I rented a car at the airport of Austin's Budget front desk. However, The staff didn't tell me actually I rented the car from Payless, and didn't send me any rent order either by mail or by phone message. While the return date coming close, I called Budget hotline to confirm the date, but no one from Budget can answer my question. Finally, I have to go to airport again to confirm the date when I made it clear it comes from Payless. Please next time let the customer know this clearly, avoiding the trouble like me. read more

The worst experience I ever had renting a car. The guy at the Hwy 71 Austin TX location is absolutely no help. Every question was answered: call customer service. Their computer system is a mess. Paid up front for the car I originally booked but needed to be changed because they didn't calculated my AARP price. Instead of correcting this small issue they charged me $50 for cancelation and new booking. I could go on and on but there wouldn't be enough room. II could give a minus star they would get - 5! read more

The older Caucasian woman with reddish hair was completely unprofessional. We're in TX from CA and rented in Dallas to drive to Austin. The car got a flat from a small rock. We called Budget and they directed us to drive to this location. We pulled over, and although there is a spare tire, there isn't a jack or a lug nut wrench. Budget informed us the cars don't come with them (why not?? LOL) We went to a local gas station to fill up the tire to make it to the location. When we finally made it inside of the Budget, the woman was rude and unpleasant. We expressed our concerns, and instead of helping us locate help, she told us to call back Budget. We explained to her they directed us here. She responded with, "sorry, I can't do anything for you." She didn't offer to call another location for us or give us any further help. We do not know the area and the truck cannot be driven with a flat. Obviously, our next step was to call the number we had already previously called, which is what we ended up doing. Of course, it wasn't the woman's fault we got a flat, or wasted time on vacation, or wasted time putting air in and looking for a jack, but we have already driven further than we should've on a damaged tire with no resources on where to go next. We're on vacation, and yes, things happen, but this could've gone a lot smoother than it did. Now 2 hours later, we're waiting for someone to come out and meet us, since the tire cannot be changed without anyone's assistance. Apparently they'll be here in another hour.... we'll see. read more

The absolute worst customer service facility ever. Alicia, the Arabic man working on Saturday was nonchalant and unconcerned with customer service or customer service issues. Over charge customers. Accept reservations but don't have any cars. Very disgruntled employees. Use ANOTHER company. You'll get better service else where! read more

Budget Rent-A-Car - Car Rental Near Me - Austin, Texas

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We have rented cars with Phil Sutton for the third time last month. Surprisingly, he does not know how to keep his customers happy. I have seen him change over the year where he does not care about the price he promises. Getting more business might be a reason for that. This time when we rented, he had a firm price and would not give us a discount which he usually does. After negotiating, he agreed on giving us a good price off. However, during the close of return of the car he played with words and never stuck to a price. Since, we were returning the car at the airport he did not give us a receipt and promised that he will have the price taken care off from them if there is a mismatch. After calling him from the airport, he said I will do this tomorrow for you. On calling the next day he blamed the Budget computer system for not letting him do the adjustments and call him back. Since then, I have called him at least 7-8 times to hear that "Please call back in 10 mins" Even if you call back in a 10 he will never have an answer. Finally I gave up and in my opinion, seems like that is what he wanted. He has never replied to the emails either. All in all, I am just trying to say is that although he is doing well in the business he did not go out of the way to make things happen and made the us the customer feel insulted and small at his mercy. Did not expect from him to flake on us. I will never do business with him ever again! read more

End of January 2014 I made a reservation on line. When I arrived to pick it up Bret Jarred, Agency Operator was working the counter. He was great to work with and quickly and efficiently got my car. The agency rents both Avis and Budget. The car I rented was with Avis. It is inside Walmart and was a little difficult to find. If you don't know where that Walmart is, call them for directions. My husband came into town the following week but missed his flight so I called Bret because I needed to keep my car an extra day and my husband needed to pick up his car the following day. We had rented his car with Budget so Bret could not change the reservation in the system but Bret made sure my husband could pick up the car a day late. On Sunday some how I had another address in my GPS and instead of ending up at Walmart we ended up a few blocks away. We got there 2 min. before closing & Alicia stayed to do all the paperwork. Augie was waiting to check in my car with Avis and made sure my husband fit into the car with Budget. Because of the prepaid reservation my husband had to pay for the first day even though he didn't use the car so Alicia gave him a upgrade. My husband didn't bring the car back until the day after it was due and Alicia was there again & just added the extra day. They all cared about our experience and when we return to Austin next time we will rent from them again. read more

