This rental car experience was completely avoidable by the company. Our reservation for a 12-person passenger van was booked months in advance, as we and many family members were flying in for our daughter's wedding. As we waited by baggage for the family members to arrive who were sharing driving duties with us, I was watching how slow it was taking them to process customer after customer. The rest of the desks (Hertz, Enterprise, Dollar) were all empty and speedy. So I preemptively got in line early (.5 hr before scheduled pick up), trying to plan to reach the front of the line as our extra drivers arrived...to save time (which, even as I'm typing this is hilarious, because that was never...never never ever going to happen). I did plan it perfectly, they arrived as I reached second in line, hugs and hellos, and as we stepped up to the desk, we were informed there are no passenger vans available. And already a half hour in, we stood at that desk for another hour and forty minutes as the staff scrambled, ran out to the garage and back, waiting for management to respond to them to try and make something happen. We learned that there was really no inventory of cars for the reservations made. We watched the line behind us grow from 10 to about 50 people in that time. Shout out to Zeke, Whitney, Aman & Elizabeth. They were all left to deal with angry and frustrated travelers with no cars to give them, no authority to make any decisions, no support, and short staffed inside and outside. Whoever "Bob" is left them all high and dry and was not reachable or responsive, but apparently the only person who could authorize anything. In our case, it finally ended up resulting in two 7-passenger cars after almost 2 hours. When we received them, they were dirty, with gum stuck to the cargo space carpet. I have photos of a super long line of people, but that has already been posted by others. They completely overbook with no regard for arriving travelers. My daughter lives here so we will most likely be renting again. But I will never ever rent from this Avis/Budget location. In fact, I will likely stay away from Avis/Budget anywhere because of the experience at this location. Zeke, Whitney, & Elizabeth need a raise and a vacation. read more

Absolutely terrible. Dirty, smoke smelling Kia and no shot of an upgrade or change of car. Go to National.

Our flight was delayed and we landed pretty late in Albany. When we got to the Avis rental counter, there was no one there to give us the keys for the car. There was no one to contact. There was no information. There was no communication. We had to call for a Lyft ride at 3 AM to take us to our hotel. It's unbelievable that the staff here left us high and dry, when they had our flight information and they knew that our flight was delayed. They could've texted us. Emailed us. Called us. To tell us that they weren't going to be there (even though they should've been there.) I called them the next morning, but no one answered. So I just canceled the reservation. I'll never rent from Avis in Albany again. read more

When we arrived, we had to wait in line for four people which is fine but it was a preferred line. The vehicle they gave us had a 3 foot scratch down the side and someone had taken spray paint and used a can of spray paint to cover the scratch. Additionally, there were four small dents in the hood. The inside of the car was moderately dirty. Unfortunately the parking garage has no lights so you can't see any damage until you get to your destination. There is no checklist or check out of the vehicle to show what damage has or has not occurred. This location is terrible. read more

Terrible Service, Rented a car from here and had to wait over an hour to get car and through 2 different lines. All Check-in information was completed online and all they did once we got to the desk was print out a ticket which could've very easily have been done online. Save your time and money and uber. read more

this company is garbage. they act like their computer is telling them what they can and can't do. why can I only extend 3 times? what kind of nonsense is that? you have my credit card and a deposit why am I being treated like I stole the car? you guys are worst right up there with enterprise. this company makes no sense what's so ever and their customer service is attrocious read more

