Returned a car that was perfectly fine -- Toyota Corolla with cloth seats -- to Avis at 350 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA, on May 12, 2025. Tyrone, the manager, said the car had dog hairs in it, he was allergic, and the car needed to be sent out for detailing -- and they need to charge a $450 cleaning fee. He kept emphasizing that he had allergies. Total gaslighting. To be clear, Avis terms and conditions do not say that you have to clean your car before returning it. They simply state that renters will be charged a "reasonable fee" for "excessive stains, trash, dirt, soilage, odors, or pet hair." By no means, was my car returned with "excessive" anything. This was a scammy, fraudulent charge, and it was only by accident I found out the same day, and was able to rush back and take photos and videos of the car interior. After I complained, Tyrone gave me a "courtesy call" later that day to say he would reduce the cleaning fee to $150. What a joke. It took me three days to get Avis to reverse the charges. I had to call their customer service numerous times and go back and forth on emails. Avis makes it very difficult to reverse the charges. You have to be very persistent. If you have a video, they only accept files less than 10MB. This was known Avis/Budget scam. I thought I got a good deal on Hotwire. Next time I will pay more and go to National at the airport. Avoid Avis -- and this particularly this location -- like the plague. If you do rent from them, take photos and document everything, so you don't get screwed by Tyrone and his "allergies." read more

Don't bother with this location. Had to wait 30mins to just drop off the keys, service nonexistent. By far the slowest and least friendly car rental I've ever been to. read more

Lack of communication and service. The rental car has to be dropped off at a garage nearby, then you have to carry your luggage back to the office a block away. No one in The garage checks you in or guided you. Though they have a car wash guy there. So you wonder whether you need to leave the keys or take them to the counter. They also get excited if you don't bring the parking ticket with you from the garage. read more

Tried to drop the car off after hours like every other rental place on the planet. Show up and written on the glass is a message that they don't offer after hours drop off. There's nothing on the app or the website that indicates this at all. So after driving 14 hours I had to park the car overnight and come back for opening the next day only to find out that there IS after hours drop off allowed through some secret process of parking in the garage, and the only evidence of it is an 8x10 photo of another 8x10 hand written piece of paper sitting on one of the kiosks that would have been impossible to see after hours. All that just to squeeze a $15 late fee out of me. Whoever manages this branch either has no adult understanding of how car rentals work, or did this on purpose to scab up more late fees. This id every single exchange with Avis. They torture their employees. They torture their customers. They make all their money through engineered incompetence because they can't do it as a reputable car rental company. read more

Despite having a paid reservation, I waited in line for 45 min only to find out they didn't have any cars and would need to wait longer until a car was returned. There were several others in the same situation who said they had been there waiting for more than two hours for a car. What a joke - Budget ruined our plans. read more

I rarely if ever leave this kind of review, but I wish I'd known what I know now before booking with this Avis. First, you can't reach them by phone as other reviewers have mentioned, even during working hours. Second, the staff could not have cared less. You will not get anything beyond being given a car. I don't personally need 5+ star service, but the disinterest was palpable from both staff members even while I was in line. Finally, when directed to get the car from the parking garage, I was told that the ticket was validated. When I put the ticket into the machine, I was charged. I figured it was a mistake, so I paid the ticket and went back to figure it out with Avis. I was told I should not have paid, questioned on why I didn't just hit the help button since sometimes this is what happens, and told that since Avis already pays the garage to park there they could not reimburse me. I was told to take it up with the parking garage. Based on my conversation with garage staff, who reimbursed me with little issue, this was not an abnormal experience. read more

For some reason they have their phones go directly to voicemail even though there are people sitting in the office found nothing. Very difficult to find and they put out conflicting confusing signs in the return area. Will never use Avis again after the terrible experience here. read more

