Budget "Optional services"

**muskey** · 20-09-2009, 20:51

We have just returned from our house in Kissimmee,this year we rented through Budget as they offered the best value. We always use US car hire because they really know what they are doing and we have never had an issue. This year however despite the fact we were not travelling at peak time(eg not August)at MCO we we not even offered our free upgrade car and on querying it were told -'none available' despite not even checking and the car park heaving with the upgrade size cars! We were also told that we needed to upgrade our insurance to cover any medical expenses of anyone we had an accident with as we were not covered for this. We declined as I like to think we are pretty experienced with US car hiring and believed we were 100% covered however there was a nagging doubt that something had changed. That is pretty scary for a novice bearing in mind the sort of expenses that could be incurred with medical things in the US. As a parting shot the agent said -would you like to upgrade to the size above your 'free upgrade' as we have those available-yes I bet they did as it meant another $7.95 a day if we wanted it-suffice to say we didn't take the bait but resisted telling them what to do with it and declined gracefully!
Don't think Budget will ever see us again at their desk but looking at the queues at both Alamo and Dollar and none at Budget I can't help wondering how much longer they will be there if this is their tactics.Having read comments here it seems that MCO budget desk are excelling themselves .
Obviously I am very concerned for our guests who may not have the experience we have to know what they are being told is complete rubbish and just an attempt to get more money from them, I am going to warn all my future guests that if they book Budget to be very wary.

**Sally D** · 21-09-2009, 15:48

We have always rented from Dollar but when we went in July we went for Budget due to price.

We pre-registered with Budget and went straight to the kiosk in carpark to pick up the car and have to say we had no problems with them trying to sell us any extras.

When they asked my husband to initial he did say 'I hope you haven't added any extras on', the lady pointed out where he should initial and showed him that nothing had been added on.

I have kept all the paper work just incase and have just received our credit card statement and the only thing that has been charged is £13.22 for a toll which was our fault, we went through the sunpass lane by mistake.

The car we were given was fine, not the cleanest inside or out and had a few scratches and marks on the outside and some crayon inside but overall it was fine.

Would you use Budget again if the price was right but preferred Dollar.

**muskey** · 22-09-2009, 03:52

Unfortunately we missed the boat and forgot to do the fast track registering within the timescale however I doubt it would have helped as all the computers were down in the kiosk and they were referring everyone back to the main desk at the terminal so at least we missed that issue too!

**dsv77** · 25-09-2009, 02:10

Does anyone know know if budget hold an amount on your credit card when they take a swipe? A friend of mine told they locked $500 off her card , which is alot if you are on a budget spending money wise.

I was there in June and used dollar , we werent even asked for a credit card , were given a free upgrade and told just to bring the car back full ....

my son is going in January using Budget so I am worried for him as he doesnt have much in the way of spending money but if they lock $500 he will have even less.

**Michelle** · 25-09-2009, 02:16

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by dsv77
Does anyone know know if budget hold an amount on your credit card when they take a swipe? A friend of mine told they locked $500 off her card , which is alot if you are on a budget spending money wise.

I was there in June and used dollar , we werent even asked for a credit card , were given a free upgrade and told just to bring the car back full ....

my son is going in January using Budget so I am worried for him as he doesnt have much in the way of spending money but if they lock $500 he will have even less.
[/quote]
I have been using budget for quite a few years now ,and my card has always been swiped when picking up the car and never has there been a lock charge shown on my card. Last time we were in Florida was May and we used Budget then, due to go again December and have booked car hire using budget.

**steelo** · 17-10-2009, 18:23

Hi everyone looks like im also a victim of budget taking whats not rightfully theirs, i hired my car through us car hire with budget, picked my car up at sanford and paid for the pre fuel which was $64.00, they also locked off an amount of $220 and have conveniently forgot to give it back, what was strange though they took the money for the pre fuel the day i came home which sent my card into overdrawn, whats even more strange is the card i used was a thomas cook pre paid card and i now have thomas cook on the phone insisting i owe them money because budget demanded to ne paid, what a palave, has anyone else had this happen did you manage to get it sorted in the end?

**Katys Grandad** · 17-10-2009, 18:42

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steelo
Hi everyone looks like im also a victim of budget taking whats not rightfully theirs, i hired my car through us car hire with budget, picked my car up at sanford and paid for the pre fuel which was $64.00, they also locked off an amount of $220 and have conveniently forgot to give it back, what was strange though they took the money for the pre fuel the day i came home which sent my card into overdrawn, whats even more strange is the card i used was a thomas cook pre paid card and i now have thomas cook on the phone insisting i owe them money because budget demanded to ne paid, what a palave, has anyone else had this happen did you manage to get it sorted in the end?
[/quote]

That hasn't happened to me but I won't use Budget again for other reasons. May I ask what the $64 worked out to per gallon?