# Budget sent us a fraudulent parking violation bill



## Polly Metallic (Jun 28, 2021)

I’m not sure if this is an error or a scam, but they claim we’re being charged $117 for a parking violation in Ft. Lauderdale. We flew into Orlando and spent the entire ten days in Orlando and Ormond Beach. Ft Lauderdale is a loooong way from Ormond Beach, and we definitely didn’t go there. Has anyone ever had something like this happen?


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 28, 2021)

Chances are, they associated it to the wrong rental agreement, perhaps someone got the ticket the same day you dropped off the vehicle or something close. Did they provide a copy of the ticket with a date?


----------



## davidvel (Jun 28, 2021)

I doubt Budget has a fraudulent parking  ticket scheme going. Likely some kind of clerical error.


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Jun 28, 2021)

What a headache to try to prove your innocence! Ask for a copy of the violation when you contact them to refute the charge.


----------



## am1 (Jun 28, 2021)

davidvel said:


> I doubt Budget has a fraudulent parking  ticket scheme going. Likely some kind of clerical error.


Which should be considered fraud as they are trying to get money from someone innocent.  A sorry and some kind of compensation should be in order.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 28, 2021)

am1 said:


> Which should be considered fraud as they are trying to get money from someone innocent.  A sorry and some kind of compensation should be in order.


Clerical errors happen and that doesn't make something fraud.


----------



## davidvel (Jun 28, 2021)

a





am1 said:


> Which should be considered fraud as they are trying to get money from someone innocent.  A sorry and some kind of compensation should be in order.


No. A mistake, clerical error or misunderstanding isn't fraud. There must be an intentional deception to deprive someone of something, that is successful.  We don't even know what OP has told Budget yet or what any response has been. OP hasn't paid the fee (unless placed on CC.) 

Maybe we'll get more facts and it will show Budget has an elaborate scheme to falsely bill renters for fake tickets, but I doubt it.


----------



## zentraveler (Jun 28, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> I’m not sure if this is an error or a scam, but they claim we’re being charged $117 for a parking violation in Ft. Lauderdale. We flew into Orlando and spent the entire ten days in Orlando and Ormond Beach. Ft Lauderdale is a loooong way from Ormond Beach, and we definitely didn’t go there. Has anyone ever had something like this happen?



That is probably a mistake, although who knows. We got an expensive ticket/credit card charge from Hertz months after we left the Marriott outside of Paris. We had rented a car, but there was never a time when I drove or parked illegally, and there was no documentation provided whatsoever about what we had purportedly done wrong. I disputed it with our credit card company and they deleted the charges.


----------



## BingoBangoBongo (Jun 28, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> I’m not sure if this is an error or a scam, but they claim we’re being charged $117 for a parking violation in Ft. Lauderdale. We flew into Orlando and spent the entire ten days in Orlando and Ormond Beach. Ft Lauderdale is a loooong way from Ormond Beach, and we definitely didn’t go there. Has anyone ever had something like this happen?



What did they do/say when you contacted them?


----------



## Luanne (Jun 28, 2021)

Ahh Florida.  I was driving a rental car I had picked up in Tampa and got pulled over.  I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, so I was curious.  Turns out the car had supposedly been on an impound lot.  I was able to show the rental contract and my id and they let me go.  The officer was very nice and told me they had "tagged" me using their scanner.  I asked if I would be continually pulled over for this problem and he said no, since his car was the only one with the scanner.  He did tell me to call the car rental agency the next day and let them know.  I did call and they didn't seem concerned at all.  I never did get pulled over again though.  I don't remember which company I rented from on this trip.


----------



## Icc5 (Jun 28, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> I’m not sure if this is an error or a scam, but they claim we’re being charged $117 for a parking violation in Ft. Lauderdale. We flew into Orlando and spent the entire ten days in Orlando and Ormond Beach. Ft Lauderdale is a loooong way from Ormond Beach, and we definitely didn’t go there. Has anyone ever had something like this happen?


Did your rental have paper plates?  We got charged for toll violations when we had a rental in Arizona (no toll roads).  Turned out someone earlier had stole the plates and the rental company replaced with paper plates.
I had to send Florida copy of my credit card purchases to show we were in Arizona when the toll violations happened in Florida.
Bart


----------



## BingoBangoBongo (Jun 28, 2021)

Florida does use an odd font for their license plate letters, so I could see how a letter could be mixed up and lead to a ticket being issued to the wrong owner, but the make and model would likely be different.  Unless they were both jacked up F150’s with dual diesel exhausts.


