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AVIS Prestige Car Rental
by Disappointed Avis Prestige Customer
I came across Avis Prestige whilst researching luxury vehicles to hire for a period of four days, being almost a household name on the car hire scene and in choosing an Airport branch I believed that they would be able to offer the vehicle that I needed or a close alternative. Coupled with the fact I was booking a month in advance (as a ... treat for a 40th Birthday trip) I didn't expect there to be any availability issues especially with this extension of Avis seemingly being marketed as offering nothing but prestige luxury vehicles. I also believed that since this was what this arm of the Avis empire did day in day out, that there would plenty of alternatives to choose from, should my first choice be booked.
Thirty minutes after making the provisional booking, I got the bad news. An email from Avis Prestige telling me that the vehicle I wanted wasn't available, and they only had one alternative, which coincidentally was also being now offered at a much higher price. Incidentally the same model of the alternative vehicle which they were now offering was available for hire at another local 'non prestige' car hire company for £150 cheaper than the price Avis were charging. I assume that Avis work on the basis that simply adding the word 'prestige' to their website, somehow lends them the ability to increase their hire prices for vehicles which are, in this case, available to the customer at a much cheaper from another local mainstream hire company. Hardly anything special being offered here then!.
I was disappointed that, despite other customers claiming that Avis had offered them an upgrade on the occasion that their original vehicle was unavailable, I was essentially now being offered a downgrade when you consider that the other car hire company were offering this same alternative vehicle at a much cheaper price. Would you pay £510 for the hire of a vehicle which was available £150 cheaper from another company?, neither would I although Avis Prestige seem to think that this alternative was the same class as the previously chosen vehicle, and an acceptable substitute.
The whole point of paying almost £500 for Prestige Car Hire, is to get a better level of service and a better class of vehicle, the type that you just cannot get from mainstream high street car hire companies, and in my case, this simply wasn't forthcoming.
Having a months notice of my hire requirements, you would expect that Avis Prestige could have perhaps gone the extra mile and arranged for a vehicle to be transfered from another branch, or at least have more than one alternative to offer from their range, and doing this doesn't seem to be a problem for general multi-regional car hire companies such as Practical Car rental and County Car Hire (Stockport), both of which do make the effort for their customers and offer a much better level of service at a more competitive price, and so I would seriously recommend rewarding this extra level of customer care by taking your business to them.
If you ever are unfortunate enough to find yourself on the Avis Prestige website, I would advise excercising the use of your browsers' back button, and take your business elsewhere, to where it is better appreciated and deserved. This experience is not exactly a good first impression for what was, in my experience a third rate level of service.
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AA The Driving School
by tony hartley
I have just read a lot of negative comments about the AA and its instructors and feel that I must relate my experience.In one word great!.On my first lesson I was very nervous althoug I did know some basic things ie clutch control etc as I ride a motorcycle.My instructor made me at ease,took me to a quite road and assesed what I thought ... I knew,needless to say we started from scratch.My lessons have been very instructive and my instructor very professional,his timekeeping is also faultless.I do agree that the price for lessons is a little expensive but you cannot put a price on safety.Im sorry to read about bad experiences with instructors but thats all about life and choices,if you and your instructor dont gel change instructors,its your choice!.I failed my first test but it was my own fault not my instructors,he got me ready I blew it!.My next test is in a few weeks and wont be changing my instructor.TONY LIVERPOOL
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