randix

incompetent? It boggles my mind, how often Budget screws up basic customer service over the most basic elements of a rental...the latest (and this time doesn't involve posting of frequent flyer credits) is a classic example of poor execution, and dare I say, contempt? for its customers (eg we'll enforce the contractual provisions that we care about, and unilaterally dismiss those provisions which we deem have changed even though its in your contract)... and this time, the excuse of franchise vs. corporate is no excuse...

Being someone who is a 365 day car renter, I use Budget often, albeit not in Las Vegas. Everywhere where I use Budget, the credit card deposit is always the cost of the rental or $200 whichever is greater (using a standard credit card).

So I make a one day rental in Las Vegas the other day, make the reservation online, using my Fastbreak profile. I print out my reservation and it states "At the time of the rental, we'll require a credit card hold of total estimated charges or $200, whichever is greater." In this case my total rental cost for the one day is $24. No problem.

I show up at Fastbreak in Las Vegas and the guy sitting on his little stool, tells me the credit card hold is $300. I point out to him my reservation and the clear language, and after plenty of mumbling and grumbling (between which he states that Las Vegas has a $300 deposit requirement), he succombs...making "an exception", he says. That, even though my reservation clearly states, "The following terms and conditions apply for your rental..."

*Disclosure, I've been playing attorney since 1974...

The idiot hands me my paperwork, wrapped by the "Budget Rental Agreement Jacket" (this is separate from my rental contract; never seen that one before--this is not the standard Budget jacket). I leave with the car, and because I have no life, am reading the terms of the agreement. In Section 24 it states that the credit card deposit is the cost of the rental plus 20%, or a minimum of $150, whichever is greater (actually they misspelled "or"...they said "on").

So since I have another one day rental coming up in Las Vegas at 12:15 am and really don't wish to do battle again...I'm wondering... is the credit card deposit $300, $200, or $150 for a $24 one day rental?

I call Budget Las Vegas, and talk to someone on "the desk", not the supervisor or the manager. She says, "oh, that jacket with those terms, [eg the $150 deposit reference] is old, we just never got it reprinted; I don't know anything about a $200 deposit, I think it's $300 here." I then ask to speak to the manager, who hearing that I really don't want to do battle at 12:15 am, promises to call me back before 5...

It's now 5:19 pm... maybe she meant before 5 on the next Wednesday after Halloween?

The point of all this?

1. Lousy management to be distributing rental agreements with every rental that have (apparently) an out of date credit card deposit requirement provision, and gawd knows what else no longer applies; management should be reviewing what they are distributing. No excuse especially when it comes to contract terms.

2. Corporate vs. Franchise? Fine. But if you make a reservation at a franchise through the corporate website, and the corporate website tells you what terms and conditions apply to your upcoming rental, it ain't kosher for the franchise to unilaterally say "oh, that doesn't apply here"

3. Las Vegas franchise wants to have a $300 credit card deposit? Fine, but lousy management not to have taking the necessary actions to incorporate that in the booking reservation process.

4. For the guy sitting on the stool at Fastbreak who's being paid minimum wage, shame on you for not trying to address the problem, versus just making it going away for the moment.

5. For the manager of the Las Vegas Budget location for repeatedly promising that she'd look into it and call back before 5 pm with a response, shame on you for breaking your word to a very frequent customer.

Bottom line: Just lousy on execution on their part, over a requirement that impacts EVERY renter there. Shame on you.

If the manager does ever call back, I'll post; otherwise, if you're around the las vegas airport at 12:15 am on Sunday morning, pull up a chair to watch the fireworks.

Guy Betsy

So.. what's the problem? Budget isn't unique in this circumstance. Other car rentals also put a hold on your creditcard. Sixt for example sometimes takes more! But its just a creditcard hold. Its not as if they've taken your money and not giving it back to you. Your hold will be released once you complete your rental.

Just make sure you have enough credit on your cards when you rent the car. Otherwise charge your rental to a charge card...

Mrp Alert

Budget at LAS is certainly unique. Everything you wrote is consistent with my experience.

aubreyfromwheaton

budget at LAS overbooks like crazy too

Jeff050

I can totally appreciate your frustration Randix, their seems to be no rhyme or reason to their credit/debit card holds and you can't get a straight answer out of anyone from Budget and you certainly can't rely on their website for accurate info. I'm also pretty much an all year long renter and here in STL they used to have even higher holds at least for debit cards for $500. Recently they've relaxed that back down to the standard credit card hold of $200 + the estimated cost of the rental. A couple months ago I dabbled with their prepaid deals to try and save a few bucks which I immediately regretted for several reasons. Anyway, it clearly states on the website that they only hold $100 for prepaid reservations on a debit card. When I went to rent at the STL airport suddenly it was $200. The agent who was actually nice was also essentially clueless as to why that was and was convinced it was supposed to be $200 for some bizarre reason. I did call their CS to ask about it and after being put on hold for 10 minutes while they "investigated" they came back on the line and said that buried in the fine print is a clause that says that each location can basically decide whatever they want for a credit hold. So basically the website is worthless as far as having any reliable information about credit holds and unfortunately your left to just "test it out" each time at each different location. You can never expect it to be a certain amount at any given location with any confidence, you just have to assume it can change at anytime for whatever reason.... that's been my experience. The best strategy is to try and make sure you have extra credit available on your card so hopefully you don't get caught short.

randix

Here's an update to my original post, as of July 12th at 3:16pm...

