| [Rant] Budget Rent a Car So I had an emergency basically my sister who has a terminal illness wanted to see her dad before he died (90 something years old and bed ridden).
I rent a car from budget and prepay 192.98 for a Ford Explorer there were 7 people going so needed a big SUV.
I pick up the car and the lady asked if I needed insurance I say nope as my AMEX has insurance for car rentals etc. She hands me the contract and it has insurance marked at 9 a day. She says no its not insurance its just a waiver saying I don't want the insurance. I tell her the way it sounds is that I am taking insurance and denie the other insurance options. She insisted my interpretation of what it said was wrong and I went along with it. That was the first thing I did wrong, i should of insisted that my interpretation was right.
So while I am leaving the budget rental office I see a sign that says if you don't fill up the tank and drive less than 75 miles you will be charged a 13.99 refuling fee plus cost of gas. Not a problem for me as I was driving exactly 76 miles away from JFK and back so thats 152 miles round trip.
10 hours later I return the car but before I did I filled her up.
Turn the car in hand in the gas reciept with the paper work and I am told that their computers are down that they will check the car in, in the morning. I place my gas reciept with the paper work hand it to the dude and he puts it in the stack of other cars paper work.
Mistake two on my part i should of taken the car home and returned it when their system was up and running.
Three days later I check my AMEX and I see an additional 23.77 charged to my amex.
I call Budget they tell me that their computers can't access rental agreements for rental locations in Jamica. I am confused and she said I rented the car from their Jamaica Location and they can't access those rental agreements. I tell her last time I checked Jamaica NY is in the United States she insisted it wasn't but I told her to try anyway and she said ohhh you didn't tell me it was JFK airport. I told her she didn't ask. Then she says that their computers have been down and they don't have access to my rental agreement at the moment to try calling back the next day which I did.
I am then told that the $23.77 charge is for the 9 dollar insurance, 13.99 refuling for driving less than 75 miles and 78 cents for the gas they put into the car.
I insited I never requested insurance but she says I initialed it and I requested a copy be sent to me, and they sent it and of course where they showed me i intitialed was the exact line that I was told didn't mean what I thought it meant. So I didn't argue that because I did initial and should of stuck to what I thought it meant instead of letting the girl at the counter convince me otherwise. But anyway the 13.99 and the .78 cents I was not going to pay.
The lady on the phone says I drove it less than 75 miles.
I tell her I wrote the millage I picked it up with on the paper and your security guard signed off on it. it was 9006 miles and she said their computer showed it as 9006 miles when I picked it up.
I then asked her how many miles did it have on it when I returned it she woudn't answer me but said out of courtersy they would refund the money.
Pissed me off because I knew they were wrong and weren't doing me any favors by being courtious. So I pressed the issue and she finally said I retuned the car with well over 75 miles driven and shouldn't of been charged in the first place the refuling fee or gas since I did submit a reciept showing I filled the tank. The .78 cents was the gas I burned from the gas station to the lot.
Learned my lesson.
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Email/MSN: Michael at hardwaregeeks.comAIM: MikeR35292 |
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| Yup, sounds like typical Budget BS. I ran into this about 5 years ago when I had to go take care of my father's estate in another city. I had prepaid my rental through an online service and had everthing in order.
When I got to the rental desk, they wanted me to pay again, despite already having paid once. It took several long phone calls to not only the online service, but my credit card and Budget corporate office itself before it could be resolved. I also had to call the hotel where I had a reservation to let them know I'd be in late because Budget couldn't get their act straight.
Checking the car in was just as bad, because again, they wanted to be paid again. I called and complained to the corporate office that they didn't know what the hell they were doing and was rewarded with a free rental coupon. That sucker got torn up and returned to them with a nasty note telling them that I wouldn't rent form them if they were the last car rental company on earth. |
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| reply to HardwareGeek
Now you know why Hertz is #1. |
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| reply to HardwareGeek
said by HardwareGeek:So I had an emergency basically my sister who has a terminal illness wanted to see her dad before he died (90 something years old and bed ridden). I rent a car from budget and prepay 192.98 for a Ford Explorer there were 7 people going so needed a big SUV. I pick up the car and the lady asked if I needed insurance I say nope as my AMEX has insurance for car rentals etc. She hands me the contract and it has insurance marked at 9 a day. She says no its not insurance its just a waiver saying I don't want the insurance. I tell her the way it sounds is that I am taking insurance and denie the other insurance options. She insisted my interpretation of what it said was wrong and I went along with it. That was the first thing I did wrong, i should of insisted that my interpretation was right. So while I am leaving the budget rental office I see a sign that says if you don't fill up the tank and drive less than 75 miles you will be charged a 13.99 refuling fee plus cost of gas. Not a problem for me as I was driving exactly 76 miles away from JFK and back so thats 152 miles round trip. 10 hours later I return the car but before I did I filled her up. Turn the car in hand in the gas reciept with the paper work and I am told that their computers are down that they will check the car in, in the morning. I place my gas reciept with the paper work hand it to the dude and he puts it in the stack of other cars paper work. Mistake two on my part i should of taken the car home and returned it when their system was up and running. Three days later I check my AMEX and I see an additional 23.77 charged to my amex. I call Budget they tell me that