Budget Rent A Car

May 10, 2016 rented from the Orlando Airport. Car had damage in 3 spots. Completed a damage report before leaving. Upon returning the car on May 18, 2016, the man checking me in noticed the damage. I showed him the pink copy of the damage report. He recommended taking a picture of the form since "they've been having a lot of calls about this". I did so. June 6, 2016 I received a call from Viking Billing Services about the damage. I told them it was pre-existing and that I had a copy of the damage report. June 9, 2016 I received a letter from Viking billing me for (approximately) $675 for damage and administrative fees. Called Viking, told them I had a copy of the damage report, and was able to email scan it to them. While faint, you could just make out the date, my contract number and the employee number of the man who completed it. I attempted to get an acknowledgement in writing that the case was closed (which is what I was told when I called), but never did. I told my husband I wondered how many other people they tried to charge for the same damage. How did they manage to lose both the white and pink copy of my damage report?

Budget rent a car is no better. When I went to pick up my car and asked for sunpass, first he had no reply. So I explained how I usually pd $40 on sunpass with other rental companies, the man at the counter told me they dont have that. I further explained how I was traveling up/down florida turnpike through a part that only takes sunpass. His ans "no". He said we only charge by plate and you just drive and pay the tolls later that we bill you. I asked how much in tolls would that be and provided my to and from destiations. He said "I dont know, I dont drive down turnpike, I just go by plane between orlando and miami.

Later I investiated online which verified I absolutely need sunpass.

I decided to drive down turnpike and ask. Youbg man e, olained how pay by plate doest work at a certain point and unless you are getting on the turnpike & driving ovet 100 miles the ticket system to pay cash wont work.

I called budget customer service, lady said they do offer sunpass. She said I would have to go back to the car rental place to get one if I still wanted ir. She then verified my car was indeed not equiped with sunpass. Huh, so I decided to complain.
The man I spoke to next says"maybe they ran out of the sunpass boxes at that lovation

When I got back home I emailed complsint and was told by a budget ". Please note that we do not offer sunpasses for sale at our rental facilities. You are, however able to utilize the sunpass already located in the car for an additional charge."

Gee wiz, if that were the case why didnt any of the 3 other people I spoke to explain that. I told him my previos car rental companies "offered"sunpass" and they explained hiw it worked.

These people dont know or care how much trouble they make. They dont care if there customers pay more in tolls or gas to get around tolls if even possible. I ended paying abt $30 than I should have + aggravation... But it could have been alot worse.

Budget is also the same comp as dollar ans avis.. Beware.

In the past, I did okay with a company called ace

Joyce

Last July we rented a car for pickup in Flint Michigan. Due to Southwest Airlines computer issues we ere three days late. I called at every delay to 1. let them know we will be late and 2. to ensure the car will be waiting for us.

I have written them twice and have not received anything in response. When we finally arrived they did not have our promised car available. After much complaining they finally found us a pick up truck which left our luggage unprotected from theft and weather.

I am requesting a refund for the three days unused for confirmation number 34068803US6.

I reserved a car at Budget ahead of time so that my wife, who doesn't travel much, would not have any problems when she landed. When she got there (Louisville, Ky Airport) was a line of over 15 people because other people with some "FastBreak" program were cutting in front of everyone and this made everyone else wait. So far she has been in line for almost 2 hours and she is very upset and crying. She had been traveling for almost 9 hours today. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid. We will NEVER go to Budget again. So do not ever reserve with Budget ahead of time. It is a trap

Rented a car at denver international airport and they "upgraded" our car for free. When we asked if there was going to be an up-charge the agent said, "no." however, when we returned the vehicle they charged us an extra $30 a day on top of our original quote!

If we had been told the truth that we would be charged an additional $60+ dollars for the rental we would not have agreed to the upgrade. We requested a refund for the difference and the manager at this location told us that they would not agree to it. We were told that the agent should never have agreed to the free upgrade. And in the fine print in our contract it stipulated that we agreed to the charges. This is fraud!

