ComplaintsforBudget Rent-A-Car

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I rented a Kia Sorento 8/26/21 from the Orland Park,IL location. I extended the reservations til 9/26/21. I initially called to extend the reservation to no avail; I received an email 2 weeks later stating that the car (reservation) needed to be updated or return the vehicle. As I attempted to update the account in person, I was met with a call from Budget recovery and loss to being the keys to the vehicle outside, and that the vehicle was being repossessed. I've called several times to make a payment for the 2 weeks over the return date. The car was picked up on 10/20/21. And to my horror this morning 12/1/21 a charge of $5785.33 was charged to my debit card?!! This is beyond predatory lending; when I called customer service they stated that the car wasn't towed to the original pick up location, and was held at the Budget/Avis rental at Midway Airport. They conceded to refund $1744, but stated that even though the car wasn't in my possession the account remained opened until 11/16/21; when the car was returned to it's original pickup. I'm livid and truly upset; as a single mother I can't afford $6000 charge for a car that was only in my possession 1/ 1/2 weeks after the due date. Please help refund funds back immediately! Thank you for your time and patience regarding this matter.

  Business response

  01/28/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 12, 2022/01/10) */ Regarding the BBB mentioned above, complaint case#: ********, thank you for allowing us to address your concerns. We take our customer's problems seriously, and we appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns. Upon review of this complaint, an investigation was conducted. Our records indicate that you had contacted Customer Service on December 18, 2021, and your rate was adjusted as you requested. Our notes also show you were advised no further adjustments will be provided due to the rest of the charges being valid. We established credit of $847.72 was processed to the ********** on file. Upon further review, our records indicated that you had placed the remaining charges of $4,845.33 in dispute with your credit card company on December 28, 2021. Based on this action, we will work with your bank directly for a resolution. Please be advised that once the customer has disputed his rental charges with his financial institution, there is no further correspondence with the customer, as the credit card company will communicate directly with us concerning his dispute. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. We appreciate your patience during this process. Sincerely, Avis Budget Group Response Coordinator

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My *********** credit card contacted me in regards to two charges attempted on both of my credit cards for cleaning fees for rentals on 10/2 for one day and 10/8 for one day. Once contacted Budget customer service claimed there was allegedly smoking in both of the rentals and on 11/14 they were collecting money from this. I advised that I in no way shape or form smoke anything and the cars were checked and receipts printed the day of return with no indication of anything. Furthermore, I advised many others since then have rented the cars and I could not have been of blame. This is a complete fraud, holding my credit cards hostage and processing transactions with such over a month later indicating fraudulent and unheard-of acts.

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/05) */ BBB CASE#: XXXXXXXX Budget case # XXXXXXXX Dear ***** *******, Your file referenced above to the BBB under case# XXXXXXXX has been forwarded to our office for review and reply. We have reviewed your rental and notes from your case. . Based upon the information you provided and the findings of our internal investigation, we have refunded the cleaning fees billed on both of the rentals you mentioned. The credits were issued to the cards linked with the rentals. We apologize for the inconvenience this matter has caused. Please be assured that your experience was not typical. A copy of our report has been sent to the appropriate manager for corrective actions. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to be of assistance to you. We look forward to serving your future car rental needs. Sincerely, Budget Response Coordinator

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I reserved a Budget Car from their office at: San Isidro,SI2 reservation number ***********. When I went to pick it up they told me that car was not available and said that I would have to pay almost 50% more for a larger car. Obviously I refused to do this. When I looked at the Google reviews online I noticed that this seems to be an ongoing scam at the Budget locations in Lima, Peru. In order to test this, I immediately booked another car at Lima/Barranco,LI1 reservation number ***********. I went directly to this location and was told THE EXACT SAME STORY: That car was not available and said that I would have to pay almost 50% more for a larger car. This was a car I reserved less than 1 hour beforehand. This resulted in two days lost trying to book another car which I was not able to get until November 12. I request that Budget take responsibility for this franchisee that is scamming customers in Peru. I request a $100 refund for my additional expenses incurred. Budget should end their relationship with this dishonest franchisee.

