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Claim Your BusinessBudget has a rating of 1.17 stars from 142 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Budget most frequently mention customer service, credit card, and rental car problems. Budget ranks 174th among Car Rental sites.
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I flew to DTW airport Tuesday, 7-11-22 around 6:30 pm. The Budget Car place was packed. Unfortunately, I need assistance walking with a cane. An agent walked over to me and asked if I had a reservation. I said yes, gave her the copy, and told me to take a seat, asked me for my license and credit card, and would be right back. The next thing I knew she came over and handed me the paperwork for the car I rented. I couldn't believe it. I can't remember her name, but she definitely deserves a shout-out!
Returned car one day early and did not receive refund despite being verbally told by agent that it would be, just contact Customer Service. Arbitrary, non-transparent and disingenuous rules for why refund could not be completed. Pass the buck mentality and hope that you give up.
This is a poor company and would not recommend to anyone, they have changed my card which has a different name to my husbands and I don't even have a driving licence, I have been meet with no support just endless emails, they then charged my husbands card 2 time which means they have 3 payment, I would recommend unless you want to be ripped off
Products used:
But you don't get one
After the rental I had broke down (brand new SUV) Budget refused to do anything but tow it - 90 plus miles to nearest location. They told me and text me I had a replacement available immediately. After getting a ride back to Salt Lake International Airport the employees refused to provide me with the replacement until the broken vehicle was in their possession. They had no concern for the fact that I, their customer, had been inconvenienced all day due to their broken vehicle, and now wanted me to wait unknown hours until it was towed back. The employees were all rude and had no concern for the fact I was paying for a working vehicle that whole day and did not have one.
We rented a 12 passenger van for a family trip from NC to Quebec, CN. Upon pick up, we noticed the gas tank was only 1/4 full when the contract stated "Full". It was a nightmare trying to get that corrected. When we got as far as NJ, the oil light came on. We called Budget, and they informed us to take the vehicle to EWR, but they didn't have any comparable vehicles, and advised us to pay out-of-pocket, to have oil changed ourselves. We lost 1/2 day of our vacation getting the oil changed before we could continue on with the trip. The process to try to get reimbursed for the $111.48 paid to get the oil changed was complex, and we still haven't received any reimbursement yet. Would not recommend.
Tip for consumers:
Poor quality service all around. Vehicle not inspected prior to our rental. Didn’t even check the gas level, much less the oil levels or other aspects as to whether the vehicle was truly road worthy.
Several times we were told “just because the oil light comes on, you still have another 400 miles before you actually have to get it changed”. Not a lot of consolation when your trip is almost 3,000 miles round trip, and your driving out of the country (and that was stated prior to renting).
Products used:
Car rental
I want to warn everyone never to rent a car from Budget Rental Cars. They engage in very sneaky and deceptive billing practices.
I rented a car for two days from Budget Rental Cars in Portland, Oregon in early November 2023. As expected I filled up the car with gas at a gas station less than one mile from the Portland airport and then returned the car. Imagine my surprise a few days later when I was going over my final bill and I found two nasty surprises: (1) Budget charged me a $15.99 fee for not providing them with a copy of my gas refill receipt. At no point did ANYONE at Budget every tell me that I needed to show them a copy of my gas station receipt from when I filled the car's tank right before returning the car. Plus they could crank the car and see that the gas tank was full (which they obviously did based up the gas amount they printed on my receipt), so there was no need for them to require a copy of my receipt; and (2) Their actual receipt showed that the car had 15.8 gallons in the tank when I drove it off the airport lot and also had 15.8 gallons in the tank when I returned it to the airport lot. And the receipt showed that I only drove the car a total of 66 miles. I had to put 5.63 gallons of gas in the car to fill it up at the gas station near the airport. I rented a Toyota Camry. Driving 66 miles divided by 5.63 gallons implies an MGP of 11.7 miles per gallon. A Toyota Camry gets at least 25 miles per gallon. What this means is that the car didn't really have 15.8 gallons of gas in the tank when I drove it off the airport lot.
Budget tried to defraud me by erroneously putting on their paperwork that the gas tank was full when it obviously was not based upon the amount of gas I had to put in the car to fill it back up. I had to call Budget's customer service line multiple times to try to get both of these issues straightened out. I demanded a full refund of the bogus $15.99 charge for not showing them my gas purchase receipt, and I demanded a refund of the price of 3 gallons of gas that I should not have had to pay if the tank had really been full when I picked up the car. It took multiple phone calls but I did get these two credits out of Budget.
