Rental Car Experience
 

My daughter-in-law recently had a horrible rental car experience at Budget. I’m posting this here partly because I think the company deserves some bad PR, but also to ask for thoughts on whether there is anything she could or should do to pursue this, or should she just write it off and never deal with Budget Rent a Car (or its parent company Avis) again.

She arrived at Logan Airport in Boston around 11 pm, and because Budget was so slow with its bus service (much less frequent than all the other companies) she didn’t get to the desk until almost midnight. She was traveling alone from California with 3 young children, so it had been a long and tiring day for her.

The man on duty was apparently angry at having to work an extra shift and was taking it out on the customers by being extremely rude to everyone in line. When her turn came, my DIL tried to be pleasant by commiserating with him about his double shift, and then (just making conversation) asked him if he was “Sashay James,” whose name appeared on the wall as the manager on duty. At that point he became very abusive, yelling at her and asking if he looked like a woman. She of course had no idea that “Sashay” was a woman’s name.

Then when she tried to ask him a question about the rate, he continued yelling angrily at her. She said, “You can’t talk to me like that,” and he continued yelling at her, frightening her and the 3 children. He said “I don’t even have to rent you a car,” at which point she decided she did NOT want to deal any more with this out-of-control person.

She had been planning to spend the night at an airport hotel anyway, and some other very nice people in line gave her and the kids a ride. From the hotel she called the Budget main office. The manager was sympathetic and told her the employee had been out of line and would probably be fired. However, he wouldn’t help her get a car, telling her that the computers were down, and that she might have to pay more if Budget couldn’t find a car at the rate she had originally booked.

Since by this time it was after 2 am in Boston, she asked the Budget rep to call her husband in California to let him know when he was able to find a car. This was the last they ever heard from Budget, and she ended up renting from Hertz for more money but no hassles. She said she has tried to follow up with Budget after the fact and just gets the runaround from them.

To me, the worst part of this story is the way that Budget would not accept responsibility for a bad experience and refused to try to do something to make it right with the customer. You might say it wasn’t necessarily the company’s fault for having one bad employee, but once things went so wrong, they should have promised her that she would have a car the next morning and she would not have to pay anything additional.

Obviously no one in our family is ever going to rent from Budget again, but for future reference I wonder if anyone has had GOOD experiences with a rental car company when things went wrong, and the company did their best to set it right. To me, that is the test of good customer service. Any company can have a bad day, or problems beyond their initial control, but if I feel that they really don’t care about making it right, that is a company I will never trust again.

For example, we had a good experience once with Enterprise: when they could not supply us with the van that we had requested, they found another one at Avis and paid the difference in the price. I have also always found Hertz to be reliable, even if they sometimes cost a bit more.

I would definitely pursue this with the corporate management of Budget. The treatment your dil received was unprofessional and she deserves redress.

my first question to the agent would've been, "why do you have to be so unpleasant?" wait patiently for an answer. then ask the agent’s first and last name, have them write it down and read it back slowly to understand. Smile, say thank you and leave. take note of time, place and any other details she has of the place. if you’re dedicated, follow through until you hear a response from headquarters. otherwise, it's pointless to rant about it here.

So sorry to hear about your daughter-in-laws bad experience. There's nothing worst than being treated so poorly when you are tired in a strange city.

We had a good experience with National.

We were to fly out of Orlando, FL the day after Hurricane Charlie blew through the area. We figured the vacation was off, but the Delta rep on the phone (who was obviously not in the U.S.) insisted our 12:30 p.m. flight was flying.

It's a very strange feeling to drive into a large airport and not see a single plane. Trees were down everywhere, and the airport was running on emergency power only. Thousands of stranded passengers and no air conditioning and very few lights. Delta is swamped and basically saying "It's due to weather, so you're on your own" We got out of there! Turns out my son still had power at his apartment, so we started working like mad to redeem our vacation. Instead of flying from Orlando to Detroit via Atlanta, we ended up flying from Melbourne to Lansing via Cincinnati.

My husband kept in touch with National the entire time, and they assured us we would have a car when and where ever we landed. Sure enough, when we landed in Lansing at 1:00 a.m. (instead of Detroit at 3:00 p.m.) the National rep was waiting for us, her only customers at that time (they closed at midnight). We couldn't thank her enough for helping put our vacation back on track!

