I had an excellent experience here. When I came to pick up my vehicle the staff was friendly, timely, and efficient. When I received my vehicle it came with only 5/8 of a fuel tank which I found a little frustrating. I had about a 3.5 hour drive and this meant I was going to have to stop for gas now on my way. Because of this, I was originally going to give this a four star, however, the staff were so incredibly helpful and friendly that it deserved a five star. When I came to return my vehicle, the staff was very helpful in terms of where to put it. They were there waiting for me when I got back and even remembered my name. Additionally, I had accidentally forgotten one of my phones in the car and they found it, held it at the desk for me, and were very eager to give it back to me when I returned. The staff here goes above and beyond in so many ways!! read more

Showed up at the location in Embassy Suites and were greeted by a man who thought it was numerous that the location had to cars. We showed him the email reservation we received that morning letting us know that our car was ready and he stated that it was not there and everyone received that. We sat in the lobby and were met by two other families who were trying to find alternative arrangement because there were no cars. The man recommending finding and uber and trying to see if the airport had cars. He refused to call to check as that was not his job. While we were trying to find alternative arrangement we counted a total of 11 families in 2 hours who had reservations that were not honored. We went to enterprise down the road and got a better deal. On a side note Embassy Suites employees were amazing and I cannot believe they would want to be associated with that shady business. read more

Absolute garbage operation. Showed up for a 9am reservation and was told that no cars were available. The staff were extremely rude and offered no timeline on when a car would be available. Finally called me two and a half hours later at 11:30am and said my car was ready at which point I had already gone to TPA to rent a car through Hertz and was an hour and a half into my trip. Will never go back to this location read more

Bottom Line: As an Avis Preferred Member I was disappointed that I still had to go to the booth to get my keys but service in the booth, once I found it, was great. Rental car companies often get a bad rap and I can totally understand that perspective from non-frequent travelers. But as a regular travel, with a rolodex full of preferred travel cards, airline credit cards, etc., I find Avis to always be great. Here is what I really liked about Avis at the Tampa Airport: * It's at the airport, right outside of baggage claim. No need to get on the bus. * Avis employee at the booth was nice, fun, enthusiastic and humorous What I didn't like: * I didn't realize that for Avis preferred you had to go to the 2nd floor due to my poor vision. After taking a closer look at the sign it did say "Avis - 3rd floor" and in smaller letters "Avis Preferred - 2nd floor." This means I did lots of extra walking and elevator riding on a hot, humid, FL day. * There is not an electronic board with your name and stall number on it so that means you have to go to the booth and wait in line for your keys, just like everyone else, but the line is hopefully shorter. read more

We reserved a van with Avis in key largo to take a trip with friends. Was given a confirmation number..when we showed up no van was there or available so we had to cancel our trip.... the Avis representative was very rude and sarcastic......think twice before using this company.... read more

Ok I know everyone is getting sick of my Avis reviews but........ After switching from Enterprise rent-a-dumb-smart-ass-jock-rude-service-car. I'm thrilled with Avis the service, the car, the people are great at 4 locations so far. Keep it up Avis! read more

This Avis location supports thieves and that is absolutely horrifying. I left two shopping bags behind. I called approx. 1hr. before the flight left and was told by someone both were retrieved and would be shipped to me once I gave them my shipping address. I said I would call them back in 2 hours once I landed in KC. When I called back, someone else had told me they only had one shopping bag. The most expensive item hasn't been located a day later. The vehicle was never checked out to another customer and they have been very defensive about allowing me to speak with a manager. Nobody has reviewed cameras and they said they aren't responsible. Although I was already told both bags were in their possession. I am a First Preferred Member and while the perks are nice, I cannot support crime. It is absolutely insane that something has been stolen and nobody is urgently addressing the issue. They are basically allowing their employees to steal items customers leave and saying "well they left them so not our problem according to our policy". That's not okay whatsoever. read more

Worse experience with this car rental ever. Car was reserved for 8am but didn't my rental till 11am. Staff has no intention to offer any help at all. I was told, it could be here any minute. Any minute turns out to be a 3 hours wait. read more

We had a great experience at this location. Our reservation was at 10am, and we were driving away by 10:05. The team was friendly and really helpful with the toll pass. read more

