Budget Truck Rental

July 24^th, pick up location 710 Sagamore Pkwy N –Lafayette, IN 47 904
We were driving up from just south of Nashville TN. Upon entering Indiana not only was there an extreme amount of road work but there were 2 horrific accidents that closed the interstate. First it was closed in Sothern Indiana where a man tried to burn his wife to death in his car
and second closer to Indianapolis a section was closed for another accident. When we realized that we were not going to make the 2pm pick up a call was made to the local shop to let them know we were still coming and would be late. My husband said that they didn’t seem to know
we had a reservation and acted confused. Oh well they have a few hours to figure it out.

Around 4:30 we arrived to pick up the truck. First trailer hooked up to the truck, lights don’t work. Second trailer hooked to the truck, lights don’t work. (Now I won’t go into the simple rules of electrical systems but at this point I would check the truck.) So we are assigned the truck
and trailer and told to sit tight they were calling for a repair. Just before the shop closed I sent my husband in to see what the deal was (6 pm). Nothing you just have to wait as they have called for road side assistance. At some point we called the 800 number and were told the
system is automated there is nothing anyone can do, we just have to wait. Finally a call from the Roadside guy, he’s in DANVILLE, IL and it will be better than an hour before he can get there. 4.5 hours sitting in a parking lot waiting. We had numerous things that were to get done
that evening but they all had to be scrapped. It was 10 pm before we arrived at our destination (Remington IN).

I sent many a tweets and was told to call the 800 number and to email a cs address.

When we called about this mess they offered me a $ 30 refund. Finally they made it $ 77. And after emailing customer service they offered to put $ 30 more making it $ 107. 4.5 hours sitting in a parking lot is only worth 100 bucks.
I get that renting a truck only happens for most people a few times in their lifetime and that with their only being 3 major truck rental companies that you have no obligation to be fair or provide good customer service. But I guess that is why I have the ability to dispute credit card charges. I am most irritated because this was all preventable. They could have checked the truck and trailer earlier in the day. They could have allowed us to take the truck and trailer home and have the repair guy come there instead of leaving us in a parking lot. It’s sad and I hope to NEVER have to rent a moving truck again and I certainly won’t get one at this location. Locking up and leaving people stranded in the parking lot is crappy.

Run, don’t walk, away from this business! I rarely write reviews for anything, but this was such a horrible experience that I felt compelled to post something. First of all, let me say that this review is about the Budget Truck company and this particular site together, because both were equally horrible. Here is my story…
In early May 2013, I reserved a 16-​foot Budget truck for a move that would take place on June 7^th. The price was nice, and I had every confidence that things would go smoothly with the rental. First, when I showed up to get the truck on June 7^th at 8AM (my reserved pickup time), I initially couldn’t find the place. The truck rental office looks closed/​abandoned, with boarded up windows, an extremely sagging roof, and a parking lot that I imagine at one point used to be asphalt. After circling the block and coming to this horrible realization, I pulled in and parked.
Upon entering the establishment, again, it looked more like a closed business that had been forcibly occupied by transients than a reputable rental company. Most of the space was completely empty except for some moving dollies in one corner, and a single employee behind the counter with another customer. I took my place in line behind this customer — the employee was nice enough to this man, but shortly thereafter the phone rang — I don’t know if the man who called was another employee or what, but I subsequently witnessed an extremely angry tirade of shouts from the man behind the counter into the phone receiver. I literally could not believe that such behavior was taking place in front of customers.
So, several minutes later, I find out that my 16-​ft truck is not there, and the employee has no idea where it is. It is now close to 8:30AM. Supposedly, a 12-​ft truck would be arriving at 11AM, and if I would make do with it, the employee would give me a discount on mileage. During this time, several other customers entered and left, all because this single employee was visibly flustered and agitated by their presence. It’s like the thought of handling multiple items at once gave him a panic attack, but they really should of had more than one person working. Upon being promised a phone call as soon as the truck arrived, I begrudgingly accepted the 12-​ft truck with discount and left.
Fast forward to 11:30AM. Still no phone call. By this time, I was getting upset. I tried repeatedly to call the Budget truck office, only to have nobody answer. I then called the national hotline, and after being transferred between 3 people, still had no idea where my trucks (yes, plural now) were. The customer service lady (herself being unable to reach the local office) said she would put in a request with the inventory management team, and I would receive a call back in between 15 minutes and 2 hours with a truck. Obviously, it was closer to 2 hours. At 1:15PM, with over half my day wasted, I received a call about the 12-​ft truck just having arrived (no comment on the reason for the 2-​hour delay). Apparently, the 16-​ft truck broke down due to Budget’s incompetent mechanics not making a repair correctly the night before, and they just never bothered to tell anybody.
I lugged myself back to the Budget office — by this time it was 1:30PM. The truck was there, but still too was this single, awful employee. Upon making a comment that I wanted to be sure to get my mileage discount because of this huge inconvenience, he shot me a look that could kill, and subsequently ranted about how he was going to lose $ 4,000 on the weekend revenue, because apparently Budget reserves the same truck for multiple people at once. As if that’s my problem in any way, shape, or form. We finally get the rental agreement signed, and then, yes, this employee has to actually close down the business and kick out the other customers so that he can take the 12-​ft truck to go get refueled. Ridiculous. After burning rubber out of the parking lot, and similarly reentering with the truck, he gives me the keys and I’m on my way. At 2 o’clock. 6 hours later than planned. My apartment complex has a move-​in time cutoff of 5PM, and I had to beg and plead with them to give me 4 extra hours because of this nightmare ordeal.
The next morning, I dropped off the truck. Not much eventful here, except when I pulled into the parking lot at 8:15AM (the business was supposed to open at 8AM), a line of people was waiting outside. Apparently the lone employee never showed up — awesome! Long story short, this business needs to be closed, the employee (s) fired, and Budget really needs to rethink how it reserves and tracks its vehicle inventory. Needless to say, I will never be renting from this place (or Budget in general) again.