Budget Rent a Car

ABSOLUTELY under no circumstances should you ever use this dealer!!! They are running a scam, and will try to suck as much money out of you as possible.
I created a Unilocal account for the sole reason of warning other potential customers. I rented a moving truck for my move to Chicago, and chose this place because they had after hours drop off. After dropping off my truck, I checked in the next day to make sure everything was ok. Everything was fine, until I saw a charge for a couple hundred dollars on my credit card. I called to see what it was, and in a very blunt and rude manner the man told me that I had built a wall or something in the back of the truck. I absolutely did nothing of the sort, and tried to explain that to him. Eventually I realized what was happening and that they were trying to make some extra money on me. I told them that I was going to call customer service and that they wouldn’t get away from scamming people. The man then laughed over the phone and responded by saying «goodluck» then abruptly hung up the phone.
I know that you may save money by using Budget or this dealership, but it is not worth it. They will find someway to get more money out of you. It is not worth the hassle or the stress it puts you through. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS DEALER!!!

My story with this place is apparently the exact opposite of what everyone else has experienced. So I guess from my perspective, that’s a good thing!
When I booked my reservation, I did it online through Budget directly, and I assigned my pickup location as a rental facility in Antioch since it was the most convenient. Well, unfortunately the Antioch location wasn’t able to get a truck for me (they called two days before I was supposed to pick up the truck), because college kids were in full swing with their moves, and they didn’t have a truck available. Well, that was just great. I’m traveling in from 700 miles away and I’m not going to have a truck to help a family member move. To fix the situation, the Antioch facility did contact other Budget truck rentals in the area to see who had an available truck– and the Chicago location was one of them. So they switched my reservation over to that office, and I was in business. I called them (the Chicago facility) immediately after and they confirmed my reservation. They also called me the next day, AND the day after to let me know my truck was ready and I could come earlier if I wanted.
When I arrived at the rental location, the actual Budget desk is inside an Antique/​Thrift Shop, which is probably owned by the same person. They quickly got me through my paperwork, gave me a crash course in renting from Budget, and they sent me on my way.
The only extremely negative thing that I experienced was a slow-​leak flat tire after the truck was completely loaded. But Budget took care of the problem immediately, and it wasn’t the fault of the rental office.
I really had no issues with this rental facility, they were extremely courteous to me and I was pleased with my rental.

By far the worst location of any truck rental company I’ve ever been to. The service was the worst I have ever experienced. Except for one person, the employees were rude, disrespectful, and we’re extremely slow. I had to wait over 3 hours for them to figure out how to charge my debit card. During this process, I found out they had charged my card 7 times. The manager of the shop had argued with at least 5 customers because did not have trucks available from existing reservations. She specially told me that she doesn’t care about being unprofessional and that she doesn’t care about what people think. Clearly. She had some issues of her own. I highly recommend staying as far away as possible from this location. I foresee them not being in business much longer. I would give them zero stars but that’s not an option.

AWFUL. Called an hour and a half before my reserved truck was supposed to be picked up to say «We are in a no truck situation. You’ll have to call customer service to try and find you another truck.» (The voicemail didn’t even use Budgets name — I just had to figure it out)
When I called to inquire, they yelled at ME and told me they never guarantee a truck so it was my fault. They then said they would call back in 2 hours for the status of a truck — two hours and they’d be closed for the night. I tried to get ahold of them again and again and all I could get was that they’d call me in the AM OF MY MOVE. They said they’d let me know if they had a truck for the day or not at in the morning probably around 9AM, because that’s when they get around to «stuff like this.» I had to be out do my apartment at 8AM AND THEY NEVER ONCE CALLED.
They never apologized, they never offered compensation — other than «IF we find a bigger truck, we’ll keep the price of the original,» they never called me back once.
Good thing we scrambled to find other movers, because budget SUCKS. NEVER RENT THERE. They’ll screw you over and make moving even worse than it should be. Hopefully you check these Unilocal reviews before you decide to use them — I unfortunately missed that step and paid the price for it.

