This is the worst experience I've ever had at any car rental place ever. I won't return and I have no interest in using budget either after this. So we came here to pick up a rental car after flying into Cleveland. You have to take a bus from the airport to Budget and all the car rental places, which is like 10 to 15 minutes, which isn't horrible, but just adds to the experience (I'll explain). The line didn't look that long with maybe 10 people in it, but everyone had all kinds of issues so we ended up waiting for 1.5 hours. I was starving and ended up having to eat something out of the vending machine. So we finally got to the counter, and I will say that the worker there was very polite despite that I'm sure they were under a lot of stress. So we finally get our car and get our suitcases in it and we're setting up our phones when this other couple shows up with paperwork explaining that was their car. So we take all the luggage out and go over to the next row, thinking we picked the wrong car, but then we checked the email and we were correct so I had to go inside and grab the worker and drag him outside and the people who took the car were still there and they very graciously gave us the rental because we were there first. So what happened was the girl at the counter printed out the paper with the spot number on it, but the guy never gave us anything. They assigned the same car around the same time. Something should be in place to prevent that. Then we had to drive another two hours after wasting hours there, so we really weren't in a good mood by that point. I won't be returning. Again, it wasn't the workers fault. They were doing their best, but they were severely understaffed that day and it seems to be a usual occurrence based on the other reviews. read more

Wow, what an incredibly shitty experience at budget rental car today they don't have anybody here to help you when you call them. They can't help you either. I've been in line for a long time. Hopefully, they'll hire somebody at some point in the future that's confident. read more

Absolutely horrible service! No vehicles for Fast Break members.....so we are stuck in a massive line to get to the counter where they will try to sort out the overbooking. Horrible customer service.....they seriously need to sort the issues out and remodel the rental car area....it's been the same for over 30 years. Absolutely ridiculous! read more

Budget - Waiting in a massive line for hours. ‍ - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

The counter folks were helpful and friendly and the car was easy to get/reach and exit from the parking/rental car area was easy too. I appreciated the short line for ease and convenience. read more

I flew into Cleveland this weekend to bury my dad and uncle. I reserved a specific suv that was big enough to fit my entire family in. Not only did they not have that car they tried to charge me more for an upgrade. The African American woman at the counter refused to give me her name but was rude as anyone I ever met. When I asked to speak to the manager she refused to get one for me abd I had to go chasing after the manager named Brian who was not any better than the lady at the counter. Needless to say I cancelled and went with enterprise and will never rent from budget again. They were rude and disrespectful and dishonest all together read more

Budget - This lady refused to get the manager and would not give me her name - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

Watch the fuel level out. Mine was at 3/4, but rental agreement showed full. Didn''t catch immediately before leaving. But I documented fuel level and mileage at 15 miles after exit. I Knew if I returned at 3/4, I'd get charged for the fuel and their surcharge. Tried to call location with no luck. Returned full, submitted documentation to Budget Customer "Service" who stated I should have returned at 3/4. Yeah I know how that would have gone. Moral of the story - in addition to the damage check, check fuel level and what the rental agreement says ( not just the QR code they send you. read more

I usually rent through Enterprise or National, but they had a good deal at Cleveland airport for last minute rental and I decided to ry them out. Big mistake! I reserved a one-way rental, mystery car (Budget picks). While checking out, I noticed a $32.99 "services" charge. When I questioned this, Marliece, your counter agent said it was a car upgrade. She claimed that the mystery car I reserved is whatever they have most in stock, which currently was all-electric vehicles, and these could not be giving for one-way rentals. I would need to upgrade to the next vehicle class and have to pay the difference. This sounded like BS, but my plane had landed late and I was in a hurry for a meeting and didn't question further. My fault! Further looking at my invoice, I realized I was lied to by Marliece. The $32.99 service charge was for insurance (Loss Damage Waiver), which I specifically told her that I didn't need, as my company covers this. She was scamming me out of additional fees and in my haste never realized this! Left a review through internal service and was contacted by John Caruso, an Ops Manager, reached out to apologize for the experience and told me nothing could be done after the fact! What can be done is for people to not rent through a company that is going to lie to their customers! read more

If you're in a hurry after your flight, don't book a car with this Budget. 15 people in line and no move to help anybody with much speed.