Recently used the Albany Airport Avis for a week long rental. I booked my car months in advance and since I'm an Avis Preferred member, I expected to avoid the desk check in. When I arrived to the counter, there were about 15 customers on line ahead of me, all exasperated and grumbling. There was also no signage or instructions for Avis Preferred, so I queued up like everyone else. The line was at a complete standstill and the 2 workers there were puttering around behind the desk, ignoring everyone. After 10 minutes or so, a few of those on line started making small talk and informed me that there were no cars available. I'm like what?? I started talking to some other folks on the line and they confirmed the story. I was surprised but decided to clarify, so I walked up to the counter to ask an agent if this was true. The agent rudely avoided my question and told me to go back and wait in line with the others. I literally felt like I was at a shady, no name car rental company and not Avis whom I hold in very high regard. I then asked the second clerk if this was true. He told me that if I was Avis Preferred, I could go across the street to the garage to get the car. OK, that's better. But it really would have been really nice to have a sign saying that rather than have me waiting on line waiting in vain behind 15 irate people. Also, there's no excuse for the 1st agent's rude behavior. I then cross the street to the garage and made my way to the Avis booth. The lady there was friendly and immediately found my information. She sent me to the car which was a few steps away. While the car was nice, it was dirty both inside and out. I found this to be off-putting and disappointing. I book Avis car rentals almost exclusively because they are usually very good with everything. Here at Albany Airport, I have to say, the branch is a complete disaster. One star. Rude agent, dirty car and poor instructions for Avis Preferred are the trifecta of car rental failure. I would probably use a different company next time around. read more

Very slow line for check in to get your car. Has a QR code to scan to check in but that did not seem to help at all. Avis/Budget counter was swamped with people and very slow process to get to the counter. The other rental counters only had one or two people at each. I would avoid Avis/Budget at the Albany airport and look at one of the others. Took 45 minutes in line to get car. Car was filthy when we got to it, obviously not washed for a bit, even bird poop on drivers side. read more

My flight landed at Albany Airport around 11:30p, and I had the keys before midnight. Beautiful Nissan Murano. And I must give a shout out to Avis Ops Manager, David O'Brien. The car was only 5/8s full when I rented it. I told the attendant who advised me to take a pic of the gauge which I did. I returned the car at 5/8s full (as directed). But was charged and extra $25. I mentioned this in my initial customer review. David O. contacted me almost immediately to say, quote "It appears the system did an auto read on your vehicle and charged you for the gas. I will send in for a refund for you for the amount of $23.25 plus tax." Which he did. Now THAT's service! Thank you David. Thank you Avis. I will for sure rent from you guys again. In fact I will be there late October. Looking forward to it. Thx again. -cj read more

We rented an SUV from you in the winter with tires that had ZERO traction!! When we asked about the tires before leaving the airport, your employees assured us they were fine. Well, AVIS, they were NOT fine and after a three hour + drive from Lake Placid in a car that was sketchy at best, we are inclined to definitely not rent from your establishment again. The vehicle barely made it up the hill, slide all over the road, could not go over 35 mph. You advertised an SUV with AT tires and you did not deliver. As a side note, we are from the Midwest and drive in these conditions often, so an AT is all you needed. Invest in your customers! read more

Never ever rent here It is a franchise without fastbreak functions. 1-3 hour waits the last two times i have been here. I use avis a lot but wont use it here again read more

Don't let Avis fool you with their replies on these bad reviews. They reply for the customer to email them at socialinfo.com. Just know that's a load of BS too. No help at all! Just a we are sorry. This is a terrible company! Beware! read more

I rented a car at Avis at the Albany Airport and their service is horribly slow. Yheir inside kiosk was closed so you had to go wait at their garage kiosk. There were about 10 people in two lines and it took me almost an hour to get my car. The other companies (Hertz, Enterprise( onsite are much quicker)!! read more

never answers phone. I lost something and they've made zero effort to try and get it back to me. customer service also sucks

I rented a car from this location and returned it with a full tank of gas about 21:30 hours before my initial agreement return time. I was charged the $17.99 fuel service even though the young man receiving the vehicle saw that the gas tank was completely full. This amounted to a total of an additional $23.99 once the taxes and fees were included. I had to call Budget to have the charge removed. Scammers! read more

They are not open before 6 AM. No instructions are provided on what to do. They rely on a different rental car company to tell their customers what to do. Once I got to the key drop, it tells me I had to get the mileage, so I had to walk back. You can't get a receipt, so you have to presume they will send you one. Really poor. If the airport is open, you need to be as well. read more

Disgusting dirty car ! Wasn't even washed inside or out when they gave it to us. Brakes were on the way out- alot of shimmying even time I braked. The tires were also borderline on being legal. Have to say in over 40 years of renting a car- this was the first time I was EVER given one that was not clean and in this kind of condition. read more

Worst customer service. Don't have the car we reserved or paid for and won't do anything to help. Wish I could give them 0 stars.

