Budget Truck Rental Review: You Get What You Pay For

When my husband and I began our preparation for relocating from Virginia to Colorado we decided to use Budget Truck Rental services to transport all of our possessions in one massive, 24-foot truck. We had a discount for their rates thanks to the Entertainment Book, and since we had used their service in previous moves without major complications we assumed that our 1800+ trip would go fairly smoothly.

Oh, how wrong we were.

Now, I can allow for "Murphy's Law" as much as the next person and I will openly admit that several of our delays were not caused directly by Budget and their equipment or sub-par customer service. However, our entire schedule was extended by over five days; we lost one prepaid motel room and were forced to pay numerous out-of-pocket expenses due to negligence on the part of Budget Truck Rentals.

In what I have dubbed "The Colorado Trail," we experienced the following problems directly at-fault on the part of Budget: One blown trailer tire which took over two hours to be addressed, a faulty starter in our actual Truck which-thankfully after our arrival in Denver-resulted in a replacement Truck after two day's wait, an incorrectly attached and subsequently damaged trailer when the Budget representative failed to provide proper instructions and water damage to contents in the interior of the truck. I also had the added bonus of paying for a $40 taxi ride to pick-up the shiny new Budget Truck after they opted to tow the first one instead of fixing it on-site.

And this all happened in the course of a 10-day period.

My primary complaint about the entire ordeal is the sub-par customer service. I literally spent hours on the phone with Budget trying to make arrangements for the above-listed problems; I expected them to be addressed in a timely manner and was sorely mistaken. At publication time we are still pending a response to our faxed-in receipts showing unnecessary out-of-pocket expenses and a claim form against the water-damaged boxes; considering the track record Budget currently has with us I do not anticipate suitable compensation.

The delays cost me an interview opportunity with actor Jimmy Smits and the free assistance in unpacking we had secured during our original arrival weekend-which we then had to replace during the week with work-for-pay movers. If it wasn't for the considerable assistance on the part of our family and friends we would have truly been "up the creek without a paddle," and as it was we nearly missed the employment interview my husband had scheduled a week in advance.

While I am sure everyone's experiences with Budget Truck Rentals and any other national chain will differ considerably from case to case, the lack of real "customer service" and a willingness on the part of Budget to compensate me for my additional expenses, lost time and overwhelming amount of inconvenience leads to me to issue a negative review and a "buyer beware." I guess the saying is true: you get what you pay for.

At the end of the day, even if Budget Truck Rentals issues us a refund of our expenses--if not the whole $1800 price tag for the move--I will never be using them again and I would never recommend them to anyone.