  Business response

  01/24/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/14) */ Better Business Bureau, To whom it may concern Since the beginning of the day, on November 10th, 2021, we had an automatic Toyota Yaris assigned to Mr. *********** 11:00 am reservation for an automatic *************. The customer does not call or show up at his pick-up, an about 11:43 am the Toyota Yaris that had been reserved for Mr. ********* was reassigned to another client due to his no-show. When Mr. ********* showed up to pick up his vehicle, it was no longer available and another vehicle was proposed to him at the current rate. Mr. ********* alleges that Budget Peru in bad faith denies him the reserved car and offers him another one 50% more expensive, and forgets to declare that he did not arrived on time and that he is comparing his original reservation with a preferential rate versus a counter rate for a higher category car for customers who arrive without a reservation or, like in this case, after being tagged his reservation as a no-show. Then he states that Budget Peru always works like this because he did a reservation for a second vehicle in another location an got the same higher class car availability and rate as on his previous resevation. However, when Mr. ********* makes the second reservation, he makes it with virtually no advance booking for a car, again with automatic transmission, that it is even of a smaller category that the one he originally reserved. We do not understand what he was trying to achieve with this, because he was already informed that due to his no-show his reserved vehicle was no longer available, we explained that the only automatic category available was a higher category, so it was entirely foreseeable that the automatic economy car in the second reservation, again with virtually no advance booking, would not be available either. How can we be accused of scammers, when 1: we had their vehicle assigned and available since the beginning of that day, 2: it was Mr. ********* the one who arrived late for the reservation and incurs in a no-show, 3: and in two different locations they give him exactly the same vehicle availability information? In summary, Mr. ********* is blaming us because he arrived late and his vehicle was no longer available. Very unfair. Customer Service Budget Car Rental Perú Licensee Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/12/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I am very glad that the responding agent has admitted that we arrived WITHIN ONE HOUR of the stated reservation time. We arrived at 11:37 and I have the taxi receipt (attached). The Budget agent states 11:43. This difference is moot and the explanation is quite simple: I called Budget and asked how long we had to pick up a car based on the reservation time and was told that the car can be picked up within one hour of the reserved time. I specifically asked about the Miraflores San Isidro SI2 location and they said "within one hour." To confirm this yet again, I called Budget today as I was writing this (on December 15, 2021), gave the Miraflores San Isidro SI2 location and was told that a car can be picked up WITHIN ONE HOUR of the reserved time. (This is actually standard industry practice as well as being Budget policy.) This policy can be verified by calling Budget at ************, and I would invite the BBB to contact Budget directly and ask them about the policy. This car should have been available for pickup between 11:00 and 12:00 per Budget policy. We arrived at 11:37--in the very middle of the pickup timeframe. This is not late and it is not a no-show. It wasn't even close to 12:00. If this office gave away a car in violation of their own policy, they should have given us a replacement for the same price. They did not. To be honest, Budget USA should get involved at this point, because: 1. They know the one hour policy; it is in their system as I demonstrated above. 2. The Miraflores San Isidro SI2 agent has now admitted that we arrived within the allowed timeframe. and 3. The Miraflores San Isidro SI2 agent has now admitted that we did not receive a car. WHAT MORE DO THEY NEED? NONE OF THE FACTS THAT SHOULD REQUIRE COMPENSATION ARE IN DISPUTE. Beyond this: After the Miraflores San Isidro SI2 location failed to produce the car we booked, we then booked ANOTHER, DIFFERENT car at a different location (Lima/Barranco, LI1) that showed availability on Budget's iPhone App. This reservation is shown in the previous document that I uploaded with the original complaint. To reiterate: This is a second confirmed reservation for a DIFFERENT CAR from a DIFFERENT LOCATION. We were early. There was no car. There are also many reviewers online which state that the same thing happened to them and I have attached a small sample of them below. All of these reviews were posted PRIOR to my experience. I can provide more if you like. There are plenty. Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2022/01/08) */ Dear Mr. *********, Each country may have variations on their Rental Terms and Conditions; in our case, the waiting time for a reservation is 30 minutes, and after that is considered as a no-show, however we have verified that this information is not stated in our terms and conditions posted on Budget.com. Therefore, we will proceed to resolve this case in your favor and we will coordinate with you the payment of the US $ 100 requested, and we will update our terms and conditions with Budget USA to avoid this type of issues. Customer Service Budget Car Rental Perú Licensee Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/01/19) */ We have done the transfer of the US$ 100 through ************* today. Consumer Response /* (2000, 17, 2022/01/20) */ I will accept the business' response to this complaint and offer of $100 compensation for which they have provided me a ************* receipt. I will pick up this money from ** next week.

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I made a rental car reservation on Budget.com on Nov 19. The reservation is prepaid. On Nov 30, I opened the online chat, asking the online agent what is the price and option if I can change the reservation pickup date from Dec 22 to Dec 17. After giving the quote, I reply that the quote is too high and I don't want any changes. The chat then ended without a greeting. Only the next day, I found my reservation had already been changed without my authorization. After I found out about the unauthorized change, I contacted Budget to get it fixed. The 1st contact online after I provided my information, the chat simply ended without any greeting. The 2nd contact was by phone to the 800 reservation number. I was simply told that it was a sales department and they could do nothing to help me. And transfer me to a so-called "Customer Service" line where there is no option to speak with anyone. The 3nd contact was by phone to the 800 "customer service" line. The agent after searching, said in order to change the reservation back to the same day, I will HAVE TO PAID more for an upgrade. And nothing can be done to help me. The other option is to cancel it with a $50 fee. After a long talk, he only agreed to cancel it by waiving the fee. WHY would I have to pay MORE for an unauthorized change made to my reservation?! The repaid reservation is a contract. Someone in the company made an unauthorization change to the contract and then dared to ask the customer to PAID MORE to get it fixed?! What kind of customer service is that?!

