Budget Truck Rental - Arlington - Alexandria - Landmark - New Haven Moving Equipment - Virginia - USA

If I could give any company zero stars, it would be this one. Pathetic.

Here's what happened:

I had coordinated my rental 2 weeks in advance, and received the email of confirmation. On the date of my departure, on November 7th, I drove to Edsall Road with a friend. As I drove into the parking lot directly at 8:00 AM, I received a phone call from the location office. A lady (I did not get her name; she was an elder lady, caucasian) proceeded to tell me she did not have my vehicle, along with 7 or 8 other people's rentals. Her attitude was that of an uncaring, unsympathetic person, and she simply told me to contact the Budget customer service. However, they did not open until 8:30, so I had to wait, instead of being on the way up north to Pennsylvania.

When customer service opened, a man told me I had two options: I could simply cancel the whole trip, or choose another location which would have the truck. I responded saying I would like another location, because I could not cancel this move with a new job starting early next week. The man proceeded to give me a location about 15 miles away in Arlington, and gave me the number. I proceeded to call the Arlington location, only to receive their voicemail saying their office opened at 10 am.

Meanwhile, the unsympathetic lady at the counter had nothing to offer, so her service was entirely unprofessional. She said she "didn't know what to do" and "Oh well." Next, I received a call back from a man named Joe in customer service (a different representative) who told me there was a location in Woodbridge that was open and had trucks. I made sure to have him give me a straightforward, honest answer, and he gave me the number for that location. Keep in mind, I lived in Alexandria, and Woodbridge was a 30-minute drive in the opposite direction. I called the Woodbridge location, seated at a crowded gas station, and spoke to a lady named Holly, who confirmed they were open and had a truck.

We drove to the Woodbridge location, and waited a solid 15 minutes before Holly appeared. She charged us for the truck, and gave us a 16' truck, instead of the 10' truck we ordered. She told us it was that or nothing. Luckily, she charged the same price we bought the truck at, but we were still very, very upset at the whole ordeal.

Thankfully, after the horrible attitude of the lady who worked at Edsall Road and the slow service at Woodbridge, we made it to PA safe and returned the truck with no problem. However, with the horrible experience we went through, we ran 3 hours late of our move, and my friend had to pay extra money he shouldn't have to take a bus back home from Philadelphia to DC.

In short, Budget is nothing short of a nightmare. Having worked in customer service for years, I am empathetic towards most people, save for when they do not acknowledge their mistakes. It was not until I dropped off the truck in Reading that someone did apologize, a lady named Taniesha, I believe. I paid $46.78 in gas when I should not have needed to drive that extra distance to pick up my truck. It should have been in my possession at Edsall Road in the first place, and it infuriated me to think that nobody had any organization. My friend had to pay extra fees because of the company's mistakes, and I am very disappointed.

Again, inexcusable. These people just don't care, especially the lady at Edsall Road. Avoid her at all costs.