My son had a great experience with Avis. He was one of the many people stranded in Colorado during the blizzard last winter. Frontier said they wouldn't even talk to him for 2 days, and he wouldn't be flying out for at least a week-but-if he made his own arrangements, they would give him a refund. He contacted Avis to see if they would charge him an additional fee to drive his rental car to Florida. They said no, just the extra days. He and his friends drove for 36 hours straight, and got the car back with 2 extra days beyond his contract. When he told the Avis rep the situation, she waived all extra charges on the spot, and only charged him the amount of his orginal contract. When he thanked her, she told him "We're just glad you made it home safe." Now that's great customer service!

In both cases, we had the rental agency's preferred service. I'm not sure if it made the difference, but it seems to help.

I would definitely follow up on this...it's unexceptable behavior. She had a bad experience with the original agent and the local manager. However, the manager most likely has a district manager to answer to who has a regional manager to answer to and so on. It's possible that she was just unlucky enough to get two bad people in one company. Go above both of their heads and most likely she will get what she wants (whether it's just an apology or a free car rental). My best advice though would be to be pleasant and polite, yet direct, to whoever she speaks to. As someone who works in customer service (though not in the car rental business), I'm always more likely to compromise and work with someone who is nice to me than someone who cops an attitude. Especially if their attitude is based on what someone other than myself did to them.

Good luck!

Also, I had a great experience with Enterprise recently. After a car accident, I was supposed to get a rental car from Enterprise delivered to my home at 1 PM since I didn't have a car of my own. A friend offered to drive me to their office at 9 AM. I called to arrange a pick up and they said they didn't have a car available until 1 PM (duh, obviously this is why they wanted to deliver it to me at 1). No problem. At 12:30, they called and said they wouldn't have a car by 1, it would probably be 2. By this point, I had borrowed another friend's car and gotten my errands done, so again, no problem. Well, 2 phone calls later at 4 PM, I was finally able to get my car, which again wasn't a problem for me. The agent said that since I had been so nice to her all day, even with all of the problems, she was upgrading me. I got a beautiful 2007 Nissan Altima instead of the 2006 Ford Echo (or whatever it was supposed to be) for the same price. I guess for some it still would've been a problem since I didn't have a car for 3 hours, but I thought it was a great experience overall. The moral of the story is to always be nice and treat people with respect.

You'll find bad employees at any car rental company. The question is, how does the company deal with it? You'll find out with Budget. Probably the most you can expect from them is a discount coupon for your next Budget rental (ha!). I think you've done your bit, though, by posting your story here and if it dissuades even a few people from using Budget, you've perhaps punished them enough. The more stories one particular company like this has posted about them, the more they'll suffer.

What a terrible story! I think it's worth following up with corporate--that kind of contact information should be easy to find on the Internet. And I'd copy airport management and the local Better Business Bureau, too, just to spread the embarassing story around.

I haven't had a notably great experience with a rental car company, but I have never had such an awful one, either, not even close.

That was a horrible experience and there is no excuse for it.

But here's a slightly different take on it. The bottom line is that an actual rental with them never took place. It's kind of hard for them to "make amends" when all this bad behavior ended up not costing you anything (monetarily, that is). I mean what can they do? Refund the full price of the rental? Nope because there wasn't any rental to reimburse. Give you a free rental in the future? Kind of odd -- would a hotel you didn't stay at give you a future free night even though you never stayed there?

It's not unlike going into a restaurant and being rudely treated by the hostess and you decide not to eat there. How can they make amends later?

I guess you're just asking for an apology, but it sort of sounds like you already got that when they said the guy would probably be fired. They never called your husband to say they found a new car -- but probably because they never found a new car.

Obviously this unfortunate incident had absolutely nothing to do with Budget.

One individual was the problem.

Yes, Budget should hear about it and fire the rude employee, but this has nothing to do with Budget the company.

<this has nothing to do with Budget the company>
In what universe does a company not bear responsibility for the behavior of one of its on-duty employees? The actions were the employee's, but the failure to follow-up properly with the injured consumer was the company's.
And Neo, I diasgree with you: the harm was the inconveninece of having to cadge a ride from friendly strangers to the hotel -- she would have been out cab fare otherwise-- and then having to arrange, at the last minute, for a new car rental at a higher rate. I think Budget owes her a free rental in future for these inconveniences, plus the nightmare of being screamed at by a loony employee in the middle of the night in front of her three kids. She may not be out much money, but there are other measures.

NewbE, I don't see where anything you say is in disagreement with me. I'm not saying there wasn't great inconvenience or even "harm" -- just that it's kind of hard for a rental car company to "rectify" a bad rental when there was NO rental.

What specifically would you expect Budget to do?

