Budget Rental Car / Reservation

Budget Rental Car / Reservation

Budget Pick up Location July 21, 2005

Pick up/dropoff location

3600 Presidentai Blvd

Austin, Bergstrom Int.Airport

Austin, Tx 78719

512-530-3350

On July 11th, 2005 I booked an airline reservation with Southwest.com to go see my son who is in the army in killeen, texas. I found a great deal, being that it was inexpensive i took advantage to go see my son before he is deployed. I made my reservations and included a car because i was going to be an hour and 20 min from killeen, so since i had never been to texas and my son was working, i knew he wouldnt be able to travel to pick me up. I made my reservations and the airline picked budget. i received a confirmation # 18807694US3 and i posted my form of pmt. i gave them my visa check card #. They accepted the number and made my reservation. I got my confirmation # and approximate total cost for the 4 days i was planning on renting this car.

i was excited to go to texas on the 21 of july. Everything went fine until i got to the airport.

Everything is strange because this is the first time i ever went there. I proceeded to get my

baggage and then looked for the rental place. On my copy of the itinerary it said:

IMPORTANT

*this is your confirmation and itinerary, please print this page for your records\

*Provide this confirmation number and valid drivers liscense at the rental counter to receive

your rental car.

Well, i went to the budget rental counter and told the lady there that i had a reservation,

she says, i need the confrimation #, drivers liscence and a major credit card.

i handed her the the infromation and my bank check card with the visa logo on it. She tells me

im sorry ma'am but we can not accept check cards, We need a major credit card. I explained to her that i didnt have a major credit card, that when i made the reservations over the internet, i used my visa check card and they had accepted it. She proceeded to tell me that their location didnt accept debit cards. I asked her , then why didnt your company stop the reservation from being completed. When the visa cards are swiped, companies know that its not a major credit card, but they work just like one. besides the monies are automatically deducted from the account. She told me... Im very sorry ma'am but i cant help you. I said what am i supposed to do then? i dont have relatives here and its my first time traveling to texas.

She said, you can try Advantage, they accept debit cards. She calls them and tells advantage that she is sending a customer over.

I went over to advantage and i ask him, are you going to honor the reservation i have with budget, he says no. He then tells me that advantage rates are 40.00 a day, and that i would need a 300. deposit. Well my heart just fell to the floor, here i was on a tight budget to begin with, all i had with me was 300. to cover me for the weekend and i was stranded with out transportation in a strange place. I told him im sorry, i cant do this. and i walked off

I was in tears, what do i do know? i thought, my son wasnt close by, i couldnt get a car, and my son didnt have a car either to be able to pick me up. i felt like the airport was closing in on me. i was so upset, i went in to the restroom and tried to calm down. I suffer from anxiety and i thougth i was going to choke, i couldnt breath, but i forced my self to calm down and decided to call my son. I explained to him what was happening and he said hold on mom, i will call you back ok ,,

I went back to the budget counter and explained the situation to the counter clerk and she said im sorry maam i cant help you, i told her what if i pay cash, she said we dont take cash.

I feel i was discriminated against. It wasnt fair i thought, but i couldnt do anything. i called the budget customer center and they told me that some locations accepted debit cards but this particular one, didnt. This is not fair, i think that if you accept one thing at one place it should be the same for all.

I arrived at the airport at 5:30 pm, and my son was able to come pick me up , thanks to his sargeant who loaned him a vehicle, at 10:30 pm.

I originally had a reservation to return on monday july 25th, but due to the fact that i didnt have a vehicle to move around and had to wait on my son to borrow one, i had to stay in the hotel. I had to change my reservation to leave on sat the 23rd because of this. i also had to pay 127.oo more to upgrade my flight. And all because some services on the internet can be misleading. Companies should realize that us consumers rely on them for their services, and its not right to change the rules as you see fit.

I dont know if theres anything that can be done about this, but i feel i should have not had to cut my trip short, pay extra on a flight, or been treated the way budget did to me.

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