DO NOT RENT FROM HERE. Pay a little more for better customer service. Terrible. No starts Not efficient. Customer service reps are rude and do not know what they are doing read more

First, they call me from a no caller ID number and leave me a voicemail. I made a reservation a week in advance, less than 24 hours they call me to tell me that they are closed on the holiday, which is fine, but to call me less than 24 hours to tell me that I can't pick up my rental and they moved my reservation to the next day, which was completely Unacceptable as I cannot come the next day. I purposely made the reservation on the day that I did because I needed it on that day as I am moving. I am irate at the moment. Now I don't have a moving van to move. Why would they call less than 24 hours to let me know this? Especially because I made the reservation a week in advance. They had plenty of time to look at their rental reservations. I tried to call back immediately and I get their call center. If I had the choice, I would give them no stars. Don't rent from here. read more

The customer service at this location is horrible. An employee named Ryan helped us and she was incredibly rude and unprofessional. She tried to run a credit check without my permission and then got an attitude when I told her I didn't want her to do that. When my wife came back with her credit card she also very rude to her. She immediately said ID AND CREDIT CARD? no hello, no good morning. I then asked if we could have a specific car and her response was " you get what you get" lastly once the transaction was done she handed us the keys, didn't take us to do a walk around of the car or anything. When I asked where and what car is it her response was it's around here somewhere. A joke! She definitely needs more training and an attitude adjustment. Wouldn't go back here again because of her. Just a terrible experience. read more

I noticed all the poor reviews on Yelp at this location, but it's the closest Budget car rental so I gave it shot. This location is very covid safe -- only 1 person in the office at a time, with sanitizers and screen between the staff and myself. The wait time was reasonable too. I arrived when there were two customers ahead of me, but the lady at Budget was very efficient. My wait time was ~15 min at max. She gave me a few car keys to check out the cars and decide which one I'd want. Since the cars are right outside the office, it's super easy to just go check them out and ask her any questions you may have. She is very friendly and patient. She took the time to mark minor scratches on the car I picked and passed me the keys. I came back 3 weeks later because one of the windows was smashed while I visited SF. Since it was a Sunday when that happened, I came back to Budget on Monday morning. The same lady was there to greet me. She helped me with the paperwork and swapped a car for me. She was very accommodating, and met my request for a car with non out-of-state license plate. (The car that had the smashed window was an out-of-state license plate.) I was in and out in less than 30 min. Highly recommend this place. This lady is one of the most competent and pleasant people I've encountered at a rental car office. read more

I rented a car from this location in March. The attendant walked me to the car & pointed out that the car was missing a hubcap/wheel cover, and that she would note it on the vehicle rental documents so that I wouldn't be responsible for this preexisting damage. My mistake was believing this at face value and not verifying that this did get documented as she said it would, since Budget is now claiming that I lost the wheel cover. In June my credit card was mysteriously charged $94 by Budget. I reported this as fraudulent to my credit card since I did not recognize the transaction and Budget did not notify me about the charge (no email, phone call or text. Just a charge to my credit card). Attempts to get this resolved with Budget have been infuriating. This location does not answer its phone. I've called literally 20 times at different times of the day and it just automatically transfers you to Budget's corporate reservations number. Bottom line: photograph your rental cars before pickup and after drop off, and make sure any preexisting damage is documented. Otherwise the burden is on you. read more

Signed up to rent a car from Budget online. When I arrived at the scheduled time the staff were not aware of my rental. Turns out they did not have any vehicles available in the class that I rented. They only had smaller, less expensive vehicles available. When I asked to have the difference between what I paid for online and what I actually received refunded, I was told that was not possible for online bookings. I was directed to call their customer service number but warned that Budget's customer service is not very good. They were right. I was not very good. After 35 minutes on hold and being transferred to three people, I was able to get my refund. If I did not really need a rental care that day due to car repairs, then I would have gone somewhere else. Next time I will use the Enterprise located around the corner. read more

Called Budget rental today two hours prior to pick up no answer. Went to pick up the rental truck and the office was closed before closing hours. Contacted the customer service hotline and they wanted me to drive 30 plus miles away for another truck. Meanwhile I have movers set to meet me at my house. Horrible experience but ended up getting a Uhaul in Dublin. Uhaul came through at the last second. Thank You. I will be filing a complaint with the BBB and writing a letter to corporate. This is unacceptable and very unprofessional. I do not recommend this location and will not be going through Budget In the future. read more

I paid $950 for a five day rental but paid $500 to fly 1000miles. Screw budget I will never rent from them again. Price gouged out the wazoo. I can not give negative stars but if I could would give them negative 5 stars. Horrible, horrible rental car company. read more

Great rental. The professional working the desk was very efficient and friendly. Easy process.

