Budget® Reviews
Overall, I'm happy with my budget experience. I was frustrated when the truck I reserved wasn't available on the pick-up day/time and the truck they wanted to give me was much larger and had the check engine light on. However, we were able to go to another location and get the truck I originally wanted without any additional charge. Both service men I worked with were incredibly helpful. When I needed to return my truck after business hours, I was not charged any kind of fee and was able to drop the keys at a neighboring gas station. It was a positive experience in the end.
I booked my truck and movers over a month in advance. Budget confirmed my move two days before moving day and the day before moving day, yet dropped the ball completely on the big day. I showed up right on time, and they had zero trucks for me at that location or in the area. I was just told to call customer service. My movers- who I was paying by the hour, showed up on time with no truck to load. It was a nightmare. I finally gave up on customer service trying to find a solution and began calling every other moving truck company and location, I finally found another company last min. It cost me an additional $800 I had not budgeted for. Do not choose Budget. I couldn’t have planned and confirmed with them better, yet they still couldn’t figure it out. Very disappointed.
I booked my truck and movers over a month in advance. Budget confirmed my move two days before moving day and the day before moving day, yet dropped the ball completely on the big day. I showed up right on time, and they had zero trucks for me at that location or in the area. I was just told to call customer service. My movers- who I was paying by the hour, showed up on time with no truck to load. It was a nightmare. I finally gave up on customer service trying to find a solution and began calling every other moving truck company and location, I finally found another company last min. It cost me an additional $800 I had not budgeted for. Do not choose Budget. I couldn’t have planned and confirmed with them better, yet they still couldn’t figure it out. Very disappointed.
Everything was going great until I wanted to return my truck early. The location was closed. When I called customer service to see if there was another, open location to drop it off at, I was told that there was no other location open. I found out the next day - yes...there were two. This inability to return the vehicle early caused me extensive hassle and lost $$.
The set up and pick up of the truck was excellent but there was a small miscommunication on the drop off side. The time posted was incorrect and I had to go to their other location. Their customer service number tried to help but couldn't really do much as the sites were not answering. In the end everything turned out fine.
They we're straightforward, and the truck worked well. They don't allow after-hours drop offs. I rented a tow dolly for my car and suggested that I leave my car there, take the truck, load it, then come back and get my car, and they seemed unfamiliar with this pattern. They said I had to make it back before they closed to get the dolly, which was restricting, and we ended up finishing the load with the dolly attached.
Wow, I must have gotten the lemon truck. Started out the drive-way and the check engine light comes on. LIterally drove one mile. Then had to wait for a service guy - after he found nothing wrong, he reset the light and I was good to go....4 hours late into a 13 hour planned day on the road. Got it going and quickly realized that the drivers door had been damaged and repaired using weatherstrip and packging tape...literally! Leaked cold air and it sounded like I was in a wind tunnel the entire 14 HOUR DRIVE!! That sucked!! I drove with ear plugs in just to not go out of my mind. And to top all things, the truck would not go over 70mph with a tail wind and downhilll. This was likely the single worst rental truck experience I have ever had. Budget had U-haul and Penske's rate beat by $100 but this truck was a piece of *&^%.
Worst truck ever, told the lady at the counter and she said "Ok". The truck would not go faster than 40 mph up small hills. If you went over 60 mph, no AC. Check engine light on the whole time and the clerk said "that's normal". Had I not already loaded the truck with my stuff I would have returned ASAP... Moved 1 year ago and it cost me $400, this time $1,200 to go back to the same place I moved from... Rip off...
I had a cross country move and had reserved a tow dolly. Two days before I was scheduled to pick up my truck and trailer I received a call that the two dolly was damaged by the previous customer and there was not one available within 350 miles. It was too late to book with another company, so I had to arrange for someone to drive my car down and pay to fly them back. Budget's inability to accommodate my reservation cost me close to $1000 dollars beyond my moving budget. When I called customer service, the offered to refund me $110. I am still going to contact corporate, so I hope they will offer me something more reasonable. I don't have high expectations based on my experience thus far.
The customer service is lacking to say the least. If you need help, don't look for it here. Also you'll need to get transportation to and from pickup/drop-off, as there is zero parking, and they don't let you know that until you're already there to pickup your truck. Also any quote you get add at least $100 to because they'll add lots of fun "fees" when you pickup the vehicle.