They have it all set up with an answering machine that you choose what you want to do. So I press three to extend my rental. They have this clicking device game that they bring on. And then it cuts you off. They do not employ enough people at budget Rent-A-Car. We waited in a line for well over an hour to pick up a car at the Cleveland Hopkins international airport because the workers don't show up for work. They had one lady trying to do 40 people. Budget needs to hire more people, especially the ones to answer the phone and extend people's rentals so they won't have to go in that place whatsoever. read more

2 sometimes 1 person at the counter. Waited 2 hrs with horrible customer care. Car less than optimal, as definitely drove like it had been in a prior accident read more

Terrible service and dirty car - avoid this location! Unacceptable experience at the Budget location at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE). Picking up my car was an absolute nightmare. I had to stand in a massive line with at least 40 other people, while only two clerks were working the counter. The entire wait took about an hour and a half just to get my keys. To make matters worse, when I finally got to the vehicle, it was in a dirty and completely unkept condition. It was clearly not cleaned properly before being handed over. Horrible customer service and zero efficiency. Save yourself the stress and rent elsewhere. read more

I did a reservation online with Costco and have been waiting for 2 hours to see an agent. Last time, I waited an hour read more

Budget - Not sure how they are staying in busoness - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

it is actually zero stars or minus stars. This is the worst location in the world. The air conditioning does not work, the vending machines for water do not work, one restroom was out of order. It was nearly 100 degrees outside while traveling with a baby. We were there 90 minutes total waiting line then sweating outside while waiting for car to come. The staff (3 people working on 4th of July weekend) used the holiday as the excuses. DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

This place is wild. They don't even staff the counter and direct you to Avis. Then... after waiting in line for an hour they have no details on the reservation. They do get us a car. So we think. They send us to the location of that car. There's no car. We go back. The clerk starts looking for a car. We cancel and get charged anyway. This is now 2 hours into it. We tell the clerk we were charged. She tells us to go out to the parking lot where the manager will be waiting for us. He will take care of it. The manager is sitting in a booth with a line of people waiting for him... some of whom have been waiting for over an hour. I go back inside. The clerk says there's nothing she can do and no matter what I say that won't change. Oh... and she never bothers to apologize. I got the impression this was a routine day for her. No big deal. We call an Uber. I do not recommend this business. read more

Budget - Chaos. - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

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Long, Long line with very slow people at the counter. Only 2 personnel which isn't enough for this crowd!

Horrible service Long ass lines and only one employee working Negative stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in Cleveland for a work trip and waited over 2 hours in line which was a huge inconvenience my work meetings were delayed!! read more

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Meh...service upon check in was ok. Not bad, not good, not helpful. Service returning car was excellent. I find this to be the case at a lot of rental places, it's not specific to. Budget. The car was bigger than what I had reserved which was a nice upgrade but it was pretty beat up. Nothing noteworthy to report. They had the best price and they're my go-to company for rentals. read more

Budget - They gave me a banged up car - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

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After waiting two hours in the Avis line because the Budget line closed two hours early, I received a disgusting filthy vehicle. Its now 10pm and we couldn't go back in and tell the counter agent because we might not have another car and there was a huge line. Contacted customer service and their solution was for me to take time out of my vacation. Go back to the airport to get another car. We will never use Budget again. read more

This location needs to be investigated honesty 2 hr wait to pick up my car after a 6 hr flight don't ever ever ever ever ever come here

Worst rental car experience! The website has not worked properly for a week so we had to wait in line. The man in front of us had been waiting o er an hour for his scheduled rental. I e of the employees begin sharing the customers personal story with everyone at the counter! Not professional! Our electric car was not ready so we had to opt for something else. So we paid for an electric Mustang and had to settle for a Ford Escape or wait. When we arrived at the car, it was dirty! Interior was dirty and the windshield bug splattered. Not a good experience!! We will never rent from. Get again! read more

