Complaint Review: Budget- Rental

I rented a 16” truck from Budget on August 5th, 2013. When I arrived at the scheduled time, the dolly (to transport my car) was not ready. I was told to come back three hours later, thus delaying my move.

When I returned later, I was told the dolly they had was cheap and they apologized for the issue and hooked up my car. This was a dolly that had two tires on the ground and used my back tires to support it. They hooked it in and told me to put it in park and fit the front tires into the straps.

Once we finally left New York City, I noticed the steering was very loose and the brakes required extra compression at speeds above 35 MPH. I have driven trucks larger than this across the country on at least five occasions and never experienced this. I called and told them I didn’t feel comfortable in the truck. They told me to “take it slow” and it was perfectly safe.

Because I did not feel in control, we drove 40 MPH the entire way, delaying the trip. Our first night was a stop in Danville, PA where I stopped because the brakes were being temperamental on the highway. This continued over several days and every time I called, the representative would tell me there was no note on my account regarding my previous calls and the truck was perfectly fine.

On Thursday, August 8th, during a downpour, the brakes became almost entirely useless. I pulled off the highway into Ashland, Ohio and had further issues controlling the vehicle. It was then that the “check engine” light came on and I gave up and pulled into a vacant lot. While we waited for Budget’s Roadside Assistance, we noticed that my car had shifted in the dolly. The front tires had turned to the right so that the car was at an angle, thus dragging behind the truck rather than rolling.

We waited around six hours for the mechanic to come and he observed that the dolly was a “twisted up piece of sh*t, the front driver tie rods were bent, the engine light was on and my car was not properly placed. In addition, rather than being set in Neutral, my car was in Park, causing it to not only shift in the wrong direction but also fight my brakes for attention and prevent the tires from spinning properly.

We waited as Budget forced the mechanic to go through a 2 hour check list and I phoned Budget and was told I would be “compensated immensely” for my troubles. We were finally told that our truck was deemed unsafe and a replacement would be provided the next day. We spent the night and in the morning, a replacement was brought to the hotel. The replacement had extensive water damage, rust, and a leak in the cabin. In addition, when the movers detached the dolly, they showed me how twisted the metal was. In addition, the wires connected to the dolly to enable signals were frayed and we then discovered the dolly did not have signals. Because of the height of my car, drivers did not know when we needed to turn, change lanes or when we had our hazards on (which was often). This is both unsafe and illegal. 

I again phoned them and told them we needed a new dolly and truck. They told me that no one had documented issues with the dolly and a new investigation needed to be opened, despite my repeated calls on the road, They then said they had provided a new truck and another would be at my expense. I explained that the “new” truck was damaged and if it rained, my items would be ruined. They were unsympathetic.

At this point, we were only 6 hours into a 22-hour drive and I had enough. I called and told them I was hiring movers and was returning the truck nearby. I was told, “We do not normally do this, but because of your troubles and early return, we will be refunding your money” I was lucky to find movers who took my belongings into a storage pending a September delivery date at a cost far greater than the truck.  We then returned the truck and were told to call the next day to arrange for my refund.

After driving the car for 20 minutes, the back brakes went out and we began swerving due to the mechanical arms that keep the tires balanced. We required a tow, yet again in Ohio, and spent 4 days in Delaware, Ohio waiting for repairs. The brake place told us the issues were because the car was improperly placed in the dolly and damaged by being dragged rather than rolled. We ended up missing work and arriving several days late to Kansas City, MO.

I phoned Budget to file a claim for the car and once again no one had documented any problems with the dolly so I had to file a complaint yet again. When I spoke to customer service about my refund, they refused to compensate me and stated that there was no service issue with the truck and I was not entitled to money back. After repeated calls I was able to get compensation in the amount of $300. I then discovered that they simply charged me for the ride from New York to Seville, Ohio and made no attempts to compensate beyond that. Despite giving us an unsafe truck, an illegal dolly, and damage to my car as well as safety delays and stress. 

As I had to pay an additional $1,500 to move my belongings, I am fighting this transaction. In addition, I will most likely have to take them to court as they are not taking responsibility for the car. Once again, they claim that the dolly was never documented as having an issue and I can’t prove it was from there. Well, I can with the pictures I took before we left the hotel in the damaged car.

In addition, I was over a week late to Kansas City due to the repeated truck issues and subsuqent car repairs and lost the job I was moving for.