Shocker: Avis Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive from Renting

Observer News ^ | November 22, 2015 | Ken Kurson

[Timber Rattler]

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.

[Mount Athos]

OK, I will take the time to explain how you got duped by the bad journalism of the article.

“The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID.”

The journalist let stand this false claim without doing the 15 seconds of research that would have proven the statement only partially true.

Avis accepts an Israeli drivers license as valid documentation.

But it alone is not sufficient to secure a rental.
As per company policy, all foreigners are required to provide a passport or international drivers license.

The customer did not provide one to the customer representative at the office.

He only offered to give one later after complaining on the phone to national.

In other words he threw a fit and tried to bully the customer agent at the office into violating company policy and her training, and accepting the israeli drivers license alone.

This is confirmed by the wife’s statement in the article —
“There was no way they would rent a car with that license. There was no way to reason with them.”

Yes how very unreasonable for the agent to follow her training and enforce her companies policy.

This is a hoax story and the claims of discrimination are totally fraudulent

[Utilizer]

Your link provides no relevant information, just a notice of filing with no obvious information gleaned from the brief description therein.

[machogirl]

I want to see (not that I am entitled) the documents as presented.

Then read the transcript (if one) with Customer Service and
the smart phone video. Then is Avis is wrong, wrong, I expect
a nice apology on FB with a note on added training for
Docutments requested will be given at all Avis. If they don’t
prove their last sentence of “unfairly maligning” they might
not get control of their social media.

How I did this running in a long sentence post, I’ll never know.

provehttp://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/11/more_details_gunfire_erupts_at.html#incart_most-comments

[cynwoody]

This is a hoax story and the claims of discrimination are totally fraudulent

Sorry, but I'll take the word of a Fordham law graduate and SVP of a major pharmaceutical company over that of the bitch in question, especially seeing that she is suing her last employer (Bloomingdale's) over equal pay.

[piytar]

That was a well written explanation. Thank you.

I will now defer deciding if Avis was in the right or the wrong until more facts come out.

[PA Engineer]

This is a hoax story and the claims of discrimination are totally fraudulent

What is your proof?

You have complained multiple times quite loudly and insultingly on this thread. You have no evidence and yet you insult a past customer of AVIS who followed all the directions. Not only a past customer, but an Executive Vice President of one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world.

What is your real agenda?

[Mount Athos]

Will there be an apology from those unfairly demonizing the agent and Avis for enforcing the same policy they have had for ages on foreigners renting cars?

The husband and wife both admit that they didn’t provide documentation that is adequate according to Avis company policy.

They presented a credit card and israeli drivers license. But all foreigners are also required to present a passport or international drivers license — they didn’t do so. The husband only claims to have offered to show a passport after complaining to the national office on the phone.

From the information in the article, and even just with the statements of the complainers falsely screaming about discrimination — the agent performed her job exactly as she was trained and followed company policy correctly.

[FourPeas]

As someone who needs to rent a car every month or so, Avis/Budget is looking much less appealing, especially since Avis is standing behind its bigoted employees.

There are other rental car companies out there.

[cynwoody]

I wonder how his company feels about him falsely crying “discrimination!” and smearing another major company in the press.

He's SVP and General Counsel. You do not get such a position by being a jerk.

Israelis stick together, and Avis has declared itself their enemy.

[al baby]

No the problem is Aviis

[SkyDancer]

Another anti-Semite heard from.

[al baby]

Yes Muss
I swear have been into transporting for a long long time taxis shared ride airport shuttle company’s you would be amazed at how easy it is to hide illegal activity in this type of business

[Mount Athos]

What is your proof?

You have no evidence and yet you insult a past customer of AVIS

It turns out I have really strong evidence.

Avis company policy requires a passport or international drivers license of foreigners, in addition to a regular drivers license.

The customer only provided the latter to the agent at the office, according to statements from both the customer and wife. The husband says he only offered a passport after complaining on the phone to the national office.

My fraud alarm went off because I have always had to give passport details when renting from major american car companies in a foreign country. (thrifty, avis, budget)

What is your real agenda?

Real agenda item #1
Stop a major American company from being unfairly maligned

Real agenda item #2
Stop an innocent agent from being unfairly demonized for simply following her training and company policy. Some freepers are hinting at doing research on her and causing her real life troubles.

Real agenda item #3
Stop freepers from being duped by yet more bad journalism.

Real agenda item #4
Don't reward people for falsely crying discrimination. Being an exec of a major company gives you a higher responsibility to avoid crying wolf like that.

[al baby]

Do you know why the Siamese Twins moved to England ?......The other one wanted to drive

[sitetest]

Destroy Avis.

Islam must be destroyed.

[tanknetter]

It’s not necessarily a hoax story.

The Israeli claims he provided what he was asked to provide in the past. It’s entirely possible that the Avis locations he rented from before never asked for a passport or international license. Either because they weren’t aware of/weren’t following the policy or because the policy changed.

So the guy shows up and gets asked for additional documentation that he wasn’t asked for before. He assumes it’s because he’s Israeli, and pitches a fit. Which given the whole BDS thing, which hes most certainly aware of as a pharm exec, is understandable. The location management sticks to policy, and their leadership backs them up.

IOW both sides probably have a point here.

[Mount Athos]

He's SVP and General Counsel. You do not get such a position by being a jerk.

Since he's such a nice guy, I would expect him to publically apologize to both the agent and the national company.



Maybe it would look something like this:

Dear agent, I didn't realize you were just following your training and company policy when you refused to accept my Israeli drivers license without a passport.

I apologize for any unpleasantness caused by people who were misled by a poorly researched article into thinking that you had acted out of some kind of bigotry.

[cynwoody]

Real agenda item #1
Stop a major American company from being unfairly maligned

Au contraire, major American companies which follow POTUS's lead regarding how to treat Israel do indeed deserve to be maligned.

[PA Engineer]

You have no evidence. He was a returning customer to Avis with good standing. Your responses however are emotional and firing from the hip.

You don't need to insult me with your "Real agenda" tripe and projection. None of them have anything to do with it.

You are taking this very emotionally and personally. This indicates much more nefarious motives on your part. Those could include employment by Avis or far worse. Your religious defense of Avis might be seen as admirable in some circles, however not here.

There is a lot you are not telling us in regards to your peculiar response to this affair. I don't think anyone can logically persuade you from your position. Your position was not arrived at logically.

[Mount Athos]

lol