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Budget SlowTrack
So Budget stinks in this regard: I've had this happen several tiems with them, and the opposite thing as well. I joined their free FastTrak program which is one of those "quick in and out deals." I've rented cars a couple of times from them now, where I get to the rental area, they have a key with my name on it and a special line, I show them my ID and I'm off. Less than two minutes, often. The reverse experience: the downtown SF (near Market) Budget office is horribly run. Every car is an ordeal. No FastTrak line. So I get in line there a few months ago. I finally get to the front after 40+ minutes. They say, okay, now you have to wait for a car - maybe another hour. I almost go ballistic and they're totally unapologetic. I'm thinking, this is the Jerry Seinfeld bit that I thought the rental car companies had FINALLY gone past. But, no. They had some asinine system of assigning out cars, and I'd seen them give away 15 to 20 cars to walk-up customers before me. That's not the right way to deal with a corporate customer, even on my scale. I wrote Budget and got a lame-ass response about how the office was run well and there was no problem. Wrong. I'm the customer, and I could tell you more about logistics than you can. The office needs one line for walk-ups and two for reservations and the line would have been reduced from 30 to 40 people to about 10 in 20 minutes. And we all woudl have gotten our damn cars, too. Maybe they get a higher rate from walk-up customers, so they're willing to alienate us. I don't know, but I'll rent a car from Satan before I rent willingly from at least certain Budget counters. (In Portland, Maine, the guy walked away from the counter (where there were three other people helping customers) with me to find my fiancee so she could sign off as a free, second driver on the car. Now that guy deserves something: a raise, a firing, not sure which.
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