Seriously DO NOT RENT HERE!!!
They will be more than happy to take a reservation and your money but when it comes time to pick up your rental they will not have what you reserved. Then when you ask for a refund for the difference you must contact Budget.
The vehicle they actually provided was in poor overall condition. The interior was dirty and smelled bad. Just what you want on a long cross country move.
Spend a little more and go with a reliable company.

i recently moved and i chose Budget because it offered 2 days renting with 164 miles included in the renting. price-​wise, it was great and they could get a comfortable 4-​star from me. however, the return procedure had me rethink about how i should rate them. i placed the order online and chose the 5405 N Western Ave location as my designated return location. i picked up the truck just fine, got the contract and the return address printed just like i ordered. only had i found out after circling around the blocks for a couple of times and a phone call to the number listed on the contract that the location did not exist any longer. the guy on the phone directed me to this location for the return and i was confused and upset that i had to drive further to return the truck.
at this location, the front door was locked even though it’s still during business hours. i had to call this location number, and to my surprise, the guy on the phone with me earlier picked up and told me to drive the truck to the back, fill in the form and drop it and the key in the drop box. well, it’s not at all easy to drive to the back with two big trucks parked close to the alley and a long bench on the other side. they made it harder after all the narrow driveway with obstacles when i found out that there was nothing that i could use to fill out the form. luckily, my ride had a pen and i filled out everything i needed to and drop both the form and the key to their dropbox. i had to take the pictures before and after dropping them off in their dropbox. i will upload a picture so you guys have an idea what their dropbox looks like. with all the hard work i had to endure, i took 2 stars off from my original rating.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. The most worthless human being sitting behind the desk, told my truck would be ready by 3 when it was supposed to be ready in the morning, get to the place only to be told «someone lied to you» by the shlub behind the desk. So no truck ready and no attempt to even help me. Dont go to these… I dont even want to call them people.

DO NOT GO HERE. It is worth any price to rent a truck elsewhere.
My husband reserved a truck at the Budget on Western, which does not exist any longer. It rerouted him to this location, which he only found out after a 45-​minute bus ride and multiple phone calls to the corporate line.
Thank god he cabbed it over to Elston because Budget Elston didn’t order enough trucks and lost the key to what was meant to be our truck — the last one on the lot. The guy in line behind us was told he had to wait another 6.5 hours for a truck. Our own was over two hours late, which was awesome when we were trying to get on the road for a out-​of-​state move. They wouldn’t give us a discount for this awful service — they could only offer is free lock and dolly rental (items we had already bought for the move because it cost nearly the same as to rent them through Budget). Do not ever use this place! This was the worst experience we have ever had in over a dozen moving truck rentals combined.

If I could give LESS stars I would. I got charged with an additional fuel fee. When I FILLED UP THE TANK, the tank could not accept any more fuel, yet they said I was three gallons short of filling the tank. Since I dropped it off after the place had closed, I can do nothing to dispute this. This is an absolute racket, and I would make sure to NEVER go to this place to rent anything. Uhaul is more expensive, and its clearly because they have a superior company. Please avoid this hell hole at all costs.

Do yourself a favor and visit the Milwaukee St location. These people are so rude and condescending. No concept of others time or money.

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS DEALER.
To make a long, irritating story short, the truck we rented was an absolutely wreck. In the drawing where they circle pre-​existing damage to the vehicle, they literally had just circled the whole truck. To top it off, it was so filthy that we had to put towels down in the cab so our clothes and personal items wouldn’t get ruined.
But the real kicker is that they didn’t mention there is a $ 1+ per mile fee. We took the truck to Michigan. So instead of spending ~$ 300, we spent ~$ 1000. When I called Customer Service to complain, their solution is that they will tattle on the dealer for us to the district manager (whose name they will not share). Maybe he’ll reprimand the dealer and maybe he’ll contact me to let me know what happened or whether they are willing to offer us something in the interest of customer service. I won’t be sitting by my phone waiting for that call, rest assured.
RENTER BEWARE, YOU WILL NOT HAVE A GOOD RENTAL EXPERIENCE.

