Jordan Stewart, an influencer, took to TikTok to share a rental car horror story that quickly went viral. He says that he rented and returned a car from Avis, but claims the company falsely accused him of stealing it.
“Avis Car Rental is literally accusing me of stealing a rental car that I literally returned to them. My life is a joke at this point because I literally can’t catch a break.”
Detailing his ordeal, Stewart explained that he rented a car from Avis on March 30 to visit family in North Georgia. He recounted the rental duration from 10:00am to 11:30pm and claims he followed the contactless return instructions provided by the rental company at the Atlanta airport location. “I even saw an employee who told me that since it was a contactless return, all I have to do is just pull it into the return lane and leave the key in it and I’ll receive an email receipt.”
Despite following the return procedure, Stewart reportedly never received the expected email receipt. Ignoring the issue due to his busy schedule, he was surprised to receive “numerous calls” the following week claiming the car was still missing.
Stewart recounts how he was informed by Avis’ asset recovery team that failure to return the car promptly would result in serious consequences. Despite his insistence that the car was returned as agreed, Avis insisted on marking it as stolen. “They can check the cameras they need to coordinate with the location because the car was literally returned. And they said ‘Well, because of you we still don’t have it in our records. We have to mark the car is stolen.’”
The TikToker then claims he went to the Atlanta airport Avis location to try and resolve the issue, but was only met with more confusion from the manager. “[The manager] told me that this is gonna have to become an internal investigation. My paperwork indicates that I was given a Toyota Rav4, but I literally have photos of me. I was in a Toyota 4Runner the entire day, Avis didn’t even know what car was in there, and asked me what the mileage was, they were asking if it was a new car, if it was an old car, like they don’t even really seem to know what kind of car they gave me.”
Acknowledging his oversight in not photographing the license plate, Stewart pointed out that Avis also failed to record the plate number on the rental agreement. He added, “I’ve now been charged over $2,000. And they said that my credit card is going to continue to be charged throughout this time that they’re conducting an internal investigation to find the car.”
Looking for a solution, Stewart sought assistance from Avis, suggesting they review security footage to confirm the car’s return. While they claimed only license plate scanning cameras were available, Stewart claims he and his friends located the exact car he had rented: “Today me and my friends went over to Avis and literally found the exact Toyota that I believe was the one that I was given that day,” he said.
He continues, “The fact [is] that I’m being accused of stealing a car from a company who literally admitted to me that this has happened many times before and it’s an issue with their operations issue with their technical inventory. But I am still getting the blame for stealing the car for something that I returned? It’s not making sense, but anyone could point me in the right direction on what to do here. Whether it’s legal advice, whether it’s Avis advice, whatever that might be, it would be greatly appreciated.”
Commenters were quick to share advice, noting that he should freeze his credit card to prevent further funds from being taken out. Another commenter claims this happened to him at another Avis location: “This happened to me too with Avis at the Philly airport. Took me weeks to resolve. Had to go on LinkedIn and email the CEO.”
This isn’t the first time that Avis has come under fire for making false claims against and overcharging their customers. In 2014, Avis was ordered to pay over $10 million dollars in a settlement to the United States.
However, in this case, it seems Jordan Stewart found a resolution. In a follow-up video posted on Friday, he notes that he sought out legal advice and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau on the advice of commenters. Stewart claims he returned to the Atlanta Avis location where, “The manager once again confirmed that this was a mistake with their team and that they understand where the mix-up happened amongst their team.”
He continues, “The manager at that location gave me the phone number of a regional manager for like, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi. I called him directly, it was his personal phone, which is kind of crazy but he answered. And this man really did help a lot, he helped escalate it and take it to new teams. He even checked the security footage, which it was previously communicated to me that it was not seen that I returned the car, where he told me that he has on video camera that I was returning the car when I said that I would.”
@itsjordanstewart_ I'm being falsely accused of stealing a rental car. @aviscarental figure this out asap, refund my money & take accountability for your mistake. This is insane. #carrental #fyp @WSB-TV @11Alive @fox5_atlanta ♬ original sound – Jordan Stewart
He adds, “Long story short, the whole thing ended up being resolved today when I received the communication that my contract has been officially ended. They said I should be receiving that refund on my credit card within the coming days, and you better believe, I’m going to be checking that card every single day.”
Stewart leaves his viewers with one final piece of advice: “If you are renting a car, I’d just say be mindful. Don’t do that contactless return. Don’t do it. Be mindful of what is going on—take pictures of your license plate, take pictures of the mileage.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jordan Stewart via email and to Avis Car Rental for comment.