I'd ask for a free rental voucher.

Why ask for a free rental voucher from a company that you've already decided you'd never ever try again?

The poster has said, "Obviously no one in our family is ever going to rent from Budget again."

But you're suggesting so long as it's free they should do it?

I am suggesting they deserve it, and the company should offer it. Whether they actually use it is beside the point.

I always rent through Priceline or Hotwire, so the reservation is prepaid. I totally agree that you can get a difficult agent anywhere, or worse.

I've learned to keep my mouth shut. That tired, cranky, rental agents, who've had a difficult day simply do not appreciate any comments whatseover.

Since my reservation is always prepaid, I'm not about to leave without a car. Hopefully, what I've reserved.

Keep your cool and your voice low.

One of my favorite experiences, after the "pleasantries":

RA: Okay, it's a Toyota Corolla...

Me: I reserved a mid-size.

RA: A Toyota Corolla IS a mid-size.

Me: Well, not according to my confirmation (listing the possible models).

RA: That's all we have for you.

Me: Will you please keep checking?

RA: (After staring at his screen...) Nope, all I have is a Toyota Corolla.

Me: I would really appreciate it if you could find something better, and mid-size.

RA: (More staring...) It's either that or a Ford Focus.

Me: I'm really sure those are both sub-compacts and not mid-size, so could you please keep checking?

RA: (More staring...then in a whisper) Well, how about a Ford Mustang for the same rate or a Lincoln MKX for $10 more a day?

(We don't care for Mustangs...so took the Lincoln.)

For the ridiculously low rate I got, I didn't mind the extra $10.

Travel experts often advise people to join the "loyalty" or "frequent user" programs for hotels and car rental companies even if they only plan to stay at a property once or rent cars infrequently. I have found this to be good advice because we've gotten perks such as a fruit basket at a hotel on our first (and only) visit as well as free upgrades on car rentals. Also, with many car rental loyalty programs, you can bypass the office (and their employees) completely and go straight to your rental car.
While this does not help now in your DIL's situation, it may be helpful to her (and others) in the future.
As for her response? I always believe in writing companies to complain of bad service and to praise excellent service. I never expect anything in return, so I am pleased when I do receive a written reply or even some sort of coupon as thanks or compensation. However, as the experts will tell you, if you tell a company that you never intend to patronize them again, they have no incentive to compensate you. Rather, they are interested in compensating those that are loyal customers that have been treated in an unprofessional manner in order to maintain their loyalty.

djbooks, I'm curious why you (and so many others) say they always use prepaid plans from priceline or hotwire. I have yet to find a rate from either that will match or beat the rates I seem to invariably get direct with Dollar -- and I've looked and tried many times. Why prepay for something that costs more than a reservation with NO obligation?

In addition, who wants a prepaid rate that "obligates" you when you get there and they don't have what you reserved or they want to give you a hard time about something? One reason I don't like prepaying car rentals.

Or can you find me a rate for a week in Phoenix in October that beats $150 all inclusive? Compact (not the smaller economy car?)

Awful story but bottom line, if you've decided you don't want to deal with them again, what more could they offer you if you pursue it? Money back? You didn't pay them anything. If it will make you/dil feel better, write to the President and/or customer relations. Post your experience on the Boston forum at tripadvisor.

NeoPatrick, every rental car market is different. While I too have many times failed with a Priceline bid lower than a Dollar or Thrifty reservation, more than once I have won a Priceline car at a much cheaper price than Dollar's best price.

Some people consider Dollar in a different tier of service than, say, Hertz (or Budget - maybe not after this thread!), and Priceline/Hotwire use only those first-tier services. My experience with the "lower tier" car rental companies like Dollar and Thrifty is mixed. My last experience with Thrifty in Oahu was excellent, a great bargain. But a Dollar rental a couple of years ago was not so good. It took them a very long time at the airport just to find my reservation (and they were not busy with other customers - just me), then they car they gave me turned out to have expired registration!

The point I think is that some people won't rent from a "second tier" company at any price and would rather book with Priceline/Hotwire - even if locked in to a reservation - because they know they'll get one of the "first tier" rental companies.

That's interesting because I have had much worse luck with Hertz than anyone else (with the possible exception of Alamo). Since joining the Dollar Fast Lane, I have never had to wait more than a few minutes for a car or for return, and every single experience with them has been exceptional. Maybe it's the luck of the draw, but they have become my rental of choice unless I just can't get the best rate from them, which is indeed rare.

