BUDGET RENT A CAR

Full size car was reserved in advance. When we arrived at the airport pickup point, no full size car was available without at least a one hour wait. We were offered and accepted a mid-size car at a 15% discount from the full size price but still waited almost a half hour before one was cleaned up, serviced, and available. When I compared the rental agreement with my reservation that I had stored on my laptop, the only mention of the 15% discount was hand written on the rental agreement. I went back to the counter and questioned this and got very ambiguous answers about what the cost actually was. Only one rental agent seemed to know what was actually going on and she assured me that the discount would be reflected on the bill when the car was returned so I continued the process. I attempted to obtain a map of the area from Budget, but all they had was a very poor photocopy that was virtually unreadable; I eventually purchased road maps at a gas station. I pre-purchased a full tank of gas at approximately the street price in order to avoid having to fill the car at the last minute. When I filled the car the first time and calculated the mileage, it was approximately 25 mpg. I filled the car three more times and consistently got more than 35 mpg. This indicates that the car did not have a full tank when I received it, but it was full enough that the gas guage read full. When I returned the car at the end of the week, I told the attendant about this but he made no response.and there was no real way to demonstrate that the car was not filled when I picked it up. By this time, I was very suspicious about Budget's business practices, so I checked my bill carefully. The 15% discount was not on the bill and luckily, I had the rental agreement with me. The attendant looked at it and admitted that the discount had never been entered in their computer system, it had only been written on my copy of the agreement. He called the rental counter and got a corrected bill. In total, I estimate that Budget wasted a minimum of 2 hours of my time, shorted me by $10 in gas, and would have overcharged me by about $40 on the rental fee. They did correct the rental fee, but only because I discovered their error. This was a very unpleasant experience.