Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #103367

Complaint Review: Budget - Ryder - Mountain View Nationwide

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: 92111 California
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Budget - Ryder 2452 OLD MIDDLEFIELD Nationwide U.S.A.

Budget/ Ryder Truck Rentals Endangering lives everyday! ripoff Mountain View Nationwide

*Author of original report: Response to Larry

*Consumer Suggestion: Beware of Yellow Budget Trucks

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

My poor Parents were packing up and moving after 27 years at their house, they were scared and nervous. Since my husband is a mover he offered to pack them up and move them.

We went to Budget on the day of the move, saw two brand new shiny 24 foot trucks out front.My husband and friend who was helping were out front admiring the nice new trucks. The guy at the counter could see them looking at the new trucks. It took a while to get the paper work done because even though my father had reserved blankets, they didn't have any (well they did but they gave ol' dad a hard time. The second my father signed all the paper work (on the day of the move they had to be out the next day), he led them all around back to a nasty "yellow" truck.

Needless to say everyone was shocked! They advertise these new trucks and pawn off these hell wagons on unsuspecting customers. The tires were slashed,the supposedly "senior mechanic", assured the guys that he had checked the truck out and it was perfectly fine. They don't give out the new trucks for long distance moves, only local, but this monstrosity would get them from the Bay Area to San Diego "no problemo". Now does that make sense? Move farther get the less dependable, crummy old truck?

So the guys, and my parents, left with no other choice take this thing, and proceed to pack it.

Note: There was an ants nest in the passenger side door. It was filthy and looked like it hadn't been washed in years. No one had bothered to sweep it out.

Now, the next day, tired from the previous day packing, they( my husband and his friend, both professional movers) get up at 4:00 a.m. and begin a day/night from hell. They made it about a 3rd of the way on their trip when (in 100 degree heat), the truck just stopped in the middle of the GrapeVine (really isolated high country part of the 5 highway at the end of California's central Valley). They managed to make it to the side of the road. There they waited well over an hour for the "help" help to come. "Help" came and said the "thermostat had exploded" and he had to go get a part. This whole prosess took over 3 hours to resolve. The help, said that as a professional, he wouldn't have let that truck make a move like this and they should be very careful, and don't drive over 45 MPH. Mind you they had another 5+ hours of driving ahead of them.

Then, at 5:00 p.m. some guy in a car on the freeway just south of LAX was gesturing madly at them and pointing to the back of the truck. The drivier looks in the mirror, and see's smoke coming out of the "tire". They pull over as fast as they can (HELLO: RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC IN L.A.). My husband then grabs the "fire extinguisher", runs to the back of the truck (on a L.A. freeway scary), and is just barely able to put out the fire, because the extinguisher only had about two quick little blasts left in it and was empty. He had to finish putting it out with his shirt. He calls me via cell phone to tell me what's been going on, my poor parents are scared to death they will lose their son in law and all of their belongings.

I call Budget and tell them what's going on. They have sent someone out to help. I tell the guy (Jason), that this is the second breakdown, why don't they just tow the guys to San Diego, the truck is not fit to be driven. He tells me this stuff happens all the time and he cannot authorize a tow.

Try to keep this sorta short, after 7 hours sitting on the side of a very dangerous freeway with no food or water, the guys are fed up, they call budget again, and are told they will get towed to San Diego. Now after all this time, when they could have done that 7 hours ago. The tire/ brakes were unfixable, they knew it. They blew it!

My husband got home at 4:30 A.M., 24 hours later!

Things to note:
1) The original mechanic lied, besides the slashed tires, the repair sticker on the truck was 3 thousand miles overdue, he had not checked it out.
2) The fire extinguisher was not only virtually empty, but it was also not even labled or dated.
3) The brakes were bad, by the end, the guys were driving metal on metal. Hence the fire.
4) Budget/Ryders policy that new trucks not be taken on long distance moves is not true, we have talked to people who got new trucks for longer moves. The people at Mt View rental just wanted to get rid of a dud.
5) They lack any customer service. And are completely unprofessional, they only towed when my husband lost it on the cell phone and told them he was going to sue and more (20 hours into this ordeal). And when I called I asked them what exactly my husband and friend were supposed to do for 7 hours on the side of the freeway, and the only reply I got was "I dunno".
6) Uh, slashed tired on the truck, big no no!
7) My husband and friend counted over 3 other of these "yellow" trucks being towed while sitting on the side of the freeway that day alone. I personally have seen 5 in the month since then.
8) The truck was filthy, it wasn't even yellow anymore.
9) The first time my husband called about an hour into the trip, I could barely hear him, I asked him what the noise was, he said, " This piece of sh*t truck, it wobbles and screeches and we don't know if we'll make it." Such truer words were never spoken.
10) Last and very importent. The driver, my husbands friend has been a professional mover for 10 years. He drives big rig moving trucks everyday. He said that this was the worst day of work in his entire life ( and that's saying alot). He also said that while he could handle the truck, what would have happened if a typical rental truck driver had been behind the wheel ( everday people). This could have meant death, not only to the truck occupants, but what if the inexpierienced driver had panicked on that freeway in L.A. and caused a pile up.

