Zach tried to rent a truck from Budget last month, and not only did he not get the truck, but he didn’t get the compensatory gift card they offered by way of apology. In fact, pretty much the only real thing he got from Budget was a $50 fee on his credit card for being a “no show”—even though he arrived at the location a half hour before closing only to find it locked up. Oh, and the location was 150 miles from his home.

Dear Consumerist,
 
I just got off a red faced phone conversation with Budget Truck Rental’s head of corporate customer service “Wayne” and I thought I would share the conversation. I rented a truck from Budget to pickup 3/9 so I could move some furniture. I live in Kentucky and rented the truck 150 miles away in Indianapolis.
 
When I showed up to pickup my truck, at 1:30, the store was closed even though the posted hours stated they were to be open for another half hour. So I was stranded without a truck 150 miles away from home. Still hoping to salvage the day I called the Budget 1800 number to try to find another truck.
 
Budget’s customer service said they were terribly sorry for my inconvenience and said they would find me another truck right away and give me a discount. Two hours later they were unable to locate a single Budget truck in a 50 mile radius and said that they would still send me compensation for my trouble. They discussed giving me a $75 MasterCard gift card since I was already going to be out one of these anyway since I rented the truck during a MasterCard promotion.
 
Two weeks go by and still no “compensation” but I do get a $50 fee show up on my credit card statement from Budget. I called Budget to see what this was about and they said it was a no show fee since I never picked up my truck… lets rewind here I didn’t pick up my truck? After a half hour of debating I get up to corporate and finally get my $50 refunded but they said they never promised any compensation and that my online truck rental in no way guarantees a truck but only a rate.
 
So not only did I not get any compensation but they also erroneously charged me $50 dollars and I got to be out 300 miles worth of driving. So moral of the story if you are rent from Budget you may get royally screwed.

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