Avis customer support has exhausted my patience, so I'm considering this the final chapter.  If Avis is your cheapest rate when you go to rent a car, take a second to think about the risk you might run of having to deal with customer service.  I am not going to be a loyal Avis customer anytime soon.

I used Travelocity.com to book the cheapest car I could find for Kallie and I to use on our flight to California over Thanksgiving.  Avis was the cheapest, but not by much.  We picked up the Pontiac G5 at Sacramento airport on Nov 25th on our arrival.  It was the smallest rental car I've ever been in, which put me more in a contemplative mindset as I wondered why I've never had such a small car even though I've always rented the cheapest before.

The car worked fine until Friday evening in San Francisco.  While sightseeing, I parallel parked but was not able to turn the key to power off the car.  It was if it was locked in the on position.  We couldn't leave the car running and unlocked to sightsee.  We tried all the obvious things, then called the 800 number listed with the rental docs, and they had us try the obvious stuff again, then we told them we'd just go to the nearest Avis center and return it.  We were near empty on gas, but there was an Avis location in town, not far away.  We got to the location shortly after 5, and it closed at 5pm.  That meant that we would have to drive ~30 minutes to the San Francisco airport.  We got there, with less than a gallon of gas left, I'm sure.

Upon our arrival, I had the 2 employees and a manager sanity check me and they could not turn the car off either.  They said to go inside and talk to customer service to get a replacement car.  They initially said they would have to charge me for returning the car with an empty tank, but since I couldn't turn off the car, it wasn't safe for me to fill it up before returning it and they let that charge go.  The desk representative also volunteered a $25 voucher for our inconvenience, and asked her manager to bring the voucher to the desk for us over the walkie talkie.  ~20 minutes go by, the very nice desk rep pages her manager again.  We use the rest room, talk about the car, wait around, until the desk rep then physically goes to the manager's office to find the manager had left for the day and locked the office with the voucher inside.  When the desk rep came back to us, she said that she would leave notes in their system for our reservation so that when we returned the car in Sacramento, they would give us a voucher for "more than $25" since we had so much trouble and had to wait.  We got a replacement Ford Focus, and went about our lives.

...until Sunday, when we realize we may have left Kallie's Macbook under the passenger seat with our only copies of wedding photos on DVD.  We called the San Francisco airport location, and they said they don't see any notes on a laptop, but the car is at their repair facility off site, and no one would be able to look for it until Monday, but they would have someone call me back once they were able to look.  By 4pm Monday, I hadn't heard anything back, so I called them again, and they asked me where to look for it, so I said, "in the car", and they wanted me to be specific, so I said to try under the passenger seat or in the trunk.  They called back after a few minutes and said they were not able to find it there.

Fast forward to Tuesday, Dec 1st at 4:00am.  We drop off the car at the rental location to catch our 6:00am flight.  The receiving employee only has a hand scanner that prints our return receipts and she has no access to a computer or vouchers.  She said that we would have to wait until the desk representatives come in at 7:00am.  So I decide I'll have to pick this back up once we get home.

I give a phone call to the customer support number.  I explain the voucher situation to them, and they say they'll send it in the mail to me right away.  Seemed easy enough.  I also called the SF location again to have the search the whole car, thinking it might have moved or we put it somewhere else.  They said they will leave an open case in the lost and found if it ever turns up, but it's not in the car.

A week or so later, I receive a letter from Avis with a voucher attached to the bottom for $25.  The letter is your basic canned apology letter, but the voucher, at least, had something identifying on it...an expiration date of 12/31/09.  They had given me less than a month to use the voucher.  That's pretty much insulting, and I said that in my letter to them.  I used the contact form on their site to send it to them.  I could repost it here, but it's basically the same as this post and carries the same tone.

A few days later, I get this response via email:

From: "Avis Customer Service" <custserv@avis.com>
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: Avis Rental U142826294 / Case 7737785 (KMM2651002I5371L0KM)

RE:  Avis Rental U142826294 / Case 7737785

12/28/09

Dear Mr. Hall,
Thank you for contacting us through the Avis Website.

