Have a reservation made weeks in advance. But need to sit and wait for an hour because "we don't have any cars". Rude!

What an Epic Fail on Budget's behalf. I reserved a Tesla 8 months in advance (10/11/23) for my father's 70th birthday and father's day. When I showed up, I was told no Teslas were available and my only option was a Jeep Gladiator. I had no choice but to accept the rental as I had no other transportation. This Jeep wasn't even close to comparable. Not electric, no trunk and the wheels were either bent or not balanced as there was a severe shaking while driving and the passenger front tire was showing uneven wear. In addition, since there's no trunk on this vehicle, my family's luggage was completely saturated in a rain storm that occurred while getting back to the airport. Disappointment is a severe understatement. They shouldn't be advertising vehicles for advanced reservation, if they can't guarantee them. I could have rented a more adequate vehicle for less from a competitor. read more

Extremely poor customer refund policy Reserved a car on the Budget web page, for one week, as I was on business and had been in a car accident. I prepaid for the week, knowing that I would need to have it for trip, with a return location of Grand Rapids Michigan airport (my home town). Received news that my parents were admitted to a hospital, which ended my business trip abruptly. The car, as a result was returned to the Grand Rapids airport Budget location SAME DAY. When inquiring about a refund of the unused value of the week, the people at the Budget desk in Grand Rapids mentioned that being kind enough to pay in advance means we don't do refunds, because we gave you a lower 'daily rate'. They offered a corporate number to call, to share the unusual circumstances and to explain the willingness to simply have the difference between standard rate and pre-pay rate deducted from my refund. Which, of course I did. Calling 248-353-1275 and speaking to Gerardo, the scenario was explained and a request for consideration was made. Gerardo politely explained that Budget makes this information available on their website. While talking with him, I searched the website and found a 36 page Terms & Conditions document that he referred to. Thirty six page document. Read this on your phone while making a reservation. His statement was the Budget's position is 'we're sorry about your family situation but basically that's not our concern... we gave you a lower rate'. I will NEVER use Budget rental's horrible service again. If this would let me give then 0 stars, I would... read more

Rented through Costco so I got a better deal than what I could've got dealing directly with Budget. Not very happy with the car option, the fact there was no attendant at Budget check in, or no check out before departing the airport. I had wanted to go over car condition or questions. The vehicle rented was alright, but certainly wouldn't have been my first choice and certainly not a car I would opt to purchase since it was uncomfortable and seemed to be in need of some minor maintenance. Upon return I had Samir as the attendant for check in. Pleasant enough but certainly not a very agreeable young man. I can't recall what I had said but he gave me a response that was opposite of what I expressed. I realize the customer is NOT always right, but my personal experience of renting IS mine and I did not appreciate him implying I was wrong. I remained polite, finished unloading and proceeded to the airport. read more

Budget - Gotta provide some details if no attendant is present. - Car Rental Near Me - Grand Rapids, Michigan

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i reserved an SUV weeks ago for our holiday trip to Michigan. I knew the weather would be snowy. I even signed up for rapidrez so I could skip the checkin counter. When I arrived in Grand Rapids they told me they didnt have my SUV. They offered me an upgrade of a truck (which would be a bumpy ride and i have a head injury so No). Then they offered me a mini van , in this snowy weather with winter weather advisory? NO. They said I could hang around for 40-50 minutes for a car... NO! They offered me a small dodge hornet HOWEVER they would not give me the price that would normally go for. I had to take it for the price I paid for my reserved larger SUV! So disappointed. Why would I want to spent anymore time with BUDGET?? I'm here to see family. I asked to speak to a manager and was told they were unavailable! I was left with a unfair option - we took the dodge hornet, which slip slided around. . Very disappointed in Budget Rental at GR AIRPORT!! read more

After flying all day the last thing one wants to do is come to the rental counter and see a sign that another agency is helping you and that agency only has one person at the counter and there is 20 count them 20 people in line and they won't call someone else to help...and it doesn't matter if you have a confirmation number because another agent is helping so you have to wait in line...not confidence inducing nor does it make you very happy... read more

