Budget® Reviews
They called the night before I was moving to Indiana from Florida to leave a message on my phone that they had no tow dollys available for my car. Then I called corporate and the lady said they would get back to me tyhe same day on a dolly at another location. They never got back with me. I am now moved to Indiana, and my car is still in FL at the airport's long term parking. I will never use them again and I will never recommend them to anyone.
Very disappointed with Budget. We made a reservation for their biggest truck and a trailer to tow behind, with a pickup time of 9am. At 8:03 we received a call that the location was out of trailers and the closest one was two hours away. We already had our moving crew scheduled to arrive that morning based on our 9am pickup time, so this had a huge effect on our day. By 9:45 we finally got a call back and were able to drive 45 minutes to pick up our truck and trailer. The man at the location we were sent to was incredibly kind and already had the truck and trailer hooked up for us. Although he was wonderful, overall, our moving day was pretty frustrating since we had to push everything back 2 hours.
This was the 2nd weekend we rented a truck to move our household goods. We learned from the weekend before to reserve the truck the night before we needed it to be assured we would actually be able to get the 26' truck we reserved. The penalty Budget charges for late returns is very minimal so some customers do not return on time which leaves the next renter in a bind. We had to pay for 2 days but after the hassle of the last weekend it was worth it. The truck was fine, no issues.
The truck we reserved was not available at the Rockville, MD location. The manager called 1 day prior to tell us it would be available at another location which was the same distance away. We arrived at 8am to pick up the 26' truck & the clerk didn't have our reservation. He was not willing to help us. We called the manager of the Rockville store and spoke with a regional who stated the truck would not be returned until 11am. So we waited until 11 and no truck. We drove back to Rockville location & spoke with manager who apologized, stated the only trucks left were 2, 12 foot ones. We took those as now it was after noon & we were so far behind. She did give us some free things to help with our move, but it was inconvenient & we had to make more than 1 trip as the truck size was smaller. Lesson learned, reserve and pick up truck 1 day before you need it which we did the following weekend.
Budget truck was fine - nothing too fancy but it got the job done. The guy in charge where we picked up the truck was incredibly helpful - told us to call even after hours because he would be around and even offered to help us put the car on the towing dolly. We were pretty nervous to use a towing trailer for our car (attached to a 16' truck!) because we had never done anything like that before, but after getting used to it it was pretty straight forward. The only thing was we had to go to gas stations, restaurants, etc. where we could pull through into two spots because you can't reverse with a trailer. After unloading the truck at our destination, we discovered that leaving the flashers on for 2 hours had killed the battery. We called the 800 number for a jump and they arrived in less than an hour. We moved in a day earlier than expected, so I called Budget to see if there was somewhere I could drop off the truck after hours. The person on the phone was very helpful and told me I could drop it off at a different after hours location not too far from the other location as long as I called both to let them know. Pretty simple and I was glad they let me change--otherwise we would have had a tough time finding overnight parking in downtown St Louis!
Budget did not honor the 3 wk in advance CONFIRMED reservation for an 8:30am 26' moving truck for a move from Houston, Texas to Dallas, Texas. After Budget sent us on several wasted searches of a replacement truck, we were not able to secure a Budget truck but got a Penske truck until 3:30pm. The 1st movers were scheduled for 10am. That didnt happen. This scheduling change created a chain reaction of financial hazards. The first was the truck. A last minute reservation came with a serious increase in truck cost. We lost our contract with top-graded movers and hireahelper matched us with a last minute overpriced unrated moving company. More money. The "movers" were not professional but day laborers picked up at a Budget location/area. They were hired for four hours, two bdrm apt. The Guys used my moving materials (tape, shrink wrap, bottled water, paper towels, etc.) generously. In the midst of the move the guys moved our things haphazardly and damaged many articles. When the guys began to move the antique dresser, I instructed them not to drag it over the carpet. They dragged the dresser and snapped the front left leg and loosened the right front leg. More money and migraine level headaches. This happened @ 6:20pm. When the guys realized they had broken the dresser, they laid it down in my livingroom floor and three of them left the move. One guy stayed because his phone was in the move company owner's car. Mr. Harrison returned @ 7pm. He asked us (my friend and me) where were the workers; we informed him they left. We finally left Houston @ midnight; more than $700 over budget because Budget leasing practices are NOT DEPENDABLE even with a 3-wk advance CONFIRMED reservation. Please read the small print. It will tell you Budget does not care about customers.
I reserved a 12' truck but received a 16' truck from Budget. They said the 12' had a broken windshield and they would call me later in the day so I could switch items to the 12'. No call was received. The 16' had a worn tire in the front that made me uncomfortable. Others were at the desk same time as I unhappy because what they had reserved was not available. I will use Penske from now on.
