A trip to Seattle for me isn't really complete without Virgin America, Avis, and the Bellevue Club Hotel.
Virgin America gets better and better with each usage: now, as I just updated, they have inflight WiFi which meant that I was able to be online for almost 1:15 of a 1:30 flight. It was fast, it was easy to use and it was useful. I continue to fly Virgin here to Seattle because they are cheap, they fly from the the international terminal at SFO (no lines in the morning) and because I get a comfortable seat and good amenities. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to friends.
The Bellevue Club is also cheaper than the Westin and many other local hotels: it is a member's only high end recreational facility with a hotel attached - so if you like to work out, there's really no better place. Parking and internet are free. It's also somewhere I recommend.
Avis, however, are completely, totally, fucking useless. Unutterable morons. They couldn't arrange a fuck in a Vegas brothel for a group of drunk college guys with pocketfuls of cash. If Avis was a cup of coffee, it would be cold instant coffee, made weak and improperly stirred. If Avis were a country, it would be somewhere in the 3rd world where the water was unsafe to drink and there was a high chance of being robbed at gunpoint. If Avis was a disease, it wouldn't be fatal but you'd be permanently incapacitated with a really bad facial rash, chronic diarrhoea and impotence. If Avis suddenly said they were starting an airline, I'd never ever fly out of fear that the plane wouldn't go where it was supposed to, or worse.
If I had a choice - and working for a large company where Avis is the service provider, I don't - I would always use one of their competitors. I really encourage all of you to do the same.
Today, when I got to the parking garage (having been through all the loops with customer service that I described here and here, I was welcomed by the following message on the Preferred Board:
Once again, even though I had been assured by their customer service representative that all was well, it wasn't true. First of all at the desk they told me I was early (which was true,so I settled down momentarily.)
But then they told me that ... wait for it ... my Australian Drivers Licence number was still in the system. As I had to delete my Australian profile and start from scratch with my US address, my US credit card and my California Drivers licence, I know I didn't enter it. Of course, their system doesn't empower employees to amend the data at the terminal. The woman at the desk told me to call the 1-800 number on the back of my preferred card. She's lucky I am not a violent man.
I have now gone online to update my drivers licence information to be rewarded with the system message that my information was successfully updated. We'll see. I completely lack any confidence in their service, systems and brand.
The only satisfaction arising from my interactions with Avis is thatI am able to blog about it to do what I can to alert others to my dreadful customer experience, and encourage capitalism and market forces to take their course.
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