Budget Truck Rental Consumer Reviews - Page 4

ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA -- Recently my family rented a 26' Budget truck and a car dolly from Kokomo, In. We called about a week early to reserve the truck and was asked for a credit card number. We told the Budget Truck rental employee to NOT charge any fee on that particular credit card and that we would be using a different card to pay the $150 deposit with. He said he needed the card number for reservation purposes only and that the card would NOT be used for any other reason. After we picked up the truck and paid the $150 deposit we drove 2,500 miles from Indiana to California and unloaded the truck, we then filled it up with gas and took it back to Budget Truck rental.

Here's where things get nasty. We pulled in to the Budget Truck Rental store in 539 W Valley Blvd Alhambra, CA ** and the manager comes out, opens the fuel tank lid and barks, "I can't except this truck it isn't full of enough gas!" We told him that we filled it until the fuel pump automatically shut off but he just shook his head and said, "No, I can't take it." and turned around and walked back to his office. So we drove down to the gas station and tried to put more gas in the truck. In California, there are very strict fuel laws and one of them is that all the gas stations are required by law to have automatic shut off devices on the gas pumps.

After trying to fill up the truck with gas but unable to due to the automatic shutoffs, we returned the truck and tried to explain to the Budget Truck manager our situation. He said we have to manipulate the pump to "trick" it into working in order to fill up the gas to his satisfaction or he would not accept the truck.

By this time I'm getting extremely furious and I said,"Look dude, the gas station has automatic shutoff devices on their pumps for a reason so take the damn truck and give us our deposit now." He refused to cooperate and told us to go somewhere else some 60 miles away. As you will see later I should have just left the truck and took the loss. I gave in and jumped back into this truck, went back to the gas station and "tricked" the pumps not to shut off by pulling them out the nozzle and pulling the automatic shutoff device with my hand so it would keep pumping.

Here I am in 95 degree heat at noon with gas splashing out onto me and the ground trying to fill up this stupid truck while putting myself and my family and everybody else within distance in danger of being burned alive by igniting fuel so I can get my $150 deposit back and make some moron at Budget Truck rental happy.

Luckily a cop didn't see what I had done and after filling the truck up with gas we got out of there in one piece. We pulled into the Budget Truck rental store again and they finally were satisfied by the fuel level. So, we went inside to get our deposit and the 2 clerks inside decided they wanted to do it "their" way like their anal retentive boss does it and put the $150 deposit on the card that we used to reserve the truck with! Well, that card was maxed out because we used it for gas/food during the trip here. We were going to use the $150 deposit to eat with until my pension came in. I would be more than happy to join a class action lawsuit against Budget Truck Rental.

BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL, CALIFORNIA -- I made a reservation with Budget because they were cheaper than U-haul. Then I read reviews. I know I should have read them first but lesson learned. Anyway 1 hour after making the reservation I cancelled because I just couldn't take the chance of the truck I reserved not being available. They sent me an acknowledgment of the cancellation but in checking my bank account I see they charged me a $50 no-show fee. I'm in the process of trying to get my money back but after everything I've read I'm sure it won't be easy.

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA -- I reserved my truck over 24 days ahead of time for Budget to call me less than 2 hours of my pickup time to inform me that it was not a truck available for me. Take into consideration that I was moving from Louisiana to Texas. And in no shape, form, or fashion tried to rectify the situation. In the end, I had to go with another company. Do NOT give this company your business.

NATIONWIDE, OHIO -- I made my reservation early in the week, and scheduled two days off from work to move from the state of Ohio, to Indiana. I went to the location, Pep-Boys, in Mansfield Ohio at 1:00 in the afternoon to pick up my truck, only to be told that I was the THIRD customer of the day to NOT receive their truck! No trucks were delivered, I was told. I called the customer service number and much to my surprise, NO ONE at YOUR company could explain how this happened. I was transferred to another associate who explained to me that they would have to have someone call me back with an alternate pick up.

Guess what happened? They called me back and said that there was a shop in Galion Ohio, but wait, they couldn't tell me IF that shop was open or IF they even HAD A TRUCK! The recommendation to me from your associate: "Why don't you wait until Tuesday to move?" What a novel idea! It's almost as if your company assumed I was moving balloons or something ridiculously LIGHT that I needed no help moving at all. I normally work 80 hour work weeks, and my family graciously scheduled time off to help me as well. All in vain.

