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Budget Rent-A-Car - Avoid Budget/Avis Extra Charges Over a Month After Rental
Car Rental - Complaint
Review by troya on 2012-10-20
Rating: 
RENO, NEVADA -- Initial rental experience was excellent, counter staff was helpful and friendly and even convinced me to upgrade to a nicer vehicle. We rented for a week and had the car professionally cleaned and filled up the gas tank just outside the airport. During the return check-in we were complimented on how clean the car was (apparently many vehicles had come back rather dirty that week).
43 days later I received a letter in the mail stating that the interior of the car had "Excessive Sand /Dirt" it was dated a full 37 days after the date we had returned the car. This seemed strange as the car was cleaned before we returned it, and why would it take them 37 days to discover a dirty car interior? How many times did they rent it out before discovering it was dirty?
I contacted the customer service line and was emailed 6 pictures of the car, 3 of the engine bay (is the engine bay considered the interior of the car?) and another 3 pictures of what I think are the floor mats and the trunk of our car. No dates on any of the pictures.
I'm not a car expert but it looked like a regular engine bay to me, and the floor mats looked like regular mats to me, some dirt but nothing excessive. The letter made it sound like a kids sandbox had been discovered in the car. The customer service agent couldn't provide me with any specifics as to the delay or where the "Excessive Sand/ Dirt" was but would transfer me to the location manager. I was placed on hold and apparently dumped back into the start of the automated customer service line. This occurred three times before I gave up for the day. I attempted again the next day to get an explanation of the 37 day delay and the location of the elusive Sand/Dirt and was again put through the entire automated customer service line twice more while being transferred to a manager.
I am still trying to get some explanation from Budget as to what is going on, and will be disputing the charge with my credit card company as well.
We also rented a vehicle from Enterprise one week later and had no troubles at all, they were cheaper, and when we extended our rental we had no difficulties navigating and being transferred through their customer service lines. I'd highly recommend them.
43 days later I received a letter in the mail stating that the interior of the car had "Excessive Sand /Dirt" it was dated a full 37 days after the date we had returned the car. This seemed strange as the car was cleaned before we returned it, and why would it take them 37 days to discover a dirty car interior? How many times did they rent it out before discovering it was dirty?
I contacted the customer service line and was emailed 6 pictures of the car, 3 of the engine bay (is the engine bay considered the interior of the car?) and another 3 pictures of what I think are the floor mats and the trunk of our car. No dates on any of the pictures.
I'm not a car expert but it looked like a regular engine bay to me, and the floor mats looked like regular mats to me, some dirt but nothing excessive. The letter made it sound like a kids sandbox had been discovered in the car. The customer service agent couldn't provide me with any specifics as to the delay or where the "Excessive Sand/ Dirt" was but would transfer me to the location manager. I was placed on hold and apparently dumped back into the start of the automated customer service line. This occurred three times before I gave up for the day. I attempted again the next day to get an explanation of the 37 day delay and the location of the elusive Sand/Dirt and was again put through the entire automated customer service line twice more while being transferred to a manager.
I am still trying to get some explanation from Budget as to what is going on, and will be disputing the charge with my credit card company as well.
We also rented a vehicle from Enterprise one week later and had no troubles at all, they were cheaper, and when we extended our rental we had no difficulties navigating and being transferred through their customer service lines. I'd highly recommend them.
Comments:
Posted by trmn8r on 2012-10-20:
I've rented many rental cars, got some of them pretty dirty, but never had one "professionally cleaned" - I swept them out or rinsed off dirt outside myself. I never was tagged for returning a dirty vehicle.
How dirty was the car before it was cleaned? If the pictures showed mats that were "somewhat dirty," could that be indicative of them being very dirty prior to the cleaning, and perhaps that overall the vehicle was dirtier than a new renter would expect?
How dirty was the car before it was cleaned? If the pictures showed mats that were "somewhat dirty," could that be indicative of them being very dirty prior to the cleaning, and perhaps that overall the vehicle was dirtier than a new renter would expect?
Posted by troya on 2012-10-20:
UPDATE: finally got a customer service agent who could look at charges, she agreed car was not $150 dirty and refunded both $150 cleaning charges we were hit with.
Still have never gotten through to actual location manager.
Still have never gotten through to actual location manager.
Posted by Same here on 2012-10-23:
We got a similar letter in the mail, and over one month after we returned it as well. We also have pictures.
Presently we are waiting for them to review the charge. Glad to hear that you were able to get a refund!
Presently we are waiting for them to review the charge. Glad to hear that you were able to get a refund!
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