just added another reason to shred our cards and send them back to Avis.

[tioga]

She sounds like a royal bitch. Avis really needs to fire her.

[MarkL]

She might well be fired if & when TEVA, a multi-national pharmaceutical corporation, issues an order to ALL of their branches, that Avis and Budget auto rentals will never be used again when employees are traveling on the corporate dime.

Mark

[Albion Wilde]

bfl

[Liberty Valance]

I hate black New York nazis.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Do other rental car companies not recognize an Israeli driver's license?

They do recognize Israeli driver's license and so does AVIS. The agent was lying through her teeth.

The agent's supervisor agreed with the agent, so why beat up on the agent.

Because the agent and supervisor were wrong.

Why didn't Mr. Bergwerk just use his passport and get on with his journey?

He produced his passport. They still refused to rent or even acknowledge that his reservation. What was he suppose to do? Steal a car?

I'm not disagreeing with the consensus of this board, but there are unanswered questions.

Now there are not.

[Impala64ssa]

Hot off the presses! From Avis' FB page:
"On Friday, a customer seeking to rent a car from Avis Car Rental was not allowed to do so because he failed to provide the required documentation. Visitors to the U.S. From other countries must provide both a valid drivers license from their country of residence as well as a valid International Drivers License or passport in order to rent from Avis. We are aggressively investigating the customer's allegations regarding the handling of this matter, as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination. So far, our ongoing investigation suggests that this customer is unfairly maligning us with unfounded accusations."
Avis has acknowledged that something went wrong and the ball's in their court now. Lets see how Avis handles it.

[Impala64ssa]

So far, our ongoing investigation suggests that this customer is unfairly maligning us with unfounded accusations
Though this last comment seems very odd. This customer, who has been renting from Avis has nothing better to do than suddenly badmouth Avis? Something's not Kosher.

[Balding_Eagle]

THX

[SkyDancer]

I carry a Hertz Golden something or other but the boss always wanted us to use AVIS - but will have a chat with him on Monday about my using Hertz.

[Fred Hayek]

Spin, spin, spin. Corporate crapweasels singing Din Do Nuffin. Clueless executive crapweasels don’t care if they lose corporate accounts, don’t care if their own company goes under. If that is their “corporate culture” (I hate that term!), then Avis needs to die by marketplace forces, or go through some tough sledding.