Hands-down, the worst experience I ever had renting vehicles. I needed a car for a week because mine broke. They gave me a new Toyota Camry, and the brakes were so bad that every time I applied in the whole car shock I finally had a chance to bring the car back and they gave me a Honda CRV, I pulled out and noticed did you maintenance light was on the low pressure tire sensors were on but at this point I only needed the vehicle for another two days so I thought I could live with it. We had a small little dusting of snow since we live in upstate New York, and as I was coming off an offramp and I apply the brakes, I just slid right out into the road. I could not believe it. I almost got hit by a vehicle it was killed. I immediately pulled over to the side of the road and looked at the front tires, and they were completely bald. I took a quarter to show the treadwear on them. They are totally illegal in the state of New York, why would a rental company have bald tires on a vehicle in upstate New York in the winter time talking about a serious lawsuit if I would've gotten hurt I bought the vehicle immediately back to Avis and the girl give me a $50 return on my entire purchase for the week never use Avis. Their cars are not taking care of or safe. read more

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I've rented from Avis for years as a preferred member and was about to rent a car for the 3rd time in as many months. When I came to pick up my SUV this last time on Apr 20th, the Avis employee at the booth accused me of mis-using an Amazon employee-only discount code and refused to give me my car. I told him my discount is from being an Amazon "customer", a benefit Avis advertises on its own website https://www.avis.com/en/offers/partners/amazon-benefits . I told the employee I have been renting with this benefit for years now and he kept insisting I've only ever rented from Avis three times - because his system told him so. I forced the employee to call his manager, who then proceeded to accuse me of the same thing. Eventually, I had to call Avis customer service to rectify the entire situation, and customer service told me that I didn't do anything wrong. It was unbelievably frustrating that the Avis employee and manager at this location acted as if I was trying to defraud Avis, when they were the ones clueless about the company's own customer programs. Avis, if you are reading this, please re-train your employees and managers at this location and tell them not to baselessly accuse your customers. read more

I rented a car from this location and had no issues. I reserved online and accidentally booked for Albany, Australia.....they still had the type of car I had pre booked and at a slightly lower price. The line at the airport was rather long, that's my only gripe. The car had a full tank of gas and was clean. Pick up and drop off points were convenient. I had no hassles when I dropped the car off. I'd book with this location again. read more

I rented a high-end automobile, Alfa, Romeo. The ride was nice. The pick up was good. The drop off was fine. I inadvertently left my easy pass in the vehicle and was charged $40 for the next customer using it. Not a big deal, that can be sorted out. I went back twice to obtain the easy pass device, and both times was given some sort of lame run around additional paperwork to fill out, all sorts of BS. This time I went back, spoke to the manager who was condescending, blaming me for leaving easy pass, and also unhelpful. I ended up leaving without the easy pass. I was able to cancel the easy pass and replace it in about five minutes on the phone, but enterprise could not obtain the actual device for me in three visits. I like good customer service. They did not illustrate this. Poor customer service! read more

DO NOT RENT A CAR FROM AVIS, I rented a car for 11 days from the Albany air. It was 11:30 PM when we rented it. The next morning I was in Cooperstown about a 2 hour drive from Albany. I noticed that the 2 front tires were bald and one had a bubble on the sidewall of the tire, I ended up wasting time with multiple conversations with them to finally almost 2 days later they delivered me a replacement vehicle. Besides the extreme safety issue both cars were very dirty with leftover food tucked into one of the back pockets as well as dirty socks and a used mask. There customer service wasn't to concerned about me driving hundreds of miles in a unsafe car. I do not recommend renting from Avis. read more

