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November 2023 by Tofuitti
Got a car rental from this place. My sister booked a trip via Costco (all-inclusive - car, flight, hotel) and invited me along. Everything was paid for prior to the pickup of the car. Fast forward 2 weeks and I was charged $450 for a cleaning fee. They said there was sand in the car. No one told us we needed to clean the car prior to drop off. I've had a lot of rentals at many agencies and have never had an issue. I called and talked to a rep and they were able to deduct the charge 50%. While I appreciate that, being charged $225 to vacuum some sand is ludicrous. That's money out of my budget for my kids. I will NEVER rent from them again and I will make sure others know too.In addition, when we picked up the rental, the change oil light and the tire pressure lights were on. It was late at night so we figured we'd deal with it later. Then the key fob had a low battery and wasn't working. It's a keyless start, so you need the key to start the car. So on our vacation, with 2 kids and an infant, we had to go back to the rental place and get these issues addressed.If someone isn't paying attention to detail in these cars, making sure oil is changed, tire pressures are good, then what else are they missing? Apparently they just whip cars in and out all day and just want the money. Then they charge you extra for routine use of the car. It's a beach town. Of course there is going to be sand. How many other people did they scam out of money?!
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November 2023 by Daniel Calianese
We had a special event planned and I knew a quality car(mini-van) would do much to make the experience better for all. I knew Budget, although higher priced than other discount brands, would likely have a better fleet--they did. I was totally happy with the vehicle. We had family issues during trip that caused us to change rental dates/drop-off last minute and Budget helped with that seamlessly. Very happy with choice to use Budget!
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November 2023 by Karen Lee
While waiting in line for a representative, I performed the automated check-in: I was shocked to see that the cost was $471 for a rental period, that is typically in the low $300s at other car rental companies. I recall there was a line item for a fee around $119.I informed the rental representative that I did not want the extra insurance (loss damage waiver) nor the fuel service. He reminded me that I needed to return the car with a full tank of gas. His tally for the total cost was over $500; I questioned him on it, and he brought the cost back down to $471. I kept looking for line items to see why the cost was so high; I asked the representative if this cost included the $200 deposit. He did not respond, and I could not see anything glaring, so I accepted.After the trip, I received the itemized receipt from Budget, which listed Optional Products/Services for Loss Damage Waiver (which I had verbally declined) and Fuel Service (which I had verbally declined). These Optional Services totaled $115... but were listed in other areas (including the printed receipt at car return) under the vague label Non Taxable Items.I phoned Budget customer service to remove these Optional Products/Services, and received the response that I had signed legal documentation, and now it was only my verbal word against the documentation. They gave me a 50% refund on the Optional Products/Services.I informed the customer service representative that I would tell my company about this situation, as possible motivation to drop Budget as a rental car carrier from our corporate travel system. I did so; my company responded that they have been seeing multiple reports being submitted for Budget with extra charges.My company will monitor through the end of the year, and determine if we should limit using Budget in the future. They also recommended that I book through a different car rental vendor going forward.
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November 2023 by Paul Calladine
Original deal and the actual vehicle was great. Unfortunately I was sent an invoice for additional fee's that were not agreed to (be careful when the person at the collection desks tells you just to 'tap agree' as you may be confirming additional costs that have not been discussed or made clear).
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November 2023 by John
Things were fine until we received the bill after the trip. They charged us gas which we filled before returning the car. We contacted the customer service, providing receipt from the gas station and got the refund, but they said it was due to we're loyal customers and this was a courtesy. This is very rude!! Next time, I definitely will ask the agent to confirm before leaving my car.
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November 2023 by Areej Aljalabi
This location are the best honestly. I have been renting from them for the past year and half since we moved from San Diego but I keep coming back. Amazing service, amazing cars and super clean. Easy in n out service. And they have cool cars to rent : -)
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November 2023 by Martha White
The car was dirty on the inside and outside. It also smelled of marijuana. The rental staff was not helpful. The front desk person did not want to add another driver and tried to push it off on a coworker. This was at the San Diego airport rental location.
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November 2023 by Natalya T.
This was the longest wait I have ever had in order to get a rental car. From getting in line to driving out of the garage gate was 3 hours. It has the cheapest rates, but time is money, and waiting this long was just not worth it.
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October 2023 by Kc S.
