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| - This was my first experience with Budget/Avis. Crummy experience. One positive, the booking experience prior to travel was good. The website was clear and I was able to lock in the vehicle I wanted (basic mid-size).
Upon arrival to Charlotte, I was the first (and only) customer in line. Given there were two clerks, each appearing to wind things up with a customer, I should get immediate help - wrong. When clerk #1 finished up with her customer, she looked at the line, just me, and buried her head in her computer. I waited about five min for clerk #2 to finish with her customer and she helped me right away. I must have caught her on a bad day. She was efficient, albeit crabby. I was friendly and pleasant, but she must have thought it was me that made her day bad. We got through it, lousy experience, but no big deal. After all, I was on vacation and in a good mood, while she was working and not feeling it. This was no "Welcome to Charlotte", but I'll give her a pass.
I picked up the car, Volkswagen Golf wagon, surprised that it was not washed with dirty, finger-printy windows. There were no employees around to help. Strike one.
We drove to the checkout booth, I asked the employee if he had anything to clean the dirty windows with, and his reply was, "sorry man, not my department." Really? I asked if it is typical to assign a dirty vehicle. He said, "they usually clean them up." No offer of assistance. Strike two.
Finally, after four days, while I was approaching the airport to return the vehicle, we couldn't find a gas station anywhere near and traffic was so heavy, we couldn't take the time to drive around looking for one. The car needed about 6 gallons and I wanted to fill close to the airport. Finding none, I expected to pay about Budget an inflated rate of $4-$5 to have them fill the tank. Nope. $68 charge. Lame. Strike three.
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