I had the worst experience every. Below is the email I sent to Budget explaining what they did.

A Letter to Budget Car Rental:

I want you to know that this was the worse car rental experience I have ever had. Even though my being upset will not make a dent in your company (As I was told by LXXXXX HXXX, a call center supervisor) I want you to understand that I will tell everyone I know and everyone I meet that you are the worst car rental company out there. My husband made a mistake and rear ended a another car. The rental was not badly damaged and was completely covered by our insurance policy. No one was hurt. He only hit the car at about 15 mph. However the police officer did not want it driven because the bumper was bent towards the tire. We did everything we were supposed too. We notified you, waited for the police, and had the car towed. When my husband got back to the airport your office there refused to give him another car and charged us an inflated rate because we returned the car early, even though you were the one who refused us another car for the rest of the week. I have read through the policies and contract and no where does it state that if in an accident you will refuse someone another car. So my husband was stranded at the airport without a car and had to go to another car rental and pay again, effectively tripling our car rental fee. This was my 4 year olds first trip to to DisneyWorld and when something bad happened your company made it worse. Your company had the power to make this bad situation into just a bump in the road. Instead everyone myself and my husband talked to were rude and inconsiderate. Who cares if a family vacation was ruined a small fender bender. Obviously none at your company. All we heard was why would we give another car to you when you can't drive. As if none of your employees have been in a car accident before. I personally travel for work two weeks out of the month and will do my best to see to it that my company no longer uses you.

I hope I can succeed, but even if I don't succeed with my company I will tell everyone I know that your company has the worst customer service ever!!! In fact I'm going to post this on my Myspace and I hope it goes viral!!!

A couple of weeks ago, on April 29, 2008 we returned to Canada from a wonderful three week holiday in Israel and Jordan. Our holiday was only marred by Budget s surreal response when our rental car broke down 25 minutes outside Jerusalem. What follows is a story of inconceivably bad customer service which left us stranded on the road for 6 hours, ruined our plans for our last day of our trip and left us frustrated and angry.

My wife, my youngest son and I had stopped at the Almog Junction for a cup of coffee shortly after 2pm on our way back from the Dead Sea. When we got back in the car it would not start. There had been no prior indication that anything was wrong with the car.

Sometime before 3 pm we placed a call to Budget and asked for assistance. We were transferred to the Jerusalem Office where Yael, who claimed to be the supervisor told us that we would have to wait (quote) -up to two hours- for a technician to inspect the car and determine what had to be done. I requested a replacement car so we could continue our trip but Yael, quoting procedure, told us that nothing would be done until the technician arrived and made a determination. When I asked if we could leave the car and deliver the keys to the Jerusalem office I was told that it would be (quote) my decision- for which I would be fully responsible if anything happened to the car. This warning was delivered in a threatening tone. Half an hour later I called to ask if they had an ETA for the technician and were told that the technician was on another call and could not be reached. An hour later, at about 4 pm I called again to ask about the status of our call and insist on a replacement car, and was told that my calls were making things worse for us and to stop calling. An hour and a half later we were told that although they had no information on when the technician would turn up, the -up to two hours- period had not yet expired and therefore we could not complain. When asked what would happen after the two hours were up we were told that only the technician could make a determination. We were also told that the office would close at 6 pm and we would then have to call the emergency number. Fortunately my wife and son were able to get a ride to Jerusalem on a tourist bus shortly after 5 pm. (Thank you again Ezra and Oda for your help)

Well, 6 pm arrived (three hours since we had placed the first call) and when we called the emergency number they had no record of our previous calls and had to go again through the remote troubleshooting procedure before they would record our trouble call. Again we were refused any other options other than to wait for the technician who would decide what had to be done. Obviously according to Budget this was a technical decision to be made by a technician, not a customer service decision

Four hours later (and after several other calls to Budget from friends and locals who took pity on us � by then I was exhausted, and feeling impotent in the face of overwhelming stupidity) we still had no word on the technician. The technician finally arrived at 7:20 pm, and without saying a word opened the hood, put his hand deep under the radiator and started the car ( raising our suspicion that it was a known problem with the unit), then spent about half an hour with it until it pronounced it fixed. I asked if I could trust the car to get us to the airport the next day for our return trip and was told that I should try starting the car an hour before we had to leave for the Airport just in case. I asked to test the car before he left: the car failed to start after the second try. At that point, the technician made the decision to give us a replacement car, after more than 5 hours of being stranded on the road.

