Budget Car Rental — Local services in Kansas City

Something has happened at this location. I rent cars from Budget all over the US. Easily over 50 days this year.

No organization should ever have a process in place that requires the customer to suffer or take additional financial hold for an error caused by their own employees. Poor culture and poor leadership local and apparently corporate.

At this location in the past it has been some of my best rental experiences. Upgrades, fun cars, good service, professional.

Not any more. When I walk up to a rental counter and stand at the end of the markers. I should not have to wait for the counter staff to finish their text before they ask if I am picking up. Yes 2 ladies at the counter both on cell phones they had to finish posts before assistance.

This was not an outdoor location but one of the young ladies needed to be in her hoodie, not a uniform one but personal.

This location only does fast break once every 24 hours so you are diced on same day rentals. Now I have to use the counter.

I did a prepay due to a special on line when I logged into my account. Happy that might be a fun car again. Counter asked for license and card. I confirmed they had a prepaid showing to not double bill. They confirmed yes. Now the failure started.

This is my issue not theirs. I am busy for travel and as I checked my card activity on the plane to Kansas City I noticed that there was still over $1000 of temp auths pending. 2 expensive hotel incedentals holds , 2 rental car deposits, and the prepay. I needed to move some money on my card but do not do it on planes.

Now back to poor Budget service. After confirming yes to prepaid, she responded just confirming last 4 digits. I ask specifically, what are you going to place additional on the card. This was important because I needed to make sure money moved since I did not do my banking on the bus..... She replied NOTHING it is a prepay. Next words were. THIS CARD HAS BEEN DECLINED. I explain impossible since it is already showing as a pending charge and there is available credit. She replies. THIS IS FOR THE DEPOSIT.

What part of additional on card was not clear. I then say no problem, give me the $ I will move. Won't make a difference since a declined card cannot be run again for 24clock hours.

So now I have to have additional card in use for business expenses, if debit card then they change deposit to larger amount and up to 21 days to get back.

All related to their employees lack of training and awareness.

So manager says no resolution since can't reach my bank. Which implies there is power to make it work. She says sorry I feel bad about this.

Now get a load of this professional approach. I can't do anything for you on the rental you already paid for. Here is the tool free to call. They could process tonight and get it resolved. Well not perfect but ok. I CALL THE NUMBER AND THE OFFICE IS CLOSED. Don't you think a manager would know the hours.

Manager says you can go on line and cancel, that was confirmed by message at customer service. We'll I did that while in my Uber to hotel 41$ worth. 150.00 FEE FOR A NO SHOW IF CANCEL...... HECK NO.

I call back to rental, recognize the voice of the hoodie wearing rep, gave my name and asked to speak to the manager to see what to do on the charge. She asked who I was again, gave name and said working with her earlier..... Response was... "ARE YOU THE CREDIT CARD GUY" you have got to be kidding me. Left a message.

Well I walk away with no rental, I pay for an Uber to get to a hotel, Budget still has my money for next 3 days, nothing offered by them for their error such as I can help you out with...... And last night no return call.

Huge problems at this location, poor uniformity of appearance, poor training on simple procedures and professionalism. Such as I asked to speak the the manager again as I waited for Uber. Counter person did not even sit down her phone but just yelled to the back office. I...

TL;DR: Budget Car Rental provided an extremely disappointing experience, from a lack of available cars and inconvenient vehicle substitutions to unexpected charges for extra insurance and unprofessional service. Their insistence on extra insurance compounded the frustrations of an already terrible experience. Avoid this rental location if you can.

I recently had the unfortunate experience of renting a car from Budget Car Rental, and it was nothing short of a nightmare. I made my reservation through Costco's website, which I trusted to offer high-quality products and services. However, this rental experience was a glaring exception.

My ordeal began when I landed at the Kansas City airport with my sister, my blind grandmother, and a considerable amount of luggage. Our flight arrived at midnight, and I had to take a shuttle bus to the car rental facility, leaving my sister, grandmother, and luggage stranded at the airport. Little did I know that this would set the tone for a series of problems.