This was an unbelievable story in the annals of terrible and offensive customer service. I just don’t know how this place is still in business. I’ll keep it short because there are already a lot of 1 star reviews. Just keep in mind, this actually happened.
A friend of ours had a 1 way move and was scheduled to drop off the truck and keys at the Elston location on a given day, and a given time. They got there at said time and date, but the place was all locked up. They couldn’t actually figure out how to get into the lot– because it was full so they had locked the gate. With no way to get in, they called the guy. This is where it gets good.
He says it’s full, so he can’t take their truck. They need to return the truck to the suburbs– Downer’s Grove I believe. They had other obligations, as though that matters, so they couldn’t waste an hour and a half going to the suburbs– with both the truck and another car.
Unreasonable? Just wait… My wife tells him that they can’t go out to the suburbs and it is crazy that she has all the proper paper work to drop the car off at this location, at this time. It is not the customer’s responsibility to get the truck out to the suburbs. The agreement goes both ways.
So he says, «If you would stop and listen to yourself, you will realize how irrational you are.» She says, «Are you kidding me right now?» He says, «You’re a typical loud mouthed woman» and hung up on her.
She called corporate, and they couldn’t believe it, yada yada, and they were told to park the truck there, and I believe throw the keys over the fence or some such nonsense. It ended up OK regarding charges etc. But some jackass talking to my wife like that? Not OK.
Obviously, don’t use this location, but it speaks volumes that so many others have had terrible experiences here. So much for keeping this short…

DO NOT USE THE COMPANY/​LOCATION!!!
If only I had looked on Unilocal prior to reserving a truck through them for my move from Chicago to Michigan…
It starts out the same as the other stories, I go to the nonexistent address that is posted online and given to you with your reservation at 9am to pick up my truck, at a non-​existent place on Western off Peterson only to call and very rudely be told that is not their address, they do not currently have any trucks and I can pick up a truck across town at their Elston location at 12.
Completely exasperated, I call Uhaul to try and set-​up a last minute rental, I’m told they have one and all my problems are solved! Well until after waiting an excruciatingly long time in line at this one shop and once again am VERY rudely told there is no truck, despite the confirmation I had received.
So I head back to Budget (Moving Chicago) and confirm they will have a truck ready at 12, an hour past my 11am move out deadline, they now tell me the trucks will not be there until 3, apparently the trucks are not housed at this location either and they are waiting for them to be delivered. With no other clear option, I resign to waiting until 3 to pick up my truck.
Just to be safe, after 2 unsuccessful attempts, I call again about 30 minutes later to reconfirm and make sure this is a hard confirmation for a truck at 3, the man who answers obviously annoyed with my third call today rudely assures me there will for sure be a truck waiting for me at 3. Mind you, with this third call it is also the third time they have taken my full name on the reservation and confirmed my truck.
I arrive to pick up my truck at about 2:40. I’m once again rudely told the trucks are not there yet and they’re waiting on an update from their transporter on when the will arrive. Fine, I’m here, trucks are on their way, I try to get everything finalized so I can just leave with my truck when it arrives.
Then I’m told I do not have a reservation. I’m dumbfounded, I have called them 3 times each time giving my name and receiving confirmation, then no one admits to talking to me, then the person who confirmed this 3 times with me denies he ever spoke with me, then he decides he did speak with me but looked up my name after and I didn’t have a reservation.
3 calls, 3 times I gave my name, 3 times I received a confirmation, now 6 hours after my original reservation time, I apparently do not have a reservation with them and they have no trucks. With an undeserving calmness, I very politely, albeit exasperated to the fullest, try to make sense of this and determine my options, 4 people are behind the counter, no one will make eye contact with and some even turn their backs as if I am no longer there, yet retort clipped responses to anything I say giving me no assistance whatsoever and will not even call Budget or see if another location has an available truck.
I left this disaster of a company feeling less than human after the way I had been treated. Despite my Uhaul reservation being made last minute and the day of, the wonderful Uhaul location on Fullerton in Lincoln Park helped me immensely by securing a truck for me. I finally moved out of my apartment and headed on my way to Michigan, only 12 hours after the whole moving truck fiasco began.

