San Francisco-Los Angeles-San Diego

Overall okay

Very good

I encountered an unethical staff member at Avis who seemed to be a manager—an outright scammer. Here's the story for everyone to understand. Avis requires the tank to be full when returning the car, but due to heavy traffic, a 40-minute drive took two hours. Worried about the time, I decided to refuel near the return location. To my surprise, there was no gas station nearby (which is unreasonable because if you refuel far from the return spot, the tank will not be full by the time you get there). For everyone's information, the return location has a gas station, but the price is $10 per gallon instead of the normal $3 per gallon. So, we were fined $61. Isn't this a deliberate rip-off? That's not all, though. The worst part is yet to come. We tried explaining to the staff to avoid the extra charge, but if it didn’t work, we were ready to pay. The staff introduced us to an American man who seemed to be a manager to resolve the issue. However, this 'scammer' pretended to help us. He printed a receipt, intentionally showing a charge of 61 and then a -61, making us think the fee was waived. He also added a charge of 17, supposedly for the regular gas price. We trusted him without thoroughly checking the contract filled with English and technical terms, and thanked him repeatedly. Later, I found out I was charged on my credit card. Upon inspecting the receipt, it all became clear (I kept the receipt just in case). The $61 was not a big deal; we were ready to pay but just tried our luck. Who knew people in the U.S. could be so unethical? Even when we picked up the car, the front desk staff was unfriendly. Maybe it was due to the cheaper rental rates for Chinese customers through Zuzuche? On a positive note, the customer service at Zuzuche was excellent.

Although people abroad might not care about car brands as much as Chinese do, we were joyful to book a Ford Edge, only to be informed upon arrival that we were given a Mitsubishi instead. After some negotiation, we finally got a Dodge, which somewhat impacted the overall experience. I think if we can select a Ford Edge during booking, why can't they reserve it in advance? If it's already booked, we should be notified ahead so we can choose something else. We booked in advance, but due to the car rental company's fault, we didn't get the planned vehicle. They didn't provide us with a car of equal value, but one that was much cheaper, which was really unsatisfactory.

Very efficient and extremely attentive service