TL;DR - Book with another company, a more reputable one. Like Hertz or Enterprise. As with most things pertaining to our vacation, we reserved our rental car ahead of time. Reserved and paid in full for a five day rental on a Toyota Prius. We arrived at the Tampa Airport and had no problem finding the rental car counters. There were two people working at the Avis counter. One of them was busy assisting a customer. The other person noticed us walk in and towards the Avis counter. What does she do? Walks away. Yup. Takes a bathroom break. And there we stood for almost ten minutes awaiting her return. Oh well. I guess when nature calls.... We had our reservation info handy and had no problem once the customer service rep returned. We went through the paperwork. No up-sell on insurance or anything else. We got to the part about tolls. We asked for plenty of clarification, since we were unfamiliar with the Tampa area. We were told that the cars have the E-Toll gizmo. We'd get charged the toll and an extra $3.95 for each day that we used the toll roads. If we did not hit the toll roads, there would be no fee. We asked again, to make sure. The e-toll fee only applies on days that we actually drove through the automated toll booth. And this amount gets charged to our card in about 2 weeks. We signed the agreement - or what we thought was the agreement explained to us. We grabbed the keys and went upstairs to the grab the car. The guy manning the booth upstairs not very friendly. Handed us the key and said "car's over there". We did get a nice 2017 Toyota Prius with 200 miles on the clock. So far so good. No problems with the car and we were pleased on that count. Of course on our first night out, we accidentally hit a couple toll roads on our way out of Tampa. Five days later we returned the car at the airport, and the process was straight forward. Again, people were not friendly. Sort of don't care about the customer. Back to MN, and 2 weeks later we check the credit card statement. Got charged 19.75 for the toll processing fee. Even though we only hit the toll road the one time. We contacted Avis, only to be told and they don't process the tolls. Another company handles that. They charge the 3.95 to a maximum of 19.75. Whatever that means. Basically a run around from Avis and the other company. Why can't these people be honest? Multiple times we asked the customer service rep, and received incorrect info. I probably won't be doing business with Avis. Certainly not at the Tampa Airport location. read more

CORRUPT COMPANY!!!! I returned a vehicle last Thursday to this location with a full tank of gas. I received a receipt from the agent confirming my total charge and she also verified the gas tank was full. I later check my bank statement and they charge me $41 of gas for absolutely no reason (I called and the customer service rep said the charge was for gas)! This is like stealing money from the customer. I had to then call and argue over the phone and go through the burden of sending a receipt that I filled gas to correct their mistake. Stay away from these crooks! read more

Wow. This location needs to start over. New Staff and management. Rental counter team is rude and unprofessional. We reserved a top specialty car and arrive to a lady basically telling us....sorry we don't have your car. Go upstairs and grab coffee and it will be at least a hour or more until we can have that car for you. Couldn't even confirm how long it would be, and we arrived exactly at our stated time. She said we can have this little Ford or wait. What really frustrated us, were the rude people at the counter that didn't care they were screwing us. We had to meet family and friends, so we had no option to wait. We take the car, and yeah it was clean. Just disappointing for our vacation trip. Such poor customer service. Not even a sorry or I apologize. Believe the reviews, Tampa AVIS is totally mismanaged. I will not use Avis again, not here and possibly not at any destination. read more

I received the worst service of my life at the embassy suites location in Tampa. I arrived at 9:37am for my 9am reservation for a full size SUV. Sierra was the only employee working. She told me a full size wasn't available and she also couldn't change the price and still charged me for a full size after giving me a mid size. The mid size I received was dropped off while I was speaking to Sierra. She didn't inspect the vehicle, verify fuel, etc. She criticized me for not being there at 9, and informed me a full size would be available by noon. Her little sister was checking in cars (I don't think she's employed legally there). The car was in an accident. The fuel was half full. I asked for her full name for assurance that I would not be charged for fuel and she became combative with me, refused to give me her name and then told me to get out of the store. I was treated horribly and paid more for a poor vehicle with damage and half fuel. Extremely upset. Her little sister, which is too young to be handling keys for customers started yelling at me also. I simply wanted her last name in case the drop off agency attempted to charge me for fuel and she refused. She said she didn't have to give me her name. I got her first name, but couldn't get her last name. Her agent number is 94764. I demanded to speak to a manager and she gave me a card with a number that only went to voicemail. I feel I was ripped off, treated with disrespect for a paying customer and received horrible treatment from someone who clearly has no business being in customer service. There were about 15 people waiting for cars and a few witnessed the service I received from Sierra. She was aggressive and combative and after she secured my payment, refused to give me her name and told me to get out. Sierra called a woman named Mariana Roma which I believe is the real manager who was on her cell phone out running errands. I believe Sierra was hoping to receive help getting me out of the store, but MRs Roma insisted that she speak to me. Sierra handed me her cell phone and Mrs Roma apologized because she knew I was inconvenienced for for paying for a larger vehicle and receiving a smaller one and also for the fuel. Sierra wrote on my contract that the fuel was fuel when in fact she never even went to the vehicle to check. Her underage sister was checking cars in and telling her. Not a good look for Budget. I've never been yelled at before like today. I want someone to adjust my charge for this rental. Sierra embarrassed me in front of other customers and refused to cooperate and make my rental experience better. The only reason a person refuses to provide their name is because they are guilty of something. She was the sole representative of Budget and the only agent on site and refusal to provide her name was extremely unprofessional. Rental agreement # 246188913 Reservation # 13776360-US-3 Budget car # 91469825 Agent name Sierra Agent # 94764 read more