----------



## Polly Metallic (Jun 29, 2021)

The letter said Propark had billed Budget for the alleged parking violation. Budget then paid the fees on our behalf to “protect Budget from incurring late fees, penalties, and potential vehicle seizure.” The letter said we had to pay $87.80 for the violation plus $30.00 handling fee by 7/21/21 or Budget would bill it to the credit card we had used for the rental.

I phoned Budget and read them the riot act, explaining we hadn’t been farther from Orlando than Ormond Beach. Today I got an email saying they were able to “identify a discrepancy with the account information.” They made it sound like our credit card had already been billed and they’d refund the money. I haven’t checked yet to see if they billed us. Per the letter they shouldn’t have billed us until the 21st.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 29, 2021)

The best way to solve these issues is to contact the company. It looks like it worked here. Too many people jump to say to dispute the credit card charge. That isn't the right step. Always contact the merchant first to fix the mistake.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 29, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> I phoned Budget and read them the riot act


What does the riot act have to do with the parking ticket?


----------



## bogey21 (Jun 29, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> I phoned Budget and *read them the riot act*.



No riot act for me.  Most of the time I have  success when dealing with situations by first making sure I am talking to a competent Representative and calmly explaining the situation.  Whenever I get a Rep who doesn't seem to have a clue I thank them for their help and call back until I reach competent one...

George


----------



## Polly Metallic (Jun 29, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> What does the riot act have to do with the parking ticket?



There was no parking ticket. They offered no evidence there had ever been a parking ticket, much less one that involved our vehicle. I was polite but I let them know it struck us as a scam since we hadn’t been within hundreds of miles of Ft Lauderdale. If they tried to charge us $117 with no evidence except their say so, we’d certainly put up a fight.


----------



## Polly Metallic (Jun 29, 2021)

bogey21 said:


> No riot act for me.  Most of the time I have  success when dealing with situations by first making sure I am talking to a competent Representative and calmly explaining the situation.  Whenever I get a Rep who doesn't seem to have a clue I thank them for their help and call back until I reach competent one...
> 
> George



It wasn’t as if I shouted and swore at them, but I let them know we’d fight any charges since it had to be an error on their part. They managed to find their “account discrepancy” without too much trouble. They should check their information more carefully before issuing fines.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 29, 2021)

Polly Metallic said:


> There was no parking ticket. They offered no evidence there had ever been a parking ticket, much less one that involved our vehicle. I was polite but I let them know it struck us as a scam since we hadn’t been within hundreds of miles of Ft Lauderdale. If they tried to charge us $117 with no evidence except their say so, we’d certainly put up a fight.


I guess there are different ways of going about things, my first inclination would be to say to them that there must be a mistake, not recite laws and accuse them of a scam. Perhaps that only came up after they protested and said it was indeed your ticket?


----------



## Passepartout (Jun 29, 2021)

Sounds like all's well that ends well. Move along. Nothing to see here.


----------



## davidvel (Jun 29, 2021)

Passepartout said:


> Sounds like all's well that ends well. Move along. Nothing to see here.


What? This is a train wreck. rubbernecks rejoice.


----------



## zentraveler (Jun 29, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> The best way to solve these issues is to contact the company. It looks like it worked here. Too many people jump to say to dispute the credit card charge. That isn't the right step. Always contact the merchant first to fix the mistake.



Just to clarify, I got nowhere when I tried to talk to Hertz about being billed for a ticket, with no ticket attached or referenced. I would have been happy to solve it that way, but Hertz couldn't be bothered dealing with Hertz France which is why I finally disputed the charge, which was handled very readily by Chase with my description of the fees.


----------



## Luanne (Jun 29, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> The best way to solve these issues is to contact the company. It looks like it worked here. Too many people jump to say to dispute the credit card charge. That isn't the right step. Always contact the merchant first to fix the mistake.


I often put charges in dispute while I am working with the company to resolve it.


----------



## am1 (Jun 29, 2021)

Passepartout said:


> Sounds like all's well that ends well. Move along. Nothing to see here.


Until the next time they do it to someone else. I  sure a few pay it or do not even realize the charge on their card.


