I've rented cars many times overseas through QEEQ, but this experience with AVIS in Milan, Italy was the worst!! They claimed the model I booked was not available and forced me to pay for an upgrade to a larger car, without attempting to coordinate or urgently arrange a new one. They gave me two choices: either pay for the upgrade or cancel the trip with a fee! Due to my fixed plans, I was forced to upgrade to a more expensive model at an additional 25 euros per day for 7 days, totaling an extra 150 euros. However, they charged 200 euros upfront on my card. When I asked why, AVIS staff pretended not to know and said the computer showed that fee.
The AVIS staff were extremely rude and impatient throughout, with very poor English skills, showing no willingness to help unless I paid more. The AVIS rental location at Milan Central Station is very difficult to find. I waited in line for more than an hour because there were five people in front of me. When it was my turn, they said I was late! After the paperwork, I had to walk 15-20 minutes to the pickup point, which was in a tricky basement area. When I got there, I found plenty of Audi A1s and similar cars, but at the counter, they said there were no cars of the same model available. I asked the pickup staff about the idle Audi A1s, but they also didn't understand, stating these cars were normal. They told me to talk to the front desk, but I had already paid! It felt like they saw my urgent schedule and forced extra charges on me.
After 7 days, I returned the car in Florence at a combined rental and gas station. There were no AVIS staff present, so I had to call and have the gas station staff inspect the car. Once verified, they let me leave. AVIS staff never appeared. I asked for a return receipt and email, and the gas station staff said they would send it when they returned, but I never received it. Three days later, my credit card was inexplicably charged around 800 euros! I immediately contacted QEEQ's customer service to resolve the issue. They only recorded my complaint, saying that the Italian staff were not working and would need a few days to look into it. After over a week, I finally got feedback saying the last 800 euros charged was the deposit pre-authorization that wasn't processed before and was retroactively charged. A week later, AVIS reversed the pre-authorization. Regarding the forced upgrade fees, AVIS claimed it was because I was late and no similar cars were available, hence the upgrade. I pointed out their slow service; it took one and a half hours to serve five people, with only one working counter. I waited long outside, and when I tried to explain my time was up, the staff rudely sent me back to the line outside! Eventually, they found they had overcharged me by 60 euros for fuel fees and refunded that amount. No further explanation was given.
Overall, it was the worst car rental experience I've ever had! AVIS in Italy, supposedly a large international rental company, provided terrible service, with hidden and forced charges. I'll never choose AVIS again! Be cautious with AVIS in Italy! This rental experience was extremely poor!
The vehicle was in good condition.
The pickup location address was incorrect; it was a hotel. The hotel staff, who have probably encountered this situation before, drew us a map to a place far away from there. We then found a note on the door stating that they had moved to Milan's central station, but even people at the station didn't know where it was. After circling back, the entire process took over an hour.
Pickup was slow; after completing the paperwork, we waited at least 20 minutes for them to bring the car from the garage to the nearby parking lot.
Since we were returning the car to Venice, they charged me an extra day's parking fee of 29 euros. They claimed that this had been explained at the time of pickup, which it hadn't. I consider this a hidden charge and refused to sign the final bill. I had already returned the car, so why should I still pay a parking fee? The cost of returning the car to a different location should have been included in the rental fee.
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