In viewing the above Avis rental and your case I find that you have
phoned into our Avis Customer Service Department and the agent that you
spoke with has sent you an Avis Customer Service Certificate.  I do
apologize for the problems that you experienced with your Avis rental
car and if we can assist you in the future, please let us know.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, and we look forward
to assisting you with your future rentals.

Sincerely,

S**J***
Avis Customer Service Representative
custserv@avis.com

 

Wow.  First, they're not going to do anything.  Second, they obviously didn't read my letter very well if they failed to notice the part where I said I was insulted that they would send me a voucher that expired within a month.  I put about as much effort in my reply as they put in to theirs:

 

Perhaps you missed the part where I was given less than a month to use the certificate?

 

I received this reply today:

Case #:7737785
RA#:142826294

Dear Mr. Hall,

Thank you for contacting Avis via www.avis.com.

We apologize for sending a coupon that expires that soon. 
We value your business and as a courtesy we will honor your request to
replace your coupon.

Please mail the coupon to my attention to the addressed noted below.

Avis Customer Service
P.O. Box 690360
Tulsa, OK  74169-0360
ATTN : CASE 7737785

I appreciate your cooperation and await your response.

We appreciate your taking the time to report your experience to us.  You
have helped in a continuing effort to provide you, and all Avis
customers, with the service you expect and deserve.

Warm Regards,
 
K*** L***
Avis Customer Service Representative
custserv@avis.com

 

They want me to pay for postage and mail them back a $25 voucher that expires by the time it reaches them.  WTF.  I'm not even sure I have the voucher any more, since it was worthless to me.  That's ridiculous, and that is why Avis can not expect to see my name on their customer sheet any longer.  If their customer service strategy is to make users feel frustrated and eventually just get tired from getting the run around and jumping through hoops and give up, then they've succeeded.

how long has voicemail been around?  You think we know how to leave messages by now?  I'm on and off conference calls all day, and I waste a lot of time listening and waiting for prompts.  I wish there were options to adjust to avoid the messages.  There is this one that reads out the whole message of waiting for the prompt, then say your name, then press the pound sign.  It doesn't even matter what you say there, but you have to wait for the whole thing before you can press # to skip it.  Ridiculous.  I want my time back.

My family is the most important thing in my life.  Period, end of sentence.  This weekend, I missed a weekend with all of them because I had a project at work fail last weekend, and we needed to finish it this weekend.  It was suposed to be a minor inconvenience.  We'd start at 9am, be done and on my way by 1pm.  Everyone we needed was aware and ready to go; full exposure for success.  We can't get the server to come up.  I was up until 4am last night on this call, had an 11am call with the Chief technology officer about how to proceed, and now we're working on it again until 4pm today.  This whole time my family is together, exchanging presents, and spending time since we won't be able to get together for a while.

I will never let work cross my family again.  I have a picture of my whole family on my desk here at home and the thought had crossed my mind to take it into work so i have it there to keep me happy.  I think that logic is flawed.  The hyperboly of that situation is to bring family to my work, and I don't want that to happen.  I think I'm going to keep my bare gray cube walls as a sign of my temporary state at the office. 

At this point in my life, my work doesn't do anything to help my family.  I'm not getting supported, paid, or encouraged enough at work to take time away from my family.  This is becoming an increasing concern to me, and I think it needs resolved.

Corporate whore no more.

Something is off in the world these days.  Stereo-types are being altered.  I'm going to ask you to define the profile or person that first comes to mind when I say the word...GRAFFITI.   Young, black, male, doesn't care about himself or others.  Somewhat accurate right?  and if I do the same for Knitting...grandma.  Kind of a clash there, right?  Well, there's sort of a movement going on.  There's a lot of knitting graffiti going on in the country, and even here in Pittsburgh.  Call it urban knitting, call it a sign of the economic hardship where people can't afford a can of spray paint so they buy some yarn.  Whatever it is, I think I like it.

Major urban knitting pictures

CMU Artist weaves yarn in Oakland fence.

 

 

Broken seems to be the theme of the week.