Date of incident: oct 29 - 30, 2016
Confirmation number: 40687926us6

In Oct 2016 I booked a Group B Budget rent-a-car online for a 3-day period. I was quoted $35/day "due at rental counter", which included an upgrade.
When I picked up the car, the counter clerk took 40 mins to process my transaction (due to some card issue). At the end of this very protracted process, she pushed the screen towards me and asked me to just sign "here" and "here" assuring me that this was just "all the standard stuff". I was only offered one "extra" (a fuel purchase option) which I agreed to.
A day after I returned the car on time and in perfect condition, my card was charged $390.49! This equates to $135/day!
When I asked for the invoice, they had added on a whole heap of extras which I did not want, nor ask for, nor was I asked to approve.
Their only response is that I signed for the contract.
The increase included an arbitrary increase to $45/day for the car!
This is a big con-job and their business practice is obviously a well oiled machine designed to deceive the customer and get them to sign for as much as possible without them knowing what they are signing for. It is unbelievably crooked and I can hardly believe how they can continually get away with this.

We made this reservation through Expedia. When we arrived at LAX, it took over 1 hour to be picked up by the Budget Bus after we were standing at the curb pickup spot. There were buses that were going by that were full, so they did not stop. There were others waiting and equally frustrated with the situation.
After arriving at the Budget Car Lot, we had to take a number and wait another 45 to 50 minutes to get waited on. This would have been much longer, except a nice person gave us their number which was significantly lower than our number, so it lessened our wait time.
Our flight arrived at 1:44 and the time stamped on my car rental agreement was 3:25. It should not take this long to rent a car at a major airport.
When I finally arrived at the counter, the employee told me that I was late so my car was no longer available. Of course, I am used to up-selling at the counter, but this lady would not provide me with a substitute automobile. She insisted that I would have to rent a larger car. Since we were visiting relatives in LA, who had plans for that afternoon, I could not wait her out or take time to speak with her supervisor. Instead of paying the quoted $143.45, I ended up paying $237.45.
The worst part of this is that I was late, not because the flight was late but because Budget could not handle the crowds at the airport or at their off site location. This employee was so rude that she should not represent Budget.
I equate this experience to what we have recently seen at Wells Fargo with too much pressure being placed on employees to sell!

This was my first and last time using budget.The whole purpose of me renting a car was to drive a couple hours away to go on a hike that we planned. We only needed a day rental and i expressed that to the agent i spoke with when booking. I arrived from tampa to denver at 12 pm. I got to budget at 12:15 pm. I stood in line for 3 hours! 3! I tried called several times to see if there was anything else we could do, go to another location etc. Well i was told that since i booked through a 3rd party no one at budget could touch the reservation...Ridiculous! Then getting in touch with the 3rd party was a nightmare as well. Several people were calling customer service and customer service was hanging up on people! Nice customer service you offer. No one was offering water or food which was the least you could do. When i finally got to the counter i expressed to the agent that my whole day was shot. I was unable to do what i had planned to do and completely wasted my day standing in line to get a car! She gave zero f***s! No apology or anything! I asked her what happened and why it was like this. All she said was that in the past 3 days they had a surge of bookings all of the sudden...Which is fine if thats the truth however...Thats usually when you plan on sending in more staff. Every single terminal should have had an associate behind it. This was completely unacceptable. The car itself was fine but i literally drove the car to get lunch, check into my hotel and then i went to return the car. Well...The location didn't have after hours, even though i was told i could drop it off at any time that day. So i had to pay for parking, thanks again. Well the next morning i turned in the car. The tank was full, the girl asked if it was and i said yes. She checked the mileage, printed out my receipt and i was charged $20 more than what i was supposed to pay. I was in shock and demanded that the charge be removed. She did remove it with attitude...Worst experience ever!

Don't use them!