Reserved and paid for a mini-van months ago, only to show up the morning of with no mini-van available. Apparently they order cars the morning of from the airport, so your reservation is only fulfilled or not at that point. The staff there was of zero assistance to help locate another car. Basically so sad. To top it off, the reservation was cancelled, and budget wouldn't refund our pre-payment. That got fixed but only after another phone call. Skip this place....btw the Enterprise on 620 is much much better. They actually found us a car. Sorry budget...but your name says it all.....#neveragain read more

This is the first negative experience we had at a Budget Rent-A-Car. If I could give ZERO stars, I would. We were experiencing issues with our air conditioning (in Austin, in July, in 106 degree heat) and called customer service while we were on the road. Super helpful customer service agent found us the closest Budget location to exchange the car because it was almost 6 p.m., when most of the locations in the city would be closing. But she found us a location that we could make it to by 5:50 p.m. so we could get help ASAP. Thanks, customer service! Little did we know it would be the worst location in Austin. When we got there, there was a line of about five people waiting to be served. We waited patiently, and told the man behind the counter that we had intermittent issues with the air conditioner of the car that made it really uncomfortable and made for unpredictable rides. He asked for us to show him the car. My boyfriend took him out to the car, where he turned on the air conditioning, felt it get cold, and as such, said that he would not exchange the car. He said that for any complaint, he needed to experience the issue first-hand in order to issue a trade in. We explained again that it was an intermittent issue (for example, I'd just gone to pick up my boyfriend and arrived with my clothes drenched in sweat even though the air conditioning had been at full blast after being stuck in traffic for 30 minutes. Unpleasant for all parties involved!) He accused us of trying to scam Budget. We said we would take a downgraded car, as long as the air conditioning worked! And WHY on Earth would we take time out of our vacation to bring in a car that was working fine? We didn't want to be at the Budget office any more than he seemed to. He then accused us of coming in AFTER closing time. We called customer service back while we were at this location and they simply urged us to go to the airport location for assistance (it added about 2 hours to the ordeal). Let me say, I GET wanting to leave work on time. But this guy continued to help people who actually DID show up after 6 p.m., so to accuse us of it and use it as a reason to not help us made no sense. He was rude, dismissive, unhelpful, and as we were leaving threatened to fight my boyfriend in the parking lot. It was the most bizarre car rental experience ever. Also, when my boyfriend went to the original place we rented the car from (WHERE WE HAD A WONDERFUL, FRIENDLY, SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE!) over off Airport Blvd closer to downtown than this location, the woman there mentioned she'd heard FOUR other complaints about the man at this Wal-Mart location. Apparently he's only worked there for six months, he's received nearly as many complaints...Budget, time to FIRE THIS GUY. read more

Very pleasant experience! I was hesitant to go here because the reviews are terrible but I'm glad I chose to ignore them. People can be so grumpy on Yelp. The man working was so kind and helpful. He asked about my potential discounts and got me a very fair deal (cheaper than website and amazon prime), but most important, he asked me if I wanted to drop off my car at same location or the airport. I said it was too expensive to change drop off location (I've done that before and the charge is usually a lot.). He said he'd check for a good rate and got it down to $30! Totally worth it! So now you'll want to know how my car was...it's perfect, clean, smells new...No issues at all! I will definitely come back here on my next trip. I left in a good mood and it was so conveniently located "inside" Walmart. Thank you! read more

