Our Bad: Avis Invokes Rental Clause After Denying Israeli a Car. But None of Its Employees Seem to Be Aware of It.
Earlier today I wrote a story about Avis’s refusal to rent a car to a long-time loyal Israeli customer in what seemed a lot like a case of discrimination based on nationality, which is, you know, illegal. In response to my query, the car rental giant’s nameless corporate spokesperson wrote to say that after an inquiry that consisted of taking the word of an Avis employee over that of the customer, without any further due process or corroborating evidence, the customer was found to be in the wrong. That struck me as a problematic way to handle an allegation as severe as the one at hand, and I wrote to the Avis PR drone to say so. This is what the company had to say in response:
We have investigated the denial of a rental that recently occurred in Manhattan. We have found that we have been inconsistent in applying our policies with respect to documentation requirements with this customer, who has rented from us in the past without providing a second form of identification. We are committed to providing an outstanding car rental experience to our customers and believe that we should have done better here. We have spoken with the customer and apologized for the misunderstanding that occurred as a result of this inconsistency in applying our documentation policy, and the customer has accepted our apology.