Beware of RSN (Road Safety Net) and XMR hidden charges. I did not accept these optional services. I was charged $6.99 / day for RSN and 6.99 a day for XMR that as a government employee I am not authorized to use. I've complained to Budget and asked for a refund I'm pending their response. I work for a major military command and i will be notifying the defense travel office of these hidden charges and recommend they do not have government employee's select Budget for their government travel.

I thought I lost the key to my trunk rental through budget, so I had to call road side assistance to seek help. Well, I found the key and called back to cancel within 30 minutes. No one from road side assistance had to come out and help because I cancelled services. They charged me $400 because they said they had to make a key for the truck rental. There is no way in hell they made a key in 30 minutes! They said they could not give me my money back and they did not notify me about taking $400 out of my account! Horrible services and piss poor customer service!

I booked a car through rentals from budget at heathrow. I arrived there at 23.00 to pick up the car. I supplied my confirmation Voucher plus my UK driving license, UK passport and my Credit Master Card. After 15 minis the person behind the desk refused to supply the prepaid booked car to me, due to their system could not confirm my address. I explained on my UK driving License state my home address.
After flying 12 hrs, with my wife and a son of 12 yrs old at 11.30 pm Budget member of staff refused everything and was rude! He did not even offered a phone call to get me a taxi to get home.
Next day I went to another branch of Budget within 5 Man's they offered a car with the same booking without any problem.
So please you tell me where did I went wrong. I advise everyone to avoid Budget car hiring and expect them to compensate all my expenses.

Similar to the other reviewers complaining about the extremely long line and dirty office, I had the worst customer service.

I had booked my reservation through Costco travel and thought I was getting a really good deal on the car. Upon arrival, I was notified that I had booked a "compact" car, when I had in fact booked an "intermediate" since I'll be carrying 5 passengers. That's an additional $20/day.

Next I was told about the many insurances that was necessary. First, was the collision damage insurance, which I promptly replied I didn't need because it'll be covered under my travel visa card. Then she told me about the liability insurance that was required by the state of California. According to her, California requires 2 MILLION DOLLARS in liability insurance.

THIS IS A LIE! It only requires the typical 15/30/5 minimum.

I was hesitant at first because I had my local car insurance but I knew it doesn't cover up to 2 million because WHO THE HELL DOES. But I also denied that.

Then she continued to badger to me about questions like "Well how are you going to come up with 2 million dollars if you get in a crash?", "or your parents going to pay for it?"

COMPLETELY STEPPING OUT OF LINE.

Needlessness to say, there was a line behind me and I caved into peer pressure and paid the additional $15/day. It was only when I got home that I realized she had lied.

I repeat DO NOT RENT HERE. They are the shadiest, dirtiest liars in the business.

We rented a vehicle at the airport in Tampa Fl. we had rented it off line and had everything set up to go. When we went to the service desk the lady who assisted us said you know your paying 80.00 per day for this vehicle you could save and spend 60.00 a day instead well of course we said yes lets do that. Well lesson learned the hard way Pay Attention to What You SIGN ! it was an extra 60.00 a day because it was a bigger vehicle. She misled us big time which cost us an additional 60.00 at the end of the week. We were sick to our stomachs when we returned the car to realize this had happened. No car should cost 901.44 for less than a week.
We tried to resolve the matter with the staff at budget to no avail. They just kept saying you signed the contract so its on you. Yes we sure did sign it but in our defense we took the salesperson word for what she was telling us.
They robbed us really ! We will never use Budget or anyone affiliated with them ever.
This just tells me that they have a commission to the sales people that are able to tact on without really being honest with the public. Ruby and Warner Hollowell

When renting a car in Florida, on collecting the car I got charged a huge amount of money (more than the carrental itself) because of LDW costs.

The Budget lady explained to me that US citizens are sometimes personally covered for LDW.
However as one of the first questions concerns your country of residence, and therefore Budget knew that my residence is in Europe, I feel that budget has deliberately lured me into this expensive LDW trap.

