Avis Car Rental, Albany NY

Avis is really losing ground with the old model cars offered and the archaic rental methodology. They also need to get their accounting straight. They used to be on par with Hertz and so what happened?

Literally the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. If I could leave negative ten stars I would. I rented a car, told them it smelled like smoke, they noted it in my account or so they said, and then I got charged $125 for smoke smell in the car. This wasn’t even close to the only issue, but one of the most annoying. Never using Avis again and neither is anyone I work with.

Worst experiences with a rental car. Ask rep for basic insurance with collision and put every insurance possible on car for 22 dollars a day. Ok my fault for not checking, but car was dirty inside and out. The car appear to be a car that an employee was using. Reeked of cigarette smoke and the rug in the front was pulling away from the baseboard on both sides. I also found dead roses between back seat and back window. I will never again use Avis maybe this was area specific but left a bad impression on me.

Worst rental company. Please don’t waste your time. Ask for a full-size sedan. Tried to put me in a pick up truck. Wanted to turn the vehicle in a day early and was told I’d be charged for the full rental time. Car was dirty stood outside waiting for the car for over 30 minutes save yourself some headache and use another company.

Not happy when you can't even see the truck you are picking up is dirty until you get out of the dark parking garage. No one goes over the truck with you either. The windows were dirty, and glitter was everywhere as well as someone's receipts. I took it to the car wash, so it looked good for our special occasion.

Avis gives exceptional service. This car was brand new and in great condition. The pickup and drop off staff were wonderful and very efficient. As long as Avis gives the best price we will always use them.

If I could leave zero stars for this rental I would. And it's not only about Avis it's also about Budget as they are sister companies working out at the same booth in the same airport that I rented from with two separate rentals, one from each company.
In both cases check in people were so poorly trained in customer service, were entirely rude, and had attitudes.
In both cases, it was only because I called the manager that it turned out to be a better experience because they were both great in both circumstances.
In this circumstance, the agent was texting on her phone with the window closed at the booth, and continued to do so when I was standing in front of her for at least 2 to 3 minutes. Hello, does business count?
Then she tried to put me in a lower car class vehicle than I booked. I was told that both Budget and Avis are cutting their staff and trying to eliminate human interaction so the counter in the airport is closed and they tell you to go out to the booth in the rental area. But whether I met at the airport rental counter as in Budgets case 6 months earlier or the Avis counter in the Rental parking booth, both were extremely rude agents with little customer service skills.
By contrast, a third rental from the same Airport and all of these occurring within 6 months, using Dollar Rental was the only one I would recommend it here as it was a complete Joy in contrast, because it was a different rental company, where they had properly trained agents who were lovely to deal with at both the counter in the airport as well as the booth in the parking garage. Stay far away from Avis and Budget if you can in Albany NY and just trust Dollar Rental because they were first class (as opposed to lowest class with Budget and Avis) related to customer service and just being polite. Good old-fashioned manners still count, and so does providing the vehicles that were reserved. If I'm there to pick up an SUV, I expect to find an SUV not a recreational vehicle.

Their team and customer service are amazing! They truly care and take care of their Preferred customers. I'm a happily loyal Avis renter:)

Rented a dirty and stinky cigarette smelling car at Albany Airport with no chance to complain or try to change it thanks to a long line, only one employee attending and my extremely tight schedule. Called customer service and they offered to send a tow truck to pick up the car and having me paying for it (I was one hr away from the rental place). Customer service also offered me an approximately $30 discount and ended up being charged approximately $15 additional with no explanation. And that is only part of the story. One star is a generous rating for the horrible experience we had.

I booked a car through Priceline, but didn't notice the car was randomly chosen from three choices of company, one of which was Avis, I generally choose from other than Avis. But once I got confirmation I figured it should not matter. From the get go, customer service was missing, no one seemed to be interested in informing about the scratches, the garage was pitch dark I couldn't see much inside. But once I drove out in light I saw how unclean and sticky car's cup holders were, the gear stick and the directionals had food stuck in their base, gps screen was dingy, windshield was dusty. I'm not picky but do appreciate a clean car. I'm sure Avis has better standards and it was the location that didn't care.

Difficult entry. Rude counter assistant. Car never cleaned inside or out, far bigger than what we asked for (no choice given) and didn't fit in our garage. Returned several days early and paid nearly full price!

My experience with this Avis was the ultimate car rental nightmare. Can't even begin to describe how frustrating the process was but will definitely take more than 2000 characters. Long story short, they confused the paperwork 3 times, changed the car 2 times (with inferior quality than original), machine was broken and wouldn't swipe my card (that was perfectly fine), delayed me by 2 hours, got questioned at the border why my car was different than rental agreement info.

The lady who took care of us in the Albany airport who takes care of the rental agreement was extremely rude and made the experience very uncomfortable. She made me feel like I was a criminal or something it was horrible I never experienced that before and it wasn’t nice at all but the second lady we dealt with who we got the keys from was very pleasant and nice totally made up for the other unpleasant lady.

We needed a last minute rental as our car broke down during a long trip. We also needed a large car since our own car which was packed for vacation was holding a lot of luggage and food. We got the type of car we needed.check in was easy and the checkout was even easier. The check in Representative was very helpful

Rude, not polite and unfriendly lady at the airport to pick up the car close to the baggage pick up. The lazy b**** didn’t want to answer my questions and do her job right. If I were u I would pay a few bucks more and rent on a different place other than Avis or Budget

Been to multiple avis rentals but this beats all to be the worst avis center in the country. They would not check you out in time and charge for an extra day or charge you for gas when you return your car with full gas. I have to call the helpline to get the refund everytime. Also selecting your car on the app at this location is worthless and as they would cancel your selection and give you what they want so don't waste your time on the app.

I asked for a 4x4 / small SUV because of the storm. They gave me a Jeep Compass which is great in snow condition. In and Out was quick. Staff are friendly. Top rating this round. Next time, May I have a Toyota Rav4 or an AWD Camry.

The Avis reservation system does not indicate that you can only have one car active per time per customer. I showed up to the desk at the airport and was almost stranded because they refused to give me the second car for our group. Fortunately the manager was willing to override the system if I used a second credit card.

Check your electronic receipts after returning your rental. Gas fill up charges buried under the “taxable products/services” line. We were charged for gas when we filled it up before hand and the employee at check-in confirmed it. Screams scam.

Picked up my Toyota 4 Runner at Albany International Airport, New York late in the evening. FAA closed all
flights that Jan 11th morning so we arrived 3 1/2 late due to all the delays. Had to rush as they were closing and was told to go to the Avis lot and pick up the car. It was filthy. Covered in mud, dirty windows and sides and runners. Upon entering the vehicle, noticed it was filthy inside as well. Steering wheel and center console had unidentifiable sticky residue on each and the front windsheild looked as though something splattered against it. Went to the Kiosk to complain, but it was closed, went to the inside kiosk and no one was their as well. It was late, we were tired so we took it anyway. Started the car and instantly was notified there was "Oil Maintenance required" and the tire pressure warning light was on. This was a brand new car with only 30000 miles on it. We were in no way able to just walk away from this car because we were moving our daughter into college during the next few days. Did I mention how filthy this car was!
Terrible representation of what condition your rentals are! There were also dents on the passenger rear side of the car as well. No one in the rental kiosk mentioned that either. Also, the tags have expired and was glad I did not get pulled over by a police officer during the days I had the car.