Budget rental car reservation BUT no car!

So I felt like I was in the middle of that Seinfeld episode...

Flew to Las Vegas July 15th. First flight was delayed five times...the last one of which meant we would not make our connection. We were rescheduled to arrive a few hours later and in the middle of the night. I emailed and called Budget to confirm our reservation (and offered to pay over the phone to make sure we'd be OK.) At that time, my concern was not that we'd actually have a car, but specifically it would be the minivan we had reserved. With the final flight change, I sent my adult daughter a text; she was arriving into Las Vegas on time, so I asked her to go to Budget, let them know that we were coming (late) but that we'd be there.

So my daughter took the shuttle to the car rental center, stood in line for 45 minutes, gave them my name and confirmation number and advised them that we were definitely coming, asking "please don't give away our car!" She was assured they would not.

But alas I arrived only to be told "We are out of cars. We don't have your minivan or any other cars, but you can try tomorrow." BTW the family in front of us had PREPAID their reservation, but they had no car either!!!

So I paid $25 with tip to get to Harrah's. In the morning, I paid $25 with tip to get back to Budget with no assurance they would actually have any cars (much less the minivan I needed.) But 12 hours after arrival, I do have our minivan. Our first day's plans were screwed AND Budget wanted the car back 6 days later even though I paid for a week.

JUST WHAT are we supposed to do if a reservation means nothing? Make duplicate reservations for more than one company?

 

I cannot answer your question but I expected better service from Budget.

 

Wow, this making me reconsider renting from Budget! I saw that I could rent a convertible for the week we we'll be there - for cheap - $210.... maybe sounds too good to be true?

 

I would call a main office of Budget and ask them what you just asked here.

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/feedback/feedbackrouter.ex?feedbackhome=display-contactus

Customer Service: 800-214-6094

 

The family in front of us prepaid and Budget did cover their cab fare to hotel that night and back to rental center the next day. So at least that's something... Alamo did have cars available, but a long line and it was 2am. Budget suggested that I ask Alamo if they would honor our reservation's rate but Budget did NOTHING to help me with that.

 

I did contact them and they refunded two days of the rental cost. BUT I missed my visit with my uncle (scheduled for first day), wasted $50 on cabs and a couple hours of my time, lost 20K in rewards points I had used for non-refundable hotel booking near my uncle for 7/16 AND had to pay for extra night in Las Vegas. Not sure if I'm going to pursue this any further, but I sure as heck am going to tell everyone who will stand still long enough to listen.

FYI we've rented from Alamo for many years but varied this time because Alamo no longer has AARP's 2nd driver free policy.

 

I sure would pursue it and tell Budget exactly the bolded. A dissatisfied customer can do more damage than a satisfied customer can do good, let them know that you have already put this out on the internet and others are waiting to see what they are going to do to rectify your inconvenience.

 

I would ask for compensation in the form a free future rental. Indicate your intention to complain to the BBB/ better business bureau. But that doesn't always get their intention, big companies have 1000's of BBB complaints during a typical year.

However, mention you might consider a letter to the Office of the Attorney General of NV, and that could garner more than normal interest in your situation. But those govt, offices too are being bogged down, and budget cuts have caused them to be able to devote little time to things like this.

 

Wow. Completely unacceptable customer "service". Absolutely ridiculous. I would certainly do all you're doing to draw attention to the matter.

 

Absolutely... You received awful service (I'm not even sure the word "service" is applicable) from local Budget representatives. No one can "un-ring the bell", but give customer-care representatives the chance to do the right thing. I'm hopeful they will.

 

Our experience has not always been good, so we usually make reservations with 2 or 3 rental companies plus we make a reservation for one day later in case we are delayed into the next day.

 

"you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to HOLD the reservation" - Jerry Seinfeld

What awful service. I'm sorry this happened.

 

"Yeah you better give me the insurance because I plan to beat the hell out of this thing".

 

I actually had the exact same thing happen to me last month with Budget, but in Salt Lake City. We needed a mini van. I told my girlfriend that they probably don't have too many of them so I hope they had one for us. They didn't. They said there were 2 that were suppose to have been returned that morning but weren't. They ended up giving us a Ford Transit, much bigger. As it turned out it worked better for us than the mini van (other than parking was a pain) and they chopped the price in half. But for awhile we thought we were screwed as anything smaller wouldn't have worked for what we needed on that vacation.

 

We had four ladies and entirely too much luggage. We probably could have managed with something like the Rav-4...and considered it. But the mini-van was about the same cost and we knew we'd have enough room. When I had to return Thursday to see if they had cars available (just try to call them...it's BS) we confirmed first that Bell Services could hold our big bags and we'd do our Grand Canyon road trip with the bare essentials. But as it turns out they did have the minivan then. However, they did advise me that they'd be out of cars again within two hours. How does a car rental business manage without cars?

I'm jet lagged today, but tomorrow will review the email they sent and decide if I want to fight with them - or just never again use Budget! Thank you for all the suggestions.

 

Posted a review on Yelp. Tomorrow I'll see if I can do the same on TripAdvisor.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/budget-car-rental-las-vegas-2?hrid=xZf8mEZt__ajU1Yb52IEoQ&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link

 

People book and don't show up. It's not like booking a flight where you are obligated to show up. So the car rentals overbook to compensate. If they run out of cars, they max out the profit.

 

In Vegas the second driver is free if they are a spouse at all rental companies is my understanding.

 

My second driver was my daughter.

 

Which only makes the problem worse...as now I feel forced to book duplicate reservations.