Budget® Reviews
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.
Our budget truck was terrible. It was very unkept and gross inside. All the surfaces were sticky and even though we had put a car freshener we couldn’t get rid of the stench inside the cab. Customer service is also very poor when we tried to return the truck. They weren’t able to find our reservation in their system which delayed the return of the vehicle.
Reservation and service staff great. But the vehicle was in really rough shape; was not really safe to drive as it was missing mirrors and had broken light covers. I should have refused based on safety but I figured I could manage (which I did). Engine was fine. Great, comfortable ride. Not too expensive to gas up.
Horrible experience. I rented a truck online three days prior to my move. I received no notification that the truck was not available until I arrived the morning of my move. I called customer service which I was on the phone for 2 hours and the manager just kept making excuses that "things happen and should just calm down". Once I spoke to their Regional manager the following week, the investigation led to the truck being at the location the entire time( the manager and his associate were just too lazy to wash, clean, and prep the truck). My first and very last experience with Budget.
The Budget Truck we received had almost 200K miles on it. It was a total dog, and struggled going up hills. Thank God we did not have a mountain pass to go over. It took forever to get up to speed which was dangerous at times trying to merge into freeway traffic. The headlights were very dim which made night travel more challenging. Overall, not happy with this moving truck.
BudgetTruck called to tell me there is no truck 16 hours before pickup. I had movers coming whom I was paying by the hour! Then the dude tried to negotiate with me a time that day when he can give me a truck. Called the customer center and then the truck was magically available at the time I booked it. The truck was in terrible condition, we though it won't make the trip and die on the highway. Dirty, too. Not moving dirty, but sticky stuff in the cabin dirty.
Picked up our reserved truck for a one way move across the country. Had to call three days in a row to "remind" the pickup dealer in Brooklyn that we were picking up on Sunday, a day they were actually closed as it turns out. Thankfully they were there. The cab was filthy. Had to wipe it down with disinfecting wipes since we were going to be in it for hours and days. The tire light was on when we picked it up. Didn't go off, but didn't have any tire issues. The cab was not a quiet ride, as signage on the doors advertise, but the a/c worked! Hoped the truck would get us where we were going, and it did.
I was taking advantage off due to no trucks available in California. What would have cost 2500 dollars cost close to 8,000. Obviously truck rentals was not their main business and there were not helpful at all in getting our car trailer connected to the truck. In fact they had parked the trailer over bushes and it took two us quite a time to loosen up the trailer and get it connected. The truck was dirty. The car trailer was all dented and actually lost a tire in the desert The road service at that time was terrible it took. We broke down at 6:00 in 107 degrees. they arrived at 1:00 am, we were forced to sleep in our trucks in night time temps of 94 degrees due to no hotel rooms available. The trucks cab had hard knocking sounds in the roof top that lasted for long durations. They also forgot to give me the dolly I paid for. The good news was the smiling face and help from the Budget personnel in Murfreesboro.
The overpriced budget lived down to and below its title. No help with the trailer, the truck was unclean. Many miles of wear. Loud banging from windshear on roof of vehicle cab for much of the over 2,000 mile drive. Vehicle transport was all dented up and one tire burst in the middle of the california desert at 6:00 in the evening, 107 degrees outside. Free roadside, which has a few nice folks, took seven hours to get a person out to replace the tire. A second mishap of my own making in a larger city was quickly resolved however, so I do give raves to those who actually talk to you, even if after hours of waiting for the next person to answer. (Learned it was faster to place an on line report)
Honestly cannot say enough bad things about Budget. Will absolutely never be using them again. To start with, the local location where I picked up the truck was just hysterically bad. I tried calling the location *literally* 15 times because I had crucial, time-sensitive questions and they just flat-out never picked up the phone. We actually witnessed them outright ignoring calls while we were in the building. Beyond that, they were outright rude, didn't give me the hand-trucks that I paid for, and acted surprised when we demanded a refund for that. Driving the truck itself was just as bad. It was a Ford E-350 which had some of the worst handling and suspension I've ever experienced in a vehicle. With every tiny bump, the truck felt like it was about to collapse in on itself. In fact, about 30 minutes into the drive, I drove over a slightly bumpy stretch of road (the kind of thing you wouldn't even think twice about in another vehicle) and it rattled the truck so badly that the airbag light came on. Dealing with that ended up costing so much time that I wasn't able to get to the truck drop-off location in time. They had the audacity to actually charge me the extra day, too! Just do yourself a favor and don't bother.
Worst rental company ever. A Month in advance I reserved an 18' truck. When I showed up all they had was a 12 footer. They offered no assistance to correct the error they made. They asked me if I was willing to drive 50 miles to pick up the correct truck and would not offer any other option. When I protested they cancelled my reservation. Terrible customer service. When I reluctantly took the 12 footer they over charged me! After the move (which took 3 trips due to the small truck), Budget Customer service was no help. I requested a supervisor 7 different times and NO ONE EVER CALLED ME BACK!. NEVER use budget Truck rental ! simply a terrible experience.