Sideswipe: Avis really tries harder

Really low tech, this picture was snapped by Norm at a motor camp during a trip to Ireland last month. Photo / Supplied

Tony reckons Avis has put new meaning into the words "we try harder". "I am a very frequent user of Avis vehicles. Recently, while driving an Avis rental, I was photographed by a speed camera. Avis forwarded my contact details to the authorities as they are obliged to do. What astonished me was to receive notification from Avis of a $30 service fee - quite steep considering that it would take a few key strokes and wriggle of the mouse to accomplish this task. It also probably represents a couple of hours' pay for the clerk who performed the stroke and wriggle routine. Avis makes airlines clipping the ticket every which way look like amateurs when it comes to 'trying harder' to extract the customer's last dollar!"

WILSON FOOLS NO ONE

Police in Argentina are on the lookout for two escaped prisoners. Because of a manpower shortage, only two of the 15 guard towers at a prison were manned and one had a crudely made dummy inside.

A prison source said: "We've made a dummy out of a football and a prison officer's cap so that the prisoners see its shadow and think they're being watched. We named him Wilson, like in the film Cast Away, and put him in one of the towers," the man said, referring to the Tom Hanks film in which his character invents a volleyball character for company. (The Telegraph.co.uk)

TO IDIOCY AND BEYOND...

Steve Bolton wanted to prove he was the world's biggest Toy Story fan ... so he officially changed his name to Buzz Lightyear. The 26-year-old British mechanic says he loved the first two movies so much, he wanted to do something special for the launch of Toy Story 3, so decided to officially change his name. It now says "Buzz Lightyear" on his credit cards, bills and passport. (Source: Newslite.tv)

COSTLY KEYS

A reader writes: "My wife and I would happily pay $60 plus GST for a new plastic shell for our Peugeot ignition key. About three months after we bought a brand new Peugeot last year, our son came a cropper on a skifield with the keys in his pocket. The incident separated the car key from the other keys on the ring but did no other damage - to him or the key. When I went to inquire about a replacement shell, the good people at Continental Car Services told me that new shells were not available at any price - but we could have a complete new key for something like $700! This is well over 1 per cent of the cost of the new car, for goodness sake. Now we have to remember to take two separate keys with us whenever we go out. One day the marketers of Peugeot will wake up and realise that experiences like this are remembered when the time comes to buy a new car - long after the glossy magazines we regularly receive from them have been forgotten and thrown out."

Today's Webpick: Did you hear Jennifer Aniston is adopting a 33-year-old boyfriend from Africa? Go here and scroll down for the news report.

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