Budget Truck Rental Not Refunded for Emergency Service and Stranded for Nine Hours on Interstate Parsippany, New Jersey

Rented 24' Truck - One Way from West Virginia to South Carolina from Weds, May 23, 2012 to Sat, May 26, 2012 I required roadside assistance in the afternoon of Friday, May 25th on southbound I-77 north of Statesville, NC.

I believed at that time and presently that the truck clearly had a mechanical problem causing it to quit running. I was certain it was not out of gas for two reasons. First, I had initially traveled over 250 miles before reaching a half tank and had traveled well under 100 miles since that point. Secondly, the truck began to experience problems with lack of power at the quarter tank mark and began to gradually lose speed over a quarter of a mile stretch up hill. At the point the truck can to a stop it stalled and would not restart.

We then immediately called Budget Truck Emergency Roadside assistance and they assured us we would be back up and running in under two hours. However, we (a friend of mine and I along with my pet cat) waited along the interstate for over three hours before roadside service arrived. It took the service person over six hours before the truck was finally started and this was after using two cans of ether starting fluid. During the duration of the service call we received no calls from Budget Rental Truck to insure we were satisfied with the service or to provide accommodation for the length of the service call or the time of day.

With three and a half hours travel time left we chose to not make an issue with the time or duration of the service call or to request overnight accommodations be provided. We finally reached our destination at about 4 am on Saturday, May 26th. That morning we received multiple phone calls from the local budget office requesting our truck be returned by noon for a scheduled rental. We obliged and emptied the truck and returned it full and swept out rather than request an extension of contract due to the 9 hour breakdown.

Following this trip, we contacted Budget Rental Truck and followed their instructions for getting reimbursement for the $354.10 payment we made for the Roadside Service but failed to get a response until June 6th. At that time they stated that the charge was valid and no refund would be made.