Budget Car Rental — Local services in Columbus

First time renting from Budget and not the experience expected: Day 1 (Tuesday 7/22) • Booked mid-size pickup Toyota Tacoma (#1) online, was not available. Upgraded to full size pick-up Ram 1500. • Full size pickup Ram 1500 (#2) was not cleaned inside, nor out. Offered an SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee. • SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee (#3) was not cleaned inside, nor out. In spite of dirty vehicle, accepted SUV due to amount of time spent at CMH Budget counter. • Leaving CMH Car Rental, attendant instructed return to Budget counter, citing spouse as second driver was not policy (which it is). o At Budget counter line, called Budget while waiting and Budget rep cited $65 charge for spouse (again, not what their policy says). Once at front desk, spoke with manager (Ryan) and he confirmed spouse can drive at no extra charge. Staff should know company policy. Took over an hour to settle. Two hours taken off rental charge.

Day 2 (Wednesday 7/23) • SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee (#3) driver rear tire low, but holding at 29 psi (inflate to 40 psi standard). Dropped to 29 psi again, but held. Other tires had cap on the tires, except tire with low air.

Day 3 (Thursday 7/24) • Called Budget and were instructed to return SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee to CHM Budget. • CMH Budget 1.25 hours away from cabin. • Exchanged SUV Jeep Grand Cherokee (#3) for a SUV Jeep Gladiator (#4), also not cleaned inside nor out. Accepted due to amount of time spent inconvenienced. Was credited two hours. • SUV Jeep Gladiator (#4) upon return to cabin, gave alert for immediate oil change. • Notice that both rear tires on SUV Jeep Gladiator (#4) had no tread.

Day 4 (Friday 7/25) • Called Budget and spoke with manager, explained all issues so far. Budget rep said Emergency Roadside Assistance could come to our location. Transferred us to another Budget rep/dept. That dept. said Budget does not do that service. After 45 minutes on phone, interaction with various Budget reps/dept., and discrepancies in messages, drove SUV Jeep Gladiator (#4) back to CMH Budget. • Returned SUV Jeep Gladiator (#4) to CMH Budget. • Spoke with manager (Ryan) again and he offered a SUV Ford Bronco (#5). Very clean inside and out, but had smell of marijuana smoke inside. • Told the manager (Ryan) and he offered another SUV Ford Bronco (#6). Very clean inside and out, but had a missing vent cover on center dash, and immediate oil change alert on dash. • Told Budget rep (manger Ryan stepped out) SUV Ford Bronco (#6) had immediate oil change alert. They gave assurance that oil change was done but maintenance had not reset alert. Accepted SUV Ford Bronco (#6) • If not for Manager Ryan, would have requested money back for 4 days (out of 11) for car rental and gone with another rental agency. • Ryan adjusted our price and waved fuel recharge when we returned SUV Ford Bronco (#6). Ryan wrote waiver by hand on rental invoice, because he missed including waiver in invoice. • When we returned SUV Ford Bronco (#6) on Saturday (8/2) and showed note by Ryan on invoice, staff had hard time adjusting invoice to reflect his note. • Another manager (Ashley) was involved since Ryan was off that day, to help with correction. When she provided an updated copy of the invoice, fuel charge was waived BUT invoice was $100 more than previous adjusted price. • Waited over 30 mins for them to correct. Had to leave or miss flight, Ashley PROMISED she would either email or text us that day. Still waiting to hear back from her.

I would give 0 stars for this rental agency. Only positive was Ryan.

UPDATE: Price discrepancy HAS NOT been resolved as discussed with manager who was going to connect with the other manager we were working with to resolve this issue. We were supposed to be charged $300.72 but got...

I am writing to formally express my deep dissatisfaction with the service I received from an Avis/Budget employee named Krystal at John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) on the night of July 22, 2025, around 11:30 PM.

Upon arriving at the airport rental area, the downstairs desk staff informed me that their location was closed and directed me to the upstairs counter to pick up my prepaid rental car reservation. However, when I approached the upstairs counter, the employee, Krystal, was playing video games on her phone and immediately responded rudely. Instead of assisting me, she said, “Why did you come to my desk? Go downstairs, I’m busy.” This was extremely unprofessional and frustrating, especially considering the downstairs desk had just sent me up there.