I rented two cars from this Budget in the past week and a half, and let me tell you, the laborynthine parking garage set up is a super pain in the ass! You have to drop your car off in a parking garage, and then cross through a tunnel thing, past a star market, to get to the rental desk. However, this location is within walking distance of my office (and, on a good day, my home). Also, the manager, Greg, isn't too ridiculous. He stuck by the guarantees he made me, and gave me two clean compact cars. (I returned one on NYE because I didn't want to park a rental on the street in the snow and figured I'd save a few bucks). Lame that the best rate I could get was $41/day, but it was still the best around. I hope I never have to rent a car again, but if I do, I'll probably be back. read more

Adding to the list. Never had a rental take this long. One employee for twenty rentals. Not sure if it's worse for the employee or the customer. Avoid at all costs. read more

Long lines. Half-an-hour plus long, be there early. Tiny counter with only two agents who struggle with weekend demand. The agents did not appear to understand my attempts to explain there is more than one currency in the world (my voucher was made in Euros, not USD), refused to call/ask someone to figure out what to do in this situation (as they did not know how to handle this correctly - airport locations are not stymied by such reservations), were arrogant ("you should have paid it in US Dollars if you were coming to America") and eventually demanded me to pay more or to cancel the reservation. That extra charge was cancelled later by Budget customer support. The car was an upgrade and almost new, the place is easy to get to and the brusque guy was more mellow and apologetic the day I returned the car, which mollified me a bit. Nevertheless this is not the usual level of service I am used to from Budget. read more

Avis Budget Car Rental - The weekend line - Car Rental Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Not only did Avis give me a car that reeked of smoke - but then: When I called customer services - told me that I could only lodge the complaint when I returned the car and all I could do was note the complaint in the file When I returned the car - there was no notation and the customer services rep at the location - questioned my integrity Gave me no credit or acknowledgement other than disbelief and "I am sorry" Then spent 45 min trying to reverse a fuel payment charge that should have never been charged, only then to direct me to the 1800 to resolve my issue When I called 1800 -they were equally incompetent and asked me to send proof that I paid for gas - which is below Avis - customer service sucks. read more

Avoid using this location at all costs. Just go to the airport. I don't know if it's understaffing issues or what, but staff is rude, unreliable, and flat out don't know what they're doing. I've rented through Avis a couple times and this was my first and last time with this location. read more

I rented a car from this Cambridge location - the car was impossible to find and when I did find it, it happened to be the dirtiest and smelliest car that I have ever rented. I called to complain and was told it would be noted in the file. It even had a nasty and dirty/used mask inside. I was shocked to learn that I am got charged a smoking fee of $250. I now can't get them on the phone to figure out out to reverse the charges. read more

This place really sucks. Last time I was given a filthy car with empty bottles. Today I arrive at 9:00 am and they are on break or something. I said I wouldn't return to this location but I was having an emergency. They need to hire more staff because people have things to do, read more

Avis Budget Car Rental - Really this early in the morning?? They open at 8:00 am. - Car Rental Near Me - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Worst rental experience I've ever had. You cannot get a real person on the phone at the location, they connect you to a operator. The operator was very nice and said as long as we arrived at or before 6 pm we would be alright. We felt bad , but arrived at 5:58 due to a couple wrong turns in the Uber. We were greeted by mike who ran passed us with his keys to lock the door, mike then said "you know we close at 6 why are you here right now" and muttered under his breath. He was very rude to the gentleman ahead of us and walked away from him and ignored him when his card was malfunctioning. I want to thank Camilla for helping us with kindness and getting our car to us in under 5 minutes, while mike went to the back and sat on his chair packing his things. You had to park the car in a building across the street, no late returns and horrible hours. Don't go here. read more