I am sure I am leaving out a lot, but you get the point. NEVER RENT FROM RYDER/BUDGET.... They never even offered a discount.

Jane
92117, California
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Budget Car & Truck Rental

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 08/12/2004 02:06 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/budget-ryder/nationwide/budget-ryder-truck-rentals-endangering-lives-everyday-ripoff-mountain-view-nationwide-103367. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#2 Author of original report

Response to Larry

AUTHOR: J - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, August 13, 2004

Larry,
Thank you for the response. But you have to understand mitigating circumstances.
1) There were no other large trucks in the area to rent that whole week. They wanted it on a thursday, but were flexable.
2)My parents had no choice but to move that week.
3)They did drive the truck on the freeway unloaded to get it to the house and it seemed "o.k." except for the rattling and noise. (The ants didn't let their presence be known until the evening, after it was loaded.)
4) One likes to think that a company as big as Budget would care whether or not it sent people out on the road with truck that could potentially lead to death (uh, no brakes/metal on metal in a 24 foot truck, fully loaded?). Oh the lawsuit. They knowingly sent this truck out without inspecting it, but assured my family it had been inspected.
5) Empty fire extinguisher? Why would anyone think to check that before leaving. It's about trust. They failed our trust in them as a professional company.

Larry, I see your point, but in no way did my parents fail to prepare for this. The fault lays entirely on Budget for putting this truck on the road. Even the first guy who came to fix the first problem said the truck should have been put out to pasture a while ago. No lay person could have known the thing would be that big of a dud.

They had no way to make any other contingency plans, they had to be out, they had to move, the "movers" flew up to help out, missing work, and the house was not theirs as of two days later, they gave themselves buffer time, the truck broke down well after it was loaded and on it's way. How the heck could anyone plan for that.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 Consumer Suggestion

Beware of Yellow Budget Trucks

AUTHOR: Larry - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, August 12, 2004

Up until last fall the company I work for was a Budget Truck rental agent. We got out of it in large part because Budget demanded that we rent out trucks that were not roadworthy.

Budget bought out Ryder's consumer truck rental business several years ago. When you see a yellow Budget truck you are looking at a very old Ryder truck. Budget has begun putting newer trucks into service but I still see old Ryder trucks on the road.

Budget does allow its dealers to keep trucks for local service only. Most dealers are going to choose the best truck they can find for use as a "dedicated" truck. Once a truck has been assigned to that dealer for local use, he cannot rent it as a one-way. This may account for the shiny new trucks that they would not rent to you. (Budget changed their policy on this several times while we were agents. One day trucks with lift gates were dedicated-trucks-only and the next day there weren't.)

What could you have done differently to avoid the problems you encountered?

First, you should have had a back-up plan, such as putting things in storage if a truck was not available. Never paint yourself into a corner when moving.

Second, when you saw that piece of crap they foisted off on you, you should have refused to accept it. Many of the problems you reported were noticeable at walk-around. If you would have had a back-up plan, you could have walked away if they wouldn't give you a decent truck.

Third, time your move. The period from Memorial Day to Labor Day is the busiest time of the year for truck rentals. This means you have fewer trucks available to choose from. Weekends are busier than mid-week. End of the month is busier than the middle of the month. Holiday weekends are insanely busy. Plan your move to occur in the middle of the week in the middle of any month from October to April and you will have plenty of choices. Never ever plan to pick up a one-way truck on Monday morning. On most Saturdays all trucks will be out on rentals. Your dealer will not likely be able to get a truck delivered to him on a Sunday, so your truck won't be there on Monday morning. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the best days to pick up a one-way truck.

Finally, I would suggest driving any one-way rental truck a few miles at highway speed BEFORE you load it. If it won't go 60 empty it sure won't do it with a load. You don't want to put hours into loading a truck only to find out that it has square tires. If there is something wrong with the truck, do not load it; return it and demand a replacement. If there is no better truck available, proceed with your Plan B.

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now