All the customer service representatives were very friendly!
We spent nearly an hour with the agent trying to sell us insurance we kept saying we didn't want. Then I asked about switching to an automatic. When it was apparent that the automatic transmission car was going to cost about 400 euro more, we said no forget it, that we'd go with what we had reserved. But he kept making tweaks and changes to the deal to try to get us to go with the bigger car (seriously, after a translatlantic flight and NO sleep, who wants to spend an hour with someone trying to upsell you?). Finally I said, I just want the car I reserved. And he said, ok, we'll give you the bigger car for the same price. What??? I suspect the car I reserved wasn't even available so the whole thing had been a charade to get us to get the bigger vehicle. And only it wasn't exactly the same price I had reserved it at. We had a heck of a time with a 9-passenger vehicle trying to get through some of the narrow streets and ended up scratching a bumper. All in all, I would avoid Budget/Avis at all costs!