I have arrived at Hertz at the very busy High Point market with a "guaranteed" rental made months ahead to be told they had no cars and wouldn't for 24 hours. I have also received dirty cars from Hertz, including one that smelled so bad I finally went on a search and found a week old Kentucky Chicken box wedged under the seat with rotting chicken in it.
Once returning a car to Hertz at LAX we spent nearly an hour trying to get anyone to "wait on us" and check in the car. I hate not getting some paperwork, or simply leaving the keys in the car in a "mile long" line of check-ins. If all those things are first tier, I'll take Dollar's second tier ANY DAY.

Patrick: Whenever I've booked a car rental with Priceline or Hotwire, it's been immediately following (or shortly after) a hotel booking. A screen will come up after the hotel room is confirmed asking if you'd like to add a car rental, or you can go back later and add one. I've never had occasion to book the car rental only with Priceline or Hotwire, since if we'll need a car, I book the room first. And, I always price shop rentals in between, but the Priceline/Hotwire rates would be lower for a mid-size than any other resource for a sub-compact. Most often, it would be Hertz.

The first few times, I worried about second rate treatment for Hotwire/Priceline reservations. But, I've gotten ridiculously low rates (which my husband finds unbelievable compared to his corporate rates negotiated by his very large company) and we've experienced very few (and only minor) problems - nothing like booking directly or with other third parties.

The time we got the Lincoln, it was at the Hertz desk at BWI with a reservation booked with Southwest following confirmation of flight booking. Again, the rate for a mid-size was terrific. And, this was during the Christmas season. (To my recollection, prepayment was not required for that one.)

"My daughter-in-law recently had a horrible rental car experience"

I'm not doubting your daughter in-law, however, this is all second hand information and stories tend to get worse when repeated by others.

Thanks, djbooks. Does that mean you think that the rates are lower from Hotwire or Priceline when you do it in "conjunction" with a hotel booking that they'd be if you were doing them separately? Since I never seem to find lower rates on Hotwire for hotels than I do directly also, I have no reason to book hotels with Hotwire. I'm really trying to see the advantage here.

And meanwhile, Andrew, I've suddenly started wondering what you meant about Hotwire not being the "second tier service" (I don't know about Priceline. When I price cars on Hotwire, the lowest priced ones tend to be Dollar and Thrifty. Are you saying that most people would just rather pay MORE to use Hertz or Avis through Hotwire than taking their lowest bid which is probably one of the "second tier" companies? Hotwire and I assume priceline certainly do offer Dollar, Thrifty, and others as well as the biggies -- Hertz and Avis.

Meanwhile, I've always known that Hertz and Avis are way overpriced for the average person checking rates on their own. You need to use a major discounter or have a special corporate number to use them if you are at all concerned with "competitive pricing".

<<And meanwhile, Andrew, I've suddenly started wondering what you meant about Hotwire not being the "second tier service" (I don't know about Priceline. When I price cars on Hotwire, the lowest priced ones tend to be Dollar and Thrifty. Are you saying that most people would just rather pay MORE to use Hertz or Avis through Hotwire than taking their lowest bid which is probably one of the "second tier" companies? Hotwire and I assume priceline certainly do offer Dollar, Thrifty, and others as well as the biggies -- Hertz and Avis. >>

Priceline says they use only Hertz, Budget, Avis, National, and Alamo (or at least they used to - now those companies are listed at the bottom of the screen when you make your bid). Can't speak for Hotwire.

Andrew, I hate to be a pain in the ____, but I just went to Priceline.com and checked a rental for my week in Phoenix. Your computer must be different from mine because my proposal from Priceline showed all kinds of agencies including Dollar.

But compared to my $150.44 price direct from Dollar with absolutely no discount codes or corporate discounts, Priceline's price for the exact same thing was $171. Their lowest price was $161 with Fox rentals -- whoever they are. But their lowest price with Hertz was $289 and lowest with Avis was $283.

Sorry, I just don't get it. Priceline to prepay is almost double in cost from Dollar direct with no cancellation penalty or prepayment. Just seems like a no-brainer to me, but maybe I'm missing something.

Well...I won't tell the whole story, but this report is not second hand. We had problems with a car rental from Budget in Amsterdam. The initial problem was that I had a coupon for an upgrade and they would not honor it. Other problems manifested themselves when we were on the road with the car and since we had the auto for such a short period, we did not report 'product failure' (non-critical, but also non-convenient) until we returned to the rental kiosk. In essense, they told us it was our problem, not the fault of the auto. We signed off, but never received a receipt. I decided to deal with it when we returned home.

