# Budget Won't Honor confirmed rate



## JEFF H (Jun 21, 2007)

I arrived at the RENO airport to pickup a Intermediate Rental Car from Budget.
I have FastBreak and was quickly in the Car and On My Way to Lake Tahoe.
After looking over the documents I noticed the Base Rate was higher than the rate I had confirmed. 
I emailed Budget customer service all the details of the error and attached the original confirmation email from budget showing the confirmed rate.
The following  is the reply I received,

Thank you for contacting Budget 
I am sorry if there were any issues with the rental rate. 
Unfortunately, the lowest rate we show available is what is confirmed on this reservation. We will be unable to make any adjustments to the confirmed rate on your reservation.
If you have further questions, please let us know.
Thank you for using Budget.
K Hampton 3855
Budget Customer Service


The amount of the difference was under $10 and I didn't request a adjustment although I assumed they would correct the problem.
My concerened was that a error had occured and could have resulted in a much larger amount. 
I had requested that customer service forward the information to the web reservation IT department so they could track down the root cause of the error and correct it so it wouldn't happen in the future.
I took the time to contact Budget customer service and inform them of the error with their system and provide the details and documentation and they choose to just brush it aside.


----------



## Luanne (Jun 21, 2007)

I guess it depends on how far you want to push it.  Personally if I had documentation showing a confirmed lower rate, I would pursue getting the difference refunded.  You can put the amount in dispute with your credit card company until it's resolved.  I would send additonal letters to Budget, and of course you can always send copies to the BBB if you want.


----------



## dougp26364 (Jun 21, 2007)

For less than $10 it could just be a difference in the tax or recovery fee's that they are charged rather than a misquote on the price of the rental. Is this for a full week or just one or two days? If it's for a full week, I often find there are minor differences between the confirmed rate and the actual amount I end up paying. Sometimes it's a few dollars in my favor, sometimes it isn't. It's always been on the tax or recovery fee's and not the base rate quoted.

I did have one instance in 1999 where Thrifty in Las Vegas refused to honor the quoted weekly rate. Unfortunately, I had made the reservation over the phone and, while I had my confirmation number, I had nothing to show proving what I was quoted. 

At that time the Thrifty counter was in the airport terminal (I wasn't a Blue Chip member at the time and didn't know enough to take the bus to the lot first). I simply excused myself from the line and went over the the Allstate Car Rental counter and rented from them for about the same price, just for spite.


----------



## JEFF H (Jun 21, 2007)

Luanne said:


> I guess it depends on how far you want to push it.  Personally if I had documentation showing a confirmed lower rate, I would pursue getting the difference refunded.  You can put the amount in dispute with your credit card company until it's resolved.  I would send additonal letters to Budget, and of course you can always send copies to the BBB if you want.



Im disapointed as I always had really good rental experiences with Budget in the past and they were upto now my prefered rental car firm.

I did send a reply to Budget Customer customer service asking them again to forward my information to online reservations IT department so they can track the root cause of the error.
I also asked if it was standard pactice to not honor a online reservation when the customer has the reservation confirmation email from budget to prove the lower rate.
I will wait and see how they respond.


----------



## JEFF H (Jun 21, 2007)

dougp26364 said:


> For less than $10 it could just be a difference in the tax or recovery fee's that they are charged rather than a misquote on the price of the rental..



Budget clearly shows the Base rate and the Estimated total after Taxes and recovery fee's on the email confirmation. 
Taxes and recovery are only a Estimate and may vary slightly.
In this case however The difference is in the Base rental rate confirmed befor taxes & recovery fee's are added.

Its normal that mistakes and error do occure from time to time with any business. I just expected Budget Customer service to treat my inquiry with alittle more customer respect than they did.


----------



## Carolinian (Jun 21, 2007)

In the airline industry, when an airline puts a mistake fare in the system, they pull it when it is discovered by them but honor any tickets booked at what is sometimes a riduculously low fare.


----------



## JEFF H (Jun 28, 2007)

UPdate:

Once my email reply to Budget with a copy of the confirmation reached a higher level in the customer service department they agreed they made a mistake and promised to correct it.
They need about a week for the my rental contract to process thru their system befor a adjustment can be made to it.
In my case the amount was small but it revealed to me that errors in the system can happen. Its important for this reason to keep a printed or email copy of the confirmation so you can prove the confirmed rate if  a dispute occures.