The purpose of this warning, even though I got the two credits I wanted, is to let all consumers know that Budget is obviously trying to defraud its customers and hoping they won't notice the bogus and extra charges on their receipts. If I hadn't paid careful attention to the number of miles I drove and calculated how much gas I should have had to purchase to refill the tank, they would have gotten away with this fraud attempt. I shudder to think how many Budget car rental customers have not noticed that they had to purchase too much gas to refill their tank upon return, or how many Budget car rental customers didn't notice a $15.99 charge tacked on to the bill for not showing their gas purchase receipt (when no one at any point in the rental process ever mentioned this requirement or asked to see the receipt, which was in my pocket).
Avoid renting cars from Budget unless you want to be defrauded. I wish I could give them zero stars.
Products used:
I rented a car from Budget Car Rental in Portland, Oregon for two days.
So we reserve a Chevy Suburban during Christmas 2023 from Chicago as we are flying in. Reserved well over a month in advance. We get there and guess what. No Suburban. They only have a smaller vehicle. Being its late we get into that vehicle and put luggage on our laps. While Im making the 1.5 hour drive to our destination the drivers window will not go back up. So im now driving in the rain/snow with the window down. I go to adjust the mirrors and they wont move. Very, very unsafe vehicle. We had to borrow a family members vehicle once we got to our location to fit us all. What kind of vehicle was that? A Suburban! We take the vehicle back a week later. All the same issues and now it wont accept any gas. Paid over $1200.00 for this POS vehicle. Now I work in service for a very big dealership. This vehicle should have never been rented out. I send them a message and they want to reimburse me $90.00. Tell me "Thanks for messaging us. It helps us keep our high standard of service" Blows my mind. I would be fired giving this kind of service,
Tip for consumers:
Customer service is below a one star
Products used:
Junk rental vehicle
Returned car one day early and did not receive refund despite being verbally told by agent that it would be, just contact Customer Service. Arbitrary, non-transparent and disingenuous rules for why refund could not be completed. Pass the buck mentality and hope that you give up.
I flew to DTW airport Tuesday, 7-11-22 around 6:30 pm. The Budget Car place was packed. Unfortunately, I need assistance walking with a cane. An agent walked over to me and asked if I had a reservation. I said yes, gave her the copy, and told me to take a seat, asked me for my license and credit card, and would be right back. The next thing I knew she came over and handed me the paperwork for the car I rented. I couldn't believe it. I can't remember her name, but she definitely deserves a shout-out!
Thieves! Thieves! Why do u tell ppl u can rent a car with debit,n take the money! And at the time of pick up we need credit card! Thieves!
I signed a contract to pay 300 Euros at drop off (beacuse I hired the full insurance at the counter staff). When I dropped off the car they charged me 1200 Euros on my credit card without authorisation and now not answering emails or calls.
In addition, they only have 1 person at the counter staff so the queues for pick up and drop off are very long.
It's not the 1st time this company charges money on my credit card that has not been agreed previously. Never use them
Tip for consumers:
just not use them
Budget Avis at evansville airport is operated by the most uninterested children Ive encountered. I had a reservation and a conformation email and they said we dont have any cars. Call this number for a refund. I called. After 2 hours on hold i gave up. Basically they stole my 684.00. They could care less. Not even an option of when i can pick a car up. This is not a local rental. From indiana to florida. They dont care a bit about waving me stranded.
We rented a car at San Jose airport waited in line for two hours to get to the desk to find more issues, after the trip was said and done we returned the car, a few days later we get charged by the company for another car rental in West Virginia. We don't even live in the states mind you this. So the company used our credit card for someone else. WHAT A JOKE can't even keep your information secure and now we're struggling to get refunded for the charges they put on our card.
"You can get reimburse only if you paid at the counter not if you paid online"
How can that be? Horrible experience
I hired a car from Budget Northern Ireland International Airport. It was all paid for, all I had to do was pick up the keys. A £100 Fuel deposit was briefly explained to me and I signed the 5 page document and left. A day after my return I realised the £100 deposit never went out. Instead a £201 protection cost that I never needed and which was never explained to me at the time. I'm now over £200 down and their explanation is "well you did sign it." Beware… total scam
First I want to say overall rating of 115 reviews is 1.18. My beef is 40 days after I returned the car, I get a bill for $477 to replace the windshield. There was road construction and a stone nicked the windshield. We advised them of the nick. They did not note any damage on our receipt...Why are we being charged for a windshield and not a fill to fix the nick. I put this in dispute with my credit card.
