I rented a car on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 from the airport location, which is independently owned and operated. I called the location first and explained that I only had a debit card and the manager stated that would be ok. At that time Manager took my debit card ( despite the written sign stating that they do not accept debit cards. The estimated charges were going to be about $215.00. He placed a hold on my account of $200.00. I called back on Thursday to request an extension and a better rate comparable to the one posted on website. Sherry said I would need to bring the car back and close that rental out and re-rent the vehicle to get the new rate. I brought the vehicle back on 07-14-2011. She closed the rental out and opened the new one at the better rate. She took my debit card and without disclosing the amount placed a $500.00 hold on my debit card for estimated charges of $61.50. I received a text message from my bank indicating that my account had been over drawn by $167.21. I then asked her if she had just held $500.00 on my card. She said yes that was their policy. I explained that earlier in the week Budget had only held $200.00. She again stated this was their policy. I asked to see the policy, because nowhere on the contract I signed did it state this policy or was it indicated anywhere that they had held any amount on my card. She brought out a book and stated that these were also listed on the website. I read the policy and it states that "generally we require a debit card authorization hold of estimated charges plus $200..." I pointed this out to her and she said it was for credit cards. I showed her the words "Debit Card Hold Rules". She then claimed that they do not accept debit cards. I told her she just accepted mine. And that she couldn’t say they do not take them and then accept them and charge whatever they want. I asked to speak to the manager. He came out and I questioned why they had only held $200.00 earlier in the week (which was still being held on my card at this time as well. He replied with" I don’t know you from Adam. We are basically giving you a $20, 000.00 car for $ 500.00. You could just take off in the car. I would hunt you down." I said “so now you are calling me a thief?" They refused to release the hold. I called the corporate office, who stated that because they were independently owned they were not able to do anything. They had requested several pieced of information from my rental contract that was not filled in my Sherry. I called my bank who was unable to release the funds even though the charges were disputed. I never gave them authorization to hold $500.00. They never requested authorization to hold this amount. I called the Budget office again and asked to speak to the owner, who conveniently had just left for the day. I find this suspect as I was sitting in the parking lot this entire time and had not seen anyone leave. I returned the vehicle on Saturday 07-16-2011, a few hours early. On Monday morning the $500.00 hold was still on my account. I spoke to my bank and they had not received the release from Budget. The written policy states" Upon returning the vehicle, we will process a released of the unused portion of the debit hold..." I called budget and spoke once again with Sherry who states they funds had been released and it was my bank that was holding things up. I informed her that I had just spoken to my bank and they have not even received the release. She said it was sent. I asked for the name of the person who sent it. She refused to give that to me. As of the time of this complaint the hold is still on my account. This company was unethical, unprofessional, and deceptive.

I was on holiday in Australia last Sept/October. Whilst there I searched on line for cheap car rental and was directed to Budget. I duly booked a car and was offered excess reduction insurance which I accepted. On arriving at Sydney Airport to pick up the car during the pick up process I was again offered the ecxess reduction and confirmed that I had already done this. I was asked to sign to confirm the booking details and left with the car.
When I returned to the uk I noticed that I had been charged £240 on my credit card by a firm called IMALL for excess reduction, I also noticed that the charge for the car by Budget was also £400 more that expected. When I queried this I was told that the extra charge was the excess reduction.
After about a dozen emails and phone calls I discovered that when I booked on line I had done it through an agent and they had sold me their version of an excess reduction. Then at the desk when I picked up the car, when I thought I was signing to confirm the details I was in fact signing to take out Budgets own excess reduction policy, which incidentally was nearly twice the cost of the one I had bought when reserving the car on line.
The upshot is that Budget say it was my own fault as I should have known that I had already signed up for a policy and refused the policy that they offered me at the counter.
They are probably right but I think that the booking process is confusing and I believe the counter staff knew what was happening and took advantage of the confusion to earn extra wages through selling me unnecassary insurance. I think they contravened the NSW selling regulations that stipulate that they have to act with honesty and integrity.
C Bone

I'm quite infuriated by the level of customer service that I received from West Georgia location. First off, I was quite surprised by the fact that nobody knew exactly why there were discrepancies in price between the website and the shop itself. When I asked the rep about the reason behind the price difference, they said the prices weren't updated on the website. Secondly, I'm quite infuriated about the misinformation that were given. I was told to come in to the rental office to fill out a damage report, since my rental vehicle had a damage on the windshield. In fact, I didn't have to go in to the rental office to fill out the report. The repair cost was already charged automatically on our credit card and the papers regarding the repair done to the vehicle was sent in the mail. When I first received a phone call from the rental office, I was advised that the vehicle was already under investigation and was told that I would get a phone call from the claims department within 48 hours. However, I never received a call from the claims department what so ever. I left several messages to their voice mail, but nobody responded back to us. Also, when I called in to the rental office last Sunday to change the appointment to fill out the report, a lady told us with a rude tone of voice, saying that the vehicle won't be investigated until we fill out the report. So I actually had to miss work to get to the rental office, but the manager there told us that I didn't have to come in to the shop to fill out the report. In addition, since I had an insurance we had to pay $300 deductible for the cost of the repair + $25 administration fee. When we initially rented the vehicle, all we were told was the $300 deductible. When I brought that up to the manager, he pointed the statement on the contract just above my signature. It states, "all charges, including parking tickets expenses, traffic violations, vehicle impoundment and vehicle damage costs can be charged to the presented." He said that eventhough the fee wasn't mentioned at the point of signing the document, everyone pays for it. He also said that "Would you want to pay $1000?" I told him that we bought the insurance to avoid the charges. He didn't say anything further.
Also, as for the breakdown of the repair cost, the windshield costs $796.13 and 3.1 hours of labour cost $70.55 and there were some other minor material fees as well. What surprises m the most is the cost of the windshield. Based on my investigation, I was told maximum $300 to replace the windshield. To sum up, read the fine print carefully before signing and think about the responsibilities to take on.
I would never ever recommend this place again. The worst customer service ever.

We have alwasys rented cars from Budget with no problems, when we turned the car back in, the representative that was on duty (David) on 4/25/2011 was very rude, he threw the papers at my husband, stating that the car was engulfed in cigarette smoke and they would be charging an extra 250.00 on top of the rental plus 20% on the 250.00 plus the taxes were already include in the cost of the car. We end up paying 500.o0 on a car that was only $179.00. We we no longer be renting from BUDGET and EVERYONE I KNOW WILL BE BOYCOTTING BUDGET AT 714 SOUTH WABASH-Chicago, the service is terrible and they treat their customers very bad.

I recently traveled to Liberia Costa Rica and rented a car for the week at the Budget Rent a Car airport location. I booked and confirmed my reservation online at www.budget.com in the United States. When arriving at the rental counter in Liberia, the counter agent initially attempted to charge me hundreds of dollars more than my confirmed reservation. He reduced the amount but still did not match my confirmed reservation total claiming "additional tax was being charged".
Upon returning the car at the end of the week this same counter agent "converted" the total US dollars into Costa Rica Colons using an over-inflated conversion rate which later appeared on my charge bill as an additional overcharge. Budget has refused to make an adjustment of this overcharge. I have the amount in dispute with my credit card company.
Bottomline to all travelers ... BEWARE Budget Car Rental in Liberia Costa Rica. Unethical business practices!
This will be my first AND last time renting from Budget at ANY location in the world.