After I explained the situation, she appeared very annoyed and reluctant to help, eventually taking my ID and proceeding with the paperwork without explaining anything to me. Without my consent, she added every optional service Avis/Budget offers to my reservation, which I only discovered after my card was charged.

Despite having prepaid $141 online for a 2-day rental, I was charged an additional $135, plus a $250 deposit, totaling $526—for a 2-day rental. Additionally, I reserved a full-size sedan, but Krystal gave me an SUV, which I politely declined. When I calmly asked for the sedan I had reserved, she became aggressive and shouted, saying, “If you want a car, take it. Or cancel and get lost.” This behavior is completely unacceptable and violates basic standards of customer service.

To make matters worse, I returned the car at 11:25 PM on July 24th, which is 5 minutes early, but my final receipt falsely claims I returned the vehicle at 5:05 AM on July 25th, and I was charged late fees. It also shows I drove 13,000 miles in two days, which is clearly inaccurate and impossible. This appears to be a serious billing error—or possibly intentional fraud.

When I went back to the airport rental office to request a receipt and correct the false charges, the employee who helped me was initially dismissive as well. Only after I insisted that I hadn’t signed or initialed any changes did she become more cooperative and gave me the manager’s contact information.

This is not the first time I’ve had a bad experience with Avis/Budget. On a prior occasion, I was also charged an extra $40 without explanation, but I had no proof at that time. Fortunately, this time I took photos of the return time for documentation.

I am extremely disappointed and feel cheated by how your company is operating at this location. Not only was I mistreated by your staff, but I was also overcharged, misled, and made to feel unwelcome and disrespected. Your team at CMH, particularly Krystal, needs to be held accountable for poor customer service, unauthorized charges, and...

Terrible. Waited 40 minutes in line to pick up reserved minivan. When we got to the desk, the associate told us we needed to go upstairs to “fast break” desk despite there being no indication on our reservation that we were “fastbreak” customers. Went to fastbreak desk to find an even longer line than the one we just waited in with only 1 associate working the window. Went back downstairs and requested to be serviced at the normal desk. After processing our reservation, credit card machine did not work. Had to process it 3 more times at other computers until it worked. During this lengthy process, we could hear a voice coming through the service radio mentioning some concern about a minivan. We assumed whatever it was had nothing to do with our rental. Took the Chrysler Pacifica home to pack it up for our trip the next morning.

Fast forward to the next morning when we realized on our drive that the a/c wasn’t blowing cold air. Turns out they WERE talking about the car they were renting to us. It was 84 degrees outside, only 9AM, and getting hotter. We are driving to Texas. From Ohio. Called Budget customer service to have them arrange an exchange pickup at our next destination as we will be using the minivan for a western road trip through the hottest deserts in the country. Apparently arranging for an exchange is not possible- just have to drive around the country from budget location to budget location looking for an available minivan. Talked to 2 different “customer service” agents via phone who apparently have no access to vehicle availability or reserving an exchange. Hmm.

Spoiler alert… we got to Louisville airport budget location to request an exchange and they only had a pickup truck available to offer us.Told us to “keep driving to other budget locations to find a new car.” It is a surprise to me that a RENTAL CAR company in 2024 does not have the digital capability to RESERVE a car for us to exchange at another location; especially when we are experiencing a MECHANICAL FAILURE due to their own negligence. I guess I should have expected this seeing as how they can’t even get a credit card machine to work.

We are now driving to Dallas, TX in this hot box in the middle of summer. Our attempt to circumvent the system is to order a new minivan rental for pickup in Dallas and inform them when we get there that it will be an exchange and we are NOT paying for a whole new rental. Hopefully that will mean there is a car there for us to exchange for when we arrive. I would like to give the whole Budget company a giant ZERO star review since the issue seems to be with their entire system. However, if I have to choose a single location it is this one due to their poor service at the start and willingness to rent out a failing vehicle in the...