NONE!

Poor customer service. Deceptive tactics. Failure to live up to expectations.

I did an on-line reservation for a car from Budget at Calgary Airport, Alberta, Canada. When I got to the desk, the agents wouldn't look up and acknowledge us. Then once we were assisted we found out about "hidden charges". We then went to National and decided to rent a car from them even though we had to a pay a higher rate. Other car agents told us that people are always walking away from Budget and even yelling at the agents because of deceptive practices. I will never use Budget again and I especially will never use Calgary Airport Budget. Very poor customer service and very deceptive!

none

their insurance plan is a scam, the staff is rude and condescending, completely unprofessional and fail to inform you of hidden costs.

The worst rip off of my life. When I returned the Van I was told the next day that there was a paint scratch and I would be responsible for the damage. I was also assured by the manager that this would not be serious as it is only a paint scratch and they would give me an estimate. Nobody called me, they just charged my credit card without warning for $1000. They told me the insurance covers whatever costs exceed $1000. Maxed out my credit card and thus ruined my credit history. NEVER RENT FROM THIS COMPANY

None

Rude, Disrespectful, Shady, Underhanded, Untruthful, Deceptive

I rented a car from Budget Rental Cars, but originally got the rental agreement through Hotwire. Two weeks after I rented the car, I got an additional credit card charge and then 3 weeks later, I received yet another charge.

When I called to resolve the issue, I was on the phone for over an hour with 2 different people and was hung up on once. By the end of the call, I was told my credit card would be credited within 24-48 hours.

I checked back when I noticed I hadn't received my credit. When I got the first person on the phone, she said there was no record of my inquiry even though I had a case number. She also said it wasn't Budget's problem, but I needed to fix it with Hotwire. I hung up on her and called back 4 more times before I got a woman that said they could credit my account.

So - after numerous calls to Budget & Hotwire, I think I've solved the mystery. I picked up my car an hour early. By doing this, I was charged an additional fee for an early pickup (which no one at the counter mentioned) and according to Budget's policy, by picking up the car early, it meant I negated the Hotwire contract. This meant I was subjected to the highest possible daily rate for the car, the additional taxes, an extra day's worth of insurance and an extra day of car rental at the higher rate! All of these charges were put on my credit card 2 or 3 weeks after the original rental.

At this point, I'm still hoping to get a credit from Budget. I have also blocked Budget from charging my credit card and have filed an official complaint with my credit card company to have them try to help get my money back.

Rented a car on line for pick-up in Queen Charlottes. Initialed next to the 35 cents/additional kilomete. Found out that unlike every other rental I have ever done that there ios no base kilometer rate so you are paying 35 cents for every km you drive. 100km = $35!

Customer service was rude. Go Enterprise. No hidden rules with them when you bnook on line.

We recently rented a one-way rental for 13 days from Budget for a road trip from New Orleans to Providence. I reserved the car on the Internet for a quoted price (including insurance and tax) of $1,331.26. We picked up the car a 9:00 a.m. from a very friendly woman in New Orleans who printed a statement with an estimated total of $1,373.37 (close enough), stapled it to the rental contract and sent us on our way. Our flight out of Providence back home was at 2:30. We debated returning the car at 9:00 a.m. but looked at the statement that the "friendly woman" printed out that gave a daily rate of $114.99 and decided to pay the extra amount to sleep in and get to the airport later. When we returned the car at noon, we received a bill for $1,803.11, by my calculation about $300 more than we expected to pay. I phoned Budget to inquire about what I thought was a discrepency and a very rude and impatient man named Patrick told us that we should have read the rental contract (28 items on 11 brochure-size pages in fine print). He stated that if we return the car late all discounts are removed. (I didn't even know I was getting a discount.) I asked him exactly which item number out of the 28 items is this statement made. He said, "Clearly, item #3." Naturally, the friendly woman in New Orleans stapled the estimate directly over Item 3, so if I were inclined to read 28 items on 11 brochure pages written in fine print, I probably would have missed this statement. Budget should make it a point to verbally state what they suppose is the obvious. PATRICK'S STATEMENT TO ME WAS "IT IS A BINDING CONTRACT." Obviously, Budget is more concerned about $300 today than the potential goodwill it would have made by pointing this out to me and then crediting me the $300. DO NOT USE BUDGET. OBVIOUSLY, THEY WILL DING YOU FOR EVERYTHING THEY CAN.

Nice car

Sloppy "pre-check." Incompetent checkout booth. Horrid customer service.

We just returned from a road trip to St. Louis. We returned our rental car early to the MCI location (Kansas City airport) of Budget and forgot our contract at home. They couldn't find a copy of the contract that showed that we had pointed out scratches on the hood of the car. I stayed while Rob went back to get the contract. When I handed them to them, they accused us of lying. They said they had no proof that Rob didn't write the S and circle on the hood on the contract. That's not the way their guys do it and they would sign it and take the yellow copy.


This is how it happened on Thursday night. We were late picking the car up. The counter agent was helpful but one thing did make me suspicious. He said the car was pre-checked and there was no damage. We checked the car anyway, in the parking lot around midnight. We found scratches on the hood. We saw the counter agent in the parking lot and told him. He said to tell the guy at the exit booth. I got in our car and Rob drove the rental ahead of me. I saw him hand the guy at the booth the papers. The guy wrote on them and handed them back. We drove away.


