Budget Car Rental Reviews

I am certain that the GPS was left in the car as it would have obviously been noticed in the airport during the security check. Budget did not make the minimum reasonable effort to provide a solution to find and return the GPS and as a result somebody who found it managed to keep and hold of a nice portable GPS with Budget's acquiescence The next time, I will definitely choose a company different from Budget even if it costs a little more but hopefully will provide the service with more responsible and honest staff.

I filed a complaint with Budget on their website when we got home. Received a phone call from a lady in their customer relations. She did nothing, so I told her that I will never rent from Budget again. She didn't care. Don't know why she even called in the first place.

Avis is a little more expensive but I guess you get what you pay for.

When we returned the car at the airport, the inspection team went straight to the wheel with the scuff and pointed it out to us before anything else, which I thought was really strange. We said it had been marked on the form and they said it was not. They did not have the top copy but said they would forward a copy on to us. Now I wonder if the guy actually marked it down on the paperwork? Should have check properly as my instincts told me.

Basically we had a letter from them deducting $397.72 from our credit card. The trouble is when you live in England who can you contact regarding this type of behaviour from a company, especially when the company will not speak to you about it. How can a company like this get away with it??

Upon return of the vehicle we were charged with two days rental. Our dissatisfaction about the ignorance and arrogance displayed by the branch manager Grant : quote if somebody does not let me finish I give the agreement and say goodbye, goes far beyond the involved dolar amount. The only option [he] accepted is that we (regular renters and travellers) have misunderstood. According to [him], his employees would not make such a mistake.

When I disagreed, he would no longer discuss with me since my wife had signed the agreement. He even put in doubt that she was my wife and commanded me to leave. I have done so, and hope that I have understood his 'orders'correctly: Budget no longer wants me as a customer and therefore will not return as such, nor in Canada, not in the US, nor in the Netherlands where I have rented cars from budget in the last year.

CAD 60 and humiliation

When I arrived in Philly, the attendant outside scanned the car, acknowledged my by name, took the keys, rolled down the windows, and then the car was moved. She told me to go inside to the counter. So I did, but time was running short for my emergency flight. After waiting in line a while, one of the desk jockies told me to go see the guy at the end of the line. So I did. I explained to the gentlemen my situation. He sent me back to te line. I waited a few minutes, told them they could report the car stolen for all I car, but I had to catch my plane. None of the four desk joclies could have cared less.

As of today, 6 days later after the car had been dropped off, I assume the rental has still not been closed, becaused I have yet to have my checking account debited. This is absolutely ridiculous. Where is the compassion for victums in a crisis? Thanks for ruining a great trip as the result of Bugets lack of consideration to their customers. I liked the car so much, I'll probably buy one, but not sure whether I'll ever rent from Budget again. It's a real shame, because Budget's staff in Baltimore at BWI were excellent.

I located a pet store where I bought flea spray for the car and myself, and a drug store where I got delousing shampoo to rid myself of fleas & their eggs once I reached my hotel that evening.

I spent my only evening in GA washing clothes and cleaning luggage to rid them of fleas ($8 washer/dryer/detergent), flea spray ($6) RID shampoo ($10) and the loss of a night on the town, not to mention the discomfort of having driven for hours being bitten.

What I didn't realize was he went to the Avis counter to get this car (Chevy Impala) so why couldn't he ask for a downgraded car so that we could maintain our quoted price ($89 for 4 days?) instead we were charged ($145) we needed the car as we were due to leave 1st thing in the morning. My husband was upset by the principle of the matter and because we had a similar situation with Enterprise on a prior rental and they upgraded for free.

Couple this with the fact that we were pretty much forced into an upgrade and we had an Entertainment coupon for a free upgrade at home (which they refused to honor because we didn't present it at the time of rental) Explaining to them that we had no idea that it would be necessary was to no avail. I really didn't get upset until I found out when I got back from my trip that my sister had the exact same thing happen to her on a one day rental that I booked for her on budget.com only a week prior to my trip. She ended up paying an additional $25 at the last minute due to her car not being available.

