Budget Car & Truck Rental Townsville Airport

Please be sure to keep your Fuel Recept, after you have filled the tank. Also take photos of it and ask the teller to give you two copies. Drop one with budget and retain the second one. To avoid stories that touch.nThe lady that attended to me at pick up was awesome.nNothing to say at the moment. Car was clean waiting for my refund. Also please be sure to

Worst car rental experience I've ever had. I was scammed. Checked my bank account 2 days after I returned the car and noticed I was charged an extra $52. No receipt for that or reason.nnCalled customer service and was told I was charged a refueling fee, even though I filled it up right before returning the car and have sent my petrol receipt. Still have not received my refund.nnReading other reviews on this location, I see that they have done this scam before. So unprofessional. And won't answer their phone either.

Beware of Budget Townsville Airport (they also operate the Avis desk). These guys are fraudulent and will overcharge you claiming that the fuel tank was empty. Save yourself weeks of chasing them up and avoid these guys. Rather spend a little more to go with a honest car rental company if hiring a car from Townsville Airport.nnI hired a car and was advised that if the car was returned without a full tank I'd be charged extra. This is expected and standard for any car rental company. To avoid excess fees I filled the car up just before returning it. To my surprise, when I saw the charge come through on my credit card they had overcharged me $52. Upon querying the charge the Budget Townsville Airport office claimed that the car was returned without a full tank of fuel which was a lie as I filled it up just before returning it. They advised that I would have to prove the fuel tank was full by way of a fuel receipt in order to have their fraudulent overcharge transaction rectified. Having now read all of the bad reviews these guys get for overcharging their customers, I suspect it's standard practise for them to overcharge knowing that most people don't keep receipts and wont be able to prove that they had filled the car up with fuel just before returning it.nnI strongly recommend you don't but if you still decide to hire a car from Budget Townsville Airport and want to avoid chasing them up for weeks, keep all of your fuel receipts and even take a picture of the fuel gauge before returning the car.

***POST REVIEW UPDATE***nBudget contacted me and have refunded me the unforeseen costs outlined below. I appreciate them trying to make things right and have adjusted my rating to 4 stars accordingly. Hopefully these sort of issues are ironed out in the future.n*****nnService at the desk was excellent, however I think understaffed as only 1 staff member means a single chatty 'long haul' customer can keep a line of other customers queueing.nnCar was excellent and as described. I returned the car full of fuel and this was correctly acknowledged (at drop off location - Cairns).nnMy disappointment comes from the charges that get deducted later from the $200 deposit that I was not aware of:nnA one-way fee of $100, this should have been made known, itemised, and charged at the time I made the online booking, as at that time I specified I would be dropping off at a different location.nnThe premium location charge rising from $36.48 on the initial booking to $55.63 on the final invoice. Admin fee also rising on the final invoice compared to the initial booking. I feel like these charges should have been accurately represented on the initial online booking as my pick up/drop off locations and dates were all specified.nnThese charges may be correct, intended and probably buried somewhere in terms & conditions, but the fact they were slugged out of my deposit without warning instead of being accurately itemised up front comes off as somewhat slimy.

I made a booking weeks in advance for a rental car and filled in all the appropriate details including that I hold a green probationary license. It was only when I got to the location that I was told I was unable to be given a rental, even after receiving a booking confirmation, which put a huge strain on our holiday plans. Will not choose this company again.