On July 5th, my family and I landed in Grand Rapids, Michigan and took possession of a Dodge Ram rental pickup from Budget. A few days after our journey into the Upper Peninsula, we discovered that the truck's tag had been expired since February 2024. A few days later (due to poor cell coverage) I contacted Budget to see what could be done to resolve the problem. After getting lost in the automated phone system for approximately 30 minutes, I was able to speak to a representative who told me that I had contacted the wrong department and that I needed to speak with the 24 hour roadside assistance department. I was transferred back into the automated phone system where I spent another 20 minutes trying to speak to a human being. I finally hung up and called the roadside 800 number. I reached a person only to discover that my options were definitely NOT customer focused. Option 1 was for me to take time from my vacation and drive to one of the closest Budget locations, one being 70 miles and the other being 71 miles away. Option 2 was to take time away from my vacation and call an Uber to come pick me up and transport me to one of the above locations. With either option, I was told that a comparable replacement might not be available. I asked why a vehicle could not be delivered by a tow truck and I was told that that option could cost ME a substantial amount of money. When I asked why I was going to be charged for Budget's mistake, the rep said that she could read me the disclaimer. I declined her offer. She then said that I would probably be able to get a refund for the towing charge, but I would have to "hash that out" with customer service. I then asked why a Budget representative could not simply bring me a replacement vehicle and was told that Budget does not do that. We took our chances and decided not to allow Budget to take up any more of our limited vacation time. Upon returning the vehicle, I told the representative about the tag and she simply said, "Oh, okay." I wish that this was the end of the story, but after getting home, I discovered that Budget has charged me an additional $190.00 without an explanation why. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the automated phone system, but I will do what I must. We have been loyal and happy Budget customers, but this is unacceptable and we will be taking our business elsewhere. Apparently, Budget means to cheap to do the job correctly. read more

I don't think I have been to a budget rental place where I'm in and out. This time they had the budget counter closed and everyone had to go through Avis. They didn't have the fast break available, so booking through their site and paying more wasn't worth it. Once at the counter, 40 min later, he tried to get me to upgrade twice even though I told him I didn't want a different car the first time. Then I had to go inspect my car and walk back in to the counter to have someone initial my inspection. Not a happy customer read more

Worst experience ever!!! I reserved and pre-paid for a van from Budget, and when I went to pick it up, there was no van for me, and no explanation about why they failed to deliver on their promise. Then they didn't bother to call and apologize or explain themselves. NEVER RENTING FROM BUDGET AGAIN! read more

Trying to talk to a person you can understand on the 800 number is not possible. We would have gone through the Budget on Alpine but this was the only location allowing unlimited mileage for our spring break trip. It is impossible to call the location direct if you need anything but you can find them if you drive there at the Avis counter. They did allow us to get the car early because President Trump was flying in. That was very nice but was told no 3 times on the phone by Budget until we drove there and spoke with a human being. We added in the navigation for $5 a day. It never worked anyway, at least they didn't charge my credit card for that feature. We then found a can of mixed nuts in the counsel with pot in it. Thank goodness we found it before we left (would have been hard to explain that one to the parents of the 3 extra kids we took to Florida). I am thankful we didn't carry it through all the states and have an accident. Something tells me they would not have blown us off as they did when we turned in the car. They gave us two $25 coupons for that mishap. I won't use Budget again. read more

Oh, the slowest service ever. The woman who helped us took at least 30 minutes helping the guy before us. I don't get it - doesn't everyone have a reservation? Anyway, our turn and we get the slow woman. Slow woman is very friendly and full of smiles. I provide confirmation number - she comments on how small the car is. She then offers a larger car. I decline and say I want the one I reserved. She offers a second larger car. I decline and say I want the one I reserved. She offers - no joke - a third larger car. Can you guess what I did? Yup, I decline and say I want the one I reserved. She makes small talk, asks what we're doing in town, how often we visit, blah, blah, blah. I'm in no mood after waiting 45 minutes in line. Mind you, none of the other rental car places had any line, and I'm kicking myself the entire time for prepaying and not being able to go with one of the line-less options. Back to the story...after she runs out of larger cars to offer, we move on to insurance coverage. She offers the "most popular" level of insurance; I decline and say I don't want any coverage. By now, I think you know where we're going with this. Two more types of insurance coverage are offered followed by about 3 more optional items for the car. Seriously a painful experience. Car was fine, but will not rent from Budget at GRR again. If people like this woman would just think about the fact I did not fly to Grand Rapids to hang out at the rental car desk, based upon the price and car, they could have received 4+ stars. read more

Never rent from Budget. I did a prepay through my travel card. I have done this same procedure with other rental companies many times and never have additional charges. At the time of rental I declined all charges and insurance. The agent told me I HAD to accept the prepay fuel but if I returned the car with a full tank I would get the charge reversed at the time of return. Well I did return the car on time with a full tank. I got a receipt with the charge on it and did bring it to the attention of the attendant who assured me it would not go to my credit card. The charge hit my credit card the next day. We called Budget at the Grand Rapids Airport. The rental agent told us there was nothing he could do. Told us there was not a supervisor available. He then said he was done with us and hung up on us. I have now read several reviews with similar circumstances and believe this is actually a scam they are running. read more