Monday - surfing around on my PC and then it just shutsdown.  POOF.  I have yet to get it back on.  I checked the power supply, memory, motherboard, nothing.  Tim let me borrow a PC to frankenstein to figure it out.  That sucks though.

Tuesday - Went to go pick up Jordan at work and then watch the Pens game at his house, and I get into my truck and there is no key tumbler in the steering wheel and the face plate to my stereo is gone.  That sucks.  Looks like they're going to have to replace the entire steering column.  WEEE.

Wednesday - can't think of anything physical that broke wednesday.  I just know that I'm broke.  That's before the PC and truck repairs too.  I'm making a strong effort to not eat out for lunch and less for dinner as well. 

Thursday - Had the conversion from microsoft exchange to lotus notes today at work.  I didn't have email access or blackberry mail until about 12:30.  WEAK.

Let's see what friday has in store...I can't take much more and neither can my wallet!

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse.  Those are the 3 Rs that I learned when i was a kid, and I've been able to do the first and third pretty easily.  There's always been a lack of a recycling program everywhere else though.  Since I've moved to the city, I've lived in 3 places.  Lothrop Hall on Pitt campus, Crawford Square apartments, and now my house.  I actually forget what we did with the garbage in the dorms, I think just throw it in a closet...At Crawford Square, we just had a dumpster and there was no recycling in the city, it was all on the individual to do it.  I was under the impression that had not changed since I bought my house, but I just saw an article about being able to recycle paper now, which lead me to look up the city's site on recycling, and I learned that it's unlawful for me not to be recycling. 

So I got all excited to start recycling.  It only picks up every other week, but at first I thought that would be frequent enough.  Then I looked at items I was throwing away, and it's at least 95% recyclable.  Now that we don't even have to separate recyclable materials, I could totally just be tossing my normal trash to be recycled.  Which leads to the next problem:  Blue bags are required for recycle items.  Where the crap can i get blue bags?  Walmart bags are white now.  Given my first problem, I actually need large blue bags.  Walmart and Giant Eagle do not carry any, regardless of size.  So I'm kind of stuck to break the law.

That's a little crappy and useless.  Here I am willing and wanting to recycle and take advantage of my city programs, but it's poorly executed all around.  It's not nearly frequent enough, it's certainly not enforced, and at the point where you can't find blue bags anywhere, it'd be ridiculous to enforce it.

Am I missing some place to get blue bags?  Normally, I think, people just have blue garbage cans.  at Kallie's apartment complex, they have a big can that's blue right next to the huge dumpsters.  1 can for at least 30 apartments.  Either way, cans aren't acceptable for disposal.  I learned the hardway.  They won't touch my garbage if it's on the curb in a can.  Anyway, I can't find a blue can even to test that theory.

I'm a moody person.  I think I've always realized this, but only recently I'm learning how much my moods, and changing of moods shape my life.  I don't know if it's something I should work to overcome, or something I should learn to accept as part of me...Where is the line that defines the difference between a low self-esteem and a constant desire to be more than what you are?

I was thinking that I have never given my full attention and devotion to any 1 thing for an extended period of time.  Sure, I've felt inspired from a book and changed my outlook on life and sometimes my behavior, but whether I've lost focus and drive, or was so successful in integrating that change that it now feels normal, I'm not sure.  Part of the necessity to read books is the mnemic ability to keep yourself accountable.  I don't think I posses that skill.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to read, but it possibly means that I don't know how to read effectively.

At church on Sunday, I couldn't keep focus because there was a gentlemen a few rows in front of me that was taking notes, it seemed at least, and he filled at least 5 notebook pages.  I want to know why these people take notes.  Is the simple act of writing it down enough for them to gain an extra level of retention or comprehension?  Do they save the notes?  Do the ever really refer to their notes later? How much later? Will this strategy work for me?

That’s the real question though. We all have our own tricks and skills and downfalls. At what point do we accept our abilities and deal with what we have? Do we believe that we can maintain a constant state of better ourselves in our lives? Someone could dedicate their life to improving themselves in all areas, but even then they’d probably fail to do anything worthwhile because they spent their whole life learning.

