June 06, 2010, I returned a car to Budgets garage at Orlando airport full of gas. The check-in person checked the car inside (to see that the tank was full) and outside (to see that there was no damage to the car). She gave me my bill for $313.89. Subsequently, June 07, my credit card was charged additionally $106.82 for gas.

If the customer is present and the car is checked, how can Budget subsequently charge the customer for gas when the tank registered full in his presence? I have been renting cars from Budget and Avis for the last 16 years, in some years, I have rented a car every week. I have Avis Preferred Wizard number X3P53F and Budget Fast break number LF930M. I have always returned their car with the gas at the full level. I did not have problems before and so budget was my car rental company of choice. But Budget has billed me incorrectly $106.82 and has refused to give me my full refund.

Below I will document the difficulty I am having with Budget.

June 14, 2010

I complained to budget about the additional charge and was told that if I had the receipt and provided it by fax, my account would be credited for the $106.82. I could not locate the bill and so the staff member said Budget would give me a credit of $53.41 (1/2 of $106.82) pending their receipt from me of the bill.

June 19, 2010

I provided Budgets representative, Ivis by fax (fax number 407 825 1749), as requested, with a copy of the gas bill which indicated that I had bought gas on June 5, at 17:59 before returning the car at 6:00 AM on June 06. I was told that I would receive the remaining credit within 7 days.

July 6, 2010

I spoke with Budgets representative, Carlos, at 407- 825- 1742. He assured me that the credit had been approved and sent to head office. I checked subsequently but credit did not show up on my credit card statement.

August 2, 2010

I spoke with Budgets representative, Rod (Carlos manager) at 407- 825-1742. He confirmed that the credit had been approved. He told me that he would check with head office and get back to me by phone or email the next day. I provided him with my phone number and my email address. I have not heard from Rod yet.

Aug 06, 2010

Spoke with Budgets Representative, Laura @ 800-214-6094. She told me that I should have sent the bill to Customer Service. I provided bill by fax to 918-627-2508; referenced case #3199286.

Aug 19, 2010

I spoke with Budgets representative Kenneth. He told me that the credit allowed on June 14 was all I was going to get because the gas was purchased on June 5 and the car was returned on June 6. I pointed out to him that the car had to be returned at 6 am on June 6, therefore I purchased gas at 17:59 the night before, since the distance away from the airport was short. The tank was checked full by the return clerk.

MY COMMENT ON BUDGETS CUSTOMER SERVICE

Budgets customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Everyone needs to be on the lookout for undue charges from Budget. I will not rent from Budget again and I will dissuade anyone I know to do likewise.

During phone transaction with Budget rent a car I was transferred to a REWARDS program. I have been sucked out of 58.00 of unauthorized charges a month!!! I will not do business with Budget Rent a Car if they are still affiliated with a rewards program.

At the time of returning a rental car for a week=end use having driven it only a total of 139 miles, we were charged for a full tank of gas. We returned this vehicle with a full tank as per their contract. We complained and they say they have investigated and supposedly are giving a credit for 1/3 of the additional charge. Also that we should be understanding of their plight, although I can't understand what plight that might be unless they are in financial staits because of shoddy operation. We are willing to pay the original exhorbitant car rental charge for the weekend in question. but resent their usurious overcharge..This sounds like the attempt of a National company to make the consumer pay for its management failures.

Arrived from Canada last night. Went to counter in Budget in Lihue, Kauai. We were met by Miss Cho. Miss Cho intimidated, yelled, was defensive when asked a quiet question, politely, insisted on giving us insurance for both husband and wife when husband only driving, would not take wife's credit card for the transaction and only husband driving, only had one credit card with us in interest of security, yelled and was extremely rude, demanding licenses to be removed from wallets and placed correctly before her, had such a thick accent we could only understand 1/8 of what she said but the body language, tone, and manner were very explicit. She thought we were a couple of country hicks not worth 2 cents and could be sold a $1200. deal when I had a confirmed reservation with a base price of $444.48. We just wanted a small car and insurance for one. When in Maui 6 months ago we had a car from Budge for $1200. for 5 weeks, and it was Mustang convertible, now we have a 4 door compact for $1332.77 and I have been up all night fuming unable to contact any customer service people as it is a holiday weekend. There was no one to talk to last night in the Office at Budget locally either. We will be wasting a whole morning driving back there, not mention long distance calls on my cell, and extreme anxiety, and a really bad impression of Kauai as she was the first person we met.

I recently rented a car on-line through Budget car rental and declined all insurance coverage because it was included on our credit card. When we arrived in Cancun we were shuttled to the Budget Airport office where we were told by the Manager that we had to pay an additional $10.us per day for liability insurance because it was mandatory in Mexico. I argued with him stating that it was not on my confirmation and he said we could not have the car unless we signed for the insurance. It was dark outside and we were in the middle of nowhere so we signed for the insurance knowing we could complain once we returned home. Well we did complain and the bottom line was that Budget said we signed the agreement so therefore we accepted the terms of the contract.

My brother arrived the same day in the morning to pick up his car and they did the exact same thing to him.

My suggestion is not to rent from Budget at the Cancun airport but if you do and this happens make sure you make a note on the agreement that you are signing for the insurance only because they said it was mandatory and you have no choice if you want the car.