Set up online, requested a mystery vehicle via the budget website. When we arrived at the budget desk, they guided us to the avis rental company. We had a quick great experience. The ladies were super sweet. I said it would be fun to have an EV but needed it to fit my 6'3" son, they gave us a 2024 Ford F150 lightening! We got to the truck, it looked great but smelled horrible. Right on the widow it says $450 cleaning fee for smoking may apply. Obviously the last renters didn't care cause it leaked of cigarettes & pot. We went to the store & got deodorizer & a car freshener. There was drink residue on the center console. Other than that, this has been a great truck! We needed to extend the rental return date. I was able to easily do it from my phone on the budget website, even though avis provided us the truck. Now the nitty gritty.... Pros of renting an EV... spent less than $200 on charging for 2 weeks, rides really nice, all the bells & whistles & I'm loving the frunk. Cons: if you don't have a home charging unit, it really sucks to have to find one & either sit while it charges or get dropped off & picked up. Some chargers are super slow, some super fast, kind of like cell phone charger. Some charger charge extra/hr, if you don't disconnect within 10 mins of finished charging. Specific to a F150...the mileage to charge ratio isn't that great. About 215 miles per full charge, so it's you are staying outside of town it requires charging nightly. Need to return it with at least 70% charge but no place close to charge near the return desk. Overall we are happy with the experience we had & will definitely get a rental when coming home just probably not a ev truck read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

Awful service, line was 20 people deep with one person working the counter and kids screaming because they were waiting for over an hour. Go to ent other rental car place at this location. All were much better read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

I wish I could give zero stars. This is the absolute worst company and location. The staff are constantly giving misinformation and never providing an answer with confidence. EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEIR VEHICLES ARE FILTHY. Pieces are missing or broken in the vehicles. Make sure that you inspect the vehicle before pulling off because they will try to charge you for cleaning and dents/damage that you are not responsible for. be sure to ask when the vehicles last maintenance was because they will allow you to travel across country without checking the oil life, tires or the toll device. This company needs to be shut down immediately. They should be ashamed of the shady business that they're running. Keep all of your documents and pictures. This business is as crooked as they come. I will be taking further action. read more

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got in at 9pm and have an hour to drive once we pick up some supper but apparently it rained and the building leaked and the computer system is a mess. we've been here over an hour trying to pick up a reserved SUV for business for 3 men who have to be on site early tomorrow. Looks like another hour at least and I feel for the employees as well but this is ridiculous! Where is the backup plan? read more

On July 30 of this year I rented a 12 passenger van and noticed upon exiting the passenger step was severely damaged. I stopped at the gate and showed the person there and he filled out a form. Upon returning on August 11 I went to the rental desk at 8:30am and showed the agent the pictures I had taken of the damage. The entire rental I had to help people in and out of the passenger front seat due to the height of the van and no functioning step. She said that van was not safe and should not have been rented. She called her manager who agreed with the safety issue and said there would be a 50% credit to the bill within 3-5 business days. I waited 10 days and contacted customer service who said a claim had never been filled. CS contacted Cleveland who sent them pictures and CS gave me a claim number. Having heard nothing more till today (September 1) I got an email thinking a positive response was finally coming. INSEAD I GOT A BILL FOR $1245 FOR REPAIR TO THE STEP!!!!!! The nightmare continues. read more

Over an hour in line to pick up our car, with a reservation. There was only 1 person behind the counter and 40-50 people in line. A second person joined about 20 minutes in. Not the staff's fault - they were friendly and things went quickly. Just painfully understaffed. Other rental places didn't have any extra cars or we would have jumped over FYI Budget and Avis use the same counter (I guess they merged?) so is was no better there. read more

This place is the worst. I had a reservation they made me upgrade and charged me. The line was 3 hours long. After I returned the car and returned home I had a 300.00 dollar charge when I had already paid in January. I try calling customer service they hang up on me before hearing me out. I call back and they say nothing! I want my money returned. I have never had so many issues with a car rental place before in my life. It makes you place a star and unable to add none or half. A star is way too much to give to Budget!!!! read more

Fast Break account is absolutely WORTHLESS at Cleveland, Ohio airport. How come Fast Break can work at every other location except CLE? You are supposed to be able to walk right outside to pick up your keys with a Fast Break reservation. I'd give a zero star if I could. read more

Wasn't sure whether to put this debacle on Budget or Avis. Rented with Budget and they had a sign to see their sister company, Avis, next door, and there was one representative checking people in who was one of the slowest, least quick to act check-in people I've ever seen. I felt sorry for him though - at current count there are 27 people (and growing) waiting to check in. I've been here 45 minutes and only 3 people have gotten their cars. read more

