Complaint Review: Budget Rent A Car - Nationwide

Stranded us in the wilderness for 8 hrs, cost us $130 in extra fees & remain unapologetic

We rented a car from Budget in Carmel CA.

We drove to Yosemite National Park.

The park is enormous. On our way from our lodging in one section to our next lodging in another section, we got a flat tire.

We got out and were going to attempt to change it as we were too far from anywhere that we could bring it to have it done.

We were not looking forward to it as I am blind (not the driver of course) and my wife is a petite lady who has no experience with changing tires.

But we figured we’d try and we’d eventually be better off than we were.

Well, there was no spare tire!

Someone was kind enough to help us out and pumped some air back into the tire so that we could make it to the garage in Yosemite Valley.

They did not have the size tire we needed.

We called Budget and they said the way they dealt with flat tires is to send out another car.

It took them 3 hours to make arrangements to get a car from Fresno.

That was another 5 hours away!

The folks in the garage were nice and let us stay there for a few hours.

But eventually, they had to close.

There was nowhere else to go.

There were no restaurants, hotels or anywhere else we could go to get out of the heat.

I’m not a young person and have a heart condition.

I was not only concerned for my immediate health, but also that my supply of medication for the trip might spoil, sitting in the heat for many hours.

There was nothing Budget would do for us.

Finally, we implored the lodge we were headed for to send someone to pick us up.

They contacted someone who said he would do it. But it was an hour travel each way and he would like $60 for his time, gas, etc.

Of course we were happy to do what it took to get to civilization.

I got a receipt from the fellow. I has his name, address, phone number and what the receipt is for.

It took me a while to submit it as I just didn’t want to deal with that.

I finally did and they refused to reimburse me.

Likewise, they are charging us $69 for the flat tire.

Our credit card company covers insurance on car rentals.

But they are denying the claim because it is 4 months later!

They say has to be within 60 days.

I don’t blame them.

But I do blame Budget.

All of this was because they choose not to supply a spare tire.

(they claim it saves them money. Are they kidding? For what they paid for a tow truck to bring the new car and bring back the 1^st one, they could by over a dozen spare tires!

Worst of all, they don’t tell people they are driving without a spare!

I told them that just as I wouldn’t go into the mountains / forest without gas, water, food, a flashlight, etc, I certainly wouldn’t (knowingly) go without a spare tire!

I didn’t ask because I’ve never encountered this in my life!

And we have rented cars all over the world.

1. They didn’t supply a spare.

2. They didn’t inform us

3. They took 8 hours to replace the car.

4. They refuse to reimburse us for the money we had to spend on alternate transportation.

5. They are very proud of their position. Completely unapologetic.

Most companies that caused a customer so much discomfort would do something to compensate – rebate the cost of the bill (or at least a portion) ....something!

These *quality people* won’t even reimburse our additional costs.

They are extremely nasty, incompetent and a nightmare in every way.

I wish we’d seen all the terrible reviews before renting from them.