This is literally the worse car rental place and location I have ever dealt with in my entire life. Unprofessional and untrained staff. I rented a car on April 30th for about $50/day. I asked the man who was helping me would it be better to book the car for 2 days and then come back early if I find I only need it for one or should I book as needed. He explained that if the car is not brought back the day and time it is due that it will "automatically extend" itself in the system and charge me for the additional date. Nowhere did he mention me needing to call or extend anything myself nor have I had to do that with Enterprise and other car rental companies. I kept the car for a few weeks until yesterday when I received a call from their security department requesting that I return the car asap because it was in the process of being reported stolen. Not only did they call me, but they also called me niece who I don't share a home or bill with, which goes to show they had no problem getting in contact with me. I arrived yesterday to drop the car off and the guy who helped me book the reservation was also the same person who was there to collect the key and relevant information needed to close out the booking. When I asked about my bill which I thought would be no more than $1500 including tax, I was told that it was $3088.66!!!!!! I asked the man for the breakdown and he couldn't figure that out and passed me off to his co-worker because she would be able to provide me with that information better than he could. When I asked her for the breakdown, she mentioned $440 in fees....I had to ask what those fees were. Not sure why getting answers here is like pulling teeth. I was charged $40/day for late fees, $440 in miscellaneous fees and $460 for a repo fee even though the car was never repossessed. I asked why I was never given a call prior and was told they had no contact information for me. I called the customer service line multiple times this morning with the last call resulting in me being left on hold, 30 of those minutes were spent with me sitting in silence while the rep attempted to locate my reservation before I eventually heard nothing for 5 minutes, even when saying HELLO? and then I hung up. Completely unsatisfied and upset. Budget is not budget friendly. There should not be reps / employees helping with reservations if they are going to be relaying and providing false information. The reps completely drop the ball by not collecting contact information which I don't understand since 1. someone DID contact me AND my niece looking for me 2. I've been receiving emails with promos and upgrade information to the car I had quite frequently ever since I booked, and 3. I can literally google someone right now and find their contact information in less than 5 minutes. I was VERY calm at the desk, probably too calm and the woman had a passive aggressive and dismissive attitude when I asked why nobody called me and when I mentioned that I received a call. "Oh okay! *blank stare in my face*" Someone needs to contact me since I apparently cannot get through to help me resolve this ridiculous bill. Also, the car was given to me with the windshield wiper falling off, the left side of the bumper a little bit off and burn marks in the passenger seat and I took photos as soon as I got it so they didn't try to blame me for that. The nerve for this bill to be this high read more

If you want to get berated while you're waiting in line, rent here. If you want to know what customer service shouldn't be, rent here. If you are having a great day and want attitude, rent here. I'd rather walk a mile and pay more money to rent from enterprise in Central than rent here again. They are very, very rude, unhelpful, slow, understaffed, and extraordinarily unprofessional. it took me 30 minutes to rent a car and an HOUR to return it....yes, ONE HOUR. i was also told that if i wanted a receipt, i had to call a toll free # and they would email one to me. WTF?! you're kidding me, right? i then took out my phone to record his response and asked him to repeat it....and got a receipt. my experience was so bad, i sent an email to budget corporate offices to complain. the response was that my feedback was "not unique" and that they "thank me for my feedback and are already looking into the service at this location." stay away.... STAY AWAY.... STAY AWAY!!! read more

Frauds. I am a first time renter with Budget, all was going well; I reserved a car on the website and prepaid the cost with my business debit card. When I get to the counter I present my card and was told that it was rejected for the deposit (presumably due to what ever credit check they perform) so I had to use my Capitalone credit card for a $100 hold on the account. Anyways, I had only minor hiccups with the car. At one instance it refused to start for 10 mins. No idea why, the key just wouldn't turn. I locked and unlocked the car a few times and eventually it just worked. Weird. At the time I was to return it I decided to extend for a couple days due to a snowstorm. When I called the reservations line and give them all my information I was told that I cannot extend the reservation with the hotline and had to call the store directly. This is where the problems start. I call the store and speak with Leonel told him I wanted to extend and asked for the rates. He put it in the computer (allegedly) and quoted me a daily rate of $45 after taxes plus an additional $10 (fee req to extend). So I asked him what the weekly rate would be and he tells me $280 to extend until next week. Same place and time to return. I told him I'll go with the weekly rate and after a few moments he says I'm all set and can return next Monday. Monday comes, I bring the car back and since I was never charged I go to the counter to pay. Only now I'm being charged $440. When I ask why I'm told that I never extended the rental so I'm being charged for the daily rate as well as additional administrative fees due to them charging my card but the funds weren't available. I explain all the above to George (manager) who states that there's nothing he can do because he wasn't there and the reservation wasn't put in. Leonel is not in that day and when I tell them they need to review calls and reach out to him I'm told "he's only an employee" which I guess means he's not responsible for his incompetence and neither is the store. I call the 800 # and get a gentleman who's only response is "I understand but we can't honor anything because it's not listed here." Next day I get a charge for $503 on my credit card. $280 to $503 in one day. Needless to say I'll be disputing this. If you decide to rent here. Beware. The employees are complete incompetent. The national hotline is completely incompetent and no one is accountable for anything. Plus they'll steal your money and no one will know what the additional charges are for. Just fees. read more