While the dollar amounts are minimal in our case, the feeling of being taken advantage of does not sit well with me and it doesn't surprise me seeing the comments/complaints in this forum. I had alot of nice things to say about Budget until his past weekend. I will definately not be using their services again

The manager has the nerve to say "No it was not possible" because he said he waived off 3 potential buyers to hold the car for us and that is why he can't give us our $2,500 dollars back leaving my wife shaking, crying, and panicking. Till this day, the manager hasn't even attempted to give her back the refund. In closing we are a simple average low middle class family barely making it. There are times we sacrifice to feed our child and leave ourselves hungry the whole day. To some people $2,500 is not much to them but to us that's all we have and if you can assist us and any way we will be truly grateful.

I had only moved a bedroom set to my new appartment and I had no Air Conditioner inside the track whatsoever. But the guy at the Budget rental place said that he had caught me on the Surveillance camera. I tried to dispute the charges and denied the accusation. However, the guy at enterprise was very rude and claimed again that he was so certain that it was me and no one else. I tried calling Budget customer service to find a resolution.

However, after consulting with the truck rental place, the Budget customer service rep told me on the phone that he was also sure that I had left an air condition unit behind the truck and said that they wont be able to do anything at all. Instead of a bill of around $75, I am faced with a bill of $254.99 that has been charged on my credit card. I am disputing the false accusations and would like to settle the case legally.

Edited Complaint:

then when I bring it back when I am done. I am charged over $650 for the rental. I go in to question it and the girl says, so? I paid over $1200 for my last car rental. and she isn't willing to budge even though I am being charged over 3 times the promised rate for a weeks use.

I was charged over $450 more than the original agreement was for.

Well, when I received my bank statement it showed that they were still holding by debit card in the amount of $240. I contacted the rental agency three weeks ago and they said that Priceline takes about 4-5 days to release the card - I checked my account on yesterday, which is almost a month and the amount is still outstanding on my account. I would appreciate it very much if Priceline would release the amount and return it back to my bank account.

A couple weeks later I sent an email to Budget via their web site and explained my situation. It took them a couple weeks to reply. They said they haven't found my coat and if they do they will contact me. My complaint is that a Budget employee had to find my coat when they cleaned out the car and they should have turned it in and then I could have gotten my coat back. Also, if the man I talked to at the desk was trained with any customer service savy he could have made contact with the people who checked in my rental car and found out where my coat was. I wonder if Budget really has a lost and found department or they only have a lost and never found department.

I lost a $80 jacket that I will have to replace at my own expense because of a dishonest Budget employee and a non-caring Budget employee who didn't track down my jacket when I called.

Never once did anyone apologize for the inconvenience or show any concern for our situation. It was simply a completely uncaring blase whatever attitude. The worst customer experience I have ever had. I will never again book with budget - I have been a loyal customer for many many years, and will never use them again either for business or pleasure. I have also used them for client bookings many times in the past - never again.

In the end we rented a car from Avis for an additional $100 dollars above our quoted cost from Budget.

We contacted Budget to explain our position, had our insurance company contact them, had a lawyer write a letter, had the Hawaii State Consumer Protection Office in Hilo write a letter, all to no avail. We refuse to pay for something that we didn't do. Budget has since turned this matter over to their collection agency, United Collection Corporation, Hayward, CA. They have threatened to damage our credit rating if we do not pay. We can only surmise that one of their employees probably drove the car after we returned it (if, in fact, it is the car we returned) and damaged it by running into a curb or something. We hope the threat of exposure by ConsumerAffairs.com will convince them to drop this claim against us and stop committing this kind of fraud on others. We have heard of a couple others who have been similarly victimized by Budget's fraudulent business practices.

We have been fighting this thing since last September, and we have spent a lot of time and energy for something that is just plain wrong. And now their collection agency is threatening to report us to the three credit reporting agencies. They are about to destroy our excellent credit record because of something we didn't do. Can they legally do this? HELP!