For clarity I have not heard back from Budget regarding this bad experience so they may redeem themselves. I am in the process of sending a complaint. My husband picked up the moving truck and drove across town and noticed a "check engine" light was on. He called them and they said "bring it back and we will switch out". WHAT A PAIN IN NASHVILLE TRAFFIC. He drive back to Budget Truck and they did not even apologize for the inconvenience. He was concerned as the truck looked pretty beat up. The next day he took off for the 500 mile trip. The beat-up truck had a front tire blow-out in Memphis, TN. He briefly lost control of the truck because of it being a front tire but managed to pull it to the center median on Interstate 40. He called Budget's "Roadside Assistance" number and spent 10 minutes on hold. When they finally answered, he was told it would be TWO HOURS before they could get anyone to him. Keep in mind, this is in the middle of a big city. Granted it was a Sunday (which was their excuse) but we are AAA members and my daughter had a flat tire that morning in Nashville and AAA arrived in 15 minutes. I got on the phone attempting to reach Budget because I thought a 2-hour wait was RIDICULOUS. The phone call (in which I was on hold most of the time) lasted ONE HOUR AND FOUR MINUTES and offered no resolution. My husband reported the flat tire at 12:58 p.m. and was not on the road again until 3:45. It made for a completely miserable experience. Would NEVER EVER recommend them to anyone.
I specifically looked for a larger truck than I needed so it would have a loading ramp and would be safer and easier to load. I booked a 16 foot truck. When I went to pick it up, the trucks hadn't been delivered. There were no larger trucks with ramps available. They could get me a 12 foot truck but it wouldn't be cleaned. So I took it. I had to get moved and I was sure that this load would fit. So I am loading the truck, up and down on a narrow, somewhat slick and rounded step. I went to get out of the truck and slipped. I fell very hard on the pavement and passed out. My wife managed to get me to the ER where the verdict was that I had suffered severe injuries to my right side and broken 3 ribs. Got home about midnight. But I was still in the middle of a move. So I wound up shelling out about $600 hiring movers to load and unload the truck. Then I had to drive it 3 1/2 hours with broken ribs, severe bruising and the various aches and pains one would expect after this. Then come back the next day. Still haven't received the bill for the ER visit but my insurance is awful. All of this because you didn't fulfill a service that I had contracted you for. No, I am NOT very happy right now as I sit wasting the time I had allowed to finish renovating my house. No, I am NOT very happy about not being allowed to start my new job and get a paycheck for two weeks beyond that because that is the soonest the doctor would agree to let me go to work. I think that what I AM feeling is a very understandable and significant level of disgust and anger.
Biggest complaints are they don't tell you that you have to prove that your insurance company will cover the truck if you rent it and waive Budget's insurance. There is a form you have to fill out and you have to call your insurance company on the spot or they will not rent you the truck. Hard to do at 7am ... So you get stuck for another hundred buck taking Budget insurance since you can't do what they want on the spot. Also truck not full of gas so you have to find a place to get a monster truck into first thing. Not really what you want to have to do either.
When we inquired about the size of the truck we were looking for the lady told us a 16' truck would be the size that we needed. Unfortunately, this was not the case. We ended up needing to rent a 6x12' uHaul trailer because your company doesn't have trailers. When I called your customer service line and explained the situation, that lady that I spoke to was so rude, that I had to hang up on her in order to keep from lashing right back at her. Never once offered to find us a bigger truck. All she had to say was that they (Budget) can't see into our rooms and know exactly what we have in order to tell us the size truck we needed to rent. Ok, then what's the point of running your business? Isn't that what you are there for is to provide customer service, which would include helping someone that has never moved before with the size truck that would hold all of their belongings? I will never use your company again and I do know that we will be moving again in a year or so. uHaul will be my go to company in the future. You definitely get what you pay for! We moved a 2 bedroom but, also informed the lady that helped us that we had a garage and a storage unit so, we would need a bigger truck than the standard 2-3 bedroom sized truck.
I rented the Budget Truck to move and was extremely unhappy about the fact that the rental was not at the location I picked to pick it up as I reserved. I spoke with several employees and managers about the status of the Truck and given the run around each time forcing me to find an alternate rental Truck agency. Thank goodness Uhaul had one 26' truck available. Uhaul is a bit more expensive but well worth the struggle. I will never ever use or recommend Budget rental trucks.
I made an online reservation for 26’ truck, one-way, for a period of 4 days. Showed up to the rental facility and told “you should have been called yesterday, we have no trucks here. Your truck is at another location 30 minutes away”. This was only a few hours before our hired movers were showing up to load the truck. Go to the new rental location 30 minutes from original- guess what? We don’t have your reservation for a truck here and no truck available. Call the Budget customer service number and told we can try to find a truck somewhere in the state, we will call you back in a few hours. Called back and told me “we confirmed with the second location you were sent to that they have your truck. Go there.” Well 2 hours ago they didn’t have my truck. I was put on hold and the customer service agent said I just called that location and- no truck. After several hours of runaround, we rented a truck from Uhaul instead. Apparently a reservation made online with a credit card confirmation does not guarantee you will actually get a truck.