We have done three rentals with Avis/Budget. So far its been great experience. Good customer service and cars in good condition and get the with our preference. read more

By far, one of the poorest customer services ever. CJ, if you read this, you need to change your attitude big time, because it's costing you quality customers who have rented ALOT from your franchisee in the past. Here's my story: We made a reservation online for a Minivan from this particular franchisee since it's close to where we live and we have always had a good experience. My husband and I have never had to deal with CJ. We always had the other short guy with the mustache help us out and he's done a fantastic job each time. Our reservation was for a week, from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. We walked in on Saturday afternoon at 3PM. They close at 4PM. We requested for a Dodge minivan since the older Chrysler Town N Country was a little too shaky while driving. We were a little particular about since we were travelling with my aging father and my partially disabled sister in law. We chose our minivan rather fast, but unfortunately, while one of the guys was getting it out of the parking lot, he backed it into another car and caused a damage. He apologised and we had to start our search again. In the meanwhile, CJ egged us to hurry up since he had to go home!! Customer service FAIL. But that is still something I can put up with. Because I know what it feels like when you want to go home but you can't just as yet. What pissed us off was that CJ told us everything, and he knew we were dropping the car off on Sunday. He never told us that the car needs to be dropped off at 1PM on Sunday, else the rental for an additional day gets added on!!! Typically, you would think that if you rented at 3PM, you are allowed to return the car at 3PM. Again, that's fine too. My hubby dropped off the car at 3PM on Sunday and since the shop was closed, he dropped off the keys in the box and we were to pay an additional $10 for doing so. The next day, we notice an additional $100 being added to our bill. We called Budget up and told CJ that we weren't notified about the additional charges. He kept harping that he did notify us. BullS**t. If CJ had told us about returning the car before 1pm, we OBVIOUSLY would have returned it by 1PM to avoid being billed extra. There was attitude being thrown at a customer for no apparent reason. Upon being questioned about his customer service skills, CJ would rather not have a good customer, than be polite enough to apologise for the confusion. It's not about the money, it's how you speak to people. CJ just comes across as a pompous ass. read more

We rented a 15 passenger van for a field trip for work and Budget Rent a Car was awesome from start to finish. We were greeted by a very pleasant manager named Albert. We told him we had a reservation and he looked us up and ask for our driver's license and credit card. After about 5 minutes of processing the paper work our van was out front waiting for us fresh out of the car wash. Albert walks us out and we do a visual inspection of the car and we were on our way. The car was clean, didnt smell bad (like some other rentals) and we had no mechanical problems. Upon returning the van, all we had to do was drop the key off. This was one of the most pain less car rental experiences I've ever had. Kudos to Budget Rental and their manager Albert. read more

Avoid if you can. I was sent here to get a loaner vehicle from a local car dealership. The cost of the rental is covered by the dealership to loan me a vehicle while my car was being worked on by the dealer. The driver who came to picked me up nearly killed us as he drove onto the on coming traffic. The driver was fondling with an extra set of keys, looking down at his hands and wasn't paying any attention. When a car from the opposite direction was headed right at us and I yelled, he then finally swerved away and closely avoided a head on collision. This should've been a clear warning from the start. When I arrived at the rental car office to complete the paperwork to get a loaner, I noticed that the entire lot was full of rental cars. When I asked the manager about what my selections were in terms of getting a loaner, he said I had a choice between an Impala or a Camry. I was surprised to hear this since their entire lot was full! When I asked if the Sonata was available, he said some cars were not yet registered...and few others...hmm. So after reluctantly selecting the Camry over the Impala, I was quickly whisked away to drive off the lot. What the employee was trying to avoid was to hide all the dinks, scratches, and dents around the car and have me sign off on it! So I politely pointed out the imperfections. Perhaps the cost of the rental is already paid for by the dealer, these guys were inclined to loan me the most beat up car? When it was time to return the car, I went to fill it up. What's very suspicious is that the fuel tank level doesn't correctly correspond to the actual fuel level in the tank. In fact, it under reports how much fuel the tank actually has! This results in loaners to put in more gas than they actually are required to put in. I've experienced a similar scam from another car rental place in my life and this sure smells fishy! Save yourself the troubles and avoid at all costs and I hope car dealerships quit giving these guys business because for what it's worth, the dealership experience takes a small hit for associating themselves with this establishment. read more

This is my first time with Budget. I made a reservation 2 months ago for a SUV for my ski trip. I called a couple of time to confirm and was assured each time. 2 days before my trip, I called in again and there is none available. The closest on available is in SJC. But budget refused to send the car to this branch because this branch is a contract site. They didn't tell me this when I reserved. I understand that the availability is not guaranteed, but I have rented with local branches of Enterprise and Hertz many times and they are always accommodating and worked something out. Not this one, be aware read more

