havepointswilltravel

Have you recently returned a car with full fuel tank and still charged for a made-up fuel service charge?: It happened to me at Budget TPA location. The car was checked out and my receipt indicated Fuel Out 8/8 and Fuel In 8/8.
I found a made up charge of $13+ in another E-rental receipt posted a day later with Fuel Out8/8 and Fuel In 0/8. Attempt to correct this resulted in telephone run-around. Customer Service said to produce a receipt of gas purchase. Just wanted your opinion before I call my credit company and cut up my Budget card.

fairviewroad

Budget and several other rental car companies levy a fuel charge automatically if you return a rental with under 75 miles on it. IME the existence of this charge is displayed prominently on the folder they give you with your rental contract, and sometimes in the vehicle itself. You can get the charge waived if you show a fuel receipt when you return the car. (Some FTer's have reported difficulty in getting the charge waived even when producing a receipt, but it sounds as though that's not what happened in this case.) It's not a "made-up" charge in that, theoretically, you were warned about it in advance.

havepointswilltravel

I had over 75miles on the rental.

havepointswilltravel

I had over 200 miles on the rental

havepointswilltravel

I had over 75 miles on the rental.

fairviewroad

In that case, you got hosed.

Hope it works out in your favor...I'd be mad too.

PitPirate

If it makes you feel any better, I am currently battling the exact same problem with Budget regarding a rental from RSW. I had well over 75 miles on the car and they charged me the $14 fuel charge. Customer service says it can't do anything without a gas receipt.

I have called the RSW office directly and am hoping they get back to me. If not, I am going to demand to customer service that they send me some sort of evidence that I drove under 75 miles (which, of course, does not exist). If they cannot, I will tell them they are not allowed to charge me under the rental agreement unless I drove under 75 miles.

If they continue to be helpless, I am going to get AMEX charge them back. They are in violation of their own stupid rental agreement.

This really shouldn't be permitted for priceline bids, either.

Elola

Did you refill the car or not? If you didn't refill, Budget's justified in charging you to replace the fuel, regardless of how many miles you drove. If you did refill but didn't keep your receipt, do you have a bank/credit card statement that shows the fuel charge? I would imagine they would accept that as proof of refueling in lieu of an actual receipt. AMEX will make you verify refueling as well in order to process a chargeback.

Your receipt should have both an out and an in mileage on it, that's a pretty easy way to establish the mileage driven during the rental, assuming of course that both were entered correctly (which everyone should verify at both rent and return).

Why should Budget relax their policies for customers who 1. don't directly produce any revenue for them (the third party collects all rate/fee revenue on such bookings at the time of the reservation) and 2. are clearly not brand-loyal? If anything, they should be more vigilant on such rentals.

PitPirate

Yes - I did refuel. I don't have the reciept because I specifically discussed this with the rental car checkout lady - that's what is so infuriating. I show up and they have this extra charge they never disclosed on priceline - and it says "under 75 miles, fee." She says - either you drive over 75 miles, or you show us a gas reciept. I drove over 75 miles, end of story.

Anyway, if they were charging me for lack of fuel, their own rental agreement had a specific per gallon quote they charge to refill the tank. They did not charge this (because the tank was full) - they charged the under-75 mile fee which they are not justified to do, regardless with whether I refueled or not.

For the chargeback, the obligation is on Budget to prove that I drove less than 75 miles, which they obviously can't do. If Budget were to charge me for a specific amount of fuel, then the obligation would be on me. But again, they can't do that because the tank was full.


I recieved no reciept because the drop-off station was unmanned at 11:00 pm at night and had a sign that said please leave your keys in the car. Anyway, I agree that they should have a log that shows mileage on the car - however they appear to be either incompetant or engaging in some sort of scam.

I bet they just assume that most people don't notice the extra charge or don't want to deal with it. Total joke of a company.



First of all - they aren't relaxing their policies, they are violating their own damn agreement in order to charge me money they are not entitled to charge.