So, when I got home, I started with emails and phone calls. I told them what the problem was and what I expected them to do about it...give me a $50 credit which I thought was reasonable (the whole rental cost was about $150) and send me a copy of my receipt.

They went through several stages.

1. Budget International refused the request because 'there was nothing wrong with the car.'

2. Budget's head office offered me a coupon to use on my next rental. I refused that on the grounds that my upgrade coupon was not honored and what confidence could I have that a subsequent one would be honored.

I also told them (truthfully) that I had never used Budget before and the resolution of this experience would determine who I rented from in the future. And I mentioned that if Budget International was not cooperative, I did think that the main office of Budget certainly could afford to issue a $50 credit to my CC account.

3. They did give me the $50 credit...and they finally emailed me a copy of my receipt so that I am now aware of exactly what I paid for.

I am still dealing with the unposted FF miles from a 4/28 rental (they told me at the rental kiosk on the first day that they would do so). I'm not sure I will get them before my current account balance expires in November.

BTW...I will not rent from Budget again. :-)

<<Andrew, I hate to be a pain in the ____, but I just went to Priceline.com and checked a rental for my week in Phoenix. Your computer must be different from mine because my proposal from Priceline showed all kinds of agencies including Dollar.>>

Sounds like you are not checking "Name your own Price." Priceline doesn't give you "proposals" for the NYOP service. You bid a price for renting the car and if they accept it, then you find out whether it'd Hertz, Budget, et al. And that's what people mean when they get a good deal on Priceline (which are also non-refundable, etc.)

For Priceline's conventional booking service (which shows you the car companies and is probably not non-refundable), no doubt they offer Dollar and the others, because they have separate arrangements (more like a typical travel agent's) vs. their NYOP service.

I am confused about the original post.

Nonnafelice wrote:
"once things went so wrong, they should have promised her that she would have a car the next morning and she would not have to pay anything additional."

Did she (the dil in this case)...

A. actually have a reservation for a car, and they did not have one available?

B. Actually have a reservation, but decide she didn't like being yelled at, and walked away without completing her reservation?

C. Ask for the manager, Miss Sashay, when she was being yelled at by the non-manager?

I think, as horribly as your dil was being treated, if she just left, without asking for a manager, that it does not look good. It's your word against theirs. And expecting to come back the next day and get the same rate is unlikely, because now you are in the same category as a "walkin" customer, the kind that are given the highest rates for not booking ahead of time.

You're right that I didn't do a "name your own price" with Priceline. It says that can get you UP TO 30% off. 30% off their Hertz quote is still $202.30 -- $ 52 more than my current contract. Again, I guess I'm missing something, but I just don't get the joy of paying more and prepaying. There are also too many reason I might have to cancel, so prepaying is out of the question -- especially when it costs even more to do so.
Don't get me wrong -- I understand the attraction of Priceline for hotels. I just don't get the attraction of paying more for a car rental and having to prepay it too than booking direct. There is certainly NO GUARANTEE than any one agency is going to end up being better than another in any particular instance.

So what you're saying is, in brief:

Your daughter-in-law arrived in Boston around 11pm, collected her 3 children and all of their luggage in time to get to a rental car agency at "almost midnight" (which is about the norm for such a situation)...

She later asked the man on duty if he were a woman, then still later decided to leave the premises without entering into any sort of "customer" contract with said company.

This is the late-night Boston equivalent to a person walking into an A & P, then leaving without purchasing anything before returning to ask for some sort of a refund or the like.

Did your daughter-in-law fall down on a wet floor and hurt her ankle or anything?

You say she has witnesses in line who can vouch for how she was treated by this so-called man-woman? Who are they?

Fact is, your daughter-in-law insulted someone, and then expected some sort of favors from this same person.

The way you've written this, as if to soften up your audience for your sob story with absolutely needless detail, is an insult to this forum.

"To me the worst part of this..." is your absurd definition of "customer".

We simply don't care that your daughter-in-law was of the mind to fly alone to Boston with 3 children arriving late at night, or that she is insulting by nature, or that she was plain wrong in stating "(he) can't talk to (her) like that", or that she thinks Budget should perform her secretarial duties.

Your daughter-in-law is clearly the sort of person those in the service industry don't want to deal with. She is also the sort of person that other travelers don't want to be around when they travel.

Your trying to blame this on Budget is just your way of ignoring reality.

