Book Avis car hires in Portland

Pros: The staff was helpful and friendly. Checkout was very easy, literally just drove up and left the car.

Cons: While the staff at Avis seemed friendly and somewhat helpful, there was a very long wait to get the rental. There were only two agents at the counter assisting a fairly long line of customers and they did not seem to be aware of how long they were taking and did not even greet customers or acknowledge the line or the long wait, this while other rental companies on the floor had little to no wait. A third agent arrived and was doing two check-ins at once going back and forth between the two check-ins which made things go a bit faster, while the other two agents were still going at a snails pace. I finally got the keys to the car and was given the number of the space where the car was located but when I got upstairs, there was no car. I asked their counter located upstairs, that apparently is only for “premiere” renters or for higher valued vehicles. There were two agents helping one customer with another customer waiting and two members of staff at that counter “chit chatting”. Again, no acknowledgement when I entered. I waited another 5-7 mins with no acknowledgement and only when I approached one of the two staff members as they were walking out did they “notice” me and assist by walking me out to the numbered spot just to tell me I had to go back downstairs. No offer to have me be helped. I was given another rental and I loaded my luggage into the trunk and got in to drive away only to find that the car smelled of cigarette smoke. I unfortunately was not able to go back and request another rental due to my schedule and I had to reluctantly leave with that car. The smell of cigarette smoke, was noticeable all weekend and other family members noticed it when in the car. I tried calling for 30 mins after driving away to inform Avis of the smoke smell but no one answered and finally I stayed on the line long enough for the call to be directed to the general corporate call line where an associate was able to notate the smell in my file. Overall, in comparison to other larger rental companies like Enterprise or Hertz, this experience has been very poor, more like what I would expect from a smaller, local/regional and unknown rental company vs a larger national chain.

Cons: At drop off I was automatically charged $184 for gas refill. My initial estimate for the rental was $129.00 for 2 days. $184 for a tank of gas? Had to make an extra stop to the customer service desk just to get it credited. What a waste of time to be a preferred member. Never again.

Cons: Car was really dirty. Check in employee was abrupt.