Budget Car Rental - Stratford, Connecticut

Gilbert L.

Terrible service - the sales associate at the desk (blonde hair, fake blue eye contacts) has a poor attitude, is absolutely rude and totally disrespectful. Not helpful, short answers and general unwillingness to help - when I addressed her inability to even act like she could help - after being told she could not quote me a rate - stating her’s are different then mine assuming this was a corporate rental, which it is NOT as I control my own expense account and can book whatever I want - I was told “thats my opinion” - I also asked a simple question about what town this location was listed under as there are two that populate in Stratford. For some reason she seemed to think because she lived in “New Haven” she didn't have to answer that question … and said “I don't know im from New Haven” well im from the Bronx and have no idea what town descriptions are in Stratford - Was I wrong in assuming the associate working at the location would know where she works, LOL, ridiculous effort to NOT even give the impression of wanting to assist - Interestingly enough as I walked out of this location the previous customer was standing outside on his phone with his boss and literally turned to me and began to tell me EXACTLY the same thing - “what is her problem” I said I don’t know he replied “she got a bad attitude, we are customers” there’s opinions and there are FACTS - the fact is I will GIVE YOU what I RECEIVE in the respect department - especially when we are spending hundreds of dollars in rentals. Cancelled this reservation all together and will use a different company where associates actual provide polite helpful customer service with a smile who are in uniforms representing the company they work for. This person does not want to be at work to provide a service to customers. DESPICABLE. I am confident others are receiving the same lack luster service a shame in 2024 companies walk business out the door.

Expansion C.

Do not rent cars here. Rude customer service. The African American lady with the dreads spoke very rudely to me and I was being as nice as I could be to her. Even as I continued to be nice she continued to raise her voice at me as to be trying to pick a fight or an argument with me. I just decided to walk away and use my own vehicle for the trip. I will never attempt to rent here or any budget rental ever again. Budget really needs to train there employees to treat customers with respect.

Nodella J.

The reason why I am giving Budget a 4 star rating is because they need to fix their system whereas I made reservations using my Union's website and upon arrival this morning having been greeted pleasantly by Lena, I was told that they did not have any vehicles available at that time. As I continued to wait for cars to be returned, 2 more customers came in who also used a third party website and had the same issue. However, Lena was so nice and professional throughout all of our processes to get a rental vehicle and she went far above and beyond to secure each of us a rental vehicle. I ended up canceling my reservation because they do not have a Dropbox at this location, and I would have had to drive to Fairfield to drop it off, which was just too much for me to do. I would definitely use their service again but have learned a valuable lesson by not using a 3rd party website who does not have updated knowledge on if vehicles are truly available. So, to anyone who, like me, uses 3rd party websites to reserve a vehicle, I strongly urge you not to do that anymore because of what happened this morning. Again. I say, in spite of this issue, the rest of my process, even canceling my reservation, was seamless. Thank you so much, Lena, for all that you did.

Laura K.

I prepaid for my rental on a debit. They don't tell you on the website that they won't "accept" the debit when you get to the counter. I got the counter and had to use a credit card to put a one day "hold" on the reservation. They give me a receipt for twice the pre paid amount. I was told that is the price they see but since I prepaid that's my charge. I ended up being charged BOTH charges on the two different cards. I called back and I was told to call the 1 800 number. I now have to wait 5-7 business days to get my refund. I would give them zero stars if I could. They are also very slow there. They charged the lady in front of me of returning her car late when she was in line for 45 minutes and was early. I wish I read the reviews before renting. DO NOT RENT FROM HERE. PS they are also the AVIS.

Stephan D.

Terrible experience. I got there on time and was told at first there was no vehicle and that I might have to drive 20 miles further, being on a tight schedule it was not an option. I then had an issue with my driving license, while an old French License it is valid and deemed international and rented many cars with it before. They insisted on seeing my passport, the manager was rude, mentioned they did not accept "3rd world country licenses" and could not care less! I managed to have someone drive down my passport, they could have prepared my paperwork to save time but the employee was then on a break and refused to help, she was also rude and even cursed while in the back room!

To top it off, while I was told there was no cars on the lot, we went to pick up a Toyota which had been there the entire time! Terrible experience, no compassion and could not care less about their customer's experience!

This was the 3rd or 4th time I rented at this location (with the same license) but will never again rent from them!

Cortney H.

I made a reservation online and paid for the reservation. They give you this option with a debit or credit card before picking up the vehicle. Once I made my way to pick up the vehicle, they tell me a debit card isn’t accepted that there would be a credit check. Now I previously mentioned paying for the reservation. The agent swipes my card tells me I didn’t pass the credit check. I was told to call a 800 number to get my money back. I call the 800 number they tell me I would get a partial refund I demanded to speak to a supervisor. I speak to the supervisor they issued a full refund. Now I have to wait 3-7 business days for my refund. How nice. Never in my life will I rent here or even consider this place. That’s really screwed up.

Kevin M.

I reserved a compact car online 2 days in advance. They called me 12 hours before I was schedule to pick up the car to tell me they didn't have any small cars. They said all they could do was offer my a full size SUV for twice as much money as my reservation. I felt like I was in the Seinfeld scene "the key to the reservation is holding the reservation not taking the reservation"!

Lindsay H.

If you're like me, you're probably looking at all of these terrible reviews thinking "well, only unhappy people write reviews. These probably aren't indicative of reality." NOPE! Heed the warnings.

I booked my car 1 month in advance for a business trip and was taking it for a week. When I arrived, the guy showed me to a FILTHY car - covered in mud outside, covered in food inside, and smelling like someone had been ill inside. The guy admitted that it had not been cleaned and he couldn't clean it because he had other customers. This is a violation of the policy posted on the door and plain gross even if not in a pandemic. He then told me it was my fault because I booked the smallest car. Yeah. A month ago.

They ultimately upgraded me which thanks, but it's not my fault you failed to have product that was booked. Making matters worse, the EZ Pass was terribly attached so I had to push it against the window to get it to work.

In short, an utter nightmare. I only went with Budget because they were open on Sunday. Next time, I will genuinely get the car 2 days early to go ANYWHERE else.