Budget Car Rental

I was pressed for time due to catching a flight and left a $200 pair of wireless ear buds in the car. It was either go back and get my ear buds or miss my flight. So I thought for sure I could call Busget and have someone get them out of the car and keep them in a safe place for me. So I tried calling the local number for this location to see if someone could get them out of the vehicle but no one answered and the call got forwarded to the main call center. This main call center could not help me at all. They couldn’t call or email this satellite office for me or make any communication to this location whatsoever. The only thing they could do was tell me to hit option 5 for lost and found and leave my name and number with a description of the lost item. That would have been great had there actually been an option for lost and found when you call the number. Spare yourself the aggravation and use another company that has a legitimate customer service department. It’s 2018 and they have no way of communicating with each other within their organization. Truly pathetic.....but if you need to spend some money they will go to any length to communicate with other locations I’m quite sure. Never again will I be using Budget. Never ever again...... There are rental car companies where customer service is a top priority but Budget isn’t one of them.

i was overcharged by this location in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. I flew into Miami Airport on 9/12/2017 shortly after it reopened. I had a reservation for a rental car for 24 hours for a price of $53.05 for a one way rental from Miami to St Pete. Due to hurricane there were no flights into Tampa or St Pete on this day. This price was reconfirmed on my contract at the counter in Miami. When I got back to St Pete, I checked on my house and luckily no damage but I had no power and some debris in the yard. I decided i was going to return the car early that day because I didn't need it anymore and I needed to go to work first thing in the morning. There were gas shortages. It took me a while to find gas. I filled the gas tank up 4 blocks away from the Budget neighborhood location on 66th st N where I was supposed to drop off car. They had sign on door they were closed and they did not accept after hour rentals. I called Budget at 5:15 PM and told them of my situation and they said St Pete airport was open and I could take car there. I dropped car off at St Pete Airport parking lot at 5:45 PM and walked keys to counter to man at budget counter. He could not give me an invoice for my rental because everything was done manually at Miami due to computers being down due to hurricane. I left Miami rental car terminal around 11:15 am with the car and dropped it off at St Pete airport. I had car less then 7 hours and they billed my credit card $283 rather than the $53.05 that I was quoted. They billed me as if I had the car for several days rather than 6 hours. Adding insult to injury they said I didn't even fill up the gas tank and I have the receipt to prove it. I recognized the man I gave the key to from another rental I did at St Pete airport in January 2017. He was a very unprofessional sales rep constantly trying to upsell me on coverages that I didn't want. This same rep is the one responsible for this overcharge on this rental as I gave him the key. I tried calling this office several time because I think the man I gave the key to is the manager there. No one ever answers the phone at this office location you are just forwarded to the Budget 1-800 number. When I contacted Budget social Media department they promptly adjusted the bill to what was quoted. The Miami Budget office gets 5 stars for getting me in the car under difficult circumstances. No power, limited cell phone service and long lines at Miami International rental center. When I dropped car off at St Pete airport no flights were coming in and it appears I was only customer in the whole terminal and St Pete Budget couldn't get it right.