| Avis rental Frankfurt Airport, Germany |
| SCAM of damage to vehicle. |
| 20th of Aug, 2011 by tcourtney |
I recently rented a car from Avis Frankfurt, Germany from July 17, 2011 to July 27, 2011. I booked this car online, a Mercedes A Class. When I arrived at the airport from an overnight flight, I was given the keys to a Volvo V 60. The car was located in a very dim lit and tight space area. My travel companion and I could hardly fit into the car the way it was parked. We left the airport without inspecting the vehicle with a fine tooth comb which turned out to be a mistake. We gave the vehicle a quick once over and it appeared to be ok with no damage. While in Germany we kept the car parked in a parking deck in a handicap space only removing the vehicle to take it to a secure military facility.
When I returned the car to the Avis rental return at Frankfurt Airport, 3 Avis agents looked over the car as if they were purposely looking to find something wrong. The rental return area was brightly lit and open spaced as opposed to the pick up area described above. One agent pointed to the rear passenger bumper and spoke German to the others. I cannot speak or understand German, but thankfully my friend did. They said that there was damage to the rear passenger bumper which I and my friend had to put our faces so close to the vehicle to see the bumper looked to be pulled away maybe about 1/8 of an inch close to the rear door. Looking at the rear bumper area you could not find any dents or creases or any indication of a collision with another vehicle or object. I was handed a check list of the damage which was written in German. My friend translated it to me so that I could deny all allegations of the damage.
When I returned home I printed out my Avis rental receipt ( I was not given one at the airport) which had additional charges of 1,050 EURO for the damage to the car. Several days later I received a letter from Avis Germany dated July 28, 2011, with pictures of the alleged damage. The damage was so minor that they needed to outline with chalk the bumper so that one could see the slight misalignment. They also included a picture of the car from the rear to the front but on the drivers side view. Why take a picture of the wrong side of the car? One would think that the focus would be on the damaged side.
On August 13, 2011, I received and email from an Avis International Customer Service representative along with additional photo's. Again the documents were written in German which outlined all of the charges for fixing the bumper. How in the world would I know what I was being charged for? Some of the photographs were repeats of the first set along with several others of the rear area. The additional photo's show the bumper to be pulled further away that the original pictures set to me exaggerating the alleged damage.
As a retired Federal Agent, I have investigated fraud cases during my 30 year career. Further investigation on my part lead me to this website along with many others I know when something stinks and this smells like someone at Avis Frankfurt is taking advantage of tourist because they know either their credit card companies will pay or they simply are too far away to fight it. Avis US is turning a blind eye to the problem that is happening around the world. I believe the name of Avis is being brought down by these scam artist and even if their World Headquarters don't give a damn, I would hope their stockholders do!!!!.
In closing, be very careful when you rent from Avis anywhere and take pictures before and after. |
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