----------



## camachinist (Jun 28, 2007)

The OP got a non-human first response. The verbage is indicative. Once a human looked at the situation, it was taken care of.

Machines should never be in charge of handling complaints. JMO...

Yeah, Steve, the fares they honor, though, sometimes, not the fare rules 

Pat


----------



## Coarsegold Bob (Jul 4, 2007)

*Buget car rental*

Buget did not honor my confirmed rate for car in Puerto Vallarta, on June 9, 2007. I made reservations for vehicle via the internet for 13 days, receiving confirmation, on June 1st. Arrived in Puerto Vallarta expecting a car, contacted Buget USA from rental location. They authorized to reimburse at higher rate for 3 days pending resolution. After three days they still did not honor confirmed rate and I turned car in. In process of dealing with them upon my return to the US. First and last time I us Buget. Let me know if your interested in my outcome!


----------



## timesharejunkie4 (Jul 4, 2007)

Coarsegold Bob said:


> Buget did not honor my confirmed rate for car in Puerto Vallarta, on June 9, 2007. I made reservations for vehicle via the internet for 13 days, receiving confirmation, on June 1st. Arrived in Puerto Vallarta expecting a car, contacted Buget USA from rental location. They authorized to reimburse at higher rate for 3 days pending resolution. After three days they still did not honor confirmed rate and I turned car in. In process of dealing with them upon my return to the US. First and last time I us Buget. Let me know if your interested in my outcome!



Yes, please keep us posted regarding your outcome as I have a similar PV reservation for November!


----------



## Luanne (Jul 4, 2007)

Ooops.  I just made what I thought would be a great reservation through Budget for an upcoming trip to Santa Fe in November.  Renting through Budget (through the Southwest airline site) was going to save me over $100 above another reservation I'd made with Avis.  Wondering if I'd better re-think this.


----------



## timesharejunkie4 (Jul 5, 2007)

Just went on Budget's website. Go to this link for their *promises*: https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/customer/guaranteedrate.html


----------



## JEFF H (Jul 7, 2007)

I was disapointed that Several of the email responses I received from budget did not address the specifics of my problem even after I sent them a attachment with the email confirmation from budget. 
I received two responses that said when you make a change to a confirmed reservation the rate may change. I had already explained that I made the change in May to take advantage of a lower rate that was being offered and sent them the email confirmation showing this new rate and the date of the change. 
I did get one rep who seemed to take the time to read the details of my inquiry and understood. My reply to him however was answered by a different rep and In the end I  received the following response:

Thank you for contacting Budget. 

Please accept my apologies for any confusion you may have experienced. I show that you originally booked the vehicle in January and then made a modification in May. Any type of modification can make the rate change. As a courtesy, I have gone ahead and  made the adjustment, making your base rate $108.71. Please allow 48-72 hours for the $9.52 credit to appear on your Visa. 

We thank you for choosing Budget. 

Stephanie Mayor
Budget Customer Service


----------



## pcgirl54 (Jul 7, 2007)

I have had good luck with Budget and Hertz. Always take the print out confirmation and yes airport taxes and fees do vary within a click of a second online expecially when playing with different airport codes so you do need to read the fine print. 

We rented from Dollar this year and at the counter after an annoying 45 minute wait in Texas they said there were out of whatever car we reserved and would we want car X instead. Said ok and noted after papers were processed that it was $29.00 more than our confirmation price. Had I not rechecked the rate before we walked away I would have been billed more. 

I read in a recent travel mag that rental prices change on the average of 5-7 times a day online. So do watch and do print the form and do read the price at the counter. ANd sometimes it differs on the time of day,Car return at 11AM or at 1PM.

I have also booked a rental and monitored specials up until our trip,sometimes the rates are better and I update online then bring both confirmations. Using different bonus programs or PDC codes can make slight savings as well. Marriott Rewards has a code as does II ,RCI and AAA.

FYI:Hertz #1 club is super. In Ft Lauderdale we landed, walked to the board at Hertz that has #1 club members name with the assigned space and the keys are in the car. No standing in line just read the board and walk to the car. Incredible! Other Hertz regular rentals had a very long line. This is worth joining through AAA or II and it was free.


----------