Had the best experience with Matt. Came in to pick up a SUV and it was dirty and disgusting. Not what you want to experience in the midst of COVID. Matt took an additional 30 minutes while I waited and literally cleaned, sterilized and vacuumed the entire vehicle. He was so accommodating and personable. I was surprised to have this kind of service and will definitely come back because of him specifically. read more

This place does not exist.. Tired after a long day of traveling ...We circled around twice ...no signs and a waste of time.. So we ended up at. Hertz read more

Bret & Elizabeth are the epitome of small-business service and friendliness; they've taken care of me and my business needs for the past year or so (travels to SA, DFW, HOU) and when the time came to take some time for ourselves at the end of the summer vacation season, even when other people had the same idea and had blocked off time with SUVs/vans for weeks in advance, Elizabeth said she would keep an eye out for returning vans as the weekend cars came back. She was good to her word and we're now traveling to South Padre I. in a Kia Sedona- the perfect long-haul vacationmobile for our purposes. Good folks running a good rental business inside the Wal-Mart at 620 and Lake Creek Pkwy. read more

As of May 16th they STILL had not fully processed me a refund (mind you...THEY cancelled my reservation before I got there and did NOT notify me...left me without a ride very far from my home...provided me no service and a ton of grief) - they had my money from May 1st to May 16th and made me grovel for it back!!! I called 3 times...my mother in law took it upon herself to go directly to the location and find out what kind of a business they are running. The woman at the office (Joan) was very nice and apologetic...but, the company is so big that it was, of course, "out of her control"...she called in for me...got a case number and promised I'd have my money back by the 14th (as if THAT was ok??), but no...it took ANOTHER call in and a person who acted as if there wasn't a note on the screen about my case - I had to tell her about it again like it was the first time I ever called in. IF THEY DON'T TAKE DEBIT CARDS THEY NEED TO SAY SO - how rude to leave someone in a lurch where there isn't even bus service to get anywhere from! They could have offered me a ride...or something...but no...just making me work to get money back when they had no right to my money in the first place. I was told to call the attorney general to report them. If I do...I will follow up on this reveiew yet again. Btw...this is off their site if you go to order a car online: FAQ May I prepay my rental? Answer: Absolutely. You can save on your car rental expenses at most U.S. and Canadian locations when you reserve and prepay toward your rental online at budget.com with a credit or *DEBIT*card. Online is the easy way to reserve and pay. Now remember...THEY cancelled ME before I could even register..so at worst if they made a mistake and thought I cancelled ...the most they should have held was $10, right? What is your cancellation policy? Once cancelled, we will credit you within approximately seven business days. Credits will be applied to the same card with which you prepaid. You will incur a $10 processing fee if you choose to cancel a prepaid reservation before the rental and a $50 fee after the rental pick-up time has passed. read more

Ask for Paul Sutton, This guy gave me a discount that was bigger than my company rates. I have rented with them at least 6 times for business and personal. Great Job taking care of the little guy. read more

I use to love this place. The couple Bret and Elizabeth that use to run it were so nice and accommodating I made sure to always go back. Rented a car yesterday and reserved it for the weekend. It was 87.00 and my card was charged immediately, no big deal right? I was to pick it up at 4:30 and it was obvious it was under new management. He got my license, card I paid with and wax about to give me the car and said I didn't pass a credit check. I don't have credit cards so I was like well you already charged my card, there was no problem, I'm confused. He said if I want to use a credit card I could all it had to have is 100$ on it. "I was like no I don't. Isn't this something you should have told me yesterday when I rented the car and not the moment I need to leave out of town?" He said no it wouldn't shout that. I told him I've rented here several times before and he was immediately rude saying the last couple did "sketchy stuff and that made them liable for the vehicle and that they don't do that here sooo". I called my mother because I was suppose to be in a wedding tomorrow and she asked if she could rent the car and put me on as an additional. The guy said yes for 50 extra bucks. So we were like fine. I was like ok let's do it. He was like she has to come in. On top of this I get a cancelation fee for canceling. I will never use this location again. The last owners were awesome, kept me coming back, we re personable and total local feel. Sad to see Brett and Elizabeth are gone and they have lost my business forever. read more