----------



## jmhpsu93 (Jun 29, 2021)

I rented a car in Boise a few years ago (Hertz).  We had a rock hit the windshield and it caused a miniscule scratch/chip in the windshield which I never noticed.  They tried to charge me almost a $1,000 for it.  I received a very threatening notice in the mail about it and they basically called me every day.  I called the local Safelite for a quote on what it would cost, roughly $200 for the most expensive windshield for that make/model, even though the Hertz location presented me with a receipt for the window replacement that was almost $1K.  

I found it odd that the person chasing me down for money was from a collection company outside of SLC, Utah.  After doing some sleuthing I discovered they were a company that owns a bunch of independently-owned Hertz locations.  I called Hertz corporate and they said there was nothing they could do (I was Presidential at the time).  I would up letting my insurance handle it, and the rental company continued to chase me for the $500 deductible and I just ignored them for about two years.  I have no doubt this was a scam and that they were hoping my insurance would cover it all.

Since then I've never given the benefit of the doubt to rental car companies, and will never rent from an independent location again.  I check my receipt when I get it and look out for zombie CC charges afterwards.

While I doubt there's any kind of scam operation going on at the Orlando location, they don't exactly have an incentive to not overcharge you and they're so short-staffed right now there's probably zero quality control.


----------



## wjappraise (Jun 29, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> The best way to solve these issues is to contact the company. It looks like it worked here. Too many people jump to say to dispute the credit card charge. That isn't the right step. Always contact the merchant first to fix the mistake.



Good advice. 

I had a similar problem with Budget on a rental car in January. They sent me a notice they were charging me $450 for having to clean the car from my cigarette smoking. 

Both my wife and I have never smoked, not even a single cigarette as kids. I emailed them and kindly but firmly made my case. 

Three days later they informed me the charges were being reversed. AND they sent me a voucher good for three days free on my next rental. I used that last month during the higher costs of car rentals. Net savings from the voucher was $390. 

I’m glad I didn’t read them the riot act. I probably should learn from that, but I’ll still probably be reactionary a good percentage of the time.


----------



## easyrider (Jun 29, 2021)

Interesting is that the term "reading the riot act" came from an English law called the Riot Act in the early 1700's. All it was is a law that allowed authorities to clear out any group of 12 they thought rowdy. Now days it means to be assertive, not riotous or obnoxious. 

Every one here would be assertive in this car rental caper situation. You could say, you all would be reading the riot act in your own way.

Bill


----------



## wjappraise (Jun 29, 2021)

easyrider said:


> Interesting is that the term "reading the riot act" came from an English law called the Riot Act in the early 1700's. All it was is a law that allowed authorities to clear out any group of 12 they thought rowdy. Now days it means to be assertive, not riotous or obnoxious.
> 
> Every one here would be assertive in this car rental caper situation. You could say, you all would be reading the riot act in your own way.
> 
> Bill



I stand corrected.


----------



## jehb2 (Jun 30, 2021)

There was a time when every 3 or 4 years a charge would appear on our credit card from Hertz in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  The charge was between $8-$14 dollars. I would simply call Citibank and have the charge removed.  We have never been to Oklahoma but we used Hertz a lot and I thought maybe they had a head office there and it was an error.

Then one year a the same charge appeared on a Citibank credit card that had been closed for 6 months…It took me several calls to get it straightened out.  Eventually Citibank gave me $300 for my troubles.  I think there was something fishy going on at the Hertz in Oklahoma City, OK.


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Jun 30, 2021)

We are on Enterprise's DNR (rent not recusitate) list due to a false claim they made for nearly 1k in purported damages to a car we rented in Manchester UK in 2015. We disputed the charge by presenting cell phone video of the car we took when we picked it up. Never heard more from Enterprise until nearly 6 years later in April of this year when we got a phone call from the Santa Fe Enterprise location the night before we were to pick up the car we'd reserved there via Costco! 

DH wants to pursue our innocence with Enterprise but I am done with them.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 30, 2021)

beejaybeeohio said:


> We are on Enterprise's DNR (rent not recusitate) list due to a false claim they made for nearly 1k in purported damages to a car we rented in Manchester UK in 2015. We disputed the charge by presenting cell phone video of the car we took when we picked it up. Never heard more from Enterprise until nearly 6 years later in April of this year when we got a phone call from the Santa Fe Enterprise location the night before we were to pick up the car we'd reserved there via Costco!
> 
> DH wants to pursue our innocence with Enterprise but I am done with them.


