Budget car rental mess

[pk7152]

A friend and I reserved a car with Budget in Ft Meyers, FL , for the month of February.  After arriving at the Ft. Meyers airport, we waited two hours on line before we finally got to the counter.  When we did, we were told that the only cars available at the price point we had chosen were electric.  We had not reserved an electric car and we didn't want an electric car!!  After an extended period of back and forth with the agent, we agreed to pay an extra $250. in order to get a non-electric car.  When we called Budget a few days later to complain, we were told they would not even talk about the issue until after the rental was completed.

During our visit to FL, the car we were driving became unsafe to drive.  At the time,  we were in Evergaldes City, FL, where we had taken a road trip to visit the area and one of the local museums - quite far from Ft. Meyers.  It took hours to get a tow truck.  When the tow truck arrived, we were not allowed to ride in it back to Ft. Meyers.  After trying for over half an hour, we realized we were not going to get anyone (Uber, Lyft) to come to Everglades to pick us up and take us to Ft. Meyers so that we could get another car.  It was already late in the day.  We felt that we had no choice but to go back to Naples, where we were staying (we were able to get a ride there),  and then go to Ft. Meyers the next day.  The voucher we were given by Budget for a trip back to the car rental place was only good for one trip!  But we had been unable to make it in one trip, so we had to pay out of pocket to get back to the car rental office.  At the office, the process went fairly smoothly, thank goodness!  

Days after returning home, I got in touch with Budget to try to get back the excess money we were forced to spend.  After finally getting a supervisor on the phone - that took quite a while - and a great deal of wrangling with him, we were finally able to get part of the $250. returned.  However, one of the things that was said by the supervisor was that, when you rent through a third party - in this case, AARP - any change that is made constitutes a new contract and they will not honor the terms of the initial agreement.  Knowing that, I will think twice about renting through AARP in the future.

[SereneSeagull]

I’m sorry that happened.  Between this and another poster having probs renting a hotel, I’d think most people would decide to only go directly through the hotel or car rental companies.  I tend to only go directly and can always find coupon codes equal to what there would’ve been through here.