Is it possible to chose negative stars because if so I would. The absolute worst management and customer service I have EVER experienced. Called us 15 minutes before we were supposed to pick up our car informing us they were unable to provide us with a car following the confirmation we made weeks ago. At the counter they were unable to help us with anything other than giving us a customer service number to call. After calling MULTIPLE times, and being hung up on multiple times, we were informed they actually did have the car we rented but it would cost and additional $700 to use this car making the rental over $1,000 when the original rental was $300. All I have to say is if you do rent budget, and I'm sure you will have a similar experience if you do, DO NOT TALK TO RICHARD WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE. He is the rudest, most condescending person and will not help you at all. In the end we had to cancel our reservation the day we were supposed to be leaving. Overall absolutely HORRIBLE, HORRIFIC, HORRENDOUS (those words are not strong enough to explain my infuriating interactions) experience and I would not recommend to even my worst enemy. read more

Good news - nice folks Bad news - booking a reservation does not mean there i s actually a car there for you to drive read more

We had a great experience with this rental shop. We rented for 1 week and didn't have any problems.

Don't ever use this place. Rented a car in May received a letter in December that there was damage to the car. We called roadside assistance. Did not happen. Their customer service told us not to worry about it, charge appeared next day. Told us it was a tire, now they are saying it was a chip in the windshield and that the roadside assistance is a admin fee. WHAT???? Never ever will use them again. read more

I've given this location inside the Walmart 2 stars only because the corporate customers service line was helpful, friendly and well-versed in customer service. My frustration begins with making a reservation online for a last minute emergency trip 1200 miles both ways. I got off my computer and called the location on the way to pick up my mini van, only to find that they don't have one. Wow!! The agent told me that they know the system shows they have them, when they don't because they're shuttled 30miles from the airport to the location. I called later in the afternoon so i was out of luck. I get back online to book another reservation, only it's dangerously close to closing time now. 3 calls, to let them know i'm coming,to that location go unanswered and as I arrive i find the agent siting in a chair reading something. He turned out to be very friendly , HOWEVER, I am told that I get charged each day for 24hours of use BUT on Sunday, my return day, they close at 2 instead of 6, the time I rented. I can't return at 2 but Joe, the manager, rambles on and on about policy instead of being a human being for a second and answering my question. "Do you think this is fair?" I will be charged a 3rd day if I can't return it by 2 and that's how it is. When did people stop listening and become robots?? Not only did I bring it back on Sunday but I vacuumed it first. 4 kids and 1200 miles and I brought it back spotless. That's the respect I show. Joe could've handled this many different ways but instead he chose to spout policy instead of doing right by his customer. Thank you, corporate customer service for doing what's right and making sure I don't get charged the 3rd day. read more

Pros: reserved online, car was available when i picked it up. HOWEVER, BEWARE.... I won't be going back to this location ever. The management here stinks and is ran by folks who are better served not making fair decisions for their customers. I had an issue where I had a daily rate and ended up returning the car 1 day early. According to the terms of service with budget online, I had to rent the car at least 4 days to retain my rate. The manager "TJ" checked my car in and gave me the new bill. The bill was 3 dollars less for the 7 day quote. At this point I told him that was not acceptable and I'd keep the car for 1 day and return it the following day. He refused to give me the keys back to the car and refused to provide the daily rental rate * 6 days. At this point we argued back and fourth until he told me to get out of line and leave thte store and that I could call the 800 number to determine "how stupid I am". He did this all out in the open and insulted me with probably 5 people in the room. He also informed me his father "owned this location" so there was no escalation path at the store. I walked outside of the store, called the 800 number and had my issue resolved in 5 mins with a rational customer service manager at corporate budget. The manager at the 800 number was pretty appalled that apparently management at this location insults customers and claim that they "own" this budget location when in fact this is a corporate owned location and not a franchise. Corporate budget (the 800 number) handled my issue fairly and with respect. Do not expect to receive this kind of service from this poorly-ran-location. I hope corporate budget investigates this store with a microscope. read more