I had an experience with Avis today at Sacramento Airport that has caused me to decide that I will not rent from them ever again unless I have no alternative. They are fired, period.
I am on a 3 month consulting engagement in Sacramento, Monday through Fridays. Last week (the first week of the engagement) I arrived in Sacramento and went to the Avis Preferred counter. When I presented my credit card and driver's license, I was asked for my Wizard number. I have had a Wizard number in the past, but it is not written in my PDA, so I told them. The lady at the Preferred counter hunted in the system, and finally said that my current credit card was not linked to a Wizard number, which is required. She gave me to understand that she had changed the linkage, and I got a car via the Preferred Desk with no delay.
Today, I walked into the Preferred desk and presented my credit card and drivers license once more. This time, the reaction was very different. The guy who I was dealing with curtly demanded if I had a Wizard ID. I said Yes. He looked it up online, was unable to find it, and asked if I knew what it was. When I said No, he handed me back my cards and said curtly "go to the main desk". No expression of regret, no empathy, just a brush-off. Not impressive.
I then had to wait in line for 25 minutes at the main counter, since Avis had only 2 agents trying to manage a queue. They clearly were having trouble keeping up with demand, because they kept calling around other rental companies asking about cars. When I finally got to the front of the queue, I mentioned my experience to the agent. Instead of an empathetic response, she replied in an offhand and irritated fashion "you can only get an ID by calling the Avis support desk". She then further irritated me by demanding that I produce my business card in order to get the EDS corporate rate for the rental. I pointed out that I booked the rental through the EDS Travel Portal, with a corporate discount code. This made no impact on her, she said "we have to see your business card". I produced a business card and the rental was processed.
I finally left the rental lot 30 minutes later than when I arrived.
This is simply not good enough. From the time I arrived this morning at the rental location, Avis treated me in a flip, rude and dismissive fashion. They just lost all future business from me. They are fractionally cheaper for corporate rentals, but that is meaningless if I have to wait 30 minutes and be treated like a lower form of life. I lost 30 minutes of office work time because they behaved like a collection of surly and unresponsive idiots.
Good riddance, Avis.

UPDATE - I received this response from Avis today:

Dear Mr. Shelvlin,

Thank you for contacting us through the Avis Website. Please accept my sincere apology for the delay in responding to your inquiry.

We are actively interested in and committed to providing the best all-around service for our customers. It is distressing to receive a report of this nature and to learn that you have found some aspect of your rental experience to be less than satisfactory.

Constructive criticism is appreciated and you may be assured that this matter is not being dismissed with my reply to you. A copy of your report has been forwarded to the responsible manager, with instructions to bring the location into compliance with our standards.

Avis is committed to excellence in providing our customers the best all-around service available in the car rental industry. Our customers?
satisfaction with our service is most important.

We view with extreme gravity any report of discourteous treatment of a customer, as there is never an excuse for bad manners. Under all circumstances, Mr. Shevlin our customers should be treated with respect and professionalism. We regret any breach of this standard made by the Avis agent with whom you spoke. Please be assured that corrective measures have been taken to prevent any recurrence.

Sincerely,

Tara King
Avis Customer Service Representative
custserv@avis.com
FAX: 918-270-2920

Having decided that this is a form letter, which does not contain any specific actions, or promises of action to rectify the appallingly dismissive way in which I was treated, my decision stands and Avis is fired.