Budget Rent-A-Car Consumer Reviews - Page 3

I needed a car so I went to Budget on the recommendation of a friend. I made a reservation. The system asked for a credit card to "hold" the reservation. I gave one as I would at any hotel or other location. I decided five minutes later that I did not want to rent the car. Budget told me there is a $50 charge to cancel... They sent a confirmation email saying the fee would be $0.00. I discourage anyone from giving them your credit card info to "hold" a reservation. I made two calls to the company to no avail. My credit card company said they will dispute the charge as soon as it posts in the morning and they should be able to get my money back. I discourage anyone from using this company, or if you do, DO NOT GIVE YOUR CARD INFO AHEAD OF TIME!!!!

I prepaid for my car rental 3 weeks before pick up from Budget. I even signed up for their Fast Break to make the transaction go smoother and faster. LOL!. I picked up the car and when I tried to check out and exit the gate, they representative told me ," I'm sorry we can't let you leave with the car because of your credit rating. WTW (what the what) I had already paid 3 weeks ago and Budget had more than enough time to email me before I got to LA to tell me they could rent me a car, so I could had made other arrangements.

KAHULUI, HAWAII -- Beware and do not rent from this company. These sleazebags are trying to charge me $272 for a bald tire that blew out. Roadside service said this and one other tire was disintegrating and unsafe to drive on. Budget is actually trying to hold me responsible for this wear and tear item caused by their irresponsible maintenance of the vehicle. They expect me to pay for an existing item that occurred over thousands of miles which I did not cause.

My bank is reversing the charges and said Budget has no right to charge me. Budget states they will continue to aggressively pursue collection on it. It is interesting to note that Budget Rent A Car has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, and this rating is reflective of worldwide corporate owned rental locations.

AKRON/CANTON, OHIO -- I reserved & prepaid for a rental out of the Akron Canton airport. Because my flight arrived after the closing time I called before reserving the vehicle to inquire as to whether they would stay to give me the rental; I was assured they would and they put my flight information into the system. I know this was done because when I called on the day of the reservation to again confirm someone would be at the counter to assist me my flight information was repeated to me.

Upon my arrival at the airport, at midnight, there was a sign on the Budget counter saying go to the Avis counter. There was no one at the Avis counter & the girl at the neighboring desk said "He left". When she messaged him he said there was no flight information in the system. When I called the next day to lodge a complaint I was told someone from corporate would contact me. With it being the holiday I didn't realize no one did until the following Tuesday.

When I spoke to a customer representative I was told that she wasn't sure why someone would tell me they would follow up because the counter closed prior to my flight arrival time. I replied maybe because they thought Budget cared about such a poor show of customer service & would be interested in attempting to right the wrong. Clearly I was wrong. Don't rent from Budget if you have a late flight or you'll be stranded at the airport!!

FRANKFURT AIRPORT -- We rented a Skoda car for 6 days from the Budget Agency at the Frankfurt Airport. We had no problems or accidents with the car and returned it October 23rd full of diesel. When we checked it in, there was no damage to the car according to the check-in person.

Two weeks later we received a letter that we were being charged 220 euros for damage to the car. The corporate Budget Customer Service person justified the charge by saying they probably found damage we didn't notice. After seeing all the other complaints about Avis and Budget, it is a common problem at the Frankfurt Airport to get ripped off by Avis and Budget for damage after you're gone. Avoid Avis and Budget at Frankfurt Airport!

PORTLAND, WISCONSIN -- I inadvertently left my camera and case in the car I rented upon returning it to fly home. I immediately called Budget Lost and Found to lodge a report but had to do so after the department had closed. I left a message with the information I thought to be correct and was going to call the minute Lost and Found opened the next business day. I didn't have to as the staff beat me to it. They found my camera and were excited they could help out. It was shipped back to me that day.

I was beyond thrilled with the honesty of the staff and their desire to get my camera back to me as quickly as possible. The gentleman that called me was pleased he could make my day. I had absolutely no issues with my vehicle during the time I had it. Very clean, comfortable and was just what I needed. I will definitely be working with Budget in the future when I need to rent a car.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- Worst car rental experience ever!! Got to MCO at close to midnight with tired kids and the line at Budget was over an hour long. Finally made it to the counter and agent refused to rent a car to me based on last name difference between pre-divorce last name and maiden name. Took another hour to straighten out. Exhausted and screaming kids at this point. Online reservation from third party quoted $578.04; Budget slapped on "upgrade" and "liability insurance" after I told the agent I don't need anything and looked away to calm the kids. Ended up being charged $853.82 ($275.78 and 48% more than online reservation).

DON'T use Budget just because they are the cheapest you can find. You get what you paid for. In this case, I did pay for my lesson. Worst experience and customer service just built more frustrations. Ground agent Adil was especially rude amongst them all.

KAHULUI AIRPORT, MAUI, HAWAII -- BE CAREFUL! Tried to charge me for a full tank of gas when I returned it with 3/4 full. Luckily, I had time to go in and deal with the issue before catching my flight (others may not have this luxury). When I picked the car up, I was told that I could return the car without filling it up and they would only charge me for the amount that it took to fill it up (3 gallons).

When I went in to speak with the SAME PERSON who I rented it from the week before, she reverses her story and tells me that she did not say that!!! I told her that I would be reporting these deceptive practices upon my return to the mainland. She credited the full tank charge and only charged me for the 3 gallons it took to fill it up. Return it full next time or completely empty and watch out for this scam.