Sometimes, I’m in the mood to read. Sometimes, I want to improve my abilities to understand and comprehend. Sometimes, I’m so sick of it all I just want to give up and do nothing. Sometimes, I just want to sit around and talk about it all. Sometimes, there’s no time for any of that.

Last political blog post, promise.  It's only a few days away, have you prepared yourself?  Have you listened to both parties? 

I am sure there are those that will disagree with me, but I put a lot of weight into how each candidate is campaigning.  The debates are huge.  Sure, they've become skilled question dodgers and avoid making any clear statements, but that shows skill in itself.  What it comes down to is tactics.  I believe that each side uses tactics to win this election just like they'll use tactics in their presidency once they're elected.  So beyond policies, history, experience, race, gender, party, etc, I think we're getting a dose of how we can expect them to act.  A little mudslinging is expected and warranted, especially when it's close and you're trying to get exposure.  During the last week of a campaign though, you need to grow up.  Start being positive about what you can do for the country, not tearing down the component.  It's not the time to try and convert anyone, it's time to sway those people still on the fence.  Tell me what I should vote for you, not why I shouldn't vote for the other guy.  The most success you'll see with that strategy will be someone getting disgusted and not voting at all.

All I've seen from McCain and even Palin is mudslinging.  It's beyond ridiculous.  Biden has been pretty quiet on the flip side.  I find Palin's middle class soccer mom thing well over played, and these injections of fictional stereotypes like Joe the Plumber and Tito the illegal immigrant borderline offensive (Pundit tended!  OH DOUBLE ZING!).  Is she for real?  People are really getting behind this?  This is your campaign?

I've watched the debates, I've watched the rallies, I've read the press, I've read the reactions, and I'm voting for change.

This weekend I picked up fable 2.  I was a fan of the first game and I've waiting anxiously for this release since it was pushed back so much.  I played it all consumingly this weekend, as i do with most video games I get into.  I beat it sunday night, and what I found at the end, was something I was afraid to confirm.  I just don't see the point anymore.  I used to love getting lost in a good video game.  I don't know if I should be happy that i've seem to have out grown or matured past video games, or sad that my life has become such an increased dosage of reality that I feel uncomfortable in a fantasy world anymore.  That scares me, that my imagination has gone.  I'm trying to separate this revelation from my birthday.  I felt this same way after playing grand theft auto 4 this spring.  I thought it was just the game, but it's me. 

And I've been doing a lot of soul searching recently.  I never thought i'd feel this way, but I'm feeling like i'm shedding my skin again.  I'm starting to feel disconnected from what I used to call me.  In a lot of regards, i guess it's just natural to move on and change over time, but as I inject more Christian practice into my life, I'm seeing that what I was identifying with for so long were just temporary things.  I was seeking distraction and entertainment in things of this world.  I've always been aware of that risk, but never fully understood it's depth.  That in itself has its own struggle though.  I'm born of this world.  How can I live in a world like this?  Do I try to change it?  For everyone, or just me?  If the latter, is that like denying the rest of the world as reality?  Do I simply find a comfortable homeostasis to live out my years?  I've searched for the answer to that question a lot, and I've never found the answer.  I find a lot of people that ignore it though.  I've had people tell me that I need to stop thinking about things and just accept them.  A lot of people.  Is this one of those situations?

There's only 1 thing I'm sure of and that is that life doesn't happen over night, and anyone that thinks that they or anyone can just wake up one day and change their mind and the life they're leading is wrong.  I certainly don't need that outside pressure to change my life, but I certainly need that outside accountability.  I have self-destructive tendencies, and I've always excersized my ability to use them.  That's me.

I've got that sense that something is going to move in my life again.  Too early to speculate what it is just yet, but I'd be a fool to call it a negative or positive thing.  Life is always what you make out of it. 

In follow up to my previous posts about wanting to collect dirt from around the country in small jars and display them...It looks like the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC has already done that in their soil exhibit.  Kind of ruins it for me now...not so sure this one is still on my list of things to do.  Here's a video of the exhibit i took this weekend.