Budget - Child seat woes at Budget

Hello. Wanted to share my recent experience at Budget to warn others. Two months previous to pickup I reserved a car through budget.com and with it a toddler safety seat. When my family and I arrived at the Budget location at JFK on the Saturday evening before Christmas we were told that there were no child seats remaining. There was no explanation as to what caused the shortage, only that there were none available. When we asked the staff to call the other car rental agents at the airport to try to locate a spare child seat they refused to try, saying it was not possible. The desk staff then suggested that we take the car without the child seat. Perhaps they were unaware that it is illegal to drive with a small child in the car without a car seat? When I made this point the staff then suggested that I could take the car, drive to a nearby shopping mall and purchase a car seat. Budget would reimburse me for the expense. When I suggested that this might be the responsibility of Budget staff my inquiry was deflected. If I wanted to get my 3-hour drive to my remote holiday location started I realized that it was best for me to get started in search of a car seat. So I left the Budget location in the rental car, leaving my wife and daughter behind. 90 minutes later having braved the streets of Queens, holiday shoppers at WalMart (where the only remaining car seats cost $150), and snowy weather I returned successful with a new-in-box child seat. The staff at the rental location then questioned why the seat I purchased was so expensive. I advised the staff that I am not a supplier for Budget, but rather a customer. Is this the way customers are meant to be treated? When I returned the car at the end of our rental Budget did rebate me for the cost of the child seat, but it was not a very pleasant experience.

I'm not sure what the moral to the story is for other renting parents other than be prepared for such a situation.