Shocker: Avis Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive from Renting. BDS OR JUST BS?

[grossproffit]

[quote]On Saturday evening, Dov Bergwerk arrived at the Avis branch on West 76th Street and Broadway. Accompanied by his wife Ruth, the Bergwerks were planning to join friends for dinner in Westchester. Mr. Bergwerk, a senior vice president and general corporate counsel at the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, got out his driver’s license, reservation number and “Wizard” loyalty card – he’s rented from Avis dozens of times before – and anticipated the usual smooth transition into a nondescript mid-sized sedan.

That’s when the trouble started.

A reservation agent named Angelline declined to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation, saying that it was company policy not to recognize Israeli documents. Stunned, Mr. Bergwerk explained that he had rented from Avis many times, including a car from that very same office on Thursday, November 19 – only two days earlier.

Mr. Bergwerk asked Angelline to access the profile attached to his Wizard card, which shows that he is an executive at a giant multinational company who has no regulatory issues and has rented from Avis, including at that very branch, many times without incident. She refused. They argued.

Eventually, a manager was called. Shamoura took the side of her reservation agent, also refusing to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation or recognize his documents. Stunned and stranded on a Saturday night in New York, Mr. Bergwerk called the Avis main number and got through to customer service. The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID and also mentioned that he could show his passport to ameliorate any ID concerns the on-site employees had. Mr. Bergwerk put the customer service representative on the phone with Shamoura, the branch manager, and at this point the story evolved. She now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car not because of the insufficient documents but because Mr. Bergwerk had “argued about the way I was being treated in front of other customers,” according to Mr. Bergwerk.

Avis reservation agent Angelline (white shirt) and her manager Shamoura declined to rent a car to an Israeli executive. Both refused to provide their last names.
.
The Observer asked Mr. Bergwerk if he felt that, in the heart of Manhattan’s progressive activist community, he was being singled out for being an Israeli.

“While no direct reference was made to being anti Israel, that was my impression almost from the initial moment I presented my license and credit card as I have done over 15 years of business and leisure travel without ever being challenged. The agent stated that the Israeli license did not have the required info in English. I tried to demonstrate that the license had all the required info but she and the manager had no interest. Similarly, the fact that I have had many rentals at Avis and at this location was dismissed as having been ‘done by new employees.'”[quote]

[url]http://observer.com/2015/11/shocker-avis-car-rental-bars-israeli-executive-from-renting/[/url]

[leftynyc]

1. This happened in NY

That Avis location is about to find out what boycotts are all about. I'll be surprised if both the first girl and her manager still have jobs at the end of the week. Gee - I wonder why they wouldn't provide their last names.

[azurnoir]

3. so you are advocating a boycott of Avis based on the managers requiring a valid drivers license?

would be so upset if the customer was an Italian or Lebanese?

[leftynyc]

4. They HAD a valid driver's license

unless you want to claim the same location was so totally inept they mistakenly rented a car to him TWO DAYS EARLIER. He was also part of their preferred renter group. Unless there is a public apology and since I'm in charge of renting all cars for our employees, Avis will be OFF the list of acceptable companies. And there wont be a person in my company that will complain about it.

[azurnoir]

5. so you base your employer related decisions on your political biases?

good to know, how many people in your 'company' will know why you did it? And will you include a picture of the manager to make sure no mistakes are made?

[leftynyc]

6. Yes, I do

and so does my boss who happens to be the CEO. He'll be thrilled to boycott AVIS because of this. If you think the fact the manager was black will change either of our minds, think again - stupid is stupid and bigotry is bigotry - I don't give a crap what color you are.

[azurnoir]

7. okay is the business non-political?

[leftynyc]

8. No - nothing to do with politics

I get to make the decisions which are acceptable hotel chains and car companies that we deal with. We've scratched some off our lists for a myriad of reasons - bigotry being high on the list. You seem to be going out of your way to defend such disgusting bigotry so I'm letting you just let your freak fly. Keep it coming.

[azurnoir]

9. so because 1 Avis rental refused to rent to an Israeli you're going to boycott all Avis

even if it costs your customers more and your boss will not mind at all interesting

[leftynyc]

10. Only if there isn't a public apology

for the actions of their stupid employees. And it's not our customers that I handle, it's our employees and if the CEO doesn't mind spending more to stay away from bigots, why does it seem to bother you so much? Do you frequent the businesses of bigots to save money? If so, shame on you.

[azurnoir]

11. well to my knowledge refusing to rent to rent to 1 Israeli isn't evidence of overall bigotry

Israeli isn't a race and no different from refusing to rent to an Italian

[leftynyc]

12. How very tolerant of you

I'm giving AVIS the opportunity to apologize and make it right. Let's see what they do. Have no idea why you are pointing out that Israeli isn't a race as I've only used the word bigotry....not racism so your implication otherwise is nothing but bullshit. If you want to use companies that employ bigots, knock yourself out.

[azurnoir]

13. would you be so adamant if it was an Italian?

[leftynyc]

14. Yes - next question.

[azurnoir]

15. well that was an easy answer

[King_David]

16. If they were engaging in some kind of BDS

Especially knowing that the BDS movement is Antisemitic beyond any reasonable doubt whatsoever- fuck yes - bring the boycott on.

Recently the BDS movement would not allow an American Jew to perform at a reggae festival but had no such qualms about allowing a gay hating homophobic performance...

In NYC ? Bring on the boycott now !!!

[DetlefK]

2. Oh, come on. Boycotting israeli citizens? Really?

Boycotting the state Israel and israeli companies because of BDS is one thing, but what the fuck is the point of denying service to a private citizen?



On a second reading, it sounds less like a BDS-attitude on part of the company and more like a mistake on the part of the employees on the ground. Maybe Avis does have a special policy towards Israel due to BDS and by miscommunication the employees believed that Avis now no longer accepts israeli documents. That's why they changed stories when they found out that their behaviour is not in line with company guidelines.

[shira]

18. What do u expect? It's BDS, which has repeatedly been proven to be a hate movement. n/t

[grossproffit]

17. The manager who allegedly did this is suing Bloomingdales.

Welch-Robinson et al v. Bloomingdales, Inc.

[url]http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/2kxqffv5y/new-york-eastern-district-court/welchrobinson-et-al-v-bloomingdales-inc/[/url]