Budget Truck Rental Reviews

When the dealer started it, it didn't start right up but he commented that diesels were slow in starting. He then stated that if we had any trouble with the truck that we should call the 800 customer service line as they were closing at 2:00 pm. At this point, my husband drove the truck to Lowes to pick up some boards and then met me in Rocky Hill. I had arranged for four strong men to help me move the piano. Two of them were paid by the hour and the other two were friends who were nice enough to help me for just a pizza dinner. After they spent approx 25 minutes moving the piano to the end of the condo's driveway, my husband tried to start the truck and it would not start. Everyone of the men took a try starting it. The battery was fine and the truck was trying to turn over but it would not start. After 30 minutes of trying to start the truck, my husband finally called the 800 number and was told someone would come out.

We waited for a repair vehicle to come for about 40 minutes. When the repairman arrived, he was able to start the truck within a minute. He then told my husband and my brother that he was going to write up the repair ticket to state that the idle should be reset as it may be set to low. We drove the truck back to the house and kept it running until the piano was unloaded as we were unsure if it would happen again. We returned the truck back to Wethersfield Rental around 6:30 pm.

Later that evening,while sitting having a pizza, my husband checked his cell phone messages and one was from Budget stating that since the truck started right up, we were responsible for the service call from A&M towing in East Hartford. When we called Budget Customer Service on 5/12/2008, they were RUDE and told us that proper operation of a lift gate truck means that it should be kept running while in use. We were NEVER told this.

When we asked for a supervisor, she was nice and promised a call back within 24 hours. Well, that didn't happen, so I ended up having to make a toll call to get her direct line. Upon reaching her, she was RUDE and said that it was OUR FAULT that the truck didn't start and that the only way she would stop the charges is if we could get A&M Garage to give them a new work order. We spoke to the garage twice and the repairman never called us back.

We are now out an additional $90 plus an extra $20 for the movers. I am not sure how much the toll call was. This is just crazy. If we had known that we were going to be charged, we would have called AAA. I will be disputed the charges with my credit card company.