Budget Rent A Car - Worst Experience of my Adult Life at Budget @ Laguardia Airport (an avis budget group company)
Reservation # 3399****US0
Budget is probably one of the worst I have ever dealt with. I had a very important trip with my young son for him to play in Cooperstown, NY. I had reservations for over 1 month and took a private driver from my hotel to this location near LaGuardia Airport in NY, after staying in NYC for 4 days. My plan was for me to rent a car & drive to Cooperstown. I arrived on Friday, July 22, 2016 prior to my reserved time of 7am. The lady at the counter (don't know name, but have attached picture) was emotionless & had no interest in helping me out. She had an immediate attitude from the beginning & asked me for my drivers license & credit card. I gave her my license & VISA debit card. She said that they don't take debit cards & if so would have to pull a full credit report. I asked her why and told her I've rented numerous times & have never had a problem + I was never told when I made the reservation that my VISA debit card would not suffice. I am renting the car...NOT BUYING IT! I told her if it was a problem, I could pay the full rental amount up front. She didn't like my line of questioning & deciding to make me pay for it. She looked at her screen & said the credit report came back & was denied!!! Keep in mind that I never gave her my SSN. I thought she was kidding & she said no. I asked her how she was able to get a credit report without my SSN#? I also explained my situation & that my son & I needed to be in Cooperstown by the next morning & I had a child with me. She didn't care, so I asked for her manager. He wasn't any better. His name was Darius Caston - Budget Airport Manager. He didn't care & said it was a policy & I asked him if there was a way to bypass that or make an exception? He said no. I pleaded with him over & over again & explained that my son was outside & we had no other form of transportation! WE WERE STRANDED IN QUEENS, NY!!! I asked for a business card & he didn't have one, so he wrote on someone else's card & handed it to me. I told him I will let everyone on social media know about my experience. We were not offered a shuttle ride to airport or anywhere else. That was it! ----- In trip planning, I had a car rental backup - which was Avis. However, when I received the manager's business card (see picture attached) I noticed that it said "avis budget group!" So I called Avis & after being thrown around from rep to rep one c/s rep said that it was a new policy to not accept debit cards as deposit. I will never use Budget and/or Avis & will make sure I let everyone I know about my horrible experience. I would never wish this experience upon my worst enemy. I will email Budget Corporate & know the non-response or canned response I will get. I will not give up and will get an apology letter written to my son before this is over. After 2 hours of making phone calls outside the Budget location, I found Enterprise Car Rental in NY who rented to me without any problems and with the same Visa debit card that Budget turned down. It was also $200 cheaper - so it was a blessing in disguise! I WILL NEVER USE BUDGET OR AVIS CAR RENTAL. This company has no respect or appreciation for it's customers & it's policies and not customer friendly.
Your debit card policy is unique to your company only and really puts responsible customers as myself in a bad predicament. You have no valid excuse, since my debit card is tied to my business checking and has over $50,000 in liquid funds.
Reason of review: Poor customer service.
Monetary Loss: $720.
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.
Budget Rent A Car Cons: No flexibility, Manager enjoyed turning me away, Horrible customer service, Service, Rude and condescending, Left me hanging in another state.
Location: Queens, New York
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