Here in the United States, my name appears to be too much for some people to handle. I called Budget the other day to cancel a reservation that I made online, and the conversation went something like this. (A name has been changed to protect the ignorant / daft.) -"Thank you for calling, my name is Lisa, how can I help you today?" ~"Hi there Lisa, I'm calling to cancel a car that I reserved for this coming weekend, can you help me out with that?" -"Certainly sir. May I have the confirmation number?" ~"3434876." -"Thank you. And may I have your name?" ~"Hisham Kekhia." (Pause. I knew what was coming.) -"Sir would you spell that out for me?" (There it was.) ~"Sure - H - I - S - H - A - M." -"Okay Mr. Hiffan, and your last name?" ~"No no, you got that wrong, the third letter is an S, and the last letter is an M." -"Yeah, that's what I got." ~"No, my name isn't Hiffan, it's Hisham. There's an S before the H." -"That's what I got, sir." ~"How can that be what you got if I'm pronouncing my name with a SH sound and you're making an F sound??" -"Can you spell it for me again please?" ~"H - I - S - H - A - M." -"Sir, that's exactly the way you spelled it the first time." ~"Lisa, listen to me - my name is pronounced HE - SH - AM. There is no F sound in there. The third letter is an S, as in... Saget." (I don't know why that was the first thing that jumped into my head.) (Pause.) -"Sir, I don't appreciate that kind of language, it's derogatory and inappropriate." ~"No no, I said Saget! Like Bob Saget? The actor?" -"Oh, the guy from Full House?" ~"Yes, him." -"So... Your name is Saget?" ~"NO! Okay, Lisa, listen. The third letter of my first name - Hisham - is the letter S, like Saget, or Sugar, or Saskatchewan." -"Oh, I see. So it's H - I - S, as in Sugar - H - A - N." ~"Okay, you're almost there. Change the very last letter to an M, like Monkey." -"Okay. So it's H - I - S, as in Sugar - H - A - M, as in Monkey." ~"Yes." (Exasperated sigh away from the microphone.) -"Okay. And may I have your last name?" ~"Are you sure you wanna go there?" -"Well I need it to cancel your reservation." ~"Okay, then listen carefully. K - E - K - H - I - A." (Pause. I tightly shut my eyes and hoped against hope that she got it right.) -"Okay Hisham, I've got your reservation right here. And did you want to reschedule this reservation?" ~"No, I want to cancel it." -"Until when?" ~"Uhh... I'm sorry?" -"Until when, sir?" (Was this a trick question?) ~"Until the cows come home! I want to cancel this reservation, not reschedule." -"Oh, I see. And when will you be returning the car?" (This was not normal.) ~"Lisa, is the reservation in front of you?" -"Yes sir." ~"When does it show that I'm supposed to take the car out?" -"Friday the 12th." ~"And today is what?" -"Thursday the 11th." ~"So what are the odds that I have the car with me right now?" (Pause.) -"Sir, there's no need to get testy." (I was ready to lose my shit at this point.) ~"I'll tell you what Lisa, if you stop asking me random questions and listen to what I'm saying, we can be done in a matter of seconds." -"Sir I don't appreciate your tone of voice, I'm going to transfer you to another representative." Just as she put me on hold and the infernal company jingle came over the line, I growled, "Have someone transfer you a frickin' brain, woman!" read more

