Am I SOL on this Budget Truck dispute?

[ps2cho]

Budget won't reimburse me. Wells Fargo won't touch it. I contacted the BBB on this....Think I have a chance? Story is in report I sent

Just filed a complaint with the BBB. I will keep this thread updated with how it plays out.

I will NEVER use a budget truck again. What a joke of a company. They've lost many customers due to not giving me a partial refund.

Filed on : July 13 2010

Filed by :
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Filed against :
Budget Truck Rental
P.O. 699000
Tulsa OK 74169

Complaint Description:
I Rented a truck to travel 400miles to Arizona. The truck states that it comes with Air Conditioning. When I received the truck (xxxx, CA), it did not have functional Air Conditioning, nor was the washer fluid full and there was no other truck available for rental. I had no time to get another truck and cancel the reservation (which they declined to wave the fee). I had to drive in 105F heat all the way to Arizona. I had to stop 4-5 times because of a headache due to the heat and the trip took several hours longer than I had intended making me late for my job interview. When I took the truck back I complained but the returning store (xxxxxx, AZ) said I had to call Customer Service about this and there was nothing they could do. I called customer service and after being hung up on TWICE, I finally got a supervisor who told me there is nothing she can do about it. No reimbursement at all. She said because I used the truck and did not call roadside assistance (A/C is NOT a roadside assistance issue and I know this because I am a mechanic. It requires complete evacuation via a special machine so the freon does not pollute by going into the atmosphere, then it must be refilled using a different machine and leak checked which takes 2-3 hours total. Had I been offered a FUNCTIONAL truck at the pick up location everything would have been fine, but since there was none and to cancel I would have had to paid the CANCEL RESERVATION FEE there was no way out of this. I paid $290.80 for the truck and am extremely dissatisfied with the way the company has handled this. Truck rental was on xxxx/10. Cust. Ref # xxxxxx using my xx Credit Card.

Your Desired Resolution:
I wish to be reimbursed for appalling service and lack of a functional vehicle. The terms state that the truck has A/C. It did not so therefore I did not receive the service and product that I PAID for.

[The Clk Man]

The BBB will scare them, I have used them a few times and it works like a charm.

[Chas H]

How much money are seeking in refund?

[kerry]

I agree that a partial refund is in order. However, I think you'll be fighting an uphill battle with the credit card company or Budget since you did use the truck for the trip. Were there any witnesses to the non-functioning AC? Did Budget look at the truck and confirm the AC was not working? If you have something from Budget stating the AC was not working, if you work your way up thru the chain of command, you may get a refund.

[ps2cho]

Originally Posted by Chas H

How much money are seeking in refund?

Something decent. 25% off maybe since it was such a horrible drive.

Both the pickup and drop off people confirmed it did not work, but I guess I was rushed at the time and didn't think I should have got it in writing...

[Chas H]

Originally Posted by ps2cho

Something decent. 25% off maybe since it was such a horrible drive.

Both the pickup and drop off people confirmed it did not work, but I guess I was rushed at the time and didn't think I should have got it in writing...

You're going through all this in the hope of a $70 refund?

[ps2cho]

Originally Posted by Chas H

You're going through all this in the hope of a $70 refund?

Better than a $0 refund....?

50% would make me happy, but since I have gotten nowhere so far, I just figured maybe I was shooting too high?

Also being a college student...money is money...

[Chas H]

You are likely not going to get a refund in any amount. You've been blown off by everyone in the rental company and I really doubt they give a fig if you complain to the BBB. Did you check the BBB before you contracted with Budget to rent the truck? Other renters do the same. Once you drove off in the truck you pretty much agreed the lack of A/C wasn't an issue.
A decent rental company would have brought a truck in that had functioning A/C, and if they couldn't would likely knock $25 off the fee.

[Hatterasguy]

These things happen, I wouldn't let it bother you so much.

[kerry]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

These things happen, I wouldn't let it bother you so much.

Says someone who doesn't drive much in AZ in the summertime

[The Clk Man]

It's a matter of principle, fight on my man.

[Hatterasguy]

Originally Posted by kerry

Says someone who doesn't drive much in AZ in the summertime

He is my age, he should be able to deal with the heat.

Says someone who has been working outside all day in 100 degree heat and 90% humidity.

