Budget did not honor the car rental reservation. They simply called an hour before the pickup to let me know there was no availability. There was no intention to resolve the problem on their part, other than vague instructions to call the 1-800 number. Very bad experience.
The lady in Miami was excellent, she knew our situation and made a point to help us. Service is key and when we reviewed the policy she was clear and and helped us cut costs
I have a newer credit card that uses an 8-digit BIN number for verification (as many new credit cards do) instead of the older, 6-digit system. They could only verify using 6-digits, so they incorrectly thought my card was based in a different country and could not verify it using another method. I had to wait there for over an hour until my bank opened, and even with their verification, would not allow me to use that card. The employee was indifferent and kept telling me I was wrong and that my bank was based in Lebanon, despite the fact that I had the bank on the phone explaining to her that new credit cards use 8-digit BINs. Ultimately I had to use a debit card - it was a very frustrating experience.
The car was clean and what I expected. I didn’t like the slippery language used to entice me into buying their insurance. The sun pass at $12.99 a day is ridiculous. They say the charge double the toll fee, which prompts one to agree to the charge. However the fees I saw were 66 cents or 92 cents, meaning unless you’re there to drive for Lyft or Uber you will not surpass 12.99 a day. Total rip off.
The experience was awful. We arrived to the rental car place and Budget didn’t want to give us the car. They all edged reasons that didn’t make absolutely any sense. And the worst thing is that the place was 40 minutes away by car from our hotel, so we spent so much time and money (we had to take two Ubers to go and come back) for nothing. Totally unprofessional and unacceptable behavior.
Pick-up and drop off was very efficient. The car however was stinking of cigarette, was not properly clean, and the drivers seatbelt buckle was not working properly and kept going off id you didn't press it very hard, which we thought was very dangerous. Also the car we got consumed a lot of fuel, was very inefficient.