Horrible service--avoid at all costs. The lady here got angry at me because she didn't have a car that we reserved. I asked if there was a better way in the future to avoid this Seinfeld-like situation and she said, "If I could stop Budget from letting you make a reservation online I would. There's no guarantee there will be a car here if you reserve it online." WHAT!? So I asked if there was someone else I could talk to because she was just blowing us off, and she was like, "Fine talk to that guy." I think it was the manager. He immediately said they had a car available. She apparently didn't know the car was in even though the key was right in front of her. So then he leaves and she goes to me, "You're not going to get a car just by huffing and puffing!" But....I did. So. The rest of the time she was so rude I could only bite my tongue and raise my eyebrows incredulously. She threw the papers at me and wouldn't look at me. She didn't say bye or address us again. My goodness! I just want to rent a car! I know people have tough days and not everyone's going to be Polly Sunshine but this lady went out of her way to be nasty. I will not rent from them ever again! read more

You know, I wrote a long complaint about this business, waiting in line for 1.5 hours, broken promises, lies from the staff, yada, yada, yada. But ultimately, this direct quote pretty much sums up my experience: "I can't give you a discount. Go to the airport. You'll wait in line for hours... Would you like to go to the airport and sit instead? You can get it [the car] there." * * That's a direct quote. I recorded the conversation, because the conversations before me went the same way, and I did spend more than an hour listening to them. read more

For the past 3 weeks, I came here 3 times. Yes, I've been renting from this Budget branch every weekend and I'm planning to come here again. Why? Because the deal they gave to me due to the MIT's discount and the friendly service. Its located inside the Hotel at MIT, at the internal passage to Star Market. The wait can be long sometimes especially when there are no vehicles available. Ask for MIT discount if you have a member of MIT with a valid ID. The discount is worth it. You'll have to go to the counter to ask for it. If you called, the normally say no. The compact and full-size vehicles are normally unavailable especially during weekends. Sometimes, you can be upgraded to a minivan or SUV if you're lucky. That's what I've been getting so far... read more

This location CHEATED ME. I rented a car when my parents were present, and asked if I was going to get charged a fee for being under 25, telling him my parents could rent the car instead. The clerk said NO. And I expected it was because I was getting the MIT deal, which I normally get. Then I initialed 10 different places on the contract and was on my way. When I returned the car I realized I was charged the fee and requested a refund. But he couldn't be reached until Monday. When I called back the manager said it was too late, that it couldn't be changed after 48 hours which was basically the time I had to wait to speak to the manager. Don't rent from these people unless you want to be swindled. read more

Very poor service. Rented and prepaid a 12 passenger van 2 months before the date I was going to use it. I called 2 weeks before the day I was planing to get it to schedule a pick up. The person that took the phone was unpolite, would not pay attention to me, was typing in the computer while attending the phone call, would talk to others in the office while I was at the phone...I had to repeat myself over and over to finally hear that they would not do pick ups outside Cambrige...But this is not all. 1 hour exactly before I would go to pick the van up and go to the airport to pick up my family, I person from Budget Cambridge calls me and tells me that they dont have enough vans !!! That they would do everything they could to get me the van....this while my family was landing at logan. 30 minutes later the same person calls me a tells me that he they dont find any van or similar and recommends that I wait until he finds one !! @#$% I cancelled the contract right there because he did not have any resolution plan and his only advice was for me to wait to see if he would find any in the next hours. Very very poor service. Would not recommend this to anyone. If they would have called me 1 week or days before I might have comprehended the situation...but 1 hour before??? ridiculous. I was lucky I made 25 calls and got a van. Budget could not help. Furthermore this person tells me that budget would fully reimburse the cost and instead I got $ 10 cancellation fee !!! read more