Worst experience ever!!!! Avoid this company at all cost .... In general I'd say that you are better off walking then dealing with Avis... but under no circumstances should you ever deal with the Avis at Albany NY airport. They are completely unprofessional and totally incompetent at every single aspect of the rental car process. read more

Currentry waiting in line for an hour and still have at least another 20-30 minutes to wait. One person working the kiosk. she told us they are trying to get cars brought up. I guess it was a surprise to them that they had customers showing up. Terrible service! Will absolutely never use them again! Every other kiosk cleared customers in minutes! read more

Avis preferred plus member here. I Never get an upgrade at this location, and I rent often. I am Always told that they have no cars to upgrade me to, then I walk out to the garage and there are MANY cars there including upgradeable cars. Avis in general has gone down hill. read more

Worst customer service I have ever experienced. Will never rent from Avis again. The Albany Airport office is especially terrible and was dismissive to make any modifications to a contract. Upon being required to stay an extra day on military orders and arriving a day late, all 8 customer service representatives I spoke with, including the Albany personnel themselves, refused to modify the name on the rental so my wife could pick the car up at the original reserved time. The customer service attempts to cancel my reservation and rebook with her name caused a $150 no show charge and cost an additional $250 to rent the same vehicle as there were no available vehicles from any agency in Albany. This is a trash company with disgusting customer service that will screw you over. What a scam. I hope you read this before booking with them. read more

Consistently bad service no matter the city or country. However, here in Albany... They are actually worse. Avoid this location if at all possible. I have been waiting for 36 minutes and the line has not moved. The manager's pants are falling down... read more

Rented a Toyota Rav 4 from them for a wedding weekend only to have the battery die on day 2 and fry the fuse box's leaving us with a dead vehicle. We had to pay for a $200 taxi to get to the airport because Avis Roadside assistance couldn't get us to the airport. We asked for a full refund and we're given the business card of the manager of the Albany Airport. After not getting a clear answer for over 2 weeks the manager stopped taking our calls. I would not recommend renting a car through them. read more

Made the mistake of prepaying for a discount, showed up at the airport on time. They gave me a Nissan Murano with a broken mirror. I told them it was busted, and I needed a new car. They offered me a Nissan Altima. I had reserved and pre-paid for a premium car. I asked for a discount and was offered a tiny break. I asked why I couldn't have one of the other premium cars and I was told they were reserved for people coming later even though it was already nearly 11PM. I told them I had prepaid reservation too, but they didn't care. I told the attendant to just cancel my order which they said they would do. I went to the Enterprise booth where they had plenty of cars. Now I see Avis billed me over $600 for a rental they failed to provide. They also claim I never showed up at the airport. This is outrageous! I have already put in a chargeback with AMEX and emailed profile.update at avisbudget telling them to terminate my Avis Preferred account and remove all of my personal information from their system. This is the second time this horrible location has screwed me over. Avis obviously doesn't care so I'm taking my money elsewhere. As of 11/06/2017 these charlatans are still trying to get money out of me for this reservation. Just use any other rental company or use Uber. I really hope Uber spreads everywhere and puts these scam artists out of business. read more

"Preferred"Avis customer. Booked my vehicle through My Amazon account. Prepaid it to "save" money. Returned the car and was charged an additional $153. Completely disgusted with this company. I asked why, since I prepaid. They had no answer. Will never use them again. read more

Worst group at the Albany airport. We were only the third group in line. All the other agencies had more people in line and yet we still were the last to get a car. It took at least 45 minutes. Unacceptable! read more

I had no major issues with this location. I arrived about 40 minutes earlier than the pick up time. Instead of the Toyota Carolla we got a Kia Forte. Not a big deal as it was clean with no obvious damage. No mechanical issues and the turn in process took 20 seconds at a different location. My only concern was nobody checked out the vehicle for preexisting damage in Albany. But there were no issues at turn in. The pickup process took about a half hour but I feel mostly due to being understaffed. The lady at the Albany location didn't twist my arm to upsell me on insurance. No hidden fees at turn in. read more

