Complaint Review: Budget Car Rental

Well… where do I start? Maybe with the over 35 minute wait to be able to finally board one of the very rare Budget shuttles at LAX airport. Or the fact that calling customer care to complain about this was fruitless, because I was just put on hold for over 20 minutes, till I just hung up. Two shuttles zoomed by on the left lane of the LAX terminal, completely ignoring the very displeased crowd of customers who unsuccessfully tried to call the drivers’ attention by waving and yelling.

Or maybe when the 3rd shuttle finally stopped and all customers were packed into it, with NO social distancing, during this deadly pandemic. Or maybe it was when I arrived at the Budget office, and realized that all the information provided to the company on the website or even the early payment, were simply useless. Because though the company’s website claimed that filling out extra information (like drivers license, address, etc) and paying for your rental in advance were  the key to “breeze through the check in process” it was only a lie.

All info provided on the website was simplu disregarded and every customer had to wait a long time in a long line and then answer the very same questions from the website AGAIN at the check in counter. Oh! Wait!! I know. I know what is the factor that influences me the most to NEVER want to use this company again: the horrible customer service rendered by the lady who collected and processed my information at the check in counter. Not only was she impolite, with an aggressive atitude, but never, in any moment apologized for all I described above.

Instead, the words out of her mouth were: “Well sir, it’s up to you!” As if I’d be able to cancel the reservation I had already paid for and walk 5 miles on foot to the next car rental company near the airport. And all that while my poor exhausted family waited at terminal 4, for two hours already. That lady was the icing on the cake of this nightmare. This was the very last time I do business with this company