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January 2024 by Roltey Fontenette
I’m not to happy with budget rental. I rented a car and picked it up in Richmond, Virginia airport and turned it in in New York airport. At the time of rental we paid $800 and some change and drove off with the car. Now they saying we didn’t pay and and charges my account $702 now how this happened idk. But I’m not happy about it and working to solve this matter now. I will say the staff was cool and everything was easy to get but they did say one price over the phone. And then it was almost 400 more than we expected. Now going back reading reviews it seem like the Richmond location just ain’t it.
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December 2023 by Kime Kyungu
Despite the initial challenge at the Budget office in Richmond, VA, where counters were unexpectedly closed, the transition to Avis for assistance was smooth. Despite the long queue, after a 45-minute wait, a professional and polite lady from Avis processed the reservation efficiently, calming down frustrated customers. The vehicle pickup was positive – clean and functional. Returning the car was convenient with a Budget representative at the drop-off zone. Despite the initial delay, the overall service and the exceptional handling of the situation is what appreciated the most. I forgot the Avis representative's name who assisted me but it probably because of her that I had an overall satisfying experience.
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December 2023 by Russell Baker
Last week, I rented a pickup truck for a week, and it was clean, full tank, and ready to go. It was new, and I could pair my phone with Android Play, sync Google Maps, my music, etc.Last night, I returned, and they gave me an older truck, no Android Play. Windshield has something greasy smeared in my line of sight. It's storming, torrential rain, and wind in the middle of the night as I try to drive over an hour to the next city. Not happy.
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December 2023 by Angela Czarnecki
Arrived at Richmond Airport to pick up the Tahoe that we reserved and paid for months in advance, to be told that the vehicles are rented on a first come, first served basis. We were given a mini van instead. The van had the drivers side trim panel missing around the window. We had to wait for the representative to go and find another van and change our paperwork.
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December 2023 by Tom Johnson
The car was clean and fuel efficient. The staff, welcoming and attentive. I’m leaving the worst possible rating for one reason: false advertising. I make a point of price comparisons. Every other rental company gives you the final price, including taxes and fees for the whole rental period. With Budget, you get the bill after you commit. They offer a good discount for advance, non-refundable payment. There is not so much as a asterisk to warn you that other fees are lurking in the shadows. Someday, I’ll get a note from a law firm I’ve never heard of and a check for $39.14 representing my share of what I hope will be a large and painful class action settlement paid by Budget.
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December 2023 by Taryn Wade
Richmond airport, Budget rental vehicle has to be the worst rental place we have ever used. First time shame on them, second time shame on us. We have used them twice and both times some sort of major catastrophe. First time we waited over an hour. The. We were told our suv would never be available so they gave us a Dodge truck. Fine if it hadn’t been rising and all of our luggage was soaked. Not to mention it smelled so strongly of marijuana we got headaches. I’m not talking a joint or two smoked, I’m talking like raw marijuana was transported in it. Days and days of having the vehicle it still smelled as strong as the day we got it.This time we waited over three hours for our vehicle. We waited with approx 25 others. With one woman spending the night the previous night in the airport waiting on a vehicle. Staff gave zero explanations about why the delay just and abrupt “three hours.” Every person told something different. From 1 hour to 2 hours to 3 hours to 4 hours and even an hour and half.I could go on and on but basically do yourself a favor and go to Enterprise or Dollar, anything but Budget and Avis and they’re owned by the same people!
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November 2023 by Ron P
Worst experience ever renting a vehicle. I prepaid for a 7 passenger vehicle because that what I was needing. Upon arrival (my scheduled booking time) I was told there was none available that it could be 25 min wait. So I reluctantly waited in the cold parking deck as I was offered a lesser vehicle for the same premium price I paid. I saw what they offered when booking for 100$ less. I booked what I needed. So 25 minutes go by.. 1 hour n 10min go by. No vehicle, and no manager ever came after I requested one and was told she was in her way. After freezing enough I took a vehicle the offered. A POS by the way, an old 4 seat vehicle that was dirty old and have more miles 62k than all 4 of my personal vehicles put together. This vibrating car got parked at my family’s house and I rented another vehicle for the trip from another company. Upon returning I again asked to speak to a manager whom again ever showed before I had to run catch my flight.
