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December 2023 by Dark Horse ..
I frequently travel to MSP and usually make at least three trips a year. In the past, I relied on Hertz for my car rentals, but this time I decided to give Budget a try. I made a reservation for a full-size truck and received a text message from their app upon arrival, informing me that I could go straight to my car since I had already prepaid and provided my ID information electronically. This was convenient for me as I dislike going to the counter at times. However, when I found my truck, it turned out to be a base model Ram 1500, which was a bit disappointing. I noticed that just two spaces away, there was a brand new Ram 2023 in white with black rims, which looked much more appealing. As a car enthusiast, I was a little frustrated I got the base Ram. I approached the counter, and although I may have come across as a bit demanding, a senior representative or the manager came over to assist me. He asked which vehicle I wanted to switch to, and I showed him the other Ram that I preferred. He was very helpful, although I could sense that he was trying to remain calm with me. I must say, he did an excellent job overall. Now, Upon returning the truck, I realized that I had only used it for a day to quickly pick something up and head straight to the airport and fly back home. When I arrived at the returns lane, there were numerous cars, around 50 to 60, but no staff members present. Unable to find anyone, I decided to take a picture of the keys left inside the truck and continued on my way to the terminal. Surprisingly, I didn't receive an email copy of my receipt for dropping off the truck even after a whole day had passed. This was unusual as I usually receive it within an hour or two. Concerned, I contacted Budget Customer service and explained my situation. About 30 minutes after the phone call, I finally received the receipt, indicating that they had checked in my car later than expected. It seemed like they might have been short-staffed or facing some other issues. I'm sure others have experienced similar problems and ended up with additional charges, although I didn't in this case. However, if I hadn't called to complain, I might have potentially faced that situation.
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November 2023 by Scott Farrington
Tried to charge me for gas when I returned car with a full tank. Makes me wonder how many other times this happened and I didn't catch it.On a different note, the car was good and the rental price (minus the fraudulent gas charge) was good, as well. I called customer support and provided them with a receipt from the gas station I filled up at and they removed the gas charge. Just a bit shady.
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November 2023 by Christy Bixby
Over 2 hours to pick up the vehicle. No apologies given, nor water offered. Then not even asked how I wanted to pay they just charged my card for the full amount even though a conversation I had with Budget prior to renting said I’d have the option to pay with another method on my return of the car. No staff available when I dropped it off at 6:00 am to discuss the other payment option. I feel they left me hanging in all aspects. I was late to a family event on arrival bc of the very delayed rental pick up! Attached are pics of how long the wait line was and boy it was slow going!!I was happy with the car I got but it was very DIRTY on the outside. Dust on the trunk, lots of scratches on the outside. The Inside was ok but not overly clean. No one did a walk around with me so I was sure to look at my receipt to make sure I wasn’t charged for anything I didn’t do.UPDATE: 1 1/2 months later, after sending them an email to customer service to express my frustration THEY'VE NOT REACHED OUT TO ME AT ALL. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, AS A CUSTOMER. Never a response to this review, THEY DO NOT CARE IF YOU HAVE A GOOD OR BAD EXPERIENCE! Save your money and time, use one of the other rental companies. Do your research to see if they even care about their customers! THIS PLACE DOES NOT!
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October 2023 by Sydney Seifert
Easy rental and affordable. Customer service was great at time of pick up and drop off. car ran well. The car wasn’t cleaned when we got it but we just had to wipe up some things no biggie. Other than that car was in great condition and drove great. Will definitely rent with Budget again.
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October 2023 by Jenn Geisheker
Rented from Budget at MSP and was very pleased with the service and the car (Mystery car) ! Additional note: my flight was delayed and when I looked at the policy regarding a delay I found that they hold your reservation for 24hrs. I feel that is a very generous policy as that is not always the case.
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September 2023 by Paula Winter
Rental was filthy, dirty, wrappers on the floor, boarding passes from previous rental in car. Then couldn’t get out of the parking garage for 20 minutes. There were 3 of us that kept trying to use the QR code to get out. Finally someone came to help and had to manually let each car out of garage. Eight days into rental, front headlight went out and I had to drive 25 miles to exchange vehicle. Not a great experience at all with Budget.
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September 2023 by Ann Nault
First car was filthy and smelled horribly of cigarettes in spite of a “no smoking fleet”. Second car had cracked windshield and tire pressure issues. I was charged for a full tank of gas when it was returned full. My receipts said I drove 190 when I actually drove 45. And I got to deal with all of this while trying to attend my aunt’s funeral. Awful experience and will never rent from Budget again.