their computers can't access rental agreements for rental locations in Jamica. I am confused and she said I rented the car from their Jamaica Location and they can't access those rental agreements. I tell her last time I checked Jamaica NY is in the United States she insisted it wasn't but I told her to try anyway and she said ohhh you didn't tell me it was JFK airport. I told her she didn't ask. Then she says that their computers have been down and they don't have access to my rental agreement at the moment to try calling back the next day which I did. I am then told that the $23.77 charge is for the 9 dollar insurance, 13.99 refuling for driving less than 75 miles and 78 cents for the gas they put into the car. I insited I never requested insurance but she says I initialed it and I requested a copy be sent to me, and they sent it and of course where they showed me i intitialed was the exact line that I was told didn't mean what I thought it meant. So I didn't argue that because I did initial and should of stuck to what I thought it meant instead of letting the girl at the counter convince me otherwise. But anyway the 13.99 and the .78 cents I was not going to pay. The lady on the phone says I drove it less than 75 miles. I tell her I wrote the millage I picked it up with on the paper and your security guard signed off on it. it was 9006 miles and she said their computer showed it as 9006 miles when I picked it up. I then asked her how many miles did it have on it when I returned it she woudn't answer me but said out of courtersy they would refund the money. Pissed me off because I knew they were wrong and weren't doing me any favors by being courtious. So I pressed the issue and she finally said I retuned the car with well over 75 miles driven and shouldn't of been charged in the first place the refuling fee or gas since I did submit a reciept showing I filled the tank. The .78 cents was the gas I burned from the gas station to the lot. Learned my lesson. great... we are going to New york tomorrow night and landing at JFK, and guess who our rental company is? Yup, Budget. I wont let them play bull shit on me. |
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| I just canceled another budget rental that I had for next month in Los Angeles for my trip to disneyland and booked it with Hertz I didn't know I was a gold plus member with hertz what ever that is.
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Email/MSN: Michael at hardwaregeeks.comAIM: MikeR35292 |
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| Do you mean Hertz #1 Club Gold? That allows you to go straight to your rental car. You show your driver's license on the way out of the parking lot. |
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 PhoenixDown-- Wants FIOSPremium
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY
kudos:1 | reply to HardwareGeek
Sleezy...
I take pictures (with my camera phone) of odometers and gas just in case. Thankfully I haven't had an issue.
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 dandelionPremium,MVM
join:2003-04-29
Germantown, TN
kudos:4
 ·Comcast
| reply to HardwareGeek
Having rented a car from Budget online wanting a particular level.. i.e. more luxury models, when it came time to pick up the car the only one offered was a downgraded one. The sales people also tried to inform us that this downgraded, basic was the "same" as what we rented online. Since this was our only choice at the time, and fearing other rental companies had nothing available, we took the car. This is the last time I will try Budget however.
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| reply to HardwareGeek
said by HardwareGeek:I am then told that the $23.77 charge is for the 9 dollar insurance, 13.99 refuling for driving less than 75 miles and 78 cents for the gas they put into the car. Hertz Penske in 1986 when i got out of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, tried to screw me over. I filled up the moving truck two blocks from the drop off location. They insisted on trying to put more fuel in the tank, the idiot drove up to the pump, the hieght of the canopy over the pumps was too low  .
They ripped the soffit of the canopy and gouged the upper portion of the truck. In the background I'm laughing my ass off, trying to gouge me for 1 buck and causing about a thousand bucks in damage. They also overfilled the tank and spilled fuel on the ground. I made sure that they notated that the damage was't caused by me. ID ten Tees |
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scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | reply to HardwareGeek
Yeah, Budget screwed me over on the final bill (via extra hours) something like 20 years ago at Midway Airport in Chicago, but I was in a hurry and didn't notice it until I got home. I called to complain and basically got the run-around. I haven't forgotten that incident, and I haven't used Budget since. Alamo, either, as they tried an insurance scam (similar to yours) in Orlando not too long after that. |
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 TechnogeezAgape in amazement.Premium
join:2007-01-20 | reply to HardwareGeek
I guess we've all been horked on the "convenience gas fee."
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The farther one travels, the less one knows. |
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DodgePremium
join:2002-11-27 | reply to HardwareGeek
Reading this I am so glad I've only dealt with Hertz. Last time I had to deal with hertz was in Hawaii. I wanted to the tiniest, cheapest POS they had for one day, which in that location would have been a Corolla. I get to the desk, they asked if my credit card has insurance, I said yes and the guy pre-checked all of the declined options. So then he goes to get the car and it turns out the last small sedan was taken for repairs that morning.
I looked at my wife saying, goody this is going to be a huge fight with an idiotic upsell attempt. So the guy starts typing something on his computer and tells me, we have an audi here, but that will cost extra (I am getting ready internally to start yelling), or we have a Jeep Wrangler, which normally will be more expensive, but seeing how we messed up with your reservation I'll give it to you for the same price (my jaw is on the floor at this point, did he just admit to a mistake?!?) So I agree to the wrangler. He goes in the back and comes back with this: "The car has been taken to the beach so it has sand in it, you can either wait a couple of hours for us to clean it or I will waive any gas charges, the car is at full right now".
