Budget Car Rental - Avis Budget Group - at New York Laguardia Airport Location - Worst Customer Service & Retaliated Because I Questioned Them Bad Customer service retaliation car rental Laguardia Airport budget avis group darius caston will never recommend Laguardia Airport New York

If I could give negative stars I would.  

This company is probably one of the worst I have ever dealt with.  I had a very important trip with my young son for him to play in Cooperstown, NY.  I had reservations for over 1 month and took a private driver from my hotel to this location near LaGuardia Airport in NY, after staying in NYC for 4 days.  My plan was for me to rent a car & drive to Cooperstown.  I arrived on Friday, July 22, 2016 prior to my reserved time of 7am.  The lady at the counter (don't know name, but have attached picture) was emotionless & had no interest in helping me out.  She had an immediate attitude from the beginning & asked me for my drivers license & credit card.  I gave her my license & VISA debit card.  She said that they don't take debit cards & if so would have to pull a full credit report.  I asked her why and told her I've rented numerous times & have never had a problem + I was never told when I made the reservation that my VISA debit card would not suffice.  

I am renting the car...NOT BUYING IT!  I told her if it was a problem, I could pay the full rental amount up front.  She didn't like my line of questioning & deciding to make me pay for it.  She looked at her screen & said the credit report came back & was denied!!!  Keep in mind that I never gave her my SSN.  I thought she was kidding & she said no.  I asked her how she was able to get a credit report without my SSN#?  I also explained my situation & that my son & I needed to be in Cooperstown by the next morning & I had a child with me.  She didn't care, so I asked for her manager.  He wasn't any better.  His name was Darius Caston - Budget Airport Manager.  He didn't care & said it was a policy & I asked him if there was a way to bypass that or make an exception?  He said no.  I pleaded with him over & over again & explained that my son was outside & we had no other form of transportation!  WE WERE STRANDED IN QUEENS, NY!!  I asked for a business card & he didn't have one, so he wrote on someone else's card & handed it to me.  I told him I will let everyone on social media know about my experience.  We were not offered a shuttle ride to airport or anywhere else.  That was it! -----  In trip planning, I had a car rental backup - which was Avis.  However, when I received the manager's business card (see picture attached) I noticed that it said "avis budget group!"  

So I called Avis & after being thrown around from rep to rep one c/s rep said that it was a new policy to not accept debit cards as deposit.  I will never use Budget and/or Avis & will make sure I let everyone I know about my horrible experience.  I would never wish this experience upon my worst enemy.  I will email Budget Corporate & know the non-response or canned response I will get.  I will not give up and will get an apology letter written to my son before this is over.  After 2 hours of making phone calls I found Enterprise Car Rental in NY who rented to me without any problems and with the same Visa debit card that Budget turned down.  It was also $200 cheaper - so it was a blessing in disguise!  DON'T EVER USE BUDGET OR AVIS CAR RENTAL.  This company has no respect or appreciation for it's customers & it's policies and not customer friendly.