Florence-Siena: Absolutely Worth Visiting

Be mindful of insurance, and refuel the car.

The staff at the Florence city center had terrible attitudes and were impatient. No one assisted us with the car inspection during pickup. When returning the car at Bologna airport, the signs were unclear. We drove to the airport's arrivals parking, went inside to ask for directions, and wasted another 20 minutes to finally find the return location. There were many customers, but only one staff member was available.

Average service, no smiles.

We picked up the car near Florence train station. The lady at the counter was quite rude and told us they didn't have any BMWs, only VW Golfs. When we contacted customer service, they asked to speak to her directly, but she refused to take the call and said, 'If you're not satisfied with our cars, you can go to another company,' then she moved us aside and called the next customer. We had to get a new number and wait in line again. The second lady was more polite and didn't mention different car models, but kept trying to sell us additional AVIS insurance. When we finally got the car, it was an almost new Alfa with only 2700 km on it. Returning the car at Milan train station was smoother; the staff were much friendlier, but the nearest gas station was 3 km away and privately owned.

I had to wait 2h20 to pick up my car in Florence; I never experienced this. They had many customers but it seems to be a known problem. Why then don’t they make it a better experience? They could have at least reduced slightly the overall costs as I could not pick up the car at the right time because of this issue. Additionally, they charged a large amount of money on my credit card and now 2 days later I still did not get a refund. Note though that the staff was helpful and courteous though visibly missing some personnel (and at lunch a few desks were empty, I guess for the lunch break ... but with many, many guests including me waiting for hours). One good point though was that the staff at the airport (drop off location) was very quick and efficient.