Budget steals security deposits. They charged me a security deposit that hasn't been paid back in 5 months. I've contacted them multiple times to resolve this and they said that already refunded me. My credit card company hasn't received the money to refund my account though. They didn't email me a receipt, and only gave me a severely faded print copy after I returned the car. The don't separately itemize the security deposit on the receipt which has made this a nightmare to get resolved with my credit card company. Avoid this rental company in San Diego at all costs.
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October 2023 by Anthony Williams
Everything was going great until there was a mishap on the California 5 freeway at 5:30 AM one morning. If the spare tire had been useable we would have made it to our destination on time to see our son run at the MCRD recruit training depot. Instead the spare tire was unusable and we had to call roadside assistance. With that being said we had to wait almost an hour for the tow truck to come get the vehicle we had and to let the Uber driver know we were ready to go to the airport to get a new vehicle. Now I would have expected to arrive at the help desk and the new vehicle be ready for us to sign for and pick up but that is t how it happened at all. It was a longer process than getting the initial vehicle and set us back another hour. At this time we have missed most of the ceremony and were rushing to get to MCRD by the time our son was released for time to spend with the family.The lady that helped us at the desk seemed like she didn’t know what she was doing and on top of that she offered us the toll road pass which was presented as it would have been covered by Budget but she slipped and said we be paying for it for the rest of the trip. That was extremely unprofessional and I declined the toll road pass.The receipt is hard to understand. My initial charge would have been around 700$. How does my bill end up being over $1000? If that were including the 250$ deposit then that makes sense. However, it seems like there were other charges added that I was unaware of.I will be dealing with another rental car company in the future. The flat tire that we got and couldn’t get back on the road because the spare tire’s wheel was basically folded in half caused us to miss some important events.
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October 2023 by Jason A.
Do not rent from here if you are in San Deigo. I received a bill from them 8 days after renting for an additional $125 dollars due to what they claimed as excessive dirt. They claimed they had to send the car out for additional cleaning services. I called an asked if they could send me pictures of the excessive dirt that required the additional $125 fee. I have attached a picture they sent.
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October 2023 by Ja'Nelle S.
I arrived to rent a vehicle today and the associate at the counter was aggressive and I also believe he lied to me.We went through the normal steps of me giving him my DL and credit card. Then we get to rental coverage. I politely declined and said I will use my full coverage auto insurance. The associate says to me that should an accident occur, they would not accept my auto insurance or credit card rental coverage. I felt forced to accept the $25/day coverage.I've been renting cars for years and have never had an experience like this. In addition to the above, he did not type my email address in properly, did not verify he had it right, so I don't even have a copy of my rental agreement. The one positive thing was I got an upgraded vehicle without even asking. I will NEVER rent from any Budget again and don't recommend them either.Edit: I called customer service so I could get a copy of my rental agreement and when the customer service associate read back by email address, it was clear that the guy at the rental counter want listening to me because he basically made up an email address. I still don't have a copy of my rental agreement and was told it would be 4 hours before I'd get it.2nd edit: after 4 hours I still don't have the rental agreement. I called customer service again and was now told it takes 72 hours. By then, I will have returned the car.Last edit: When I dropped the vehicle back off, I spoke with Chris, the manager. He removed the loss waiver from my bill and credited me $20 for the inconvenience. Due to this, I updated my rating to two stars.
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September 2023 by Guenn J.
Worst rental car company! They somehow always end up charging you more for less, with even less than zero customer service and a real go fuck yourself attitude which really contributes to the post apocalyptic malaise that accompanies renting a car from this shitty company.
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September 2023 by Darren Dong
I rent the car for 10 period and I was really upset by the following 4 things:1. I returned the car one day earlier but I was charged almost $200 more.2. I asked for the liability and collision coverage at pick up. But when I dropped off, they charged me $100 more for the roadside and toll, which I did not ask for. After talking the manager, they took it off. But I had take initiative to fix the employee's mistake.3. The mustang convertible car has a problem that there was always a gap between the front window and the back window. This cause the inside to be very noisy when driving on the free way.I can attach pictures in the later section.4. The carplay always freezes 5 seconds after connection. I have tried multiple devices and the issue remain consistent, which I believe it is a malfunction of the car
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September 2023 by Stephanie S
Best/easiest rental car experience. Budget holds the rental for 24 hours after scheduled pick up time and thankful they do- our cancelled flight had us getting in 20 hours after scheduled pick up. So convenient to have the shuttle bus. There was zero line at 7:45pm on a Friday. We booked a mystery car and the gentleman gave us an option between two. Easy to go right up and find the car on our own! Car was clean. Return was just as easy!