Um paid for fast service and it was a line from hell. No one wants to wait this long after hard flight! read more

Budget - Car Rental Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

I used Budget again and this time I rented the car in Chicago and dropped it off in Cleveland. The process was simple to make the reservation and while I had some anxiety about dropping it off because of an extremely early flight, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they already had staff checking in cars at 5:20am. The drop off was extremely easy and the airport shuttle runs 24 hours. I'll say that there could be more signs for drop off and to get back to the shuttle. I actually missed the little Budget return sign the first time since it was dark and had to do a loop around the rental area. For the shuttle/service desks just head toward the center/big building and look for the double doors. read more

Never again!!!!! They charged us for gas even though the tank was full and the gas station used is less than 2 minutes from the rental parking lot. Called to complain, and while on the phone, my card is being charged multiple times for a charge they can't even tell me what it is and tell me they can't do anything about it because it is " non-negotiable," but they still can't explain what "it" is. The car was prepaid, I paid for insurance and filled the tank up, and still getting almost $100 worth of charges that no one can explain. read more

I recently rented a vehicle from Budget Car Rental, and it was the worst experience I've ever encountered. The vehicle cut on off , I called customer service, they lacked any empathy. The vehicle leak oil in my driveway budget continue continuously to to have no regard. I would never have my company rent from them again. read more

0 stars. They gave us a car that had two warped tires and wasn't safe to drive. We had to go back to the airport to get an alternate vehicle. They wanted us to pay for the gas we used before we noticed the unsafe tires. The phone number is disconnected because Hopkins doesn't have phones for Budget Rental anymore. They continue to give the disconnected phone number for customer service. They are trying to charge us for more gas that we used with the replacement car. They refuse to give us a refund at all even though I haven't been able to spend nearly as much time with family on this trip due to these car issues and poor customer service. read more

Worst experience I've ever had in a rental car company customers were upset yelled at the workers workers walked off at one point was over a 2 hour wait after we got to the rental car counter I ended up canceling and going with Hertz. read more

Everything was great until I got the vehicle without the WiFi activated that I prepaid for. Once I received the receipt I was charged for the radio which I did not add to my rental agreement. Called customer service and was on the phone for over an hour and put on hold just to get transferred and put on hold again. I did not receive the money back from the WiFi service I paid for read more

Waiting 20 minutes with no clerk at check in at Cleveland airport They have no clue about car inventory Basic business process that should work is a disaster Couldn't be worse read more

BEWARE dishonest and unethical staff and company! January 2025: Budget and their employee will lie to your face at this location. We reserved a luxury non-EV SUV for winter driving and received a half-charged electric vehicle low on wiper fluid (not great for salt and snow driving) and were charged $275 more than the confirmed rate. The employee never said there was a change and not taking the EV meant being left without a car, at night, in the middle of winter. Even after calling the location and the national number, we were told there was nothing they would do and we could return the car and be charged a certain amount. When we did, they charged us double that amount. read more

With a wedding to attend in Ohio, we naturally needed to rent a car to get around. So my husband and I set up our rental ahead of time with Budget. ++ Our Nissan Cube was clean and quite the zippy little vehicle. -/+ The associate aiding us at the rental counter was determined to either upgrade us or get us to purchase some additional add on - it was quite frustrating, but we expected it. -- We were given the wrong paperwork when we picked up our ride. So while we received the correct car we were detained and then directed back to the service desk to correct the issue. -- Upon returning the car with a full tank of gas we received a strange additional charge on our credit card that took was never resolved. While the prices are very attractive, I think I will pay a little more and rent from someone else next time. Sorry, not sorry Budget. read more

I definitely should have read reviews prior to renting at this location. Prior to I have used Budget at Vail, CO airport location and was very happy. Bright spot was the check in and return associates...friendly and efficient. Car was not particularly clean, dashboard indicated low key fob battery, and EZ pass was unusable in Ohio. I had to pay full toll because I didn't pull at ticket...only went 1 exit. Toll booth attendant said they never work and car rental companies need to stop using them. I didn't want to waste my time requesting a refund which I knew would never happen and only further aggravate me. I won't use budget again because of the above. Do yourself a favor and shop around...and always pull a toll road ticket! read more