Second - their agreement with priceline is that they will charge the prepaid price they quote only unless I purchase an add-on. There was nothing in the disclosure with the priceline bidding that said they could add on this extra fee. If they wanted to charge another $14, they should not have accepted my bid. (and of course I am generating revenue for them - priceline gets a haircut but budget gets the rest) By accepting my bid, they were saying I was generating enough renvenue for them. Everyone with half a brain rents through priceline at RSW because the prices are abount 1/4th the quoted price, even when you use all the inappropriate discount codes.

Of course I am not brand loyal to a brand that is running this fuel service charge scam. Why should I be?

For an industry that loves to quote their rental car agreements when charging consumers, they seem to like to ignore their own obligations when they restrict making phantom charges.

havepointswilltravel

I have spoken with CS and e-mailed details. All I got was a form letter practically indicating that Budget can practically "hose" you and that there is nothing you can do. I have disputed this charge with Amex. If not resolved I intend to go through Small Claims court for redemption.

young707

Budget Rent A Car LAX charge me full tank of gas, but I return with full tank of gas.

rief summary, I booked and prepaid Budget Car Rental at LAX this August for 3 days. At the LAX counter when I checked in, I told the Budget counter agent I will return the car with full tank of gas. This is what I always do every time I rent a car. However, she (a young women, talking to another young guy, probably some kind of friend) did not pay much attention on what I was telling her. I assume she marked the Pre Pay Gas Service Option (PPG/GSO) and charged me for $56.27 to my credit card, but did not show on the contract (yes, I have a copy of this abbreviated contract given to me from Budget and shows no marking - nothing about we are to pay for gas, not we DID return car with full tank).

Luckily, I got the gas receipt to prove to Budget Rent A Car that I did fill up the tank immediately before returning the car to the Budget lot at LAX. I was able to get my credit card payment back.

So, Budget Rent A Car made this as my fault and I have to prove to them that I have returned the car with full tank of gas. This is absolutely unacceptable.

In detail:
In August 2009, we booked online travel including pre-paid car rental at LAX.
The credit card statement came in September, showing
1. the online travel charge for the car rental
2. Buget Rent-A-Car Los Angeles CA for $68.61.
We called Budget at 888-837-3774, but they keep asking what is the phone number the car rental was for. Well, how would I know since this was prepaid online travel booking. So I email Budget Customer Services. A week later, Budget response:
"I have reviewed your rental, and our records show the additional charge is for our Pre Pay Gas Service Option (PPG/GSO) for $56.27. This is an additional charge added at the counter, and is not included in your prepayment. The Taxes and Airport Surcharges will also increase as they
are percentage based. I have sent you an E-Receipt for your records and apologize for any confusion."
So in October, I wrote back to Budget that is NOT correct, because I told Budget when I check out the car I will fill my own gas, and I DID returned the car back to Budget LAX station with FULL tank of gas.
Budget response:
"I have reviewed your rental and it shows that you accepted the prepaid
gas, that is what the $ 56.27 charge is. Per company policy I must
request that you fax a copy of your gas receipt showing that you filled
the car within five miles of the location. . Once I receive the fax I
will be happy to remove the charge. Please place the above case number
on your fax. FAX: 918-627-2508"

Luckily, I got the gas receipt by credit card charge at the Chevron gas station few mile from LAX, and immediately before I returned the car, to prove to Budget Rent A Car that I did fill up the tank immediately before returning the car to the Budget lot at LAX. So we made copy of this credit card slip and FAX to Budget.

I was able to get my credit card refund payment back 5 months later.

havepointswilltravel

One solution to prevent being hosed by Budget or any other rental company is to take a dated picture of the dashboard area with a clear indication of the fuel gauge and odometer using a camera/phone.
A little private investigation also shows that returning your car several hours prior to cut off time allows for some staff members "to run errands" with your gas.