I set up a truck rental last Friday August 6th, 2010. I was told by the employee Stephanie when I rented the truck on Friday morning that I could leave my car at the Budget Facility overnight and that the truck had to be back at the facility by 8:00 am the next morning otherwise there would be another day rate charge. She told me that her manager would be opening the facility at 8:00 am the next morning but that he was sometimes late.
I had the truck there at 8:15 the next morning -- Saturday, August 7 but the gates were locked. I waited. As I had just moved there were many things I had to do. At about 8:30 I called the corporate number and spoke to a woman who suggested I drop the keys in the box and, seeing that my car was locked in the facility, I should call a cab. She had no name or number for the manager. At 8:45 a car pulled up and the driver reiterated that the facility should have been open at 8:00. He was a repeat customer and didn't know why it wasn't open. He also told me to park the truck and put the keys in the box. I told him that my car was parked inside the facility. He was on first name terms with the manager -- he said this man 'David' was the owner or manager. He called a number from his mobile phone and after a brief conversation then told me that the person was on his way.
When David got there he opened the gates. I asked him if this was Budget way of treating their customers -- telling them to bring back the truck at 8:00 am but not bothering to open the gates until after 9:00am. He told me he didn't have to take any sh_t from me and that if I didn't like it, I could talk to the corporate office. Then he told me this lie: ""The girl who was supposed to open the facility had car troubles and she had called him to tell him she couldn't be there at 8:00 am."" I told him to process my papers and that I couldn't believe a national rental company would act so unprofessionally. He was very rude.
Then he checked the fuel and said that the tank wasn't full. I told him that when Stephanie and I had checked the fuel gauge on the morning when I rented the truck it did not go all the way to the 'F' mark. When I asked her about this she told me that fuel gauges on these bigger trucks were often not accurate. I had actually filled the truck just before returning it. The manager said I would have to wait and then drive with him to the gas station. Needless to say I left.
I am shocked at the treatment I received from this company. There was total disregard for me as a customer. I was made to waste an hour of my time. I was lied to and the truck's fuel gauge was faulty. Plus I found out from their corporate office that he had charged me $49.00 to fill the truck up anyway, this borders on criminal intent. The corporate office later credited this back to me. I will not only never do business with this company again, I will attempt to dissuade everybody I know from doing business with this company. I'm sure one bad apple won't harm Budget's reputation but I would give this facility a miss.
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