Budget charging a $700+ "inconvenience fee" for returning 13 day rental after 7 days
Aug 4, 2015, 9:11 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 1,782
Budget charging a $700+ "inconvenience fee" for returning 13 day rental after 7 days
This was posted on a local forum I frequent. Car came from Budget at IAH
I originally explained that if you return it more than 24 hours they can re-fare it, but they specifically said that this was an "inconvenience fee" and I had never heard of that. Any insights?
Had to rent a car the other day - so I went online and prepurchased a car from budget rental. Two weeks prepaid cost me $575 - not a bad deal. Here is the bill from when I prepaid.
Ended up not needing the vehicle so took it back early 6 days into the rental. The employee behind the kiosk informed me that I would get a credit on any unused days. Then I checkout, and my credit card was charged another $555. The reason - an "inconvenience fee". This is the bill upon return that I was charged additionally - note the change in weekly rate to over $770/week.
Now budget won't call be back or return any inquiries regarding this gross and blatant overcharge so now I need the community's help. So far I have disputed the charges with the credit card company, but my question is what else can I do to get their attention? How is changing the agreed rate legal?
Ended up not needing the vehicle so took it back early 6 days into the rental. The employee behind the kiosk informed me that I would get a credit on any unused days. Then I checkout, and my credit card was charged another $555. The reason - an "inconvenience fee". This is the bill upon return that I was charged additionally - note the change in weekly rate to over $770/week.
Now budget won't call be back or return any inquiries regarding this gross and blatant overcharge so now I need the community's help. So far I have disputed the charges with the credit card company, but my question is what else can I do to get their attention? How is changing the agreed rate legal?
Last edited by wcalvert; Aug 4, 2015 at 9:00 pm
Aug 4, 2015, 3:19 pm
#4
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Ooops. Sorry OP. I thought you were the one that had the issue. The advice you provided was of course correct.
Looking at the bill it makes absolutely no sense. It clearly states the weekly rate as $157.50 and that the rental charge was $778.25 how they got from one to the other makes no sense. The car was kept for more than 99 hours and less than 28 days so the rate requirement that they were using was met.
Please let us know if you hear more details or a response from Budget. Love to know the explanation.
Ooops. Sorry OP. I thought you were the one that had the issue. The advice you provided was of course correct.
Looking at the bill it makes absolutely no sense. It clearly states the weekly rate as $157.50 and that the rental charge was $778.25 how they got from one to the other makes no sense. The car was kept for more than 99 hours and less than 28 days so the rate requirement that they were using was met.
Please let us know if you hear more details or a response from Budget. Love to know the explanation.
Last edited by ken98230; Aug 4, 2015 at 3:27 pm
Aug 4, 2015, 4:12 pm
#5
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Does the full contract indicate that an "inconvenience fee" may be charged if the car is returned early?
Does the full contract indicate that an "inconvenience fee" may be charged if the car is returned early?
Aug 4, 2015, 7:06 pm
#6
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Booked direct or through a third party website? The latter has incurred early drop fees for years, a fact which ironically I learned at IAH. The former might get repriced if you say dropped from a weekly rate to daily rate, but also gets a credit if you were just a day early.
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
Last edited by jayer; Aug 4, 2015 at 7:16 pm
Aug 4, 2015, 9:02 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 1,782
Booked direct or through a third party website? The latter has incurred early drop fees for years, a fact which ironically I learned at IAH. The former might get repriced if you say dropped from a weekly rate to daily rate, but also gets a credit if you were just a day early.
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
It was repriced from 13 days to 7 days.
Repricing was done on the return slip, and he was told to call customer service for an explanation.
Aug 4, 2015, 10:06 pm
#9
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The travel industry is one of the few industries where, when you use less than what you bought, they ask you to pay more! 
But seriously, the final receipt goes into detail to describe a 60-cent-per-day "energy recover fee" but fails to itemize a several-hundred-dollar "inconvenience fee"? I really want to think that this was some sort of mistake.
At the very least, Budget will have to respond if they want to get paid. Please let us know if/when you hear what the outcome is!
But seriously, the final receipt goes into detail to describe a 60-cent-per-day "energy recover fee" but fails to itemize a several-hundred-dollar "inconvenience fee"? I really want to think that this was some sort of mistake.
At the very least, Budget will have to respond if they want to get paid. Please let us know if/when you hear what the outcome is!
Aug 4, 2015, 11:15 pm
#10
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Booked direct or through a third party website? The latter has incurred early drop fees for years, a fact which ironically I learned at IAH. The former might get repriced if you say dropped from a weekly rate to daily rate, but also gets a credit if you were just a day early.
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
If repriced from 28 to 13 days what would the price be? Presumably repriced from a monthly rate to a weekly rate, and does that change the tax and facility charges? (On a Texas hotel taxes are drastically reduced on a four-week rental, or they were way back when I was doing it).
Was the repricing disclosed on the return charge slip? I assume the renter was flying away early or they just would have said never mind I'll keep it car till the scheduled return?
Aug 5, 2015, 1:56 pm
#11
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Well, what were the terms of the prepaid? Is he sure they didn't say that any change to the duration could result in repricing? I would expect that to be pretty common terms of a pre-paid.
There's no "nuisance fee" that I see. All I see is that the rental was repriced at the current rate. It was no surprise at all that a current rate might be way higher than a rate reserved earlier (whether prepaid or not).
A rental car company typically has no provision to store a car that was return too early and process it days later. They have to process it when it was returned, and if that's outside the bounds of when the reservation said it would be returned +/- minor allowances, they have to redo the reservation to be able to process it.
There's no "nuisance fee" that I see. All I see is that the rental was repriced at the current rate. It was no surprise at all that a current rate might be way higher than a rate reserved earlier (whether prepaid or not).
A rental car company typically has no provision to store a car that was return too early and process it days later. They have to process it when it was returned, and if that's outside the bounds of when the reservation said it would be returned +/- minor allowances, they have to redo the reservation to be able to process it.
Aug 6, 2015, 10:46 pm
#12
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drop-charge or upgrade charge?
Hmmm I am curious, what car class did the renter pre-pay and what did s/he end-up driving? Upgrade charge, but I thought upgrade charges were usually a separate line item.?
Also it appears that he was intending to return to another location in Houston, but did he return to the original location? It shouldn't matter, since same city, but something is going on to cause the re-pricing. On the top of original pre-paid receipt, it clearly states additional fees may apply, if changes to return, date or location though.
Also it appears that he was intending to return to another location in Houston, but did he return to the original location? It shouldn't matter, since same city, but something is going on to cause the re-pricing. On the top of original pre-paid receipt, it clearly states additional fees may apply, if changes to return, date or location though.
Last edited by CALIF65GM; Aug 6, 2015 at 10:49 pm Reason: More info