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Budget Truck Rental Complaint - TRIP from HELL and all due to Budget - 16' Truck and Tow Trailer
16' Truck and Tow Trailer - Complaint
TRIP FROM HELL and all due to Budget!
I reserved a 16' truck and tow dolly to use to move from Denver, CO to Seattle, WA. My dad flew into town and we picked up the truck on 12/5/10. They didn't have a tow dolly, so they gave us a tow trailer instead, which was fine with us. We put my car on the trailer and left Denver 12/6 A.M. About 200 miles into the trip, the gauges on the truck stopped working. Couldn't tell how fast we were going, how much gas we had, or anything else. But the truck seemed to run okay other than that so we kept going until we could find a gas station, where we pulled over, got some gas, and tried to restart the truck, and it wouldn't start. It didn't even try to turn over. So I called the Roadside Assistance number and was on hold for at least 30 mins. before someone answered. I told the woman our situation and said we needed help so she told us she would have dispatch call us back with info. We waited almost an hour, and no call from dispatch. We were blocking a gas pump, stuck in a snowstorm with no heat, and my dad was on crutches due to a knee problem. So I called the Roadside Assistance number AGAIN, and was on hold AGAIN for at least 30 mins. and rather than wait for dispatch to call me back, I told the person on the phone that I was not going to hang up until I had info on what was going to happen. She came back on and said a tow truck would be there within 30 mins. Tow truck came and tried to give us a jump start and it wouldn't start, so the tow truck driver called Roadside Assistance and HE had to wait at least 30 minutes on hold before someone answered and he finally got permission to tow our Budget truck and trailer to a place that would fix it. It was about 4:45 P.M. by that time so we were stranded in Rawlins, Wyoming that night. Got a call the next morning that the truck had been fixed so we went to pick it up and the man at the repair shop asked us about payment and we said "Well, we figure that will be Budget's responsibility." So then HE called Customer Service and was on hold for 45 mins. and was getting transferred to this person and that person before he finally got authorization for payment from Budget. So we think we're good to go, walk outside to hop in the truck and noticed that one of the wheels on the towing trailer was bent/askew and it was unable to be towed. Not sure how that happened; we honestly think the tow truck driver may have done it while backing it into the service facility because it was fine the day prior to that when we were driving. The service facility told us they wouldn't be able to get parts to fix it so I AGAIN called Roadside Assistance and was AGAIN on hold for 30-45 minutes before someone came on to help me. We were told dispatch would call back with a directive, and AGAIN - no call from dispatch in an hour. So I called Roadside Assistance AGAIN, on hold AGAIN for 30-45 mins. and tell them I'll hold while they're figuring out what we can do because dispatch had never called back. She finally came back on the line and told us we would have to drive to Laramie (100 miles back the way we came from) or Casper (120 miles north one way and completely out of our way because we were heading west) to pick up a new trailer. I told her there was no way we were going to drive that far out of our way to pick up a new trailer because we had already been inconvenienced an entire day because the truck had broken down and now we were expected to drive way out of our way to get a new one. HORRIBLE customer service. If anything, a new one should have been brought to us. Then I suggested we go pick up a U-Haul trailer because there was a U-Haul rental company in town and asked if Budget would pay for that and she transferred me to a Customer Service representative who said "I don't know why she transferred you to me because all I can do is tell you that you're breaking your lease agreement if you get a U-Haul trailer." She LITERALLY said that. So I hung up from her, called Roadside Assistance BACK to get "authorization" to just drop the trailer where it had broken down, was on hold for 45 minutes AGAIN, was told dispatch would call me (and they never did), so AGAIN I called, was on hold AGAIN for 30 minutes and FINALLY got authorization to just leave the trailer where it was and was told Budget would go pick it up. My dad drove the Budget Rental Truck the rest of the way and I followed him in my car the ENTIRE way to Seattle - almost 1,100 miles. But to be honest with you, I was just happy to be rid of that trailer and be done with customer service and get out of Wyoming. I will NEVER rent from Budget again and I am going to go on all the review websites and give Budget a scathing review. My move to Seattle was the trip from hell and it was all due to Budget. Never again. I wish I had read the reviews before renting from them and now I've learned my lesson.