Not to add fuel to an already lit car fire --- my brothers and sisters in reviewing have already done a great job of capturing the sad state of early summer affairs at this Budget locale --- but I thought I'd share just one experience of this morning. Went to return my rental car, stopping to top off the fuel tank at a station nearby. When I went to settle up payment at Budget, I notice a $20+ fuel surcharge had been tacked on. According to the rep, the car's tank was less than full. When I replied that he could go check the level himself, since I'd just filled the tank, he scratched the fee, saying something to the effect of having to turn the car over/not having time to check. I do not trust these guys. Do yourself a favor and go to the Enterprise on River Street - the other side of Central. They're an upstanding operation that puts this Budget to shame. read more

The car rental office was impossible to find. I don't want to say how long that boy and I walked up and down Sidney Street looking for a regular car rental office rather than a hotel -- with me in a completely inappropriate pair of heels -- but nowhere else is that made clear, including by them over the phone, except in their address here. That was the only hassle I had. It's a popular car rental location and was the cheapest I could find in my research online, so there was a small queue of people when I got there but the staff were extremely efficient. They explained all their policies clearly (which were also in normal-sized print and language in their paperwork), had no problem with me declining the insurance (which I felt was unnecessary for just a daytrip), and when I misplaced the tickets to get out of the parking garage almost instantly upon receipt they replaced them without complaint. Bonus points for not saying a word when they saw that it was the boy behind the wheel and not me even though I was the one who rented the vehicle. The car was fantastic; an ultra-modern 2008 Chevrolet in perfect working order with digital radio, much better than I expected at the lowest economy end. Safe, reliable, comfortable, and exactly right for our extracurricular activities. I couldn't have asked for better. Returning it was so simple -- it couldn't have been more than five minutes to park the car and go downstairs and five minutes at the desk. Done. No hidden fees, no hassles, quick and easy. And for only having rented once -- coupons! Like a free day if I paid for another weekend day! Sweet! I've had utterly terrible experiences with other car rental companies in the past (which I oh so will write about when I have time), but renting from Budget was a breeze; if I ever need to rent a car again, I will only rent from this company at this location. Ever. (PS: The neighbourhood for this is not Dorchester and the closest T is not Savin Hill. It's in Cambridge and the closest T is Central Square (and maybe also Kendall).) read more

I have been renting a car every week from this location for the past three months. Yes, it's a little bit hard to find if you don't know where to look, but there are signs in the parking garage and inside the entrance to Shaw's, and you can always ask at the hotel front desk if you get lost. It really isn't that difficult. The employees are friendly and will gladly give you the MIT discount if you have the appropriate ID (and they recognize me now, so they apply it automatically and remind me if I forget). Yes, they can be a little bit chatty, but I'm sure that working at a car rental counter is kind of boring, and I'm more than happy to chat with them while my contract is printing. When my online reservation has been lost, the employees have arranged for me to have an alternate car. There are plenty of signs that direct you to the appropriate place to return the car, and the parking garage is no more confusing than any other parking garage in Boston. Yes, rental cars are expensive. Yes, sometimes your online reservation gets lost. Yes, the attendants can be kind of cranky sometimes. But I've never had a poor experience with this Budget, provided that I treated everyone that I spoke to like a human being, and I will be renting many cars from them in the time to come. read more

Line was about 5 customers long and the supervisor wouldn't help so it was just one employee at the desk. Had online confirmation that I was getting an economy car (better gas mileage) and was told they only had SUVs left. Was yelled at by the attendant in the garage for following the directions on the sign when returning the car and was told that the sign was wrong. Asked for his name, he gave me a fake one. It may seem convenient to rent a car in Cambridge instead of going all the way to Logan, but it was so not worth the hassle. read more

This place has to be the worst location of all. They never answer the phone. The customer care rep told me to call them directly an when i did i was sent back to customer care. read more

