Budget

They overbooked cars and I was the 3rd being told after 30min of waiting on the line up that they couldn't give me the car I booked with them over the phone. I missed the event I had in Québec because I couldn't find another car elsewhere. Don't book with them. Worst experience. Waste of money and waste of time.

I could not have had a more horrible experience at this Budget. Instead of the compact sedan I had reserved, I was given a Dodge Durango (8 seat truck). When I explained that I wasn't comfortable driving such a large vehicle and that it would also cost me about $200 more in gas extra (I was driving over 12 hours during the rental period), I was met with rudeness at every turn and an unwillingness to accommodate my needs. I even offered to take a bus or uber to a different location and/or wait extra time if necessary, to get even a slightly smaller car, despite being on a very tight schedule. This was completely rejected by the staff. Following my experience at this Budget location, I called the general phone number to inquire about my experience and see about cars at another location, and the man on the phone told me that "whatever the guy at the location said is what our policy is" and hung up, before I had a chance to explain what had even happened. I then tried to rent from 5 other companies that were all booked up, so I decided to call the airport location in Montreal as a last ditch effort since my need for the car was very time sensitive. The man on the phone assured me at least 3 times that there were vehicles available at the airport location and I didn't require an advanced reservation. I arrived at the airport after an hour by uber (there was a ton of construction happening all around the airport in Montreal) and was informed by the only employee working that there were no cars and that information was wrong. The lineup to speak to her was at least 30 minutes since the location was hilariously understaffed. LUCKILY, the woman was understanding and competent, and got me a vehicle (SUV - still way larger than what I'd reserved) after a 2 hour wait time for the vehicle to arrive. Now, I was grateful to have it at this point but the vehicle was dirty inside and out and still had the previous user's garbage in it. Also, the price was increased by $70 since I was now renting from the airport and the rates are higher there. All in all, it took me 6 hours plus an additional hour after finally getting the car to get out of the airport and back to the city (construction) and I spent $70 more on just the rate along with probably $50 or $60 more on gas than I had anticipated. $40 or so for the Uber as well. When I arrived home in Toronto (where I was dropping off the car), I tried to explain to the people on that end what had happened, and they told me they couldn't do anything so I needed to call Montreal and have it out with them, AGAIN. I called and about 1 minute in to me explaining my complaint and saying I really just wanted the original price that I had before any of the complications occurred, despite the horrendous experience and my plans over the next 24 hours being ruined, he cut me off to informally say "wait, wait, sorry, I'll be right back" and then placed me on hold. I was on hold for over half an hour and hung up, since I had clearly been forgotten. I called back and finally, I talked to another Budget worker over the phone in Montreal who listened to my case and agreed to immediately apply a $50 voucher before tax to bring me back down to my original price. Thankfully, he was very competent as well. HOWEVER, from start to finish, this was an unbelievably terrible experience. I have literally never received worse service from a company for anything in my life. I rent cars about 5-10 times/year and have always rented with Hertz, who have never so much as delayed giving me exactly what I asked for, when I reserved it. I recently decided to try Budget because of the better prices but if this is how they do business, I could not recommend anything less than this company. There are so many other ones that this will not happen to you at and will be professional when problem solving.