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September 2023 by Sandra Johnson
This was the worst nightmare of my life. I returned the vehicle and because the rental center was so busy they were not immediately checking in cars. They said if I wanted to wait 30 minutes to an hour for check in I could. I was unable to wait because I had a flight to catch. A few days later my card was charge over $500, when I called I was initially told it was for fuel. The next time I called I was told the vehicle was not returned. The next day I got an emailed bill for over $1000! When I called again they said they were still trying to locate the vehicle. In the mean time my card had pending charges which prevented me from purchasing my much needed medication and pay other bills. It took 5 days for them to locate the vehicle and close out my rental for the correct amount. Total nightmare
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September 2023 by Kat Tessneer
The vehicle broke down, died and your company left me, my kids and my two young puppies stranded in rural WI without assistance, viable solutions or human decency to care.1. Car was rented on August 12th2. On August 13th at approximately 8:30 am the vehicle was on cruise control and speed was lost, pressing the gas pedal returned no positive result.3. I immediately called Budget emergency roadside assistance who said a tow truck would be dispatched in about 15-30 min. (a tow truck arrived 3 hours later)4. The representative indicated there was a Budget rental at the Eau Claire airport, approximately 22 miles away, however they did not open un8l 10 am and it was 9:15 am. He then said that I would need to go back to Minneapolis/St.Paul airport to pick up another vehicle as they were the next closest loca8on open. I told the representative that location was two hours in the opposite direction and his suggestion made no sense as the other, closer location would be open soon.5. By this State Patrol was on the scene blocking traffic in the lane next to me as the interstate has a posted 70 mph in that area and the officer was fearing the safety of me and my kids.6. The Budget representative called the Eau Claire location and they indicated that they had a rental for me to pick up.7. The Budget representative told me I needed to Uber to the airport, but Uber would not pick up passengers on the side of the road and left me to figure this out. He also stated I might have to pay for Budget’s vehicle to be towed to Minneapolis (RIDCULOUS).8. At this 8me the State Trooper, frustrated by the lack of speedy solu8ons by your representa8ve, put myself, my kids and our two puppies in the back of his squad car to take us to the Kwik Trip gas station at the next exit.9. I told the Budget representative what was happening and also told him that I would be taking the key fob with me so that aWer picking up the vehicle, the tow truck would have to meet me at the gas station. All of our clothes, food and belongings for our trip were still in the vehicle.10. I tried requiring an Uber, Lyft and called 7 different taxi companies in Menomine and Eau Claire for over 2 hours with no luck in gefng a ride to the Eau Claire airport to pick up the replacement vehicle.11. With no other options, I called a friend from back home and he drove 106.9 miles to pick us up and take us 22 miles up the road to get the replacement vehicle.12. During this 8me, I continued to try and order a taxi service with no luck.13. My friend arrived around 12:50, we loaded up his vehicle and headed to the Eau Claire airport. Upon looking up the address, Google indicated the location closed at 1pm and it was 1:15 pm.14. I called roadside assistance AGAIN and asked to verify the location hours. The representative I was connected to happened to be the same man I had previously spoken to, and he confirmed that the location was closed and there was nothing he could do besides send me to Minneapolis (2 hours away). I asked him to call the before/after hours number he had called earlier to secure the vehicle, but he declined. I then hung up on this man because he was not helpful in assisting.15. The only other company in that area that was open at 1:15 pm on a Sunday and had inventory to rent was Enterprise car rental. I rented the only vehicle they had which was smaller than my personal car at home.17. Around 4pm a customer service representative from Budget called to make sure that our Uber got us safely to our next destination and our new rental was working out ok. I was shocked and dismayed at this. This representative also told me that the ride should have been arranged for me or the vehicle brought to me – she was extremely apologetic .I am appalled at the complete lack of competency of the representative I spoke to that day, the added costs not only I had to endure, but my friend had to endure to make sure we weren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere; and unfortunately, there is no price I can put on the stress Budget caused that day.
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September 2023 by Loredo L.
Came here and found a super long line for the car rental. WTH? Waited 45 min in Budget line while the Avis line was mostly open (eventhough they are the same company) and had to wait in another line to receive the car in the garage. Will try to remember not to come back ever again
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August 2023 by Danika S.
We flew into MPLS for a family event. They did not have our car that was reserved available so we were given a free upgrade to a minivan. We returned our vehicle on time & did what we were told by the attendants - pull the car up & leave the keys. Now we're being charged over $200 extra. I called and was told it was because they charged us for the upgrade. That was supposedly refunded. A week later we still hadn't seen the refund so I called again. Now I'm being told that it was rejected because now we're being charged because we didn't return the car for an additional 2 days - which doesn't make sense because we were back in TN during that time. They didn't inform us that it was rejected. Now I'm being told - if I can prove that it was returned on time - I can get refunded everything but taxes and fees. Maybe I need to take a photo of the attendant receiving my vehicle with a sign of the date and time. In the span of less than 10 minutes - I was given 3 different reasons as to why I was being charged over $200.Basically - unless you want to get overcharged and speak to rude employees who interrupt, scold & essentially question your intelligence - don't rent from Budget.
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August 2023 by Ashutosh Dhar
The person in the counter wasn’t friendly and welcoming.Car had paint off, dent and front windshield glass had a significant mark which seems like was hit by a stone or something…I took pictures of all those and when indicated all these at the time of leaving with the vehicle, they said it’s all noted and recorded in the system, however, this information should be made visible to customers and allowing customers to add if someone missed to review something during the previous inspection. Hopefully all these minor damages were recorded in their system already.Car’s engine didn’t sound great either. It felt like the engine oil hasn’t been changed for a long time. When I navigated through all the on-dash displays, the CHANGE ENGINE OIL was highlighted and also flashed at some point during my trip.I would consider it as a RISK driving a vehicle where the engine oil has not been changed timely. These things should also have been caught during the inspection.Car wasn’t clean either externally and when you open the door a big layer of dirt…Overall, the interior of the car itself was good as it was Pacifica Limited and giving 3 stars just because of that, otherwise the rating would be close to 0 or 1.
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August 2023 by Caitlin Stackpool
Over an hour to get a car, then car was very dirty and old food under seats and broken sunglass holder in ceiling; upon return - no one to help so left keys in the car in the return space and found out they didn’t “process” the car for 2 days and charged us 2 more days of rental. Been trying to argue the situation for over a month now. Definitely find another car rental agency at MSP or try Turo.
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August 2023 by Kendall Char
From pick up to return things ran very smoothly, even with a slight issue with the original car. (mystery car). However, my replacement was a brand new Jeep Gladiator and for the price it was well worth the experience. Kudos!
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August 2023 by Julie L.
The worst car rental experience. The longest line at all of the car rental counters and one person working. They do not care..next time I'll pay a little more to actually get some customer service and be on my way.