I would give these people no stars if I could. My advice is to avoid them at all costs. I dropped off a Budget moving truck there and they nit-​picked everything, trying to charge us with as many extra fees as possible.
The truck was running poorly (it had over 169,000 miles on it and it was smoking from the engine at drop-​off) and had a lot of damage prior to our rental. No apologies from them on the condition of the truck. Instead, these people said we did not have a full tank when we had just filled it four blocks away. Next, they said we didn’t fold our moving blankets. They charged us an extra $ 70 on those items. As if it was not enough, they then had a skinny kid climb around on this total beater truck, looking for any damage that was not marked on the form when we picked up the truck. They claimed we damaged the truck’s roof when we did no such thing.
Based on my experience with the truck and the drop off, we will never rent from Budget again.

Never, ever rent a truck from here. End of story.

What an awful, awful experience.
I made the reservation online for a moving truck weeks in advance of my move. The day before my move, I get a voicemail from Budget– I made a reservation on N. Western Ave., but was told the truck wouldn’t be available at that location and I would have to pick up the truck from this location– which is more than 5 miles from the apartment I was moving out of. After arguing with the gentleman on the phone, I was given 15 free miles for the invconvenience. I figured I’d deal with it because I needed a truck.
I was supposed to pick up the truck this morning at 9:30. At 9:08 a.m., I get a call from the Elston location saying they did not have a truck for me and that I could check back at 2 p.m. I asked if they could find another location that would honor my reservation and was given a number to call.
I scrambled around and found another truck from a different company. When Budget finally called back two hours later I didn’t even give them a chance to say anything.
Very unprofessional. I would not recommend ever dealing with this company.

Having had the great misfortune of having to move twice in as many months, I braced myself for another round of the hell that is dealing with a rental truck company. After renting from UHaul on my last go-​round, I figured I’d face at least one of the following: (1) Ridiculously long lines (2) Rude employees (3) The wrong size truck or some other part of my order being incorrect (4) Having to wait for my truck and/​or (5) No truck at all.
Imagine my surprise when the line moved quickly, the employees were helpful and friendly, my order was fulfilled exactly as I had placed it and there was no wait for the truck. On top of that, when I returned the truck and hadn’t refilled the gas, they waived the service fee because they acknowledged that I hadn’t used that much.
Also, the driver before me had left her wallet in the truck, which I returned at the office. Later that same day, Rose called and left me a really nice voicemail thanking me for returning the wallet. I think her making a point to show her appreciation really goes above and beyond typical customer service. Especially since she isn’t even the person who was helping me that day.
Despite all the terrible reviews, I would definitely go to this location again. I’m just hoping I don’t have to move again for a long, long time.

The one thing you need to know with this place is that YOU WILL WAIT FOR YOUR TRUCK.
I don’t care if you booked it a week ago, a month ago, even if it was booked at the day of your birth with a confirmation number on your birth cirtificate — your truck will not be ready when you get there.
The day I was supposed to pickup the truck, they called and told me it was still in South Dakota. O.K. …
… so I waited till the next day.
At 8:15AM the next morning I got a call stating that my truck was ready to be picked up. I promptly got in a cab, rushed over, and arrived only to find the doors locked and no one to help me. After wandering around for 10 minutes, I found a worker in the back surrounded by other people who were waiting for their trucks. I asked a guy that looked like an uglier version of «The Dude» from Big Labowski and he said «your truck got a flat tire.» «I got a call that said it was ready for pickup» was my reply. To which he told me to go up front and he’d open up the doors for all of us to talk with him.
This guy must have been a Shogun ninja assassin in another life because when we all went up front he just VANISHED. No trace of him to be found. All of us (10 – 12 people) were confused. There was no one there to help us.
Finally a Latino woman named Rose showed up, and you knew she meant business when she arrived. She opened the front door and shut it without saying a word to any of us. 15 minutes later she emerges with shields at full and a list with a pen. We are all to put our name on the list, and remain outside — she’ll call when our truck gets there. One guy demands to be let inside and she gets MAD. His name was given an asterisk, which I think meant he was blacklisted from rentals that day.
3 hour later I get another call «can you get here in 2 minutes, your truck is ready.»
I jumped on my bike (already spent $ 20 cab fare to get there and back) and hauled butt down there. When I get there the door is locked and even more people are waiting outside. Finally I sneak in when someone drops off a form, and am told my truck left 55 minutes ago, and should be here soon unless the driver stopped for McDonald’s. Huh? Who lays more priority on a BigMac than a customer who needs to move NOW.
Eventually the truck arrives and they waived off $ 60 in taxes since it came in 2 gallons low.
My lesson to you if you do rent here is:
1) Plan to get the truck a day earlier than needed. You cannot count on them to have things ready.
2) Don’t get outwardly frustrated. The employees are not the brightest. But they also ignore the sound of an angry voice. It’s a no-​win scenario.
3) If you can and the price is comparable (I went with Budget because they were $ 200 cheaper with a discount code) go somewhere else. This place is run with the grace of a SlipKnot concert in Dayton, Ohio.