I don't think I have ever had such an unprofessional experience. Tanya, I believe was her name, asked if I was there on business. Asked who I worked for...then began to tell me about how horrible my company is and maybe I should work for a different company. From then on she just had a horrible attitude with me during check in. read more

Please do yourself a favor and DO NOT ever book a rental car through Avis Car Rental... my husband needed a rental car for his brothers wedding last month in Virginia. A rental car that was suppose to cost $109.00 has resulted in costing $2,200 dollars... first issue.. upon my husband getting the car, they didn't walk or conduct an inspection even after he asked! ( they were short staffed and declined ) he then had the rental for two days. Returns it to the airport location where it was rented on the 28th of November the original return date. Thank goodness I checked our account to see that they are just taking out money daily.. an employee of theirs didn't re check in the car before providing and assigning it to SOMEONE ELSE!! So someone drove the car from November 28th till December 6th in Virginia under our name, our credit card, and our insurance.. we have been trying to call them for the past two days to get things resolved and we have been on hold for hours, hung up on etc. meanwhile my husband has video of everything!! Returning the car with a full tank, dropping the keys in the box etc. no manger has contacted us back nothing.. I have NEVER experienced fraud like this.. BE AWARE!! read more

Got ripped off as soon as I approached the counter girl. My preselected car rental was ignored and the up grading pitch began, ok I understand that, But the lies began to upgrade for only $5 more per day. Yes ,I signed the contract ,my excuse I hadn't flown or rented a car in 10 years and I'm 76 years old. I didn't see the per day charge increase $25 per day until I checked the receipt after checking the car in Totally crooked agent working for this co. read more

Last year and the year before last I would have been like Rick and given this 4-5 stars but this year I just cant. I travel three weeks a month, every month for my job so I have earned the rank of being an Avis First member for rental cars. This entitles me to free upgrades when available. For the past two years I always got upgraded, often to SUV's even if I only had reserved a compact or mid size car. This year, I dunno if the staff changed of if more people have switched to Avis, but they hardly ever can offer me an upgrade, and if they do it is to a 4 door mid/full size Ford. I cant remember the name. It is nice though, leather seats and all, but its not what Im use to. So since they seem to have lost their luster, I can only say two stars for "Ive experienced better", becuase Avis in Jacksonville always gives me SUV's. read more

Make sure you read your agreement!! I was literally sleep deprived, i missed my flight and was running on no sleep so this is partly my fault for not thoroughly reading the contract. The Lady snuck Daily Insurance and Gas Charges onto the agreement i specifically asked not to, and kept pushing the upgrade. read more

Rude &Horrible Service. We decided to spend a few days in Tampa after disembarking from a cruise and rented from the Avis location at the Tampa Intnl Airport. My boyfriend travels out of town for three weeks at a time every month and consistently uses Avis. We had a few questions regarding the benefits for the Avis Preferred membership program (wizard number vs. Avis First membership). The rep was not trained & was annoyed with our questions. He stated that "if it was really THAT important to us, then go look on the website." How do your front line employees know NOTHING about the programs you offer?!?! Being an Avis First member myself I'll rent somewhere else in the future if that's the service that "preferred" members get!!!! read more

Rented a car on May 4, 2013. The rate was good but slightly higher than what was quoted. The clerk tried to fast talk us into a more expensive auto and the companies insurance. The clerk became angry when we insisted on reading the documents before signing saying they did not apply even though a signature was required. The entire experience at the Tampa airport rental center was unpleasant and I would be reluctant to rent from Avis in the future despite the good rate. read more