I called per the promotion on tv for an SUV or Economy car, however, EVERY Budget did not participate in the promotion in the entire northern area, from the Delta area to San Francisco. What's the point of advertising a promotion when it only works in Hawaii, Canada, and states so far away, that I might as well drive my own car. The online system didn't work no matter what information was entered or changed, AND when I called directly, the rep sounded drunk, and wasn't of much help, leaving such ridiculously long pauses on the phone, to the point that I had to say HELLO? because I thought they hung up. SO, DONT FALL FOR THE BAIT COMMERCIAL!!! read more

I made an online reservation about a month ago for a pick up over the Labor Day weekend. I got an SUV at a great rate. When we picked it up Friday evening, it was about 35 minutes before closing time and there were no SUV's in the lot...I took a look again and saw ONE...Budget said it would be a Ford Escape or similar. It was a 2009 Nissan Pathfinder. Before being helped, an agent was on the phone with a customer confirming to him/her that they had one more SUV on the lot. Thankfully my girlfriend spoke up and said "yeah, that's ours." To which the agent told the customer that they did not have anymore SUV's. This is why I only gave it four stars. Had we been any later there's no doubt the two of us would have taken our road trip in a mini-van. The benefit to renting here is that it's close, around the corner and they do not charge ridiculous airport & tourism fees; daily rental fee and tax. I was told when picking up the car that they closed Monday, Labor Day at 1pm...however, my reservation clearly said 5:00pm...I was told that I could drop it off then and leave the key in the drop box but would be charged accordindly. I figured I'd dispute that later...we all wanted to get away for the weekend. I actually ended up keeping the car all day Monday and Tuesday while my car was in the shop. I called Monday evening and left a message, the next morning, Albert called and left me a message telling me to keep it as long as I needed, no need to call back. That was pretty nice to hear someone leave a simple message. We returned it Tuesday around 5:30pm and Albert was there...called me by my last name and was expecting me (obviously). Still, that kind of service counts. The extra day wasn't a huge rate, even though Budget said it would when I called the 800 number. I guess another reason I gave it 4 stars is because the outside was a bit dirty as was the inside...there was a receipt from an auto parts store in the car...for a belt. Kinda crummy to see. I returned it cleaner then I got it...even washed all the dead bugs :) From now on, whenever I rent a car, I'm going to Pleasanton Budget...thanks Albert for taking care of us! read more

Steven K helped me today and had such a great experience! There was a small little issue with my booking (my fault) and he was able to take care of it for me! Great customer service and car was ready on time and clean. This is now my go-to location for rental cars! read more

We are moving out of state, we reserved a truck and trailer a month in advance and the company even called two days prior to our pick up to confirm. We called this morning to see if we could pick it up a couple hours early only to find they did not have our trailer, they said they rented it to someone else. They told us if we wanted one we would have to drive far to another city to pick it up. After all was said and done they also refused to refund us our money for the trailer!!!! We have to leave in the morning, we ended up going to U-Haul for a truck and trailer. I will never use or recommend this company to anyone. They are fraudulent and a joke!!! read more

Hot tip: if you're renting a moving truck the last weekend of the month, go in early to pick it up...it was POPPING the last saturday of July!! Everyone was picking up their trucks and the phone was literally ringing off the hook the entire time we were there. Thankfully we had NO problems with the rental...and actually we made a reservation for a 10" truck but they didn't have any left so we got a 13' for the same price, which was AWESOME cuz we ended up filling that thing tip to nose top to bottom. we also did some research n found that they have teacher discounts...20% off woo whoo! so we dropped it off @ 2pm with the same guy who helped us in the AM and it was a breeze. we had a pretty awesome experience, would gladly rent here again for future moving needs! read more

I reserved a car 4 days ago online to be picked up at this location today. It's 30 minutes after my reservation time, and no one is here/the office is closed, even though they are supposed to be open. There is also another customer currently waiting out here, who had a scheduled reservation as well. I'm currently looking up other car rental services that are open today in the Bay Area since this is a matter of urgency. read more

Rented a one-way truck online, paid with credit card, and even had a confirmation code. Booked my trip to fly into the area with the intent of driving the rented truck with my belongings to my new residence. Received a call from this business two days before my departure date that the truck I rented is not available! When I questioned how it could be available for rent if it truly wasn't available, I received an answer that there is no way in their system to prevent an unavailable truck from being rented! Moral of the story is if you use this location but call to confirm, or use someone else. read more

Budget is the WORST! I made reservations for my daughter's wedding in September. I have been trying to modify this reservation for 3 weeks. Their website is down, their chat line is not operating and when calling, after waiting 30 minutes, I got an operator from Mexico with a poor connection, couldn't make the change, and transferred me to a dead line. Also, if you want to cancel at any time ahead of the reservation, they WILL charge you a $50. cancellation fee - no arguing, no time ahead of the reservation - mine was 5 months in advance, and it is robery! I will never use them again!!! read more

