Budget® Reviews
Budget was a nightmare, the first truck I got broke down and it took them 3 hours to get back to me and get a mechanic there then he could not fix it so waited another 4 hours for them to send a second truck, it finally got there and was full of water and still leaking ( heavy rain all that day) so by time they got the 3rd truck there and moving men to transfer the load from truck number one it was a 16 hour delay and I had 1100 miles left of the trip and movers booked at the other end to unload. NIGHTMARE I would not rent a Budget truck again their equipment is old, not maintained, and awful and customer service didn't really care we were sitting in a truck at a gas station all day.
Well we arrived at the pick-up location for the truck the owner was not there and his helper was not prepared to handle the paper work. We had to wait for the owner to arrive which put us behind schedule about an hour. The first truck they tried to give us was dirty and wet on the inside and had a lot of outside damage. They did give us a better truck when we asked. Not to bad of an experience all together.
The truck was great, clean and ran well and did not use a lot of gas. The "store" where we picked it up was a disaster. I had a reservation for 8:30 for the truck and arrived at 8:15. It was obvious that they had had a lot of trucks returned Sunday night. The parking lot was packed and the lady that worked in the office was running around like a chicken without a head. End of story I finally got out with my truck at 9:15, the movers arrived at 9:00 so I paid for 1/2 hour that they sat waiting for me to arrive with the truck. If I owned that Store I would make sure that someone arrive early to unscramble the mess of trucks that were dropped off during the night so that we could be ready to service customers in a timely and friendly manner when they arrived.
I first selected Budget Truck because of its link with Hire-A-Helper. The truck rental was pricey, compared to others, but the mechanical condition and cleanliness of the vehicle was worth it. The pick-up and drop-off location was convenient for me and the customer service was fine, except for an apparent computer glitch in transferring my electronic reservation to the provider, which delayed the pick-up due to information needing to be re-entered into the system. The truck size estimator was a great help. I had more boxes than anticipated but was grateful that I didn't skimp on calculating the furniture pieces to be moved. I would use Budget Truck, again, because of the condition and reliability of the vehicle.
The budget truck rental place I returned my truck to in Boulder was great but the man who owned the Budget in Arlington was a complete jerk and didn't even get us our moving blunts, lied to use about our bill and also insulted my husband after he asked a simple question. I will never use Budget again from my negative experience in Arlington.
The vehicle I was given needed an alignment and when I tried to fill the gas tank before returning the vehicle the gas cap would not open. The drop-off Budget Rental Representative told me the gas cap was not the appropriate cap for a GM truck. Basically, someone lost the original cap and replaced it with one that did not fit the particular truck. The cost to rent this truck was definitely not worth the money. I was charged for a certain number of miles whether I used the maximum miles allowed or not and even though I returned the truck earlier than planned the cost remained the same. The pick-up Budget Representative specifically told me I would need to top off the gas because the needle in the truck would not register a full tank otherwise and I would be charged for not filling up the tank. When I did this I ended up spilling gas on the ground. Basically, more money down the drain because of this rental. I do not plan to use Budget Truck Rental in the future.
Total disaster - extremely disappointed. Despite reserving truck 6 weeks in advance (on-line), calling 3 days in advance to confirm and then again the night before to confirm at the specific location we were supposed to pick up the truck - the truck was UNAVAILABLE the morning we went to pick it up (with the clock starting on 3 professional movers in an hour:-( ...) They could not find us a truck anywhere within a 30 mile radius (we live in a large city) and told us that our reservation only guaranteed a rate, not a truck. Nothing was done to help. We got on the phone and found a truck at UHaul (where we should have gone in the first place) The truck was 40% less expensive and they were professional and prepared - the truck was clean and well-maintained. Happy ending without any help from Budget - save yourself a headache and go to UHaul first.
I added to my reservation several times and they always accommodated. They also found us a car carrier at the last minute when we decided to trailer one of our cars. Make sure to change your address with USPS first to get the 20% discount coupon with Budget. We also added 3 dozen moving blankets. They aren't the highest quality, but they worked!
Everything went fine except for a few small complaints - a broken tail pipe on the truck we received, a bit of attitude from the clerks at both the pickup and dropoff space (although they ultimately were accommodating, and one person at the other end was especially helpful). But in general everything behaved the way it needed to. My biggest complaint is that I wish Budget offered a greater range of truck sizes. The 16-foot truck we got was far too big, but the next size down, 10-foot, would likely have been too small.
I used Budget b/c I received a discount with them just for using HireAHelper. I am glad I used them though b/c the guys at the shop where I picked it up were very kind, courteous and knowledgeable about their trucks. They took the time to talk to me about my options and the type of move I was doing. When I arrived they had the truck waiting for me and it was in good condition. I have no complaints. I would use Budge again and I recommend them to anyone moving.
Budget in Arlington is the most horrible vendor I've ever dealt with in the DC area. The owner insulted my husband and belittled him after he asked a simple question about how the car carrier worked. Even though I ordered my truck and moving blankets a month before my move, they failed to provide them and then lied to me and told me they were not on my order whereas I have an email proving differently. I'm going to write a more detailed review and plan to post it on every major review site (which I've never done before) because my experience with Budget in Arlington was so disappointing and frustrating.
I reserved my truck based on the size Budget suggested on their website. Unfortunately, I think they only base it on furniture and not the amount of boxes filled with the items that come out of the closets and dressers. I should have ordered larger than a 16' for a 2 bedroom apartment. The price was the best on the website and customer service gave me an additional 10% discount for using Budget.
The guy at Budget was rude. No one was in the office when we went to puck up the truck, sign on door said "went to lunch, be back between 1 and 1:30" I had scheduled a return for 1:00 on Sunday and asked about their Sunday hours and was told I better be there before 1:00 because they lock the door and won't help if you get there at 1:00. Overall, the guy had attitude as soon as he walked in the door from lunch...customer service was nonexistent! He never walked us to the truck and told us the wrong location of the truck so we were walking all over looking for the truck. When we did find the truck it was dirty inside, the previous renter had spilled something and left trash in the truck. I will never rent from Budget again
My truck had serious transmission problems after I drove it " looked like it was there for awhile. Apparently the seal finally went on my drive. Should have been caught with maintenance in my opinion. While the Budget Roadside Emergency Service people were great, it took 6 additional hours to finally get on the road. I was stuck 140 miles from home and it was hot. Budget did send some men to offload the bad truck and load the replacement truck. I might use Budget again, but not the provided I rented from this time.