By the time we arrived at the Budget Jerusalem office -across from the King David Hotel ( 8:30 pm) I had decided I did not want to have anything to do with Budget any longer. I was asked to fill the gas tank before I left the car (15 liters) and was given a full rental bill, including this last day. There were no explanations or apologies, not even an offer of a ride back to my hotel. Before I left I was given a printout of some form. I asked- What is this? And was told it was a document indicating (quote)-that it was not your fault-. Drained of energy and emotion I walked to the corner and hailed a cab to our hotel,

Our plans for the afternoon and our farewell dinner with family and friends had been ruined. I arranged for a taxi to take us to the Airport the next morning and started packing. I have not heard a word form Budget except for the posting of full charges on my Visa.

I arrived at Washington Dulles Airport one week ago and upon arrival went to Budget car rental to pick up a 5 day reservation for a compact car. The overall experience, from the beginning to the end, is horrible.

Pick up experience: When I arrived there, ready to check out the car. My driver's license was denied!!! However, I have no accident record or any kind of violation record on hold. After 1 and 1/2 hours waiting, their manager came out and entered some special code into the computer system to get my reservation through. During that waiting period, I asked the representative what is my quoted total rate for 5 days rental, he said it was $119.43.

Return: Disastrous!!! The quote I get online was $119,43, however, when I returned the car 6 days later (one day delay due to their office shut down). Their representative intended to charge me $284.36. The additional charge reason is that I am under age 25 and will pay "additional fee" which is $25/day !! But this year I turned 25!!!! Their explanation is that I must be OVER 25!! Holy shit !!!

I called their service center and encountered a very rude guy who questions my math and taught me how to calculate my age. SOB!!!! Then I called the Dulles Airport Budget office and talked to their manager. That guy was rude too. He did not admit hiding the additional fee from me and refused to take my complaints.

Conclusion:

Below is some tricky approaches and their cheating behavior I observe:

1. The reason my driver's license was denied initially might be that according to Budget's age calculation method, I am under 25 and not eligible to rent a car at Budget. After one and half hours waiting, their manager came back from lunch and entered a special code into the computer system to get the rent work. However, they did not disclose the additional $25/day charge to me.

Watch out for Budget. I filled the car with a full tank of gas (7 gallons) before I returned it. The guy checked the tank and said it was fine and printed me out a receipt.

Three days later I got a bill for $64.70. They said they had to put in 10 gallons of gas (yikes! I paid $2.19 for the gas I put in). I called customer service. They said that unless I had a printed receipt the best they could do is credit me half. I said that I had a credit card statement showing the 7 gallon purchase 3 miles from the airport 5 minutes before I returned the car. Not good enough. This is a rip off of class action status. Think about it. Millions of customers all ripped off and then credited half. It’s worth millions to them. Any attorneys out there? I’m in.

This posting is to warn vehicle renters in Germany to be very thorough in inspecting their vehicle, because Budget will hold you liable for every thing if it was not fully documented as preexisting damage. We learned this the hard way with a Budget car rental at Stuttgart airport in May 2006. We
are 100% positive the scrape around our rental car's right rear wheel well was preexisting, because we noticed it after less than 20 minutes of driving without bumping or brushing into anything. We believe Budget placed us at a significant disadvantage by having us sign for the vehicle condition before sending us out to find the car in a narrow spot in a very dim section of the airport parking garage. The $975 damage charge was excessive by US standards, possibly because of high German labor costs. We understand Budget had the legal right to hold us liable, but consider it poor customer service, will never rent from Budget again in Germany or anywhere else, and are trying to spread the word to prevent others from having the same situation.

Thank you,
Christine.