Budget Rent-A-Car Avis/Budget Rental Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC Billed me for Static Damage to glass in car I rented 3.5 months ago Parsippany NJ

  This evening, I got off work and received a letter in my mailbox from Budget Rental dated 01/20/2021.  The letter was in regards to my car rental on 10/07/2020, returned on 10/12/2020.  The letter advised me that the car I had rented incurred, "GLASS FORM-Loc:PHOENIX Order:W/S CAL: Static Damage." I have no idea what that verbiage means.  An internet search for windshield "Static Damage," did direct me to a Ripoff Report #1503097.        

This report details a similar letter that another Budget rental car customer received.  That customer, like me also disputes having caused damage to their car. To be specific, I am disputing that I caused any damage whatsoever to their car.  When I returned the car, there was no glass damage.  Any damage caused occurred after my rental was returned, not during my rental. The idea that Budget would wait 3.5 months to contact a customer about damage to a car they believed I caused is utterly preposterous.  If they noticed damage to a car caused by a customer, the customer notification should be made immediately on return of the car or at least within a reasonable amount of time. 

3.5 months after the rental is neither reasonable or practical.  Rather, it's a slap in the face and appears to me to be a money grab on their part.     Maybe Budget sends this type of letter out to a certain type of customer and that type of customer doesn't dispute the charges?  Maybe Budget does it enough times and there's just the right number of suckers who statistically pay Budget because they haven't enough common sense to dispute bogus stuff like this?  I really don't know what their end game is or why they would wait so long to notify someone.  The "WHY," is almost inconsequential.   Money seems the obvious answer.     I can't accurately find any definition whatsoever for "Static damage."  More importantly, I didn't cause any damage to the windshield of that rental or any other glass component of the car.      

Tonight, I called the phone number provided (1-800-984-9123).  I spoke with "Mario," at 5:08 PM PST and while he was digging into things, he disconnected the line.  I called back and spoke with "Tony."  I spoke with Tony around 5:25 PM PST.  The one thing both Tony and Mario agreed on is that they were unable to find any "Repair Order," photos, or any other supporting documents outlining the damage to the car I rented back in October.    To be fair, both "Tony," and "Mario," were professional in their communication and seemed sincere in the efforts to assist me.  I was equally professional with them.  For his part, "Tony," disputed the $496.72 charge on my behalf. 

He acknowledged his inability to find any documentation of substance regarding this claim taht Budget made.  "Tony," told me that Budget should be able to process my request.       The Budget letter states, "Please be advised that the expense listed above will be applied to the credit or debit card that you presented at the time of rental approximately one week after the mailing date of this letter."  My receipt of the letter was exactly 8 days after the writing of the letter on Budget's behalf.  If these repair costs are charged to my credit card, I will be disputing them with my credit card company.       How they've handled this entire correspondence complete with the one week deadline after they mailed the letter actually disgusts me.  I can't imagine doing future business with Budget if I have a choice to do it anywhere with anyone else.