Horrible.
I’m going to keep this simple. They quoted me a $ 20 reservation fee and an additional $ 0.79 a mile (I went 35 miles). I also paid the required $ 16 insurance and the $ 10 taxes. I should have only paid $ 77. They charged me $ 217.
I called Budget corporate and the customer service rep told me the that they charged me a $ 60 reservation fee as well as some random $ 100 charge. He took $ 140 off my credit card.
Do not rent a truck from this place. They are criminals. Straight up.

*** Be aware that this review is based on my experience with this location… I will review Budget the Company at the end of the review.
I chose this Budget location for my recent Ikea pickup on living room furniture. The trip was from the location to Schaumburg and back.
I have used UHaul in the past for many moves and furniture pickups with no problems. I chose Budget this time because I do occasionally like to try different businesses to compare.
I picked up the truck on Elston with my gf. The guy at the counter was helpful. He walked out to the truck with us and marked down damages before we took the truck, as well as explained all of their «policies». This is where the day started to go downhill. We were informed that besides having to refill the gas on the truck to where we received it, we would also have to provide a receipt proving that we refilled the truck. I had never previously had to provide a gas receipt when renting a truck, and it still does not make much sense to me since the gas gauge shows whether you refilled it or not.
We shrugged this oddness off and agreed to drop off a receipt with our keys. The truck worked great and we made the 45 mile round trip with no problems. I had received the truck on the F, so after returning to the city, I stopped at a gas station 1 mile from the Budget location. The began to fill the gas tank and the gas pump shut off after only 3 gallons. Thinking this seemed low, I pushed in another gallon, during whcih the pump shut off three times. When I turned the truck back on, the gas gauge was above the F. I then returned the truck, dropped off the keys and receipt and went on my way.
This is where this location earned thier 1 star. A few days later I noticed that my credit card had been charged twice what my estimate was for the trip I made. I called up the Budget location and was informed that they had never received a gas receipt from me, so I was being charged a $ 50 refueling charge. I kindly informed the person on the phone that I had in fact dropped off the receipt. She said she would check their receipts and get right back to me. This was on a Friday. I never heard back from them.
I called back on Tuesday. The person on the phone informed that they had found my receipt. Happy, I asked when they would take the fuel surcharge off my credit card. They then informed that they they would not be taking it off because in their words, «I did not put enough gas in the truck». After trying for 15 minutes to explain that when a gas tank is full, you can not add more gas, they informed me off this little policy they never mentioned when I picked up the truck.
«Our trucks get 7 miles to the gallon… period. Since you drove 49 miles, you needed to provide a gas receipt with 7 gallons of gas on it, your receipt only had 3.5 gallons, so we will still be charging you the refueling cost.»
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? They refused to listen to logic about how 7 gallons of gas can not fit into a tank that only has 3.5 gallons of space. Apparently, basic math skills was not one of the requirements to work here. The location refused to refund me my money, even after proving to them that I had filled the truck past the gas mark I had received it.
THE AFTERMATH — I was able to receive part of the incorrect gas charge back from Budget Corporate. They gave me 15% off my truck rental for my troubles, which accounted for about half off what I lost. The Corporate company was very helpful and assisted me in getting some restitution for my troubles with the Chicago location. I would give Budget Corporate 4 stars if I could split up the review. The gentlemen at Corporate also informed me that this is the only Budget he has ever heard of asking for a gas receipt and that it was «Stupid and Pointless»
CLOSING — I would NEVER recommend this Budget location to anyone renting a truck. Not only did they refuse to refund me a mistake that they made, they also never returned phone calls, and basically told me that they do not have to explain all of their policies. I would give them zero stars if possible. Avoid this place at all costs.