J
92111,#2Author of original report
Fri, August 13, 2004
Larry, Thank you for the response. But you have to understand mitigating circumstances. 1) There were no other large trucks in the area to rent that whole week. They wanted it on a thursday, but were flexable. 2)My parents had no choice but to move that week. 3)They did drive the truck on the freeway unloaded to get it to the house and it seemed "o.k." except for the rattling and noise. (The ants didn't let their presence be known until the evening, after it was loaded.) 4) One likes to think that a company as big as Budget would care whether or not it sent people out on the road with truck that could potentially lead to death (uh, no brakes/metal on metal in a 24 foot truck, fully loaded?). Oh the lawsuit. They knowingly sent this truck out without inspecting it, but assured my family it had been inspected. 5) Empty fire extinguisher? Why would anyone think to check that before leaving. It's about trust. They failed our trust in them as a professional company. Larry, I see your point, but in no way did my parents fail to prepare for this. The fault lays entirely on Budget for putting this truck on the road. Even the first guy who came to fix the first problem said the truck should have been put out to pasture a while ago. No lay person could have known the thing would be that big of a dud. They had no way to make any other contingency plans, they had to be out, they had to move, the "movers" flew up to help out, missing work, and the house was not theirs as of two days later, they gave themselves buffer time, the truck broke down well after it was loaded and on it's way. How the heck could anyone plan for that.
Larry
Tucson,#3Consumer Suggestion
Fri, August 13, 2004
Up until last fall the company I work for was a Budget Truck rental agent. We got out of it in large part because Budget demanded that we rent out trucks that were not roadworthy. Budget bought out Ryder's consumer truck rental business several years ago. When you see a yellow Budget truck you are looking at a very old Ryder truck. Budget has begun putting newer trucks into service but I still see old Ryder trucks on the road. Budget does allow its dealers to keep trucks for local service only. Most dealers are going to choose the best truck they can find for use as a "dedicated" truck. Once a truck has been assigned to that dealer for local use, he cannot rent it as a one-way. This may account for the shiny new trucks that they would not rent to you. (Budget changed their policy on this several times while we were agents. One day trucks with lift gates were dedicated-trucks-only and the next day there weren't.) What could you have done differently to avoid the problems you encountered? First, you should have had a back-up plan, such as putting things in storage if a truck was not available. Never paint yourself into a corner when moving. Second, when you saw that piece of crap they foisted off on you, you should have refused to accept it. Many of the problems you reported were noticeable at walk-around. If you would have had a back-up plan, you could have walked away if they wouldn't give you a decent truck. Third, time your move. The period from Memorial Day to Labor Day is the busiest time of the year for truck rentals. This means you have fewer trucks available to choose from. Weekends are busier than mid-week. End of the month is busier than the middle of the month. Holiday weekends are insanely busy. Plan your move to occur in the middle of the week in the middle of any month from October to April and you will have plenty of choices. Never ever plan to pick up a one-way truck on Monday morning. On most Saturdays all trucks will be out on rentals. Your dealer will not likely be able to get a truck delivered to him on a Sunday, so your truck won't be there on Monday morning. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the best days to pick up a one-way truck. Finally, I would suggest driving any one-way rental truck a few miles at highway speed BEFORE you load it. If it won't go 60 empty it sure won't do it with a load. You don't want to put hours into loading a truck only to find out that it has square tires. If there is something wrong with the truck, do not load it; return it and demand a replacement. If there is no better truck available, proceed with your Plan B.