I thought I will have a heart attack from this, first I was taking it to the beach as one of my destinations, so I couldn't care less about the sand, second, did I just get an suv for a price of a corolla and free gas? WOW. |
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| If you reserve a car and they don't have it, they will give you a bigger car at the smaller car's rate. You can sometimes use that to your advantage.
I was on a business trip and Avis gave me an Escort station wagon. Yuk. Double Yuk. Lucky for me, the car had a nest of ants(!) in it and one turn signal was burned out. So I waited until 5 PM to return it to the airport, knowing that Avis would be out of compact cars. So they gave me a red Mustang with a V6 engine. Sure as hell beat the Escort wagon! Drove the Mustang on back roads across the San Joaquin Valley at 85 mph. Sweet! |
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1 edit | reply to Bobcat79
said by Bobcat79:Now you know why Hertz is #1. I'm pretty sure all of these rental companies suck from time to time.
My first and so far only experience with Hertz wasn't great:
Online check-in "be on your way 10 minutes or less" didn't work because their kiosks were down. More than an hour wait after a transcon flight, just want I wanted to do.
Then they gave me a Kia Rondo for my "Mazda6 or similar sedan" reservation and didn't even give me the courtesy of telling me that the vehicle type wasn't what I'd requested. I didn't find out until I'd walked to the spot and did a double-take on the spot's number. Yup, that's my car. After waiting for so long I just went with it so I could get on my way. |
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| you get 50 dollars credit if you have to wait more than 10 minutes.
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Email/MSN: Michael at hardwaregeeks.comAIM: MikeR35292 |
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TechnogeezAgape in amazement.Premium
join:2007-01-20 | reply to Bobcat79
said by Bobcat79:If you reserve a car and they don't have it, they will give you a bigger car at the smaller car's rate. You can sometimes use that to your advantage. I was on a business trip and Avis gave me an Escort station wagon. Yuk. Double Yuk. Lucky for me, the car had a nest of ants(!) in it and one turn signal was burned out. So I waited until 5 PM to return it to the airport, knowing that Avis would be out of compact cars. So they gave me a red Mustang with a V6 engine. Sure as hell beat the Escort wagon! Drove the Mustang on back roads across the San Joaquin Valley at 85 mph. Sweet! Well, with all the personally identifiable information in that post, don't be surprised to get a letter from Avis... 
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 techjoePremium
join:2004-02-20
Warrenville, IL
kudos:1
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Hertz Gold is awesome. I've always had the Mazda6 or lesser selected and the worst car I received was the Mazda6 Sport (speed shifter!!). I also got a hot yellow Mustang not too long ago.
The one time I went outside of Hertz to save myself ~30 minutes cost me ~30 minutes fighting fees w/Enterprise. Learned my lesson there; Stick with Hertz.
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1 edit | reply to HardwareGeek
They should have a quote under their company name/logo that says "you get what you pay for". And don't buy the Hertz or "my car rental service is better than yours" argument either. I saw a Hertz "gold club" member (or whatever their VIP program is called) have to wait in line for 45 mins with the rest of us when his car (which he was supposed to be able to walk right up too from the terminal bus) was not there. And he's a corporate guy whose company rents by the dozen. They all stink! Very unorganized business....He was livid. Funny guy though who made me laugh. He's in line and on his cell with the 800 number people screaming at them to cancel his corporate account.
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People who don't get good service on average tell 10 others while people who do get good service on average tell 1. |
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| reply to Bobcat79
said by Bobcat79:If you reserve a car and they don't have it, they will give you a bigger car at the smaller car's rate. You can sometimes use that to your advantage. I was on a business trip and Avis gave me an Escort station wagon. Yuk. Double Yuk. Lucky for me, the car had a nest of ants(!) in it and one turn signal was burned out. So I waited until 5 PM to return it to the airport, knowing that Avis would be out of compact cars. So they gave me a red Mustang with a V6 engine. Sure as hell beat the Escort wagon! Drove the Mustang on back roads across the San Joaquin Valley at 85 mph. Sweet! Whats the point of reserving a car if they dont have it? Isnt that the point of a reservation, so they have it? |
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| reply to HardwareGeek
Yeah, I love Hertz too. I don't rent often but when I do they have always been excellent to deal with.
Went on vacation in 2007 to Seattle and had an AMEX certificate for $150 off a rental. Got to the desk and they said it was no good as you were supposed to use it when making the reservation. Of course I didn't read it and just put the envelope in the vacation paperwork folder.
After the desk agent trying things, a call to the 1800 number that said "sorry, can't do that", she puts me in touch with the manager. A quick "Look, I'm here on vacation, didn't read it, and need a favor" and I had my $150 off a rental.
Then the lady says I've got a brand new Edge with navigation for you (we reserved a midsize), no additional charges.
It's stuff like that which has me just using them as I know I'll get treated well.
The only time I don't use them is when I need something local as there is an Enterprise about a mile from our house. Have had decent service there too. |
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