Well now, let me see. I think the FIRST thing you could do would be to determine just how this happened. Maybe your trucks were stolen. Maybe your driver just decided, "hey, I don't feel like going to work today". You know where I would start? I would begin by contacting the customers who had reservations and explaining just how this could happen. Preferably, BEFORE they arrive to pick up their truck. Additionally, I was appalled that customer service suggested I drive another 30 minutes out of my way to check on another location THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE A TRUCK, AND MAY NOT BE OPEN!!!!!

Now, I'm not entirely sure just what kind of a company you are running here, but what I can assure you is that IF I WERE to rent from your company again (Which is not looking very promising) I would expect MORE than a free rental. I was at least hoping that you would make sure that a truck would be delivered as soon as possible to the Mansfield location. Ideally, I would have liked it delivered to my residence to make up for the time delay. Unfortunately, I am UNABLE TO MOVE AT ALL now because I can't take any more time off.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- I had made a reservation for a 15 foot truck for Saturday the 30th of July. I even called again on Wednesday to CONFIRM the reservation and was told the truck would be there at 7am. I got to the Budget at 6006 Miramar Rd, San Diego at about 8am only to be told that they did not have ANY trucks and "THEY HAD NO IDEA WHEN THE TRUCKS WOULD SHOW UP". The best that they could do was to give me a 1-800 number to call.

I called the number, was put on hold for about 30 mins and then spoke to someone who said that someone else would call me back with info about where trucks might be available. I heard from the 'inventory person' about an hour later. He told me that "THE BEST THAT HE COULD DO WAS TO GIVE ME A VAN AND OFFER ME COMPENSATION FOR THAT". Since I obviously DID NOT HAVE ANY CHOICE, I decided to do that and had to start moving a lot later than I was supposed to and then make multiple trips in order to move all my furniture.

The WORST IS NOT YET OVER. So, then I was told that I would have to contact the Budget people to get the compensation and so I filled out a form on their website and didn't hear back for days. Then I called and the person told me that she couldn't do anything since I had filled out the form online??? Then I sent the form again online.... Still no reply.

Called for the 4th time and was put in touch with a supervisor - Betty - who wouldn't give me her employee number. She asserted that if they were to offer me $5 as compensation, they were being VERY GENEROUS. I said "in that case I will go ahead and file a report with the Better Business Bureau." At which point she said thank you and slammed the phone down.

I'd had enough with them by this point. Firstly, they take reservations and are unable to keep them, and furthermore OFFER NO HELP WHATSOEVER, and lastly act like they're doing you a favor by talking to you after you've tried to contact them on numerous occasions. Don't EVER RENT FROM BUDGET AGAIN - I KNOW I WON'T.

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- I rented a Budget truck to move from Dayton, OH to Tampa, FL. I flew to Dayton to get the truck I reserved, and took a cab to the business. When I showed up, the man working there was surprised to see me because he didn't have any reservations. Luckily he had a truck, if you could call it that, and eventually found the reservation. I examined the truck, and told him the gas tank was not completely full. He told me to just return it the way it was. Should have known that would be trouble.

While loading the truck, I went to open the passenger door, and learned at that time the passenger mirror was taped on. The mirror flapped the whole trip. The truck had no cruise control, the tires were out of balance, and it pulled significantly to the right. Made for a long trip. When I got to Tampa and finished with the truck, I went to return it. It was about 6 in the evening, but the business had already closed. I parked the truck there since I had a ride at that time, but didn't see a drop box so I decided to return in the morning to finish the transaction. I got a call at 7:30 am complaining that the truck was parked in their lot.

I told them I would be there as quick as I could, and was pushed over and over for a time. I did get there and drop the keys off about a half hour later. The gas gauge was as it had been when I picked it up. I contacted customer care, interesting name for it at Budget, and was treated very rudely by the operator there as well. Eventually I saw the futility of it, and just hung up.

