Budget Truck Rental Made reservation online, added fees hidden and charged, overcharged on deposit and charged "cost recovery fees" and lied to about there being a "state law" to collect them. No one seems to know why we Cincinnati, Ohio

Went online to rent a Budget moving truck. Read the disclosures, filled out the forms and placed the "reservation" on my card. As we are renting it for 2 weeks but moving only 8 miles away (work schedules limit time), our quoted price was reasonable enough. Til I paid for the truck online! Suddenly, there were "cost recovery fees" of $3.50 per day (no one at Budget seems to be able to explain why this is, other than it's "state law." And funny, because Uhaul doesn't charge these fees!) and the deposit, after checkout on the confirmation page, said they would hold $720.03.

While $720.03 seemed exorbitant for a deposit, they had already taken it without telling me the deposit price beforehand. (Budget employee Steve W. at this location informed me that the deposit is only $150.) When I checked on what was being held for deposit, it was $770! Ok...so they tell me $720.03 on my confirmation page but take hold $770 instead??

We have gone to the rental place, have talked to the manager numerous times, have emailed, have called the 1-800-GO-BUDGET, no one can or will give us any reason why we have been overcharged. We were told that it was only an electronic hold, anyway, and that they have no choice in the "cost recovery fee" as that is mandated by the State of Ohio. Checked and it is NOT. Budget Corporate says to call the local dealer we rented it from (Steve W, who is looking more and more like a con artist) and Steve says he can't help us because he only did his job, that Budget put the amount in to charge us.

So to make a long story short, they have our card number, they held out an extra $50 that they were not even entitled to, they grossly inflated the deposit required without disclosure before I paid with my card, and they threw in some bogus fees and lied about them. When my husband cornered Corporate about the "cost recovery fees" he was told they were $3/day, and not their problem because Ohio makes them charge the fees. On our reservation, we are being charged $3.50/day for these fees...so who is lying??? 

Also, read the fine print (I did, but still got stung and am worried about how badly they will gouge us when we take the truck back and how much they will rack up on our card...) because unlike Uhaul, Budget DOESN'T RESERVE your truck you just paid for. They say it outright. If they CAN, they will TRY to accomodate, but if not....? I guess you're stuck. I wish I'd have paid the extra $10 per day and gone with Uhaul. I don't mind paying when it's upfront and fair. Budget is a rip-off.