Keep in mind that most people don't write reviews for good service - just complain when it goes badly. Despite all the negative ones here, we received excellent five star service today when dropping off our rental. Incredibly AFFORDABLE, for a huge SUV we needed to cart around a wedding party for the weekend. We were nervous about the tight garage and they seriously went above and beyond by helping us take the car for the gas station to fill it up with cheap gas versus making us pay the expensive in shop rate. Miguel is absolutely amazing, the most friendly and helpful man I have ever met. Will be using this location for all future rentals. Ignore the haters. Be nice to people and they will be nice to you. read more

I'm basically confirming others' reviews for this Budget location. My husband and I waited in line for an hour; not because there were many people before us, but because it took one hour for two staff members to help two customers. After those customers were gone and it was our turn, the staff member blamed the customers for making them take such a long time. It didn't take very long for us to get our car once we were being helped. It was a little disorganized but within 10-15 minutes, we were in our rental car, on our way out of the parking garage. We were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, that maybe the people before us really were very difficult customers. About 7 seconds later, we found out that we need special tickets to exit the parking garage. We did not receive these. When I went back to the desk to ask for them, the staff members that were helping us asked me if I rented a car with them. It had been 4 minutes since I had left the counter. Once I convinced them yes, I did JUST rent a car with them, the male staff member told me that he gave me the tickets already. When I said he did not, he argued that he gave them to my husband, so I must not have noticed. (I was standing next to my husband during the entire time we got our paperwork.) When he finally handed me an "extra" pair of tickets, he said, "When you find the ones I gave you, bring them back." WHEN, not IF. The car itself was fine. It was a 2013 car but kind of worn on the inside (stains on seats and cup holder areas). read more

Absolutely recommended for a straight up good deal with personal attention to detail. This is an independent, husband-wife-managed franchise operation, not a corporate office. At first I was cautious when reserving a very good Avis deal online because Budget's national office had treated me VERY poorly last year when I got a good deal on a two month rental. (That 2015 deal out of a RI store evaporated when they added 12% in unexpected unlisted fees.) I arranged to meet with the agency operators of this combo Avis/Budget store front before deciding to keep the reservation for a large SUV for a month. George and his wife confirmed the great price, explained all fees AND then also made cell phone contract info available to me so that I could personally reach out to confirm that my vehicle would be ready as scheduled. It was a flawless experience when I dropped off the big "truck" today, I received a complete and accurate bill for the exact amount that I expected. The best part is that I felt equally confident in all of the employees that I met during this experience. They hire and train good people. Furthermore I recommend this lovely location because the hotel parking lot is both convenient and safe to bikers and pedestrians. With the garage-based operation, they don't interfere with their neighbors and with the walkability of the Central Square district. I recommend this equally convenient rental agency over the trash-strewn, unfriendly, corporate Enterprise location that overflows from its tiny lot in a residential area nearby. I've dealt with Enterprise for 15 years and they most often hire, train, and promote obnoxious, young males whose poor attitudes and uniform appearance do not reflect this friendly, racially-diverse neighborhood. For the antidote: do business down the street with George and his wife and their friendly, diverse staff. read more

I have mixed feelings giving Budget higher than a three. Why, you ask? It's f-ing expensive. For five days, including insurance, it was around $365. That's a lot. A LOT. Granted, I don't often rent cars, but I felt a little price gouged at that rate. I set up the reservation on priceline.com, and thought I was getting a good deal, but alas, that drive didn't include any insurance or the hidden fees, which almost double the cost. The car was nice, the service was okay (nicer upon return; the guy who gave me the car seemed annoyed that I didn't like the hidden costs), but I don't think I'd use them again. At the price I paid at Budget, it actually factors out to be cheaper to use zipcar.com, because the gas is included, and honestly, that's what I will do for future car needs. read more

Alina Vazquez discriminated against me because of a credit check that she didn't do in order for me to rent a vehicle that was already rented for me over the phone with another agent. Jorge stepped in he is the owner of this car rental and also refused service for me that was already paid for because they wanted to give me a hard time based on politics that have nothing to do with me but I still have to deal with the repercussions. Do not rent here because that is not savvy for business. Thank you. read more

