Complaint Review: Budget Rent a Car Systems Inc

On June 28, 2014 I rented a car from Budget (Orlando Airport location) Around 6:30 PM)- as I was driving on Hwy 528 (not more than 55 MPH) on my way from Orlando to Cocoa Beach, and a bird flew out of a marshy area next to the highway and slammed into the driver’s side headlight. There was no way for me to avoid the collision- the bird came at high speed and quite low- all I saw was a grey blur on the road and heard a thud. On reaching the destination I inspected the damage- and quite surprised to see the headlight lens on the driver’s side was cracked. But the light itself is still functional. Subsequently I immediately returned the same vehicle to aforementioned location, showed the person in charge the damage and voluntarily went inside the Terminal on June 29 early morning hours (after 1 AM I believe)- and asked to fill out the incident report. (I found a person after much searching in the parking garage- who was pretty lackadaisical if I had to really report the incident at all- but I made it a point to go inside and fill out the necessary paperwork). For repairing a cracked headlight lens that should not cost more than $200 - they sent me a damage claim bill for $1122 (including loss of service and other completely bogus charges). I didn't have time to argue- just went ahead and passed their bill to my insurance carrier (Encompass Insurance)- who were very responsive and immediately agreed to pay all but my $250 deductible- which I promptly mailed out and provided Budget Fasttrack a copy of the mailed check as well as USPS tracking no. Then for next several weeks they keep harangue me (people from Budget Fasttrack unit- a Mike Mohunta Unit Manager Avis Budget Group, Kristine Brooke Claims Examiner Avis Budget Group, Collection agency called CyberSource.com)- claiming I never sent payment, check is lost, check was never received...and so on. But they refuse to the due diligence on the missing piece of mail, which I repeatedly provide USPS tracking no, and contacting USPS they strongly claimed that yes, it was received by Budget (their subcontractor named Mercury)- but Budget Fasttrack keeps on denying and will not follow up. Finally on 9/17 I give in to their collection agency and provide them a credit card no. to get them off my back to charge my portion to that credit card. Only to find on 9/16 they cash the original check that I have provided- (which they kept repeatedly lying an denying receipt of it- my bank advised me that same check has cleared on 9/16.) In effect I double paid my charges. So, it's a very nice scam or height of inefficiency by these people at Budget Fast Track. Just to put things in perspective- (fool.com/quote/nasdaq/avis-budget-group-inc/car/insider-transactions) in August of this year, their CEO Donald Nelson earns a nice change of $1.5M from selling shares. Now, I'm not a millionaire, and have to work hard for my money- so I don't appreciate getting scammed to increase bottom line for Mr. Nelson. But I'm sure a great man like Mr. Nelson would utilize that $1.5 Million to provide some ethics and operations efficiency training to Budget Fasttrack - wouldn't you agree that is sorely needed??