What I think you are missing NeoPatrick is that most people are paying LESS with Priceline than they would pay with Dollar or Thrifty. You seem to be basing your "why Priceline?" query on your own assumptions and calculations about what you think other people save with Priceline, not on other people's actual experiences. Most people trying to save money on a rental car would just use Thrifty or Dollar if their Priceline bid below the best Thrifty/Dollar quote fails - I know that's what I do.

As a matter of fact, you've taken me off track from my original comment which was basically about Hotwire -- which as I understand it is NOT a bidding process -- that's what I was referring to when I asked what the attraction was when I can invariably find better deals direct.

Maybe within a week of my next trip I'll give Priceline a try. If I can bid 30% below my current contract and get it, then why not -- when it is doubtful I'd have to cancel the trip. But for a few dollars savings, I'd probably pass. I'd just as soon not have to pay for 6 weeks or more, and also get my FF miles, which I assume like with Priceline hotels you forfeit.

In any case, I apologize for steering this thread so far off the original topic. I still agree with what janis mentioned above -- it is kind of hard for them to "give you" anything when you didn't actually "buy" anything from them.

And I also have to agree in part with Northwest Male (who is certainly not mincing words) in that your daughter-in-law was NOT a customer. A customer has to buy something -- and she didn't. What you are talking about is how they treated a "potential" customer.

There also is clearly something missing from the whole story. I fail to believe that when she "asked something about the rate" the clerk said "you can't talk to me like that". Something HAD to be said besides "could you please tell me the rate" for any clerk to react with that answer.

But here's another point. If I called a business -- any business -- and told them I had been mistreated and a manager said that the clerk would probably be fired, I doubt I'd want to have anything to do with the company again anyway. What an odd thing for a manager to say when he hadn't even investigated the incident.

I beg to differ NorthwestMale. Are you kidding me? -- she arrived when Budget was still open for business (I don't care if that was midnight or 3 a.m., they were open for business)....How does their employees' rudeness come to be HER problem? Either they're open for business at that hour, and will have a competent and courteous employee on duty, or they should just be closed at that hour).

Assuming she did not have an advance reservation, however, unfortunately, the most she's going to get is a &quot;we're sorry&quot;. Whether they fire a surly employee is up to them -- probably depends on whether they've had other complaints about <i>him</i>

By the way, I have a first name that makes people often mistake me for a man. I don't like it, but I certainly don't take it as an insult, just an honest mistake, which is gently corrected.

We had a terrible experience with Budget at Miami Airport. Our first car kept beeping at us that the trunk was open although it wasn't. The second car didn't have seats which adjusted up and down and my husband's head kept hitting the ceiling. After making us wait for a long time, they finally gave us a third car. The light came on saying that the tires were not properly inflated. They insisted that the tires were ok, put some more air in them and sent us on our way. By the time we reached our hotel on Key Biscayne, the indicator was flashing again. There was no way we felt safe driving this car. We spent all night trying to reach Budget at the airport and then, after they closed, Budget headquarters. They insisted on sending someone to fix the car making us sit in the lobby waiting for the repairman for over two hours. He never showed. After that, we could never get anyone from Budget on the phone. The next day our concierge finally got someone from Budget on the phone, told them to come pick up the car and that we would not pay them a penny for it. We rented a car from Enterprise through our hotel. It took Budget three days to come pick up the car and our hotel charged them parking fees. Naturally, Budget charged our credit card for the full weekly charge. We disputed that with our credit card company and got a full refund. We will never, ever deal with Budget again.

dmlove, care to explain why anyone -- no matter how rude -- would say &quot;you can't talk to me like that&quot; when simply asked a question about the rate? Don't you think that &quot;something&quot; is missing from this story? Like maybe another side? Is it just possible that the version the DIL has told might be just a little bit colored by the fact that she was already grouchy and grumpy and upset that the Budget bus took so long, she had the kids in tow, and was extremely tired at that hour plus irriatated by the delays? Is it just remotely possible that she approached with as much or more attitude than the clerk we're getting a second hand account of? It's really hard to picture any clerk saying &quot;I don't have to rent you a car&quot; when someone has only been all sweetness and light. Now I'll ask readers this. If you had been a grouchy customer and brought on the tirades yourself, when you told your friends or mother-in-law about it, would you admit it was your fault or would you remember it as being all a rude and nasty clerk who had absolutely no provocation for the attacks?

You're right, I'm assuming she wasn't rude and he was, but those are the only &quot;facts&quot; I have to work with. NorthwestMale made a heck of lot more (and worse, and obnoxious, to boot) assumptions about the OP's DIL than I did about the Budget employee.