Rented mini-van Kia Sedona from Avis-cambridge(350 mass ave). The windshield wipers stuck during rain on highway for few minutes and the wipers leaving streak marks hindering the visibility. Had to pull over the car for the rain to stop. How can Avis deliver faulty vehicles without proper inspection putting customers at danger? read more

Had the same experience as another reviewer a year ago, so you know they haven't fixed things. Arrived on a Saturday ~11 am in Aug 2018; saw a line to the door with ten people waiting and only one guy working both the Avis and Budget desks. After waiting 40 minutes I was still four people from the front of the line. Following the line at the counter there appears to also be a significant wait to get your actual car (at the garage upstairs). Finally I figured out that taking a Lyft to all my destinations would actually be cheaper than renting a car (I was going all the way out to Hull, over an hour away). So, I left. read more

DON'T RENT HERE UNLESS YOU ARRIVE AN HOUR EARLY!!!! This is probably the worst customer service I've ever experienced from a rental company. I arrived a little after 9am to pick up my car and waited over an hour. They had one person working the desk. The worker was slow and inefficient. I couldn't believe on a Saturday they would have ONE person checking in people. I will never be using this Avis location again. read more

This was my first time using this location, and at least for my experience, they deserve 5 stars. Rental car companies typically have bad services, and I definitely had my fair share of it. But in this experience, everything went smoothly. We booked the previous night, and arrived a few minutes late to pick up the car. Lacking a premium car in inventory, which was the level we booked, they upgraded us for free to an Infiniti QX60, which they characterized as a Luxury SUV. I declined all insurance other than the ALI when I made the reservation, and they did not try to sell me more at the counter. We arrived at a clean car with full tank in another few minutes, of 9000+ mileage. When returning, I parked the car back in the garage I picked it up, walked across the street to the rental office, and returned the keys and documents as well as self reported mileage and gas level (though you should be honest, they probably check afterwards), and got out of there right away. 5 star experience. Tips: We drove a lot, but if you are using it for less than 75 miles, you want to Google "Avis 75 miles" for a new-ish policy that might catch you off-guard. And in general. always keep the receipt of your refuel, the policy allows them to ask for it regardless of your gas level and miles drove. though they didn't ask for it for my experience. Additionally, I think they do support off hours drop off since the cars are parked in a parking garage, and I saw the option of express dropoff both on the rental booklet as well as a express dropoff box at the garage. This is super useful for a day trip where you get back late, and don't want to make a second day trip to return the car. Though you should check. read more

We were able to secure a rental car in good condition without an issue. The difficulties arose when we attempted to call with a follow-up question. We were planning to return the car later on the same day we'd rented it but our plans changed making it much more convenient to keep the car overnight and return it the next morning (but still within 24 hours). We wanted to know if we could do so without incurring an additional charge. We called the Cambridge office four times and each time someone answered then immediately put us on hold. Each time we were disconnected after about 10 minutes. We ended up calling the national customer service number and were able to speak with a representative who told us we would be charged an additional $125.00 if we kept the car overnight (or a total of about $245.00 for a 24 hour rental for a subcompact car). This seemed unreasonable so we called again and spoke with a second customer service agent who told us the same thing. Based on this information we made the extra effort to return the car the same day, only to be told by the staff at the location where we returned the car that we could have kept it overnight for no extra charge after all. So to sum up the experience wasn't all bad but there was some terriible customer service that wasted a great deal of our time. read more

Reserved a suburban here. They called me the day before pickup, and told me it was unavailable and if I wanted a different suburban, I would have to pay an additional $1,200. I told them to figure it out. Find me a suburban at one of the 3 nearby major airports. They said no. After speaking with 4 different managers and over 2 hours on the phone, they found me a Ford Expedition, but it was at the Providence Airport, and I would have to pick it up there. I was told I would be charged the additional $1,200, but would be reimbursed upon drop off. We rented the vehicle and upon return, there was no refund. I called and complained, they refunded me $600 of the $1,200 they promised. I called again, spent another hour on the phone, and was finally refunded the amount that they had promised. Awful experience, but great vehicle. read more