Moving can a great time to take a clear-headed look at your possessions and determine what it is that you truly need. H. and his family ended up giving away many of their belongings during a recent move, but not because of any desire to downsize. They had to leave their things behind because the employees at his local Budget thought that a family that booked two identical trucks had done so only because they double-booked. Not because they actually needed two trucks. Nope.

I am in the military and I needed to move my family down to Florida as my wife did not want to stay here alone with the kids while I left. We called and reserved two 24 foot moving trucks, one with a car trailer on two separate reservations. The gentleman on the phone gave us a hard time with the prices, way beyond what the website quoted us. After working it out we were happy with the arrangement.

My wife called back a few days later to verify the reservations and the guy only put us in for two 16 foot trucks. Good thing we checked.

Now here is where it goes bad. We go to pick up our trucks and we only have one 24 foot truck with a trailer. The clerk tells us “oh they must have thought you double booked. ” This is exactly why we had two separate reservations, to avoid any “double booking” We were told we could get a 16 foot truck later in the day, this was on a Sunday. We had final out on the house on Monday morning.

We tried to find another company to go with but could not afford the $1000+ plus cost for another truck from a competitor. Out of desperation, we had to go with a smaller truck and give what did not fit in the truck away. Returning the truck we are given a number to call and we are told we can credit $20 to your card you made the reservation with. All we wanted was an apology at this point but we were only insulted with a twenty dollar offer, not one apology or sympathetic ear.

Bottom line, always double/triple check your reservations or you will have to give away your possessions.

We’re not sure whether Budget’s executives would respond well to an executive e-mail carpet bomb, but it’s worth finding their contact information and giving it a try. Good luck.

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