So we rented a car in DEN a couple of weeks ago. Prior to returning the car at the airport we stopped at two locations on the way to The airport and topped off the tank. When we arrived at the airport, we were running late, and there was a long line of cars that were not yet being inspected. I walked up to the front of the line and told them I needed to run because I had to catch the shuttle and then the flight. The guy told me that was fine and asked me if the car was filled and If I left the keys in the ignition. I told him yes and left. I subsequently received a credit card charge for a $91 additional fuel surcharge. They claimed the tank was left half full. I could kick myself because I wanted to take a photo of the dashboard showing the full tank along with the odometer reading since this was the first time I left the car without someone inspecting it.

So I escalated this to Budget's customer service team and they told me to send them via email receipts of the gas payments. I went onto my credit card statement online, made a printout and emailed it over. They then told me that they needed the actual paper receipts which I did not keep. This was a personal vacation for me and I don't typically keep gas receipts knowing that they will show up on my credit card statement. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me renting a car although this is also one of the first times I've ever run rented through Budget.

Two questions. Has this ever happened to anyone using Budget and does this happen too often to this company? The second is I really don't want to have to dispute the credit card charge on my American Express but if it comes to that I will. I already tried to escalate this to a supervisor and received an unsatisfactory response That without the actual paper receipts there is nothing that can be done here. . Does anyone have any guidance or recommendations here? Thank you!