We reserved a Budget Truck for 11:00 am on a Saturday to be picked up in Grand Blanc, MI. When we arrived to pick it up, the dealer was totally surprised as he had no notice of the rental nor did he have any trucks. He did call around but could not find a truck available within 100 miles.
Upon returning home, we called Budget's customer service and were informed that we were not reserving equipment but that we were reserving a price. Because there was no truck, we were to receive a 25% discount. I informed her that we were already supposed to receive a 20% discount because of AARP so she said we would get an additional 5% off.
We did receive a call later in the afternoon letting us know the truck was there. We picked it up and were informed that the rental would start the next morning at 11:00 since we had had to wait so long.
Upon attempting to return the truck in Petoskey, MI, we had trouble finding the address. It took us over 2 hours, a stop at the State Police Post, and 2 other places, as well as 2 calls to customer service to find the drop off location. We eventually located it in what appeared to be an abandoned lot with a couple of Allied Moving trucks on it. It took another call to customer service to know that we had finally located the place.
To add insult to injury, we were charged for an additional day on each end. Seems that we were charged from the original time of the reservation, rather than the time we actually got the truck. We were also charged for dropping off the truck after closing time even though we had called to let them know we were lost trying to drop the truck off.
I again called customer service and was told that they were "sorry for my inconvenience" but that we had to pay the charges.
I originally wondered why there were 3 U-Haul places in Cheboygan, MI but you had to drive over 40 miles to find a Budget place. Now, I know why. There are no dealers willing to work with Budget at a closer location.
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