I have rented a car once from here. There was no line, and it took about 5 minutes to take care of paperwork and get my keys. The major benefit was that the car class I'd selected wasn't available (BMW 3-series), so they had to give me a free upgrade to a Cadillac! Now, that was sweet, although unfortunately it ended up being a beige Cadillac CTS station wagon with a dent on the front right corner, not exactly the pimpmobile I was expecting! (The dent wasn't a problem, it was the massive black X they'd drawn over it in Sharpie marker that was offensive to the eyes!) It was easy to get the car, although one of the attendants had parked a return car behind me, so I had to wait a minute for him to move it. And the car was filthy, clearly had not been washed since it was returned (it was early April, and the people who had driven it before me had obviously taken it through all kinds of snow and dirt). So minus a star for a disgustingly dirty car. It was so bad I had to take it through a drive-through car wash myself, since I couldn't stand being in it. So pretty much fail with the free upgrade! I could pretty much tell that when I drove by a group of teenage boys at a rest stop and none of them did a double-take at my Cadillac station wagon :( If it had been an Escalade or a CTS-V, you bet I would have gotten clocked. However, because getting the car was so easy and I got an upgrade, I'm going to stick with three stars. The car was super comfy on the inside, with satellite radio and sat-nav. (And technically I don't think they're allowed to rent luxury cars to under-25-year-olds, so score on my part!). I've had a horrible experience with Avis after this, so frankly this time wasn't that bad! The person at the desk was succinct, polite, and straight-forward. read more

We booked 2 twelve person vans for a RAGNAR race online for Avis - Albany International Airport. Had to modify the rental so called Avis and easily made the change. The change resulted in a smaller bill which was accounted for as a refund on my credit card. The pick up/drop off process was simple. The staff was very helpful and pleasant. The vans were clean and well equipped. We were pleased with the entire experience. read more

I will never rent from Avis again if I have a choice. I paid for the car in full with a third party "Priceline". I went and picked up car and made me sign for it. Like always I declined all insurance but when I signed agreement they must have added in a damage waiver and I didn't even notice till I returned. Talk about a sneaky jack! read more

"So my girlfriend and I recently rented a van for vacation from AVIS in Albany, NY. Our plans were to drive from NY to Ohio to pick up my Aunt and then from Ohio to Florida. On our way to Florida after putting only about 700 miles on the van it started shaking at certain speeds, it would settle out around 64 MPH. At one point it started shaking so violently I could not drive it. We pulled over on the interstate and was calling Avis to try and find out where we could get another vehicle, after getting the run around from different locations a vehicle was located in Knoxville. While sitting on the side of the road I just happened to look at the right rear tire and to my absolute amazement I saw the steel belt showing at two different spots on the tire. I then noticed there were 4 different tires on the van. We get the van to Knoxville and we deal with a very friendly gentleman there that set us up in a 2016 Ford Explorer. The rest of the road trip went off without a hitch. Now I get back to Albany, NY and ask to talk to a supervisor. I asked her what was inspected before they allow vehicle to leave. She said everything. So I said everything including tires, and she said yes. It was at this point I show her pictures on my phone of the tire. I told her that AVIS put the lives of 4 people in danger by letting that vehicle pass their inspection in Albany, NY. She took $200 off the bill, and since it was at an Airport I decided not to make a scene. So what this supervisor is basically saying is that the danger Avis put us in is only worth $200. I am not finished with Avis., No, nothing happened, but it could have. And I know what happens when you are driving 65 MPH and a tire blows. Avis you are disgusting and I will NEVER rent from you again. My next step is to call your corporate office until I have the opportunity to speak with the CEO/President of your company. I have pictures but this site won't allow me to post. I am seriously thinking about calling the local news and doing a story, then call a national news outlet". PLUS THE STAFF IS RUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Avis Rent A Car - This is what they allow out of their place. - Car Rental Near Me - Albany, New York