I was so surprised to find out that prices on http://www.budget.ie are way lower that on budget.com
Don't pay extra for the same type of car and order through their Irish branch
The worst experience ever! Budget ruined my Christmas. They left my 82 year old mother and I stranded on the side of the road for 6 plus hours with a rental van that had broken down. I finally got an agent who told me to call 911 and abandon the vehicle. I rented on 12/22 and 3 months later I am still receiving harassing calls from them because their "roadside assistance" can't locate their vehicle. Last night, I received a call at 2:46 am. When I call customer service I wait on the phone for 45 minutes to get hung up on by the first agent that gets my case. My father died last June and all we wanted was to take my mom on a vacation for Christmas to get her mind off of things but instead she sat on the side of a cold highway for hours with nothing but time to think about my father. Their sister company Avis closed the case, so I do not understand why Budget is still harassing me. Budget made this the worst Christmas ever!
I booked a car for 1 week and paid up front for it. I arrived at the Calgary airport and to my surprise they informed me they had no car for me because I was 36 hrs late. I told them I had reserved and paid for the car in for a week rental so they better find me a car. Then I asked for the manager, who was not available. After afew minutes of speaking with a budget rep and I started to walk away he told me to F@#& OFF. I turned around and said what did you say to me. To my disbelief he repeated his words. I walked over to another rental car company and could see afew of the employees laughing. Eventually booked another car and had to pay double the price.Extremely disrespectful,I guess in this working environment even an idiot like that gets to keep his job after treating customers that way. Extremely disgusted with the employee and service
I rented a car from Budget Rent a Car car in Sarasota Bradenton Airport (Florida). I agreed to bring the car back with a full tank. I drove the car less than 100 miles in a 4-day period and added fuel about 3 miles away from the Budget rental return at airport- also "topped off" the tank and it was 100% on gas gauge (same as it was when I rented the car). I then drove the car to the rental return with the fuel gauge registering 100% full (same as it was when I rented the car). The individual from Budget who checked out the car checked the car and fuel gauge said we were good to go. I asked for a receipt and he said he would email it.
Well I received the email receipt and was charged $5.99 for "fuel service." With a full tank there should not be a fuel service charge.
We prepaid to avoid extra fees. Supposedly it was cheaper. We filled the tank and returned the "decent" car. Later we noticed there was a $56 fuel charge fee. In addition to us filling up the tank at $80. Later an email came from Ryan Brown asking us how was our Budget experience and explained that we were upset about the "extra" fuel charge and he NEVER wrote back to help! Horrible customer service!
Products used:
Car rental in California
Last weekend I traveled over 1,000 miles. The Bluetooth in the car would not sync up to my phone. I would not have rented this car had they told me. When I called, the customer service rep was sorry but refused to place a credit on my rental. Not sure if I would rent from them again. Nice car but Budget should inform people of the antique car they are renting. By not having Bluetooth I had to pull over numerous times for traffic advisories and direction updates. Frustrating!
I had been renting cars for years with Budget. In my last 3 rentals I needed to make a pick up time change. In each instance to pick up or drop off the car 2 hrs early or late they wanted to charge me an extra $200. Even though I called and waited on hold for an hour to ask for the time extension. Budget you lost a loyal customer
Tip for consumers:
Make sure you don't need to alter your reservation. Sofia#19542
Products used:
Alamo
They charged me 80 dollars for not taking it back full tank when I just used half a tank … piece of crap
In short. Charged for gas in a car that broke down. Used for one day $300 109 was gas. Give two $#*! about money. It's the principle. How could I gas up a car that broke down?
No customer service. Called and they reviewed my case. Denied refund.
PLEASE beware of this Company. Specifically Myrtle Beach Budget/Avis.
The process of reserving your rental car is not so bad, but picking it up is terrible.
Even having reserved the car in advance, we had to wait an hour and a half for our ticket number to be called. You could consider that I was picking up the car in a major city, but even considering that the efficiency was terrible. Then we got to the desk and were assailed with confusing questions and given little clarity when we asked questions in return. The service was poor, let's say. After we had everything set straight, we waited another half hour for them to bring our car around. I'm not sure why it took so darn long.
Returning the car is pretty simple, but you better fill up on gas somewhere else. They charge about $9.50/gallon for any missing gas. A bunch of other obscure fees were also added.
The only positive aspect of the experience is that the car they gave us ran well and was clean.
Side mirrors were so dirty, we had to have the gate attendant clean them as we were leaving. The gas tank was not full upon pickup (see picture). Warning light comes on that windshield washer fluid is empty (see picture). Windshield is so dirty I cannot see and I am going to die while driving this car (see picture). I requested that they provide some sort of refund of my rental fees or credit me for a free rental. Budget said I could drive an hour back to the airport, spend an hour line and exchange the car for another one then drive another hour back to my vacation location.
Tip for consumers:
Do NOT use Budget at Orlando airport.
Products used:
Rental car that was dirty and defective.
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