1. I emailed the executive operations person at AVIS/Budget (yes, you too can go to "the top"...(if you want a copy of my email, just ask)

2. I received a reply from the Las Vegas Budget manager...it really sucked, she didn't "get it". I'm happy to print her reply here if requested, but trust me, it was totally defensive (she did offer me an upgrade, lol).

3. I replied to her response via email, and sent a copy of the email to the top Avis/Budget executive mentioned above. She's probably not having a good day.

4. Within an hour or so I received a conference call from several folks at Avis/Budget who represented they were in a decision-making capacity, and recognized yes, Houston, we have a problem.

5. I'm told that the Terms and Conditions that were being distributed to every renter in Las Vegas has been stopped. I'm told that they are taking immediate efforts to address the confusion on budget.com with regard to credit card deposit requirements.

6. They asked what I wanted, I told them nothing. I'm just tired of seeing John Smith being taken advantage of when they go to rent cars.

So let's see if changes in Avis/Budget credit card deposit requirements are implemented in the short term...

Am I making a bigger deal out of this than it deserves? I dunno, I can take care of myself, but I see so many infrequent renters being taken advantage of as I stand in line or whatever, that when I encounter something so blatant, it's just enough. I don't want anything out of this personally, I just want to know that if one books on budget.com, one knows what the terms are, whether it's a corporate or franchise location, and for the Las Vegas location to stop handing out "Terms and Conditions" that are totally out of date.

And thanks for FlyerTalk for the opportunity to vent, hopefully in this instance, it will have a real positive impact for transparency.

randix

Happy to report I've been advised by the Vice President for Franchise Operations for Avis/Budget that the credit card hold policy at Budget Las Vegas has been updated to mirror the corporation’s credit card hold policy; that is, the cost of the rental or $200, whichever is greater.

Positive kudo's to the responsiveness and concern of Avis/Budget executives who when presented with consumer confusion, promptly responded with a real implemented solution.

Much appreciated. I know I've given Avis/Budget plenty of grief over the years, but I'm the very first to say thank you and applaud when they make renting a car more simpler and transparent.

Public thank you!

trajanc

Awesome. As someone who is going to rent from Budget in Vegas soon and is occasionally near their limit on their cc, I say tyvm.

kwildnj

When I travel, I initially give my "backup" credit card for the deposit purposes. I carry no balance on this card, and use it only for real emergencies, so the loss of available credit is not at issue for me. I then offer my "payment" card at return, and pay the bill. Takes maybe 5 minutes longer.

Honestly, do you carry that large of a balance that an extra $100 would make a difference?

And lastly, if it does, rent with Alamo/National who only hold the price of the rental.

docr775

Last week I had a rental in Reno for two days. The reservation stated two days with 250 free miles. I did not pay attention to the miles since I usually drive less than that. When I returned the car, I was running late - turned the car in at 3:30 with the flight leaving at 4:15. I turned the car in, I took my receipt and boarded my flight.

The next day I was reconciling my trip expense and I noticed that from $129 stated on my original contract, my receipt showed a charge of $266. Upon close examination I noticed that I was charged for 517 miles driven, even though the actual miles were 267.

I called customer service. The first person I talked to, with a very poor command of the English language, listened to my argument that I did not drive those miles and that I was overcharged, then put me on hold. Next thing I know I am talking to somebody else who insists that I drove 517 miles and that I am responsible for the charges. At this point I mention that I took a picture of my starting mileage and ending mileage of the rental. She puts me on hold and agrees that I have only driven 267 miles but because I did not contested it when I turned the car in I am still responsible for the 517 miles. However as a good will, she was willing to split the miles in half and only charge me for 258 miles. At this point I asked why do I have to pay for 258 if I already had 250 miles free in my rental? She told me that I am lucky that she is willing to refund me half the driven miles even though she, upon further research, found out that I only driven 267 miles.

At this point I have been on line 90 minutes. I said, great, give me my refund and I am cancelling all my further reservations. She did not care.

Two days later, the refund posted to my debit card and I called the bank and contested the extra charge. I have yet to hear back from Budget. I have also sent them copies of my last 4 rental receipts since then, rented from the competition.

Auto Enthusiast

Budget's website lists RNO as corporate, with unlimited miles. So how did you get a rate plan with a mileage cap?

docr775

I am still trying to figure that out.

docr775

I called back today and had customer service pull my last 4 rentals in the Reno area. All of them showed an average of 248 miles driven per rental. Then I had them look at my next 7 rentals that I have cancelled over the next 5 weeks. As a result the representative reversed all the charges and sent me 4 $25 off certificates for my trouble.

docr775

Apparently, as an enhancement to my corporate BCD, in order to qualify for the larger discount, I have to agree to 250 free miles per rental. When I pointed out to the Budget rep that I get the same or lower rate with Avis or Thrifty, I was advised that I should rent with the other companies or forfeit my BCD discount to get unlimited miles. Really? To the rep it made more sense to pay more with Budget versus the competition. My response was "Not a chance"

Guy Betsy

Isn't Budget and Avis one company in the US now?