I paid a higher cost; I had a special discount rate through insurance company for Budget. The initial wait time turned in to a 1 hour marathon. I am amazed that Hertz provided us a car within 5 minutes, and we were out of the airport in less than 10 minutes after that.

I was traumatized! Considering all malfunctions of rental car, one would think company would have been eager to make accommodations. No such luck!

I was worried that the car was stolen or that they'd hold me responsible.

Additional costs: $150 upgrade from a superior vehicle to an inferior vehicle, $80 cables, $180 hotel, 1 day's delay in travel arrangements. Total additional cost = $310.

I ended up stopping every 1 1/2 hours to put in gas (filling the tank up) on a 20 hour plus trip. Because the ride was so rough, we drove slowly and I had to stay at a hotel twice (and I was planning to drive straight through). I flew in someone to help me drive from one location to the next and also to help me move my things in my new place, but because we got into town at a much later date than we planned, he had to take his flight home immediately and I had to pay for movers.

I asked if I took it to Budget would they trade the car and was told yes, but I would be charged the cost of the car being picked up from an alternative location.

The agent checked and said she could not find the reservation but she would look somewhere else, then she did not insist no reservation was find. Then I would assume she found it by other means (may be she could not find it by last name but able to find it through the list for that particular day). We were asked to initialed all over the contract, and the agent did not said a word about the terms of the contract or anything else. We checked out on Sunday evening and headed to California for an international flight on Monday.

Before our international departure, then I read the receipt and had a heart attack at the rate-- a $95.00 per day for a weekend day. The total came up to be $239 for less than 2 day for a little Toyota. If the counter agent insisted that no reservation was found then it would raised the flag and I would check with all the other in-terminal car rentals to find my reservation instead of being trapped by Budget.

I called Budget's customer service, the representative was not helpful either and her attitude was like 'haha we got you. great we have a fulsome profit'; and that was not a ridiculous pricing for careless people. With this type of attitude from the Customer service department, I conclude that the company has a policy or mission to hunt people or not in the goal of conducting honest business.

If it were half of the $95 a day, I won't feel so rip-off. A few months ago I picked up a car without reservation at the Houston Hobby airport. The rate was only around $30 per day. I promised that I would not rent a car from Budget again even it means higher price.

We immediately called information and was connected to Budget Rent A Car. We explained that we just rented the car not more than 10 minutes ago but noticed a crack in the windshield. We were assured that at the Norfolk Airport location that any pre-existing damage would have been noted prior to renting out the vehicle.

We then received a claim from a Claims Management company on behalf of Budget wanting us to pay them $694.86 for a new windshield. We responded with a letter explaining the same information above. With it we also provided copied of our cell phone bill showing the call that was placed within minutes of renting the car. They called back indicating that Budget had rejected our response. Again I reitterated that we would not pay for pre-existing damage when we wnt to the extent to report it and were assured that the damage would have been noted prior to us renting the vehicle.

We have not been sent an escalated amount of $940.35 and threats of ridiculous interest rates and collection agency harrassment as well as credit report implications.

for $10 extra/day to the existing rate. After approximately discussing for 1 hour.

I requested to give me the same car on a original reservation I made. On reaching LGA while
returning a car,they refused as the return location mentioned was niagara falls.

To begin, I had made an online reservation for a compact car for August 4 through 5. When I arrived at the Budget location on West 49th street in New York, we were told that we were given an SUV instead of the requested compact. When I told the agent that I didnt want an SUV due to increased gas usage, she told me that there were 6 other people waiting for compacts, and that I should just take it, insinuating that I would not get a car at all if I did not accept the SUV.