Avis stole 200 dollars from me. I agreed to my original reservation of 200 dollars. When i arrived, i was asked if i wanted the optional loss damage waiver. I verbally declined saying i have car insurance that covers rentals. I was hurried through the contract and told to accept here, accept there, sign here, initial there. I trusted the "supervisor" sandra even though she already tried to hard sell me an upgraded rental for 20 dollars more a day which i declined. I trusted without paying attention to what i was signing. After i recieved my credit statement i noticed it was charged double the amount agreed upon. After speaking with 2 managers and 2 reps, i was told there was nothing that could be done because its a legal document i signed. I will NEVER rent from avis again and advise everyone else to avoid at all costs. I will be speaking with corporate tomorrow morning. I was unaware they make commission on what the reps upsell. UPDATE: After speaking with the corportate accounts manager, i was able to get everything resolved. The accounts manager was extremely helpful and respectful. She restored my faith in avis and has even set me up with preferred program so that im not even asked for this fee in the future. Thank you Holly for all of the help. read more

Worst customer service ever. I had a ton of problems with the car and when I told them afterwards, the "manager" (who was REALLY busy looking at Facebook on her phone) hit me with a ton of excuses. The more I tried to inquire, the more she gave me excuses. I then realized that she would never admit to ANYTHING being wrong and that everything that happened to me was clearly my fault. All the time she kept on saying "I'm sorry but you..." Made lots of snarky faces and looked at her watch. I've never seen someone who was less at fault for anything. Bottom line- Don't call the road service they won't arrive and it's your fault. Computer system randomly assigns a different city name to your account than the one in which you live. When you try to verify your address, they ask you "Don't you know where you live?" That was my fault, too. Told "a hybrid car starts up exactly loke a regular car." It was "my fault" for not knowing how a hybrid car starts. Well, it certainly wasn't their fault. Beware. This operation is shady. Avoid at all costs. read more

My issue is with the Avis's National Reservation folks not my local Tampa Avis office. Several months ago over the Internet I made a rental reservation for next week to rent a mid-size car and pre-paid for the rental. I was surprised when checking this week to see the exact same reservation was over $15 less expensive. I spoke to a Supervisor at AVIS customer service asking them to please credit the difference back to my credit card but they wouldn't budge. They said I could cancel my reservation and rebook it at the lower prepaid but they would charge me a $25 cancelation/modification fee. I don't think it unreasonable to ask for the lower price since I haven't rented the car yet. I feel ripped off and next time I will go back to renting from Hertz or National. read more

Thought I would go with a big name rather than a discount company. Agent wanted to give me a super deal on a BMW only $750 more for 2 weeks??Then the next super deal was for a upgrade to a premium Chevy Impala for $150 more.Already reserved a full size,since when is a Impala a premium car??Then of course the damage waiver BS. OK would use again but not if it cost more. read more

Shame on me for not seeing these reviews earlier. Booked a rental via Costco for preferred rate at Budget at this location for my trip... was sent to Avis counter (same company). Where do I begin. I asked for a Japanese car and was given a long explanation about how they don't release certain cars unless you are a preferred member... and they have so few in the lot now.. but.. I was gonna get what I wanted for only a little higher rate. A special deal. I said sure and then on the way to the car noticed my rental rate had almost tripled. Mind you the lot I was walking thought for Avis/ Budget was jammed full of Japanese make cars. I went back to the counter to get it all undone and the two women at the counter whispering to each other in a foreign language and not answering my questions, took like 20 minutes to give me some busted up Impala. The rate was still off to my Costco rate and we had to argue there more about taxes and whatnot which do not factor in to the base rate anyway. I decided I would deal with this on return since over an hour and a half of my morning was already wasted (at an empty Avis counter). Running late and off I go. The car had a faulty AC.. in 95 degree Florida. It drove like wagon stacked with cow dung. Everything about the car was junk aside from fast pick up of the engine. I signed up for the prepaid gas after the great sell at the counter the first time... They show the rates of local vs their rate.. Surprise surprise as soon as left the airport I saw the rates were lower and by the time I got to St Pete just 20 minutes away the rates were easily 15-20 cents less!!! Rip! No customer service! No cars worth pushing off a cliff. I have rented from other vendors at Tampa Airport many times before with very happy results (want a Japanese car, sure. Wants an American one, no prob..) BUT NEVER AGIAN FOR BUDGET/ AVIS! Upon drop off the Costco rate was adjusted.. thankfully. The drop-off counter person seemed surprised how our rental was done compared to the original reservation.. huh, no kidding. Scammers. Be ware!! read more