Picked up my rental car and asked if I could add an additional driver when he arrived the next day. I was told there would be no additional charge. When we stopped by the next day they wanted $100+. I was told because I had no kind of discount (AAA or Costco which I would have qualified for had I known) that there would be an additional charge. They had already charged me $449 for 8 days. They advertise $17 or $24 weekend days but just try to get that. Impossible. I spoke with 4 people at customer service and they would not budge. From now on I call this company WILL NOT BUDGET.

Rented a car online through Car rentals.com for a trip to Phoenix.
Reserved for 13 days, beginning April 4, 2016. My wife was arriving there on Monday, April 4 and I was to join here on Thursday, April 7.
Estimated charge for a Ford Explorer, or similar, was $645.37.
When my wife arrived to pick up the car, there were no Explorers (of course) so she asked for the "similar". She was also asked if she wanted the insurance and she declined it. She did opt for the prepaid gas refill.
The vehicle she received was a GMC Acadia, a similar in size to an Explorer.
The next day, when looking online at my credit card acct. I noticed a charge from Budget for $2057.19, so I called Budget an asked for a supervisor. None was available and was told that one would call me within 24-48 hours. I did receive a call the next day, and was told we had been charged for the insurance and an upgraded vehicle, but got no help in resolving the problem.
I was told to talk to the people at the airport when I arrived on the 7th.
So when my wife picked me up upon my arrival on the 7th, we took time out of our vacation to return to the rental garage. There I spoke to a very nice lady who, when looking up our information, told me that it looked like the insurance charge had been removed. She also assured me that the Acadia "was not an upgrade".
It had been my intention, that if it was an upgrade, I would exchange it
then, and there.
I asked again if she was sure that it was not an upgraded vehicle, and she again assured me that it was not, and that if there was a problem someone would call me within 24 hours.
So off we go onto our vacation, with assurance that everything was ok.
No phone calls come.
Fast forward to our next credit card statement only to find the $2057.19 charge still there.
Contested the charges on my credit card bill with Chase (with no luck) and am waiting for a call from a Budget supervisor .
This is total BS. Hope you can help.
Thanks
Please help me
only to find the

Unbelievable, but the female counter service rep treated me like a bum or homeless person. My long hair and severely casual clothes prompted her to judge me inappropriately and embarrassed me in the so-called"fast-break" line (of which I am a member). The Ford Focus I paid for in advance was not available. She never apologized, but instead flippantly instructed me that no cars were available and I was to have a luxury car instead (which I abhor). I paid for a smoke-free auto. The Lincoln smelled like an ashtray. I was sick with a severe headache for the entire trip because of the awful stink. I attempted to call customer service more than six times to complain and never could get through either due to their computers being down or no one available to talk to me. The only response I could get was for me to take the car back to the airport and get a different one (after already being told by the rude, judgmental, and insensitive counter rep there were none available). The last thing I wanted to do was drive back out to the airport on the little time allotted for my very short trip and haggle about getting a different car. After returning the car on the scheduled date and time I again approached the counter and was instructed to write a review as nobody at the counter but a manager could solve my problem and no manager was working at that time. I will NEVER rent from Budget again. Budget Rent a Car service from top to bottom was horrible.

I've booked the car online with a children toddler. I've paid and when I arrived to the Sao Paulo, Brazil Airport, the agency didn't have any toddler available.
So as I was with my children I couldn't get the car available.

in the local agency, no one wanted to write down what happened and I left and went to another agency to get my car and children toddler seat.

After complaining the Car Trawller support said that they HAVE the seat for me, but I can't attest right now.. SHAME ON YOU BUDGET.. I will never ever rent cars on your agencies

I've booked the car online at VAYAMA.com
Regular car with a children toddler.

I've paid and when I arrived to the Sao Paulo, Brazil Airport, the agency didn't have any toddler available.
So as I was with my children I couldn't get the car available.

in the local agency, no one wanted to write down what happened and I left and went to another agency to get my car and children toddler seat.

After complaining the Car Trawller support said that they HAVE the seat for me, but I can't attest right now.. SHAME ON YOU BUDGET.. I will never ever rent cars on your agencies