Brutal, just brutal. I've had a series of less than stellar Avis experiences of late. It used to be, that you rented from Avis because they were one of the two top-end rental companies. You paid a little more, but that meant you didn't get nickled and dimed to death and that you got good customer service and well maintained cars. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I'd reserved a Chevy Tahoe for a weeked trip from Albany to New Hampshire, as we'd flown in for my Aunt's funeral, making the reservation through Costco. There were two folks working the desk - a woman at the general counter and an older gentleman at the preferred customer counter. Because the general counter staffer was busy, we were called over by the guy at the preferred desk. So the guys starts plugging away pulling up the booking and right away he's struggling. Now we weren't the easiest customers - I'd made the booking and my Dad wanted to pay for it, so apparently that meant they had to change the name and license info on the reservation. That's fine I guess, but it took absolutely forever to back out this limited information (my parents live with us and my Dad even has the same name so that info stayed the same). Once this was mercifully completed, the guy starts trying to sell us the Loss Damages Waiver. I always decline this, but he insists on explaining what it does (even though why we already know that AND declined the coverage). As this guy spouts on even though I continue to decline, my Dad had finally had enough and just takes the coverage. So with that done, we move onto the vehicle. The guys says I have a Ford Explorer for you. This is the second time Avis has tried this stunt with me - I reserved the Tahoe because we had 6 people AND luggage for a three-hour drive. An Explorer is no where near the same "level" vehicle as a Tahoe. Ford used to make a similarly sized vehicle, the Expedition, but I don't think that is still in production. As I protest the guy actually says to me that the Tahoe is "a different class of vehicle than I had reserved." At that point I pointed to my reservation where it said "Chevrolet Tahoe or equivalent" and demanded the Tahoe, which he miraculously found. At this point you'd think we'd be done, but no, the fiasco was not yet complete. We needed two drivers for the car, so the guy asks for my license and credit card for the second driver. I'd never heard of needing a credit card for the second driver, but whatever. He then proceeded to try and tack on an extra fee for the second driver, not to my card, but my Dad's, even though the second driver was included in the reservation. When I pointed this out the guy starts to argue with me that that is never included, until I point out the exact space on the reservation where it says "second driver included at no extra charge." At this point he's already charged it and doesn't know how to back it out so realizing he's screwed up he has to do a separate refund of this fee, which takes another 15 minutes. In the time we waited here, the other woman processed FOUR other customers. Four! Absolutely ridiculous. I think we were up there at least 45 minutes while this guy messed around. Amazingly, when the person (who appeared to be relatively new) tried to ask a manager for assistance he was told that the manager didn't have time for him now. Wow. And I have to get one final note in on the car, which was clearly in need of service. Everytime you hit the brakes on a hill the whole car vibrated like it was fighting against the brakes. I'm no mechanic, but I know enough to know that's not good! Needless to say this will be the last time I ever rent a car with Avis. Hertz, here I come! read more

It'd be nice if someone answered the phones for Avis at Albany Airport! Does anybody there give a hoot?

Arrived at Albany international airport around 145 am. My other rental car company decided not to answer my phone calls, so I was stranded in the airport. I went to the Avis desk and the gentlemen said that he could try to help me. The only way I could rent a vehicle he said was to book online and pre-pay for the car. He then assured both me and my boyfriend that if we were to bring the car back early (I only needed a car for two days) that we would get a refund. I returned the car after two days and the other avis employee assured me of the refund. Now almost two weeks later-no refund. I called into the general hotline and the albany avis and they told me I will not be receiving a refund. The guy on the phone with the albany avis was also incredibly rude and continued to blame me. Obviously, I would never rent a car for ten days when I only needed it for two days, but when the agent at the desk informs me that it is the only way to get a car at that hour and i would be given a refund I believed the agent. Incredibly frustrating. read more