Does your Enterprise ban carry over to their other brands such as Alamo and National?


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Jun 30, 2021)

Probably! Since 2015 we've rented with Avis, Hertz and Europcar abroad. Santa Fe was our 1st US rental. Luckily that evening I found that Avis had availablity off-airport so I prepaid when that option came up. It was a hassle getting to the Avis office from the airport- delayed flights had us getting there just before the 4pm closing. Even more luck was that the vehicle we'd reserved was not available so we had to take a Dodge Caravan in its place-prefect since DD, DSiL and 2 young adult GSs were meeting us at our Ruidoso t/s! With that Caravan we didn't need to caravan sightseeing!


----------



## dioxide45 (Jun 30, 2021)

beejaybeeohio said:


> We are on Enterprise's DNR (rent not recusitate) list due to a false claim they made for nearly 1k in purported damages to a car we rented in Manchester UK in 2015. We disputed the charge by presenting cell phone video of the car we took when we picked it up. Never heard more from Enterprise until nearly 6 years later in April of this year when we got a phone call from the Santa Fe Enterprise location the night before we were to pick up the car we'd reserved there via Costco!
> 
> DH wants to pursue our innocence with Enterprise but I am done with them.


Did you simply dispute the charge with your credit card company? Or did you try to work with Enterprise first and present evidence to them that the damage was there when you picked up the car?


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Jun 30, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> Did you simply dispute the charge with your credit card company? Or did you try to work with Enterprise first and present evidence to them that the damage was there when you picked up the car?



We never had a charge to our cc, thank goodness. That 2015 trip also resulted in a chipped windshield charge from Sixt in Iceland. It was "found" by the rental agent when she shined a flashlight onto the windshield from the interior of the car when we returned it. Had to pay 750 euro then & there!
Chase Visa reimbursed us that amount, whew!


----------



## rapmarks (Jun 30, 2021)

zentraveler said:


> That is probably a mistake, although who knows. We got an expensive ticket/credit card charge from Hertz months after we left the Marriott outside of Paris. We had rented a car, but there was never a time when I drove or parked illegally, and there was no documentation provided whatsoever about what we had purportedly done wrong. I disputed it with our credit card company and they deleted the charges.


that happened to my brother in law, but I believe he paid it


----------



## Talent312 (Jun 30, 2021)

Thrifty in Vegas tried to ding us for scratches + dents.
I had saved our copy of the check-out sheet which showed 'em all.
Corporate sent me an apology.

Later, I was charged for a violating a no-drive zone in Florence, IT.
I had no quarrel with that, as I knew I was doing it at the time.
.


----------



## Laurie (Jun 30, 2021)

beejaybeeohio said:


> We are on Enterprise's DNR (rent not recusitate) list due to a false claim they made for nearly 1k in purported damages to a car we rented in Manchester UK in 2015.


Happened to us in Manchester UK also! Can't remember which of their affiliates, but this rental I think was thru Auto Europe, who for the first time was NO HELP in getting it resolved. Disputed with credit card co, then had to provide lots of documentation, no simple dispute and took forever. (We had spotted damage at pick-up, long story, desk staff was so wrapped up in watching soccer game seemed like they were barely paying attention to issuing correct ppw. But maybe it was their usual MO.)


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Jun 30, 2021)

Talent312 said:


> Later, I was charged for a violating a no-drive zone in Florence, IT.
> I had no quarrel with that, as I knew I was doing it at the time.
> .


Don’t get me started! We did not realize we entered ZTLs in Lucca and Pisa as well as a parking violation in Lucca. Money, money money!


----------



## jwalk03 (Jul 1, 2021)

Most businesses I give the benefit of the doubt to- car rental companies are not one of them!  Some of them are down right criminal.

Whatever you do- don’t ever try to rent from NEXTCAR in Orlando!!   They advertise very low rates and then make it damn near impossible to leave the lot without agreeing to additional charges!  They have a list of like 10 insurance providers that are acceptable- if your insurance isn’t on the list they require you to buy their insurance for $32/day, and of course they do not provide the list in advance when you make the reservation.

