Budget Car Rental

"Worse customer service ever. I wish I would have read the horrible reviews before I booked with Budget. I reserved a car online and the agent asked me if I wanted to provide my drivers license and credit card over the phone to speed up the check in process and that way when I got to the budget airport location everything was done. I gave them my license and paid upfront. I arrived at the airport budget rent a car and waited 30 minutes for the representative to help the one person in front of me. Finally my turn came up and I gave the budget representative my reservation number. He wanted my driver license and credit card. I gave him my license and credit card and advised him I already gave it to the person online and already paid and all I needed was the keys to the car. The representative told me I could not rent the car because it was a Visa debt card. I told him money has already been drafted out of my account and who don’t take a Visa??? He replied I don’t accept them. Long story he refused to accept my card because it was a debt card and not a credit card. I asked if I could pay cash or check and he said no. I asked why was this a problem to begin with and the money has already been provided and drafted out of my account with no problem. How do you accept a payment online and then decline it after it’s been accepted??? He told me the other Budget branches accepts a Visa debt card but he doesn’t. At this time it was 4:57 and the other Budget locations close at 5:00. I asked for the other locations phone number and the representative told me I could Google it myself and refused to help. I called the other locations and they did not answer their phone. Long story short I missed my kids birthday and got stuck in Jackson overnight due to budget not accepting a Visa debt card that they accepted online and drafted the entire amount out of my account with no problem with plenty of money on that bank account to rent any car. I can’t make something this crazy up. Not a single apology or care in the world to provide any service or help or suggestions."

"I absolutely hate leaving bad reviews. If a company doesn’t have good service or any number of smaller issues, I will just not submit a review. However, after my experience with Budget at the Jackson (JAN) airport, I had to leave this. It is important to know that Budget will run out of cars and simply close the counter - and not leave a note or anything to show they are closed. I reserved a mid-size car for Sunday, 3/10/24 at 11:00pm. Budget’s hours are 7:00am-11:30pm. They accepted the reservation, and I planned my accommodations accordingly. When I arrived, exactly when and where I said I would in the reservation, I saw that the lights were off and no one was working the terminal counter. There were 5+ people behind me, and they were in the same position as me. There was no local phone number listed, so I had to call the national customer support line to even reach anyone. When I finally did, the only information he could give me was that the location showed “closed” on his screen. I booked through Expedia, opened a chat with them, and they were no help either. Also, I booked a hotel based on me getting a car at the airport. So, I had to spend roughly $200 (round trip) to get to my hotel that night and back to the airport at 7am. The employee at the counter then proceeded to give me a pickup truck instead of the mid-sized car I reserved. I have no major issues with driving a truck, but I had a long way to drive. I ended up having to fill up the tank twice, rather than once like I would’ve done with a car. I asked budget to compensate me for the (roughly - with receipts) $200 I spent on Uber rides or give me a credit to account for the amount they cost me. If they had done either, even though it was extremely inconsiderate, unprofessional, and cause a few other problems that wouldn’t have come up otherwise, I wouldn’t have left a review. However, they fell short of my expectations and any consideration given to me as a customer. If I could give them zero stars, I would. Please consider that Budget at JAN might ruin your trip, like they did mine. The cars are reasonably priced at all of the rental companies at JAN. I would recommend Hertz or Enterprise. They still make mistakes, but when they do, they admit them and rectify them."

"I am giving them a 1 as 0 is not available. I picked up a car, drove it out of the airport, then noticed the engine light was on. I returned it to the counter, the staff was not at all apologetic, noted they do not have a certified mechanic and gave us a second car. We unload the 1st car to the 2nd car, and as we get in the car it REEKS of marijuana. The person cleaning this car had to know it was not suitable for rental. We return to the counter yet again, and get a 3rd car. Again the staff were very non-chalant about our 3rd visit to the counter, no apologies nor concessions granted for the time we had lost dealing with the non-maintained vehicles they were giving its customers. Additionally another customer return her car indicating she drove it out of the lot and the entire front of the car was shaking. I have been a Budget customers for years and this is the worst rental experience I have ever had. I do not think I can continue to rent from Budget."

"The Budget Car Rental counter at the Jackson airport is not staffed with enough people to handle the flux of customers when a flight comes in. One service representative took more than one hour to process seven people who had reserved cars with Budget prior to flying into Jackson. The computer system seems to be very slow, as well. The service representative never apologized or explained why it took so long to issue the paperwork and keys for the reserved cars. On return, the Budget representative in the garage did not have a check-in device, nor did he look at mileage, fuel tank level, etc. When I received the final receipt, it was more than $20 over the amount I had agreed to on the reservation. If you are a Budget Fast Break customer, you will probably be okay, because you can skip this counter fiasco. If you rented from Budget because they had the best price on a comparison app or because Southwest Airlines directed you to Budget as part of your trip plan, don't do it. Rent from Enterprise. Their line moved quickly and efficiently to get customers to their cars."

"I’ve had good experiences at budget with the exception of this location. I received a 2023 Chevy Malibu that did not appear to have been maintained at all. The car had a light cigarette stench in it, had an oil life at 14%, and tires were not well maintained. The right front tire blew out while I was driving in the middle of nowhere at night. Thankfully, some good samaritans helped me replace the tire with a spare part. I also had an awful experience with Budget’s Emergency roadside assistance and customer service, which is another story… basically I was instructed to get the tire replaced and I would get reimbursed. Now customer service is stating they cannot reimburse and I am currently working on getting this sorted out… but that is irrelevant for this specific location. I’m just frustrated with this experience. This overall experience has made me consider spending more money on different rental companies in hopes of getting better service. Please be careful in the road if you rent from this place!!"