[HuskyMan]

before putting the truck into gear, best to check out the important equipment, i.e. A/C., radio, turn signals, window washer fluid and head and tail lamps. if the A/C is not functional, don't leave the premises until either it is repaired or they give you another truck.

moves are brutal and as you found out heat is even more brutal. if the A/C failure occurs mid-trip, phone in the complaint and tell them you either need it repaired or line up a truck with functioning A/C.

I've rented from UHaul for long moves and once one of their trucks suffered a total mechanical failure mid-trip. almost thought I'd have to completely unload a 24 foot truck in the middle of the trip, but they referred me to a truck stop which repaired the problem. it was a nerve racking experience though.....

[HuskyMan]

just thought of another idea when faced with a non-functioning rental vehicle. ask the rental agent to supply you with a truck that has functioning A/C. if they tell you they do not have one available, tell them you want to terminate the rental agreement immediately, return the keys and walk. if they tell you there will be a fee for termination, merely dispute it with your credit card company. go down the street to another truck rental company and rent a truck that does have functioning A/C. a bit of a hassle up front, but at least you don't die of heat stroke.......

[retmil46]

Well, depending on the young gent's circumstances and available funds, he may not have had, or felt he had, any other option at the time - other than making sure it was noted in writing that the truck had mechanical problems and immediately calling customer service to file a complaint BEFORE driving off the lot.

Been there, done that, with helping friends move, and moving myself, long distances on a short time schedule. And when curveballs such as this get thrown your way, sometimes there's no choice but to file a complaint and get it in writing, live with the problem, and get on the road to your destination. Add to that the stress and frenzy of the situation, it can cloud people's judgment such that they don't always realize the options available to them.

Back in '05 I helped some friends move from southwestern Wyoming down to just south of Austin TX. There was only one truck rental establishment in the town - the next nearest one, another company, was a 50 mile drive one way.
No diesels available (to save on fuel costs), but they did have an almost new 26 ft GMAC van, with a big inline gas engine, and only 10K miles on the odometer.

Essentially brand new truck, rental place claimed it was ready to go, but after my friend drove it off the lot we shortly discovered the A/C didn't work, and you could literally watch the gas gauge go down making short trips around town, drove like a dog with no power. Every other truck they had was a worn out POS, time was of the essence, my friends didn't want to take the financial hit of cancelling and then having to spend another day making a 100 mile round trip to the next nearest rental place, with no assurance they had anything better or available, so they decided o make the best of it.

Having worked at Freightliner for some years at that time, I dove under the dash to see if there was an obvious problem that could be fixed in short order. Yes indeed - NONE of the vacuum tubing connectors under the dash, including the mode selector switch, for the A/C were connected. I traced out the lines and hooked up all the tubing, but still the same problem - the A/C system would put out cold air, but you had no control over the modes or functions - still no vacuum.

My friend and I popped the engine cover inside the cab and raised the hood to investigate further. We traced the vacuum tubing all the way back to the main vacuum line that came off the intake manifold - and found the problem that explained everything that was wrong with the van.

At the factory, someone had routed the main vacuum line such that it was laying directly on the exhaust manifold and had melted in half. Not to mention that the routing of the other hoses and harnesses left a lot to be desired as well.

We installed a new piece of hose for the vacuum line, and I spent a good hour rerouting and tystrapping other hoses and harnesses out of the way so we wouldn't have any other problems. My friend got a good laugh listening to me delivering a constant stream of expletives concerning GMAC and their quality control inspectors (at the time I was a quality control inspector at Freightliner on the engine line). I'd thought up to that time that some of the people at Freightliner did some shoddy work, but the engine bay of this GMAC van was an utter abomination when it came to workmanship.

After that, the A/C worked perfectly, the van drove fine with plenty of power, and hit upwards of 10 to 12 mpg loaded on the trip to Texas.

After finding and repairing all this, we immediately called customer service and filed a complaint. After describing in detail what we'd found, they not only offered a partial refund, but also reimbursement for the materials we'd had to purchase to fix the van.

Matter of fact, when I told them it was a new GMAC van and the serial and model numbers, and what the root cause was, the customer service rep on the other end let out an "Ah-HAH!" - apparently this had been a common complaint (A/C not working) on this particular lot of vans, and now they knew the cause and who was responsible.

But in the end, my friend's reimbursement got nullified - we had to drop the truck off after hours once down in Texas, and the gent running the rental place lied on the paperwork and claimed we'd dropped it off with less gas in the tank than when we'd picked it up, and slapped on an extra $50 charge for supposedly having to refill the tank. My friend didn't discove this until 3 weeks later when he got his credit card bill.