We didn't look at it after that, just stuck it in a bag and went on. Maybe we should have but that guy in the booth should know his job better than we would. When we returned the car, the lady at the counter went out to check it and said there were scratches on the hood. I said, I know, we pointed that out when we checked the car out. She went and look for a copy of the contract and couldn't find it. I sent Rob back home to get our copy. While waiting I said they either did a sloppy job on the pre-checks or they are intentially trying to snare naive customers. Because, if we could see those scratches at midnight, walking around the car, they should have been able to see them in the daylight. The lady tonight clearly saw them. So how were they missed in the pre-check? How was there "no damage?" So then when I have the papers, the manager comes out and says that maybe Rob wrote in the damage. I said we wouldn't know how they mark it. He said the circled S was common sense, but then he said it's not how they do it. He said the guy standing next to him was in the booth that night and he would do the paperwork right. Of couse, the guy next to him wasn't going to admit to doing a sloppy job, so he went along with it. I was--still am--livid! I wanted to speak to someone higher than the manager. He gave me his card, which I pointed out wasn't higher than him. He said if I called that number, I'd get it. But when I intended to call, he said it would just ring there. I said I'd find the number. I tried on the internet on my phone but I got a mobile site with limited information. So I called the reservations number on the coupon I had. They gave me the customer service number but Customer Service isn't opened until Monday at 7:30am. It was Sunday, about 10:30.


Finally, after I called back again and at least got a sympathetic reservations agent, they said I could leave but the counter agent said the car wouldn't be "returned" and we'd be charged for extra days. I said no. I also said I absolutely would NOT sign any accident report for an accident that didn't happen. The manager said he's close out my contract now but he couldn't give me a receipt with out an accident report. I said I wanted it in writing because I didn't trust him.


I told them I'd be calling Customer Service tomorrow and I'd never rent Budget again and I'd tell everyone I could not to rent Budget. They have some serious customer service issues and, in my opinion, are actively scamming customers and maybe getting away with it with customers who give in to their lies.

Similar Products Used:

Enterprise

The car was new and clean - but that's it. The weaknesses FAR outweigh the strengths!

Deliberately misleading sales service
Poor customer service
Overcharging

This car company are con artists. They are the worst car hire company I have ever dealt with. Their customer service is terrible and is bordering on fraudulent. We were quoted 300 dollars for rental, including all taxes and fees. Our final bill was nearly 800 dollars for a 4 day rental. The agent we dealt with gave us one price verbally, and another in the small print. They failed to mention extra costs, such as the 100 dollar 'airport fee' and added insurance and an upgrade to our rental without our permission. I complained but was laughed at by management, who refused to admit that their sales agent had deliberately misled us. AVOID THIS COMPANY - IT WOULD BE CHEAPER TO GET A TAXI!

Similar Products Used:

I'm sure any other car hire service would be better than this!

Cars Available

Unmentioned additional fees. Outrageous Airport tax rate of 48%. Deceptive "helpful" advice.

Hidden fees and taxes - Budget Rent-A-Car Kansas City, MO APO

Budget Rent-A-Car of Kansas City
703 London Drive
Kansas City, MO. 64153
(816)243-5757

I arrived at the Kansas City Budget to pick up an online reserved rental car at a promised rate of 175.45 (plus tax and 89.37 fees). Upon arrival, the counter person stated that our reserved car (Chevy Aveo 4dr) would be too small for my mother's wheelchair and our luggage so gave me the option of either a Prius or Thunderbird to choose from, stating that the Thunderbird had a large enough trunk. (No way I was getting the Prius)
She NEVER ONCE mentioned the daily costs of the car and insurance upgrade. And due to the reported forecast of incoming snow we were in a hurry to get out of that area. Imagine my shock when my bill ended up being $748.37. Not only was we charged almost $400.00 additional for the upgrade but we were also charged a 48% tax fee!
I would never had knowingly rented a vehicle for only 9 days at the cost off $748.37. I had used the local Budget Rent-A-Car many times in the past but never again. I just cannot afford that kind of additional cost.

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS LOCATION...I rented a van from this location in Jan. we were given the keys to the van "to just put are skis in", then brought the keys back to wait for our driver (coming on a later flight). When our driver came, went to get our keys, signed off that we did not need a second driver...well when returning the van we were charged for an extra day and the second driver for a total of $207.39 ....I kid working said he could not change it. We would have to call later...when calling I was told it was a signed contract and nothing would change...they just say that this (getting the keys without a contract and over charging for driver) would not happen, so they will not do anything and corporate said they can not and will not help because it is not a corporate location. The manager of the location is VERY nasty and simply did not care that one of her employees gave us keys when it was against policy. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS LOCATION!!!!

Car was clean and tank was full

CUSTOMER SERVICE.

They deserve no stars. This is by far the worst rental experience ever! And I gave them 3 chances, the failed all times to provide ever the basic customer service. On all 3 occasions, my car was not ready or it was not for the right car. My up grade coupon was not honored. And the FASTBREAK counter was always closed. Judy, the manager is extremely rude and inappropriate.
On the final rental, I had a problem and lost the car keys, and followed the instructions provided by the Rode side assistance desk. The agent Judy yelled at me for not following procedure, when I was only doing as instructed by their help desk! The whole process involves receiving a replacement car and having the car with the lost keys towed. This took 4 hours and 45 minutes and multiple phone calls to resolve! I was not allowed to use my own towing or AAA to replace the keys. It is their policy you must pay the $375. they charge. Finally, I did find the keys the next day, and called the Oakland Rental counter, I was told to either mail the keys back or return them to the desk and I would not be charged. I promptly returned the keys, but was still charged!!
I can only assume that they do not value their customers. I rent a car at Oakland airport at least twice a month for 7 to 10 days at a time. I would think that the company would value repeat loyal customers.
I since switched to Hertz and could not be happier! Everyone that works there is extremely nice, going out of their way to help. My car is always ready and waiting just as I ordered it!