LOUISIANA, LOUISIANA -- On July 11, 2011 I made an online reservation to rent a car from Budget Rent A Car. My reservation was for 6 o'clock. I got to Budget at 6 o'clock and my car was not available. The girl working at the front counter told me they did not have my reservation on file yet and sometimes it takes 30 minutes to an hour after the scheduled reservation time for reservation to come through their system. I then waited 30 minutes after my 6 o'clock reservation before I asked if they could check to see if my reservation had come into their system yet. It still had not.

At this point I asked if I could cancel my reservation and just rent a car without one. The woman told me they were currently out of cars and were only offering SUV's so unless I wanted to pay for an SUV it would be best to wait for my reservation to come through. To make a long story short my reservation was made for 6 and I was not in a car until 8. That was 2 hours after my car was supposed to be ready.

Come to find out the reason why it took 2 hours to get this rental car was not because my reservation had not come into their system but they did not want me to have an SUV for the car price. So they were waiting for someone to return a car before they would rent me a vehicle. Instead of telling me this they lied to me.

So I finally get in my rental and on my way. Once I got my rental car to my hotel I noticed that the headlights were not working. I did not think much about it at the time. I just assumed that the headlights were not turning on because it was still daylight. The next day I drove to Texas during the daylight and once I got there I just parked the car at my hotel and did not drive it at night. The next night though I did need to drive my car at night and the headlights still did not come on.

The parking lights and the bright lights worked but the dim lights did not. I called the emergency roadside assistance number because the Monroe, Louisiana office where I rented the car was closed. I was then informed that corporate could not help me out or send me a new car because the Budget in Monroe, Louisiana was not a car of the corporation which left me stranded in downtown Austin, Texas without a ride so I was forced to take a taxi to my hotel.

The next day was my day to return home and have the car returned. When I got to the Budget in Monroe I let them know the headlights did not work and I was stranded in Texas and corporate told me it should not be a problem for them to refund me one days off my bill because they were not able to send me a working car out. I was then told that they were not going to refund me any money because I did not call them to inform them the headlights were not working. To which I responded with "you were closed when I needed a new car and I was bringing the car back today so what was the point in calling?"

They told me that it was not their fault the headlights did not work in the car, they check all the cars before they rent them out. I know they did not check the car before they rented it to me because it had just come in. Four other people then came to the counter to put in their opinion on why I should not get one day refunded back to me. This one man who worked there asked me if the air went out in a home I rented would I expect money off my rent just because it went out. To which I responded YES too.

Needless to say all I got refunded from my $335 bill was $10.99 so I filed a corporate complaint and when I was filing the corporate complaint they also assured me they did not understand what the problem was with refunding me one day off my bill which was all I was asking for. I am waiting now to hear from someone that working in higher management in the Budget Corporation.

DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET!!! ESPECIALLY BUDGET HYATT in SAN FRANCISCO!!! I rented a car through Budget on Sat, Nov 27, 2010 pick up 08:00 AM. The day I picked up the car I asked how to return the car. I was told to drop it off with the Valet they will take care of it. Well, that is what I did.

To my dismay, one week later I get charged -93.25. Instead of 54 USD Total. A few Days later I get charged another -24.39. I called budget, they said it was not their problem and I had to dispute it with the desk. I found out that I was charged 2 days and that the car was checked out of the system on Sunday at 23.00. I had returned the car at 07.30 am before a 24 hour lapse. The location closed around noon on Sunday, and charged me the full Sunday.

If I was a tourist, and not renting from my location I would have had a bigger headache. The next morning I went into the location and disputed the extra charge with the manager. He apologized and said he would fix things. He even stated, "usually I send budget an email". One week later I still did not receive my Money. I called the Budget Location at Hyatt San Francisco, again he said he would send another email. Well the story goes that I had to call him often until I got fed up on the 28th November 2010 and wanted to complain with Budget head office.

Head office said they have never received the email. So I told them that this is an internal issue and that they must solve this problem. Budget central called Budget Location at Hyatt san Francisco, the manager did confirm that I was overcharged. And I was promised the refund.

On the 05 January 2010 I had been refunded only 24.39. I called Budget again and they said I was only refunded the day's rental and not the extra charges of late fee, second day of insurances. They therefore promised another refund of 31.01. But this was still 5 USD higher than what I was supposed to pay. I was told that the extra costs were insurances, and I had to contact Budget Location at Hyatt San Francisco and sort it out. I called Budget Location at Hyatt san Francisco, and the manager told me that Budget central had charged me 2 days of road side assistance, instead of one. I called Budget central again and they refunded me the extra 5 USD.

I have learned a valuable lesson:
-Get the car Time stamped every time you drop off a Rental (even though many rental car companies let you drop off keys in a postal box).

-NEVER RENT FROM BUDGET. I as the customer had to sort out their non communication between head office and local rental. This should have been the manager's responsibility to call. He should have realized that I had been calling for 4 weeks, and that the emailing system was not refunding my charges, and should have take responsibility and called the central budget location. Central Location should call their local rental to verify the charges.

Now the question is DO YOU WANT THIS HASSLE? HAVE YOU GOT THE TIME TO DEAL WILL ALL THIS?
Pay a little extra and rent from any other company except BUDGET. My rental agreement number is ** if anybody wants to verify my review.