Even if your company is on the list they require that you have like $300,000 minimum in property damage coverage (which is more than any insurance provides!). Doesn’t matter if you have an over arching coverage in excess of a million dollars you still have to have the 300k specifically in property damage or they won’t rent to you unless of course you buy their coverage for $32/day.

They affix surpass stickers to every car to force you to either buy their ridiculously overpriced daily toll package or avoid all the toll roads.  You can’t remove the sticker and use your own toll device or they charge you $500 to replace the $5 sticker!!

I have never in my life seen so many people arrive to get a car and leave without as I did in that place!  Never ever again!!  I actually filed a complaint with the Florida AG’s office about my experience last year, but I don’t know if anything ever came of it.


----------



## davidvel (Jul 2, 2021)

jwalk03 said:


> Most businesses I give the benefit of the doubt to- car rental companies are not one of them!  Some of them are down right criminal.
> 
> Whatever you do- don’t ever try to rent from NEXTCAR in Orlando!!   They advertise very low rates and then make it damn near impossible to leave the lot without agreeing to additional charges!  They have a list of like 10 insurance providers that are acceptable- if your insurance isn’t on the list they require you to buy their insurance for $32/day, and of course they do not provide the list in advance when you make the reservation.
> 
> ...


Sounds like a pretty poor business model that will catch up to them, if the regulators don't first.  Rental companies are in the business of renting cars, not turning people away.


----------



## Talent312 (Jul 2, 2021)

jwalk03 said:


> Whatever you do- don’t ever try to rent from NEXTCAR in Orlando!!   They advertise very low rates and then make it damn near impossible to leave the lot without agreeing to additional charges!...



The old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true..." applies.
I won't rent from a no-name, el cheapo company I never heard of.
I stick to Alamo, Avis, Hertz, National, and bottom row, Budget, Enterprise & Thrifty.
.


----------



## sfwilshire (Jul 11, 2021)

I received a fraudulent charge, a toll charge if I remember correctly. The total mileage on my rental was a couple of hundred miles and they had charged me for something 500 miles from the airport where I rented the car.

I pointed out that it was not possible that I incurred the charge and never heard anything else about it.

Sheila


----------



## Talent312 (Jul 11, 2021)

A few years ago, I rented a car in Toulouse, France, via Avis. It was a hybrid, which I had never driven before... I turned it on and nothing happened, not a peep. I finally figured out that if I stepped on the pedal, it would go.

That was almost as funny as the car I rented in Frankfurt whose GPS gave me commands in German.

Anyway, after I returned the car in Toulouse, they somehow charged double the rate.
After I pointed that out to corporate Avis, a credit was given for their error.
.


----------



## TravelTime (Jul 11, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> What does the riot act have to do with the parking ticket?



That is what I was thinking. Why get upset before you even call? Just adds stress to life. To me, it was obvious it was an error and it would be fixed. Sounds like it was an easy fix.


----------



## dioxide45 (Jul 11, 2021)

TravelTime said:


> That is what I was thinking. Why get upset before you even call? Just adds stress to life. To me, it was obvious it was an error and it would be fixed. Sounds like it was an easy fix.


It seems that I originally misunderstood the meaning of the "riot act". That said, I always go with the thought of getting more flies with honey than with vinegar.


----------



## TravelTime (Jul 11, 2021)

Thinking about the riot act…I just got a Disney refund for a cruise I canceled. They sent me the cancellation and the refund was off by over $700. My first thought was Disney was trying to screw me. Then I reminded myself that is impossible because I have proof as to how much we paid and how much has been refunded. So I decided to relax and I even waited a few days before calling. I called and it was not even something that needed to be fixed. Disney had sent out a cancellation email with the incorrect amount but on their end, they were refunding me the correct amount. I am so glad I waited and did not overreact because they had just processed the refund. Had I called any sooner, the rep would not have been able to access the correct information.


----------



## TravelTime (Jul 11, 2021)

dioxide45 said:


> It seems that I originally misunderstood the meaning of the "riot act". That said, I always go with the thought of getting more flies with honey than with vinegar.



Ha ha! I never would have thought they literally meant the Riot Act. Cute!


----------



## isisdave (Jul 11, 2021)

The phrase "read the Riot Act" has passed into common usage for a stern reprimand or warning of consequences, and here's the explanation


----------

