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  • Report:  #1329838

Complaint Review: Budget Rent A Car - Orlando Florida

Reported By:
Burned by Budget - Tucson, Arizona, USA
Submitted:
Updated:

Budget Rent A Car
1 Jeff Fuqua Blvd (MCO) Orlando, 32827 Florida, USA
Phone:
800-621-2380
Web:
www.budget.com
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?

I rented a car from this Budget location. Two weeks after the return, I received a letter explaining that I was being charged $150.00 for stained seats. I did not notice these stains when I accepted the car, nor did I cause them. I did not damage the car in anyway, including the stains on the seats. The stains were either pre-existing, or occurred after the car was returned.

Budget's agent accepted the car's return without indicating that there was any problem. He got in the car to check the mileage and gas tank. Why didn't he notice these severly stained seats? How can they send a letter over two weeks later insisting that I pay for damaging this car?  

My credit card was billed for $150.00 for this erroneous claim. I called the Customer Service number provided and was told by agent Milton that there was no possibility of removing this charge.

Budget Orlando does this stained seat scam to others too: Check out Matt of Grove City, OH on the following site

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/budget.html

I wonder if Matt got the same car I had?



1 Updates & Rebuttals

FloridaNative

Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida,
USA
Car Rental ripoff

#2Consumer Comment

Sat, September 24, 2016

I totally believe you.  I haven't rented from Budget, but I just rented from Alamo last week (for a week) and these car rental companies make it extremely difficult to complete the pre-rental and post-rental inspections of the vehicle you choose to rent, in my opinion. At least it was that way last week. I literally had to force the rental representative to walk around the vehicle and I took photos of each mark (minor or not). The representative refused to record the ding/minor damage on the rental form stating that they no longer do that and there is no place on the form to make those notations (because it is computer entry)! I am holding my breath to see if I receive a letter similar to yours even though I turned in the vehicle in the exact same condition in which I rented it.  

Enterprise has been doing what you describe for many years. I'm sure it is a very healthy addition to their bottom line. As as result, I stopped using Enterprise about 5 years ago. Now that you mention Budget is doing this same tactic, I expect that other vehicle rental agencies have picked up on the sleazy practice. Thank you for the warning. The only thing we can do is vote with our feet and select a rental company that doesn't employ these scams. It would be nice to know if there is some government agency to report these fake damage scams to put a stop to this type of abuse.

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