Budget Car Rental — Local services in Las Vegas

This is the third time that I rented from Budget and had an issue with the vehicle being completely filthy! This is regarding the Budget location at the Golden Nugget. But this time they charged ME a $150 cleaning fee for stains on the seats that were already there when we picked it up!! The stains looked so old that I thought it was permanent stains and there’s no way the budget employees didn’t already see it. Most of the stains were in the backseat, which I was not going to use anyway so I was fine with using that vehicle. At Budget Golden Nugget the representative Chuck did not explain how we could document any issues with the vehicle upon renting it. Also, there was no representative near the vehicle to assist with documenting the damages upon retrieval as there is at the airport location. I ALWAYS (10+ rentals) rent from Budget Golden Nugget and no one has ever explained how to document any issues upon picking up the vehicle. But this is the FIRST TIME they charged ME for someone else’s uncleanliness!! Take a look at the first 3 pics and tell me how old those stains look! I am a grown adult, I do not smoke cigarettes, and I had no children or anyone in the rear seat at all! I traveled to Las Vegas and rented this vehicle to go to/from the hospital every day. And the worse part is when we returned the vehicle, Carlito (I think that was his name) was in the parking garage, inspected the vehicle, and did not notate any stains or issues on the paperwork he provided me because he knew the stains were old!! I got this charge days after returning the vehicle. I am a chairman at Golden Nugget and travel there every other month, I always rent from Budget at the Golden Nugget, and I will never again rent from them for this SCAM!! Please take photos of your vehicle when renting from Budget, prior to taking the vehicle so you don’t get scammed!

Also, I called the manager of Budget Golden Nugget, Jai Bryant, for two weeks and left several voicemails and he has never returned my calls. I escalated the disputed charge through the corporate office and the representative said they have a new system of checking rentals for any stains, dirt, debris, damage after every rental so that customers get a nice and clean vehicle. So because of that new system, the stains have to be from me. That’s total BS because I just rented another vehicle from them and took pics upon retrieving it, just to show how dirty Budget vehicles are. Look at the last 4 photos, I documented the stains and scratches this time which is proof that they don’t check the vehicle after every renter. They wait until it gets really bad to clean it then charge the last renter the cleaning fee. Renters beware!!!

Also, they did not provide me with date stamped photos of the damage or photos of the vehicle after it was cleaned. So there’s no proof that they even cleaned it and the photos of the stains could have been taken at anytime in any vehicle (first 3 photos were what they sent me). Budget is cheap and their customer service is cheap too! It is so sad that they operate this way and charge innocent people for damages they did not do!!

UPDATE: After posting this review and sending several emails to Budget, Ana called me and said it was a mistake, that the $150 cleaning fee was intended for the customer who rented BEFORE me. Ana was very nice but had I not disputed this charge, I would’ve paid for something...

My husband and I just got back home from our trip to Las Vegas this week! We work for the airlines so we didn't want to reserve a car at the airport because we simply don't know when we'll be arriving or on what flight routing. So we decided to pick it up a day into our vacation knowing that we'd be there by then. We stayed at the Plaza so this was so convenient to pick it up at the Golden Nugget just across the street! So we had a few hiccups ... the system was down the day we picked up the car, so everything had to be processed by hand. It took almost 2 hours to get the car between waiting in line, filling paperwork, and receiving the keys. Luckily someone showed up to get the ball rolling on the paperwork. He was very friendly and apologetic. It seems as though it was a problem all week long and I don't know if this is common. Several folks said they waited hours the day before as well. Due to the wait, we were upgraded to a full-size Ford Fusion at no charge. The car was well maintained and drove very well ... gas mileage wasn't great though. I enjoyed the ride and our phones provided GPS to get us around. We went to Lake Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon, the strip, and to a few museums too. Then we had a big problem. As I stated, we work for the airline so we don't know when we will be flying. We had planned to go home Saturday afternoon, so we would drop off the car and take the shuttle back to the airport. Then all the afternoon flights filled up and we needed to take the 7:45am flight out ... but the office at the Golden Nugget doesn't open till 7:30am. (Closes at 6pm). So I called the day before and the lady was super nice. She said that the fee was $25 to drop the car off at the airport ... I was more than willing to pay, but she realized I was one of the many inconvenienced by the long waits that week and she waived the fee! When I dropped it off at the airport, drop off was painless! He walked around the car, took the keys, and gave me a receipt ($4 cheaper than I reserved it online!) Hey, you can't always fix the long waits when things go wrong, but they took a bad experience and made it into a great one! It was so worth the wait for the nice car, and flexibility...

Ladies and gentlemen beware of this place I Made a reservation for one week and paid in advance when I arrive Chuck helped us and for some ridiculous reason he told us he cannot rent us a vehicle unless we have a airline ticket round-trip I never heard of this. The place is not in Las Vegas airport it is in Las Vegas golden nugget downtown las vegas so I called corporate and they told me the same thing that Chuck should never ask for a airline ticket since they are corporate and they are in downtown not the airport so I gave the phone to chuck so he can understand but again Chuck refused to rent the vehicle to us and told corporate that he will not rent the car to us because we dint have an airline ticket and again corporate told him he was wrong at this point I feel discriminated against humiliated because of Chuck Attitude against us even after talking to corporate he still refused like he owns the company!!!! Wow this guy should be fired ! the problem I have chuck never said he was sorry or offer us Another alternative after taking a taxi and spending $50 to get there time wasted rushing there lI’m sure it’s not budget public relations to treat customers this way I will be taking to my Lawyer and I hope that budget would look into this mater I did file a complaint with corporate and corporate was very nice to me and took matters to take action against Chuck and offer me the same rate if I rent anywhere else check is a disgrace to the human race please ladies and gentlemen avoid this place !!!! Below is chuck picture of his...