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November 2023 by Malou Bautista
Returns was a nightmare. Upon ordering this rental-I specifically told the agent my flight schedule & the need to return the car during after hours. DCA facility was closed/gated & had no return lockbox for us to utilize. No one warned us about this facility being closed for afterhours until we called the 800 customer service. There was 5cars waiting with us at 230am. This event almost missed our flight. And gave me an asthma attack rushing for our flight. Absolutely not acceptable
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November 2023 by Michelle W.
Customer service at check in was horrible. She was rude and obviously didn't want to be there. I was the only one in line. I went through Costco and she would not honor the price change as the date for reserving it was wrong. I had to go online cancel and rebook. Then she said I needed to wait an hour. She just needed to go home with that type of service! Why are you at WORK if you don't want to work!? Clearly management does not read or care of their reviews. The ladies at the car pick up were ok, the person who I returned my car to was the one who had the best service. The car upgrade was nice, giving. Service is everything right now. Car ran smooth and enjoyed driving it around. The prices they charge for a gas refill is outrageous so make sure to fill up before you drop off.
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November 2023 by Colin Hanson
I arrived at Richmond Airport at 11:45PM after my flight had been changed. I had a rental car reservation with Dollar and had informed them in the morning before my flight of the change and expected late arrival. I was assured by Dollar there would be someone there to give me a car. When we arrived there was nobody at Dollar, the lights were out.I scrambled to find a solution and went to Budget which was the only car rental still open. I was served by a wonderfully helpful gentleman who gave me a Ford Mustang at a quite reasonable rate. He went out of his way to be helpful, I wish I'd noted his name.
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October 2023 by ashley williams
Was given a vehicle with bald front tires and the metal showing. The uneven wear made it so we couldn’t tell since it was to the inside of the tires. I have been calling and searching the website for the roadside process and have yet to get a refund for the tires or any part of the rental after such an extremely dangerous and inconvenient screw up.
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October 2023 by Mark Southworth
I have always had good service renting a vehicle with Budget. My vehicle was upgraded free from Full Size to Luxury! There was only one issue this time, I didn't receive a copy of my contract when I was handed the key fob at the time of rental. That copy of the contract is your proof that you are driving a rented vehicle if ever stopped by police. It may have been an oversight. The Agent in the Fastbreak booth was extremely busy with a line of customers. She was very professional. No harm done.
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October 2023 by Marci H
Our experience with Budget set our trip off in a really negative way. We waited in line for an hour before we even got the counter. They didn't have the car we wanted (a small car) and instead gave us an SUV. I had purposely rented a car so that we would have a trunk to securely store our luggage and because w would be doing a lot of driving - so we could conserve on gas. Once we got to the counter, it took so long - as it did for everyone in line ahead of us. Then, once we got to the garage, we had to wait for our vehicle to be ready. It took over 90 minutes from the time we got in line to the time we drove off the lot. This is totally unacceptable and made us miss our first activity on our trip. We ended up having to buy Windex and paper towels because the windshield was SO filthy inside and out. We believe someone was vaping in the car because of the odor and the film on the inside of the windows. Very unhappy customer here!
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October 2023 by Katie Delaney
First car was filled with smell of cigarette smoke. Second car was damaged. Then Budget instructed me to go back to the rental location to exchange the car. This took an hour and a half out of my day. When I arrived, they did not exchange the car, they just made a handwritten note on my contract, and sent me on my way.After all this disruption to my trip, and waste of my time, budget had the audacity to charge me an additional $40 because my car was “40 minutes late “ However, the start time Budget used was for the very first interaction with the Budget agent. I didn’t drive away from the rental location for at least 45 minutes (after the exchange for a car with no smell of smoke), Plus, it doesn’t credit me for the inconvenience of losing an hour and a half returning to the airport to exchange a car that they ended up not exchanging.Additionally, their customer service stinks. You have to go through a daisy chain of prompts took nearly a half hour to actually speak with a human being about your problem. And, when you do actually speak to a person, it’s somebody in a foreign call center, who has no authority to help you or do anything whatsoever.
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October 2023 by T R.
No staff at the window and arrow pointing to get help from the Avis window...I was told it would be a long wait to get a car due to staffing shortages. Come on Budget, get it together!