Posted on 11/22/2015 4:34:27 PM PST by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.com ...
Thanks. I have posted of FB, Twatted :) and sent an email to thomas.gartland@avisbudget.com.
Good one! and fast too.
Their crappy weak response actually insulted the customer.
Having been in business myself I can tell you this is the worst possible response. Even if the customer is a flaming lunatic, say someone like our president, you have to practice diplomacy, at least in public.
There you go spoiling a good pout-whine with common sense.
Thank you.
Here is the final nail in the coffin of this non-story.
http://www.avis.com/car-rental/content/render-faq.ac
(USA requirements for renting, Avis accepted forms of documentation)
“If you intend to rent outside your home country, you may also be required to present an International Driver’s Permit. Additionally, if you intend to rent outside of your home country, Avis may require that you present a valid passport, as secondary form of identification at the time of your check-out.”
So much for the agent and company acting out of bigotry!
It turns out the agent was acting totally consistently with her training and company policy.
I have never seen a Corporation screw up something this simple. It really does make you wonder.
On their official Facebook website, Avis blamed the customer for “unfairly maligning” them. I have never in my life seen such a poor PR decision. The guy is a LOYALTY customer. He had rented a car from them just two days earlier. It’s really quite incredible.
Even if the facts are on AVIS’s side. They say they are in the middle of an investigation but state that the customer is maligning them. It’s just Damage Control 101. STUPID business practice. I don’t usually tear a corporation based on the action of one or two employees.. but they are making it very hard to be sympathetic with them. THE GUY RENTED AT THE SAME PLACE TWO DAYS EARLIER with no problem. Yikes.
Budget is a part of Avis I understand.
Also, look how MANY people complain about Avis scamming them in one way or another: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/avis.html.
:’) It was in the article, I just linked it. :’)
FRiend, I’ll bash whomever I please....
My reason(s) to HATE Avis has far more to do with my own experiences (plural) with them than this one story about a from-out-of-the-country customer. In fact, Avis MIGHT actually be in the right on this one.
Avis IS the armpit of the industry...
What are you? An Avis stockholder, or co-founder, or something?
Another anti-Semite heard from.
Having dealt with executives I’m inclined to give the clerk the benefit of the doubt
Um, I suppose that makes sense.
I have no idea. If they rented frequently, there should not have been a problem, with the company or supposedly the customers not knowing the rules. Once he spoke to the customer service line, Avis should have rented the car. Only reason I read after that was from the customer.
The company crashed on FB either way.
The huge downside of social media.
On further reading from other posters this might have been a hoax story - but on who’s part? I’d rather believe the Israeli rather than the clerk.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Given the fact that the individual has rented before from Avis using the same forms of identification, including the location which turned him down, and within the last few days, I'm guessing the is a function of the clerk who served him this time. Avis appears to be hesitant to acknowledge that. There are probably a lot more Muslim customers worldwide than Jews.
From the article,
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 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.
Nothing to do with documentation, as the fact that he frequently rents from Avis, including the same office 2 days ago. The clerk and her manager didn't like him, for whatever reason, particularly his complaining at the counter.
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