Budget Rent A Car review: Car rental service desk in Calgary

September 23, 2023 Calgary airport 10-12 pm.

Computer system down for budget/avis.

Agents at desk had huge waiting line before telling us what was going on,

then suggested we "come back tomorrow morning". flight was hour late and all of us had hotel reservations that night and ours happened to be an hour away drive. Come back in the morning? wt?

Wait wait wait. Agent suggested going to avis desk, "maybe they have another car you can get as they have a bigger inventory" (so our current price reserved not good and start all over with high price at desk?). I waited at Avis desk a good walk away from Budget another 20 minutes. Finally Avis hand writing contracts but customers being helped were standing there for at least 20 minutes each. doing what? how long does it take to write in info on a form? Budget finally decided they could do that too. My husband was still standing in line at budget. When we finally got to the desk, it took way too long even though we had the reservation with all info on our phones. We got out of there after midnight. Flight arrival was 9:30. Totally unacceptable service and agents just shrugging their shoulders not caring that we were all waiting so long and exhausted. Could have done hand contracts after short time of computer outage (company wide outage) knowing it was not coming back on line soon. Also, not even a water fountain nearby.

We have been using budget in the US regularly but our last 3 rentals, one in Calgary and 2 in Jackson Hole were both problematic in getting service at the desk or contacting the actual location desk on phone. In Jackson had to drive to the airport an hour over mountain pass to extend my rental. Budget would not do on the phone. Had SUV with bald tires and one leaking tire had to fill daily. Rethinking using another company.