Later, I was charged a $10 drop off fee, and $43 top off fee. I am fighting these fees, and will challenge them with the credit card company as well if they do not reverse them. I will not deal with Budget/Avis/Advantage rental agencies again. They have no clue about customer service!

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA -- I reserved a truck on July 11th for July 31st. I was called in the afternoon of the 30th from the Savannah, GA, Abercorn Street Budget truck rental location telling me that they will not have a truck for me the next day and there was absolutely nothing they could do for me or to compensate their huge mistake. They said I could try to call customer service, which I did and was on hold for over 30 minutes; I never spoke to a real person. My house lease ended on the 31st and I had absolutely no choice to stay any longer in that location. I had to move. I spent all afternoon calling other rental companies that were all completely booked. I was left completely stranded.

I will never rent from Budget Truck Rental ever again and I will be sure to tell anyone needing a truck rental to do the same. A company that states in their fine print that a reservation date is only a preference and can be changed as the company pleases is absurd and just plain wrong. When people need a moving truck, they need it for a specific day, not sometime around that date when Budget feels like delivering their trucks. It's one thing if there was weather related issues, but there was no reason for me to not receive the truck I RESERVED.

I think this company needs to seriously reevaluate their company policies and actually have customer service be a priority; if not for the sake of the people spending their hard earned money on the rentals, than at least for the poor local Budget employees that are given no authority by corporate to help customers but are the ones getting yelled at when Budget screws people over. Moving is tough and exhausting as it is, Budget made it so much more miserable.

AIKEN, SOUTH CAROLINA -- Made a reservation for 10 foot truck to move my daughter from Columbia SC to Aiken SC. No one told me at any point a 10 foot truck would be unavailable. Instead, once I got there I got a 16ft for same price. Had I known this, I would have gone 1/2 mile down the street and rented from U-Haul but we were pushed for time. I drove off with the truck only to get to my daughter's apartment and find that the inside back of the truck was absolutely filthy, not to mention it had water inside from a leak in the roof. I had to make do as we were pushed for time!

Handling this truck was terrible. The right mirror was taped with plastic as it was falling out of it's casing. With the price of gas, renting this truck was considerably more expensive. I almost was going to leave the truck on the destination lot as a drop-off, but thought otherwise, as I wanted to make sure I personally saw a Budget representative see that the truck was in better condition than when I got it. I had just filled it up completely but the representative told me it wasn't completely full. I begged to differ, but he told me he was going to charge me $30, if I didn't put more gas in there.

I then had to drive this big truck to a nearby gas station and see if it would take anymore gas. The price of a gallon of gas currently is $3.43. As I tried to fill it up more, it hit $3.15 and gas spilled out of the gas tank as it was overflowing. The destination facility was Jordan's Signature Automotive in Aiken, SC. Needless to say, never again will I rent from Budget!

I am so disgusted at Budget Truck. I rented a 24 foot truck and trailer with a dolly. I showed up at the Budget Truck place at 9:00 am. The guy said that there was no truck and he called customer service. In the office customer service asked to speak to me. They told me that when I made the reservation that it does not guarantee the equipment. Hmmmm.. 1:00 pm rolls around and they have brought a truck out that was being serviced. They have offered me a whole 42.00 dollars off. Meanwhile the dealer is trying to get me a truck, 4 hours a later I get a truck.

I get a truck that goes a 40 miles an hour and I have to return it. The dealer is trying hard to figure out a solution. It is plain that he is getting no help on the phone, anymore than I did. It was pathetic. I have now called back to my house to tell everyone that was to help me move to go home. Four people rearranged schedules to help the next day.

It is now the next day at 1:00 pm and I am now way off schedule. I could not even call people to help me unload because I could not depend on Budget Truck Rental. The truck I got apparently had no shocks or something as the cab shook horribly off and on. The gas gauge did not work which scared me that I was going to get stranded out in the middle of nowhere. I finally get to my destination and the dealer tells me that they have charged me for a dolly that I never got.

I asked for a refund and he said they should have straightened that out when I rented the truck and he gave me a customer service number to call. Well, since I and the dealer spent hours on the phone in the original place, I knew how the conversation would go and decided I had enough of the run around. If you care about not getting bogus charges and the safety of you and your family you will not go with this business.