I have recently had a major problem with Budget Car Hire on a recent trip to France.
Having previously used other car hire companies in France before we found Budget to be cheaper so we booked with them online and prepaid in full using a credit card. We phoned their central reservations to book a child seat and this appeared to have been done. However when we arrived in Toulouseairport on June 9th there was no child seat available so we had to book a hire car there and then with Hertz. We are still trying to get our refund from Budget. 3 weeks later.
I have copied and pasted copies of our e-mail correspondence with Budget customer services to illustrate how frustrating and incompetent Budget have been. I don’t have copies of e-mails 1 and 2 as I didn’t feel the need to save copies at that time but they explained and basics of what happened at the airport. Neither e-mail was replied to.
E-mail number 3 (14/06/07)
“This is the third e-mail I have sent you regarding: • Budgets failure to provide us with a child seat (at Toulouse airport) despite it being pre-booked. • Budgets
failure to offer us any alternative and making us rent our car from Hertz (costing a lot more). • Budgets failure to refund our credit card payment. • Budgets failure to reply to any of my e-mails.
This is my booking ref: 0220-2529-GB-0 (already sent previously) Could someone please respond to this e-mail. Does anyone look at these e-mails? If so are my e-mails being ignored? If they aren't being ignored is the matter being dealt with? I would really like a response of some sort. I have given you my telephone number in France previously and here it is again - 0033************.
Please could someone show me just a little customer service by phoning me regarding the above issues”
After this I got through to their customer services phone number (phoning from France) where the Budget representative (Leslie) told me she couldn’t find the previous 2 e-mails and advised me of the complaints procedure and gave me a case number.
E-mail number 4 (15/06/07)
“I thought I should explain fully what happened at Toulouse airport as the explanation in the first 2 e-mails went missing & you only got some brief details over the telephone.
We arrived on Saturday 9th June and went to the Budget desk. We had already prebooked and prepaid the hire car online, and a telephone call was nmade to central reservaitions to book the child seat. We went through the relevant paperwork and as the Budget staff was directing to us to the car park we enquired about the child seat. She told us they didnt have one and offered us a booster seat that is totally inappropriate and dangerous for a baby girl of 17 months. We explained that we had booked the child seat by telephone but were told that central reservations dont know what stock of child seats are kept at Toulouse. On the rental agreement given to us by Budget at Toulouse airport it clearly shows an "X" beside "baby seat". This was given to us before we made any enquiry about the seat so it is clear that the baby seat had been booked. We weren't offered any alternative and in effect were stranded. So we asked for a refund and were told this could not happen until Monday. It is now Friday and this still has not happened.
We then had to go to the Hertz desk where we were able to hire a car and baby seat but for a much greater price 711 euros to be exact. This is the first time we have ever used Budget and so far it has in effect failed to provide us with a hire car and baby seat despite being prebooked and prepaid, cost us money, and caused us stress when we should be enjoying our holiday.
The telephone number I gave you was my homemobile number but we wont be there for another week. Our telephone number in France is 0033*********. If this matter is resolved within a week please could you contact me at this number. Also I would be grateful if you could respond to this e-mail to confirm you have received it as 2 other e-mails were apparently not received. I know that Paris has up to 10 days to respond but if this matter isnt resolved by the time we get home I will be seeking legal advice and other channels of redress. 10 days is unecessarily slow when my case is so clear.”
E-mail number 5 (22/06/07)
“This is the 5th e-mail I have sent you, the previous 4 have not been replied to. In the last e-mail I sent you I specifically asked you to reply to confirm you had received it, I did not receive a reply yet again. The last e-mail I sent you is copied below. I still have not received any refund from budget despite the failed car hire transactioned happening almost 2 weeks ago. You said that the Budget office in Paris had up to 10 days to respond to your query, 7 days have now passed with no contact from you and tomorrow we return home. I would be very grateful if someone could show some customer service and reply to this e-mail, or phone me in France today regarding my case. I will be available on my mobile number from tomorrow. If by Monday I have not received a suitable resolution, I will be forced to seek other methods of redress including legal advice.”
Reply e-mail from Budget “Dear Sir, Thank you for your correspondence. As previously stated we have a ten working/banking day Service Level Agreement with our location swhich means they should respond to us within this time. We shall therefore respond to you in due course.”
E-mail number 6 (28/06/07) “Hi Lesley. 10 working days will end tomorrow and I still haven't heard anything from you. I would appreciate it if you could look into this again as it appears this isn't going anywhere at the minute.” Reply e-mail from Budget Dear Mr Ogilby, Thank you for your recent correspondence and for bringing this matter to our attention. We have now received a response from our colleagues in France who have advised us that a Child seat was offered to you for children weighing 9kg to 36kg.They have advised us that you refused this seat and rented from Hertz and they are therefore not in a position to offer any compensation at this time. We hope this resolves this issue for you.”
E-mail number 7 (28/06/07) Dear Leslie, Im afraid this does not resolve this issue at all. Perhaps you are confused as to what it is I am seeking. I would like to clarify matters once again. • First of all I am not seeking compensation although I should be offered some. • I am seeking a refund for the hire car which we did not use in any shape or form. We have not received a refund for the car hire which was paid for in full by credit card in advance over the internet. When we were faced with no child seat we had to go elsewhere. We cannot be charged for something we did not use. Furthermore the child seat offered to us was a backless "booster" seat which is only suitable for children over 4 years old. Our daughter is 18 months old. Your colleagues in France are either mistaken or are deliberately misleading you. Why would we turn down a perfectly appropriate child seat and go and book another car with Hertz which cost us £150 more and delayed us further? This does not make any sense. To recap it is a refund I am seeking. Unfortunately I will have to seek legal advice about this as I dont seem to be getting anywhere. Please could you review this matter urgently. And could you confirm you have received this e-mail.”
This is the stage where we are at present. I am absolutely disgusted at Budget and I am angry that I am £275 out of pocket because of Budget’s incompetence. And they appear to be incompetent from the booking staff to the desk staff to the customer service staff.
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The lack of reply is the most frustrating aspect of any dispute like this. They should at least show you the courtesy of acknowledging each email. I hope you are going to update this in due course so that we all know how it is eventually resolved.
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