We were then asked to hurry out of the tight garage to make room for the other waiting guests. We were not given an opportunity to do a physical review of the SUV, check for damages, etc. After being rushed out of the garage, we were finally able to stop, and noticed that in interior of the car had not been cleaned there were crushed cookies, popcorn and pistachio nuts littered throughout the seats and floor. Additionally, the left headlight was not working luckily we were not planning to do any night driving, but as we were rushed through our review of the vehicle and did not have a chance to go over it with a Budget representative, we were not aware of this flaw until we drove through a tunnel.

Aesthetically, the interior of the vehicle was a mess, but that was not the worst part: while searching for more leftover garbage and trash to throw out, we found a 4 switchblade knife underneath the front passenger seat. I can only imagine what could have happened if we had a child in the car with us! Not cleaning a car in between rental guests is lazy, but leaving a dangerous weapon in the vehicle should be criminal. We spent the next 20 minutes searching the SUV for other weapons and nefarious items.

Upon returning the vehicle to the same NYC location, the return attendant seemed bemused that we had found a switchblade in our rental, barely hiding his grin. We then took the blade to the front desk agent who also seemed to find humor in the situation. At that point we were do thoroughly disgusted by the lack of basic customer service that we signed our bill and told the agent she could keep the knife.?

Ive rented from Budget before for other personal trips, but I highly doubt I ever will again. My employer has an existing relationship with Hertz, and I am now fully aware of why. From the very beginning, it was an awful experience, topped off with the discovery of a lethal weapon, origins unknown.

My concern is that the car rentals are claiming that these seats are available when that is not true. I regard this as a major safety issue and feel that the rental companies should be held accountable for their advertising. It was necessary for us to go out the next day and purchase an infant safety seat, so that we could continue our trip knowing that the baby was safe. Hopefully consumers will get the word not to trust car rental companies when they advertise car seat options.

I was charged $30 for the unusable toddler seat and then spent over $70 on an infant safety seat. If we had known that the car rental companies are unreliable we would have carried our own safety seat.

I recently received a credit card statement with charges for two days instead of one day. They claimed that I returned the car on Monday morning (May 28th) instead of Sunday May 27th at 1:05 or 1:10 PM. They have refused to refund me for the additional day's charges and are playing game with me with the closing time and return time. I initially explained to them that I was 5 or 10 minutes late at maximum and they are confusing me with their Sunday hours by saying they close at 12 noon (the local branch staffer) and at 1 PM (claimed by 1-800 customer service). In turn telling me I am lying.

I still have some future reservations with them but I am discouraged to cancel them and stop using their service.

It was 5:30 at night and dark, but there were parking lot lights on. This dent looked like part of the cars aerodynamic style, and it was not appareent to the visble to the eye. The only way to know it was there was to feel the car. Our arguement is that they did not offer us the same level of inspection when we took the car. If they had, that dent would have been detected before we even took the car off the lot. We are honest people and if we did anything to the car we would pay for it, but we truely believe they are trying to pin something on us so that our insurance will have to pay for it and not theirs. They were smiling the whole time we were frustrated with this whole situation. This was an individually asian owned car rental place.

we will probably get stuck paying for something that was not our fault. We believe the dent may have been noticed while they were cleaning the car and wiping it down prior to our taking it, but they could not go after the previous renters because they already passed the car when they returned it. So,rather than report it to their insurance, they would catch the next person who comes along. Dumb on our part for not feeling the car when we rented it, but like I said we are honest non-suspecting people, so we never assumed this would have taken place. Lesson: don't settle for a walk around if you are not familiar with the car point out everything as minor as it may be and have them mark it or let them tell you it is part of the cars design.

While I was in Poland, the car was hit on a parking lot of a local supermarket by its employee operating a forklift. The police report was filed but I did not actually receive any documentation from the police. I was told that Budget needed to contact them about it. I returned the car to Berlin and gave the rental agent information needed to retrieve the incident report from the police. I haven't heard anything from Budget afterward. This October, over a year after the incident, I received a letter from a law firm in Germany in which it was said that the police in Poland had refused cooperation and I was responsible for all the repair cost which amounted to nearly 2000 euro.