Upon arriving at the rental counter, I learned that the people in front of me, who had also made reservations, were told that there were no cars available for them. I feared the same would happen to me, and sadly, it did. Budget did offer a partial credit, but this didn't alleviate the inconvenience of having to arrange Uber rides for my family and me to get to our hotel.

Returning the next morning as instructed, I still didn't find the car I had reserved—a Camry or similar. Instead, they offered me a Dodge Charger, which was far from suitable for a trip with my grandmother to Branson, Missouri. The Charger was not only less fuel-efficient but also lacked the comfort I had expected.

To make matters worse, when I requested an extension for the drop-off time to accommodate the changes in our vacation plans, Budget agreed but decided to charge me for an extra day, which bumped up my initial bill of $420 to over $600. This was before they insisted I pay for extra insurance because they claimed my personal insurance and Visa card insurance wouldn't cover me in the event of an accident.

Adding insult to injury, Budget Car Rental further insisted that in the event of an accident, I would be required to pay a daily rental fee for each day the car was at the body shop until it was back in service if I didn't opt for their costly extra insurance.

When I tried to return the car at around 9:00 pm, I couldn't find any employees. The website indicated they were still open, but the facility was deserted. I called the customer service number, and they stated that their records showed this location as open according to their information and that someone should have been there. For over 30 minutes, I could not find anyone. I was advised not to leave the car unattended, which forced me to cancel my ride share and wait. An employee finally appeared but could only accept the car without providing any paperwork or a receipt. Once I handed over the car, I had to order another ride share to reach my destination.

It's worth noting that in the end, they made me wait a minimum of 8 hours beyond the original agreed-upon pickup time to get an actual car, and ironically, extending my drop-off time by 8 hours, which was necessitated by their delays, resulted in them charging me for a full extra day. I still returned it before the original drop-off time and was still charged...

This is the WORST CAR RENTAL company I have ever used. They are a franchise and do business extremely shady. They talk a good talk about the Midwest, one on one communication, etc. I swear that is just to find out if you are renting for the heck of it or have a situation they can take advantage of. Our rental was because my 95 year old father in law was left to fend for himself. That is an entirely different story by itself. The rental was for 7 days, sedan, booked through spirit. I never use budget, usually enterprise or hertz. If you booked it through spirit the same time as your flight for 7 days you would get a 35% discount. I thought that was great and very easy, so that’s what I did. They left my husband waiting to get the car for 40 min when it was icing out. Then it was an SUV instead of a sedan which is impossible for a 95 year old to get in and out of, and yes it was the “only “ car left conveniently. What were we to do??? So my husband took it. He was told that the discount comes off at the return. HUGE LIE!!! The car was a disaster my father in law did fall out of it. When it was time to return it we called and asked if there was a budget close by where we were in Blue Springs, Mo we could return it too since the airport was so far and we would have to take an Uber back. The person on the phone told him where there was another budget closer. Here is where the scam is. The car was supposed to be returned before 12 noon which it was. The kicker is it wasn’t at the original Budget so they charged an extra day. Not only that they split the rental to a 4 day rental, with a 3 day extension. I have the original booking and it’s clear as can be that it says pick up on a certain day, 7 day rental, return date. Now since it wasn’t a 7 day rental anymore, there was no 35% discount. How freaking convenient. So a one week rental ended up costing $1,400.00 when the original price was $532.00 we have been fighting this with the bank but it is exhausting. They reversed the charges then budget charged them back and on and on. Their corporate offices said they are a franchise and have many complaints about them. We informed Spirit and they are looking into their practices because they too have had many complaints similar to this. Why in the world would anyone rent a car for 7 days at $200.00 a day when you can rent a car from an individual through Turo for $100.00 a day or less, depending on what car you actually choose. After posting reviews and checking other sites, I have found out that this is common practice at this Budget as well as promising a certain car to get you to book and then you getting another car because they never had the first one to begin with. All I can say is there are many, many choices out there. DO NOT RENT FROM BUDGET CAR AT KANSAS...