Usacomplaints.com » Cars & Transport » Complaint / Review: Budget Rent-A-Car - Moving Van disaste. #4445

Complaint / Review
Budget Rent-A-Car
Moving Van disaste

Budget Rent-A-Car is adding insult to injury - my husband and I are distraught!!! We were moving from NYC to Arizona after our recent wedding. We had no furniture, just some sentimental possessions and gifts from the wedding, so we decided to move ourselves and rent a one-way moving van from Budget. I reserved the van over the phone and was given a local office to pick up the van from. During the pre-rental inspection, I noticed the passenger side door lock was brocken, and the entire cylinder could be removed from the outside, renedering the lock useless. I pointed that out to the employee, who said not to worry about it, and noted it on the rental agreement. When I persisted, he told me that that was the only van available, despite the fact that there were 3 other vans the same size parked at the lot. Of course, while the van was parked in the driveway, fully loaded with ALL of our things, it was stolen. We had had the van for four days, and were leaving the next day.

We had to wait until Monday to file the police report, because the van was stolen Sunday morning, and of course the local rental office was closed. When we went to the office, and filled out all the claim forms. They were very nice and told me not to worry, I'd only be charged for the four days I had the van, not the entire 11-day rental. Most of the new stuff (gifts) were covered under the homeowners policy, so we went on to Arizona with nothing.

A month later my credit card statement comes back showing that I was indeed charged the entire rental, over $1800. I called the Customer Service number, and they advised me to get in touch with the local rental office. They also told me that the van was never reported stolen to the company from the local office, and connected me to Claims. Claims confirmed that their local office in Queens never listed the van stolen - in fact, they listed it as returned 11 days after pickup back to the Queens location, not Arizona! So I spoke to the office manager, who claimed that he was very busy and the only way to get the charge off was through the corporate headquarters.

I spoke to a woman at corporate, who said she would look into the situation, and again reiterated that I should not be charged the full rental, only the four days. She asked me to send her the van keys, to remove any liabilty from myself in the loss of the van. We sent the keys and she acknowledged their receipt. That was the last I heard from her, despite repeated messages to her voicemail, regarding the status of the account.

To make a horrific situation even worse - today my parents received a bill from Budget, sent to me at my former address in NY. It is a bill for damage to the van, over $1000. Apparently, the van was found and given back to Budget some time ago, and now they want reimbursement! They included pictures of dents on the sides of the van, and of the ripped out steering column. They make no mention of how the theives gained entry, or the damage to the passenger side door lock. Also, no mention of any items that may have been found left inside the van. And, I do not know if the police even did an investigation for evidence of who took the van in the first place. I don't think I even need to mention that in my original claim to Budget, I asked that I be contacted immediately upon any recovery of the van or it's contents. I guess this is their interpretation of contact.

Unfortunately, since the van is registered under Budget Rent-A-Car, I cannot get my hands on the police report, or even get any information from them, even though I filed the report. I really think this is a travesty of justice. I cannot believe that my husband and I have to PAY for the privelege of having everything we own stolen. This big company got it's van back, a few dents, but believe me, it also came with more than a few when we picked it up. Of course we have no proof, and there is really no way we'll ever know for sure, but I have no doubt in my mind that this was an inside job. The office manager won't talk to me, the corporate office is suddenly deaf, and all the customer service reps come away scratching their heads at the mistakes on our account.

Our only hope is that maybe we can find some legal ground on which to sue Budget for all the stuff we lost not covered under the insurance policy, or at the least, getting all the charges dropped - including three months of interest on the rental fee. I cannot believe a company can get away with something like this. And all the people involved who refuse to help. I wonder how they would sleep at night if everything they ever owned, every photograph, every book, every momento from loved ones, everything was taken from them?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Whatever you do stay the hell away from Budget Rent-A-Car, and if anyone can give us some advice, please let me know..

Sincerely,

Shannon Cabral DeLeo
Tucson, Arizona


Offender: Budget Rent-A-Car

Country: USA   State: Illinois   City: Lisle
Address: Nat'l Headquarters

Category: Cars & Transport

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