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/06) */ Regarding the BBB, as mentioned above, case # XXXXXXXX. Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding your rental experience. Budget values our relationship with our travelers and always strives to do the right thing. We apologize for the inconvenience this matter has caused. We have thoroughly reviewed this complaint with our Management Team, and to resolve this matter, Budget has agreed to honor the quoted rate of $540.56. Furthermore, we checked our prepaid rate online, and we show the rate for the exact dates and a Full-Size vehicle at $638.84. If you rebooked now, we would discount your rental upon completion of the rental. Please get in touch with our Customer Care at ************* and we will reimburse you for the differences. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you. Accordingly, we are closing the case file. Sincerely, Avis Budget Group Response Coordinator

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I rented a MiniVan from Budget at the PHL airport Nov 24 and returned on Nov 28. When I returned at 11:30am on Nov 28, there was no agent working the return lanes. The main building had a sign stating not to wait to just take the shuttle to the terminals - which we did. I received an email on Dec 1 asking about why I had not returned the vehicle. I can image that the person did not scan the car when they moved it for cleaning and storage. I've tried calling the Loss Prevention Team, the Customer Service number, the PHL rental counter, and sending a contact form email. I have not received a response yet. I'm worried that if this isn't resolved soon that the vehicle will just be sitting on the lot and forgotten. I'm really not sure what I should now. I have family in the PHL area that can help look for the car on the lot! I'm here to help however I can. Let me know what else I can do to help with this process. In general, Budget is wonderful and I rent often. I only thought that Budget was hit with staffing issues everyone is dealing with. I didn't want to overwhelm the counter person when there was a sign telling me what to do. At this point, I just need Budget to contact me regarding how I can get this figured out and resolved. Here is all the information. Make/Model: ************* VIN No: ***************** License Plate No: ********** MVA Number: ********* From Rental Agreement No:********* Due to return on: 11/28/2021 email: **************** phone: ************

  Business response

  01/20/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 12, 2022/01/05) */ We have not gotten a response from the rental location in a timely manner regarding this inquiry. Therefore we have issued a refund in the amount of $164.24 to the **** card ending in **** that was used for the rental. Please allow 3-5 business days for the processing of this refund. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced during your rental. Sincerely, Budget Customer Service Escalation Team Avis Budget Group Consumer Response /* (2000, 14, 2022/01/07) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) I do appreciate all of the rentals I've had with budget. This was just an unfortunate situation. I do appreciate, greatly, the refund. So, I am happy with the resolution. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Rented a car Thanksgiving day it broke down that evening since I made it to my destination I waited and called Friday for assistance. It over 2 1/2 hours to get a tow truck. I was in Winchester VA and they said to get another rental I would have to drive to Dulles Which round trip would be another 2 1/2 hours. I had flown in from Florida for 3 days I didn't want to spend over 5 hours on a car. I decided not to go to Dulles and pick up a car and ask the my rental be stopped that day. They said the only to do that was to drive the car back to Roanoke......the car won't run! So I've called several times to attempt a refund they say 1/2 off and 7 days free rental. Why would I want to rant again. Now today they turned me over to loss prevention since I never returned the car. And forget customer support you'll never get a person! I wish I could negative stars

  Business response

  01/14/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/12/08) */ ************************************************************* Dear Ms. ******, Your file referenced above to the BBB under case# ********* has been forwarded to our office for review and reply. We have reviewed your rental and notes from your case. Based upon the information you provided and the findings of our internal investigation, we have adjusted the charges billed on your rental. A credit of $955.24 has been issued to your **** account. The credit will post to the account within 3-5 days. We apologize for the inconvenience this matter has caused. Please be assured that your experience was not typical. A copy of our report has been sent to the appropriate manager for corrective actions. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to be of assistance to you. We look forward to serving your future car rental needs. Sincerely, Budget Response Coordinator Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/12/18) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I'm requesting a full refund, they deducted 3 times the amount of the rental charge from account which led to overdraft charges. The amount departed was not the amount agreed. Accused me of returning a car late. I feel after this the least I am due is a full refund to help cover the additional expenses occurs due to Budgets gross negligence, Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2021/12/21) */ ************************************************************* Dear Ms. ******, Thank you for your reply. We can certainly understand the frustration and added expense this matter incurred. We have voided your rental as requested. The credit of $193.50 has been issued to your **** account. We trust that this action will meet with your approval. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of assistance to you. Sincerely, Budget Response Coordinator

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