I reserved a 16' truck and tow dolly to use to move from Denver, CO to Seattle, WA. My dad flew into town and we picked up the truck on 12/5/10. They didn't have a tow dolly, so they gave us a tow trailer instead, which was fine with us. We put my car on the trailer and left Denver 12/6 A.M. About 200 miles into the trip, the gauges on the truck stopped working. Couldn't tell how fast we were going, how much gas we had, or anything else. But the truck seemed to run okay other than that so we kept going until we could find a gas station, where we pulled over, got some gas, and tried to restart the truck, and it wouldn't start. It didn't even try to turn over. So I called the Roadside Assistance number and was on hold for at least 30 mins. before someone answered. I told the woman our situation and said we needed help so she told us she would have dispatch call us back with info. We waited almost an hour, and no call from dispatch. We were blocking a gas pump, stuck in a snowstorm with no heat, and my dad was on crutches due to a knee problem. So I called the Roadside Assistance number AGAIN, and was on hold AGAIN for at least 30 mins. and rather than wait for dispatch to call me back, I told the person on the phone that I was not going to hang up until I had info on what was going to happen. She came back on and said a tow truck would be there within 30 mins. Tow truck came and tried to give us a jump start and it wouldn't start, so the tow truck driver called Roadside Assistance and HE had to wait at least 30 minutes on hold before someone answered and he finally got permission to tow our Budget truck and trailer to a place that would fix it. It was about 4:45 P.M. by that time so we were stranded in Rawlins, Wyoming that night. Got a call the next morning that the truck had been fixed so we went to pick it up and the man at the repair shop asked us about payment and we said "Well, we figure that will be Budget's responsibility." So then HE called Customer Service and was on hold for 45 mins. and was getting transferred to this person and that person before he finally got authorization for payment from Budget. So we think we're good to go, walk outside to hop in the truck and noticed that one of the wheels on the towing trailer was bent/askew and it was unable to be towed. Not sure how that happened; we honestly think the tow truck driver may have done it while backing it into the service facility because it was fine the day prior to that when we were driving. The service facility told us they wouldn't be able to get parts to fix it so I AGAIN called Roadside Assistance and was AGAIN on hold for 30-45 minutes before someone came on to help me. We were told dispatch would call back with a directive, and AGAIN - no call from dispatch in an hour. So I called Roadside Assistance AGAIN, on hold AGAIN for 30-45 mins. and tell them I'll hold while they're figuring out what we can do because dispatch had never called back. She finally came back on the line and told us we would have to drive to Laramie (100 miles back the way we came from) or Casper (120 miles north one way and completely out of our way because we were heading west) to pick up a new trailer. I told her there was no way we were going to drive that far out of our way to pick up a new trailer because we had already been inconvenienced an entire day because the truck had broken down and now we were expected to drive way out of our way to get a new one. HORRIBLE customer service. If anything, a new one should have been brought to us. Then I suggested we go pick up a U-Haul trailer because there was a U-Haul rental company in town and asked if Budget would pay for that and she transferred me to a Customer Service representative who said "I don't know why she transferred you to me because all I can do is tell you that you're breaking your lease agreement if you get a U-Haul trailer." She LITERALLY said that. So I hung up from her, called Roadside Assistance BACK to get "authorization" to just drop the trailer where it had broken down, was on hold for 45 minutes AGAIN, was told dispatch would call me (and they never did), so AGAIN I called, was on hold AGAIN for 30 minutes and FINALLY got authorization to just leave the trailer where it was and was told Budget would go pick it up. My dad drove the Budget Rental Truck the rest of the way and I followed him in my car the ENTIRE way to Seattle - almost 1,100 miles. But to be honest with you, I was just happy to be rid of that trailer and be done with customer service and get out of Wyoming. I will NEVER rent from Budget again and I am going to go on all the review websites and give Budget a scathing review. My move to Seattle was the trip from hell and it was all due to Budget. Never again. I wish I had read the reviews before renting from them and now I've learned my lesson.
Comments:
Posted by Bud_the_Bullet on 2010-12-11:
I hope you were at least compensated for the non-use of your trailer, since you had to drop it. If not, I would persue the avenue of asking for a reimbursement for the 1,100 miles you had to drive your personal vehicle. Something along the lines of X-amount of cents per mile, including the cost of gas. Good luck!
Posted by trmn8r on 2010-12-11:
This is a tough situation, being stuck in the middle of Wyoming. Also, who takes responsibility for the bent wheel on the trailer.
It is hard to imagine Budget delivering a trailer to a place 200 miles round trip away, especially if it was damaged by the renter or a repair facility.
Moving can be a memorable experience - I guess this trip was.
It is hard to imagine Budget delivering a trailer to a place 200 miles round trip away, especially if it was damaged by the renter or a repair facility.
Moving can be a memorable experience - I guess this trip was.
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