This is my second time renting from this location and Laura provided excellent customer service both times! Rental facility was clean and you can tell they take care of the vehicles on premises. Several reviews are frustrated with the Budget reservation system (which is very antiquated) but that is the same anywhere you go. Poor corporate policies has nothing to do with this location and the staff go out of their way to make it as easy as they can. read more

This is my second review, 1st on Google, 2nd here. I like the service received. I made my reservation by mistake for the day prior and was still served. I was given a discount and prompt service. All I can say is that I will rent again from this place... read more

Don't use this rental place...CJ is very RUDE and without my authorization used my debit card before my monthly rental was even over with.TO CHaRGE ADDITIONAL MONIES ..I had 2 more weeks left on the car after I paid $450 up front already. VERY UNETHICAL BUSINESS WITH A RUDE PERSON WORKING THE DESK GO ELSEWHERE.... read more

I think this location has pretty bad ratings merely due to people complaining about the wait. What do you expect when a lot of flights land and hundreds of passengers all need a car at once?? Their good service and the easy to follow system at this huge location makes it super simple for a car rental. I think budget does a great job with the large volume they have to accommodate. They offer free shuttles at LAX to drop you off at Budget, then you check in at the front desk which is fully staffed of about 10 people or more, then they quickly provide a pamphlet with the parking spot number where your vehicle is located, then you inspect the car at the exit. Then you return your car in their 10+ slot return area and someone quickly scans your car in, inspect it and you're set to go. LAX is probably the largest market for car rentals and for me Budget provided it was such a fast and easy car rental experience. I guess I went during their non-rush hour time but even the check in and check out process was so extremely fast I can't say that they don't deserve anything less than 5 stars. The only thing is that you must return the vehicle at the same location or they charge a huge amount of money based on their location. Make sure you go over all the terms and read everything! This applies to literally all car companies! I would definitely use Budget for my car rental again. read more

Our company has rented vans from Doherty's Budget franchise in Pleasanton and/or Doherty's Truck Rental in El Cerrito for the past 5 years. The equipment invariably has been clean, smooth riding and available for pickup on time and in a location most convenient to US (vs them). Even when a van develops engine difficulties, as our van did in Dec. 2010 in Las Vegas, they go out of their way to make things as easy as possible. Since we were not stranded or in any danger, Doherty's rolled a 2nd van and mechanic from the Bay Area to Las Vegas (that's an 8-1/2 hour drive -- one way!) to swap out our vehicle. Service doesn't get any better than this! read more

My daughter recently bought a car from Budget Renta-A-Car Sales. It was the best car buying experience I've ever had! Mike assisted us with the purchase. He was professional and followed through with everything he said he would do. If you're thinking of buying a used car, I would highly recommend checking out Budget. I will use them again, no doubt! read more

I had a truck online reservation a day prior of the pick, then one the actual day was told nothing was available. They told me that they left a voicemail for the cancellation but that's impossible because my phone inbox was full. This place is horrible and will never rent again from this location! Stay away!! read more

I rented a mini van for my family to head to Disneyland. I got to the facilities at 7:45 am since they opened at 8:00. There was already three people ahead of me, it took 50 minutes to get the van!! I drove the van through town to pick up my family and noticed the brakes were a little off, but thought maybe it was just me. Got all the luggage & family loaded, hit the freeway. AS soon as I was on the freeway I noticed there was something wrong with the brakes cause the whole van shook when you braked. I called Budget to let them know, but we were already so far out we just continued. I wrote them a note once I returned the van and I did a follow up call asking them not to rent it out again unless they had it checked. Someone named CJ said he'd look into it & give me a call back. He never did!!! I will never rent from this site again, they don't care about people's safety! read more

Thief!!!! My wife's sunglasses were left accidentally in the rental car. When I went back to collect them the lady on the counter plainly denied finding any sunglasses in the car. This is the same lady who didn't picked up any of my calls that I made to inquire about the sunglasses. Also, when I returned the car she refused to accept it and asked me to re-fuel the car as she felt that the tank was not full. I showed her the refueling receipt and insisted that I have fueled the car to the max but she refused to accept the car. This forced me to return to the gas station to fuel the car with 50 cents. She was super rude in this entire episode. Not going back there ever again!! read more

I would highly recommend that you go elsewhere for your rental needs if customer service is important to you. The manager, Al, was fantastic to deal with, but the owner was rude and condescending with an authoritative air about him. If you do decide to rent from this location, be sure to see Al, but I would never recommend them to anyone. read more

this is all you need to know about the sleazy company known as budget rent-car. they engage in fraud, bait and switch and over-billing. read it and find another car company. budget will rip you off. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/budget.html read more

Awful! Never reserve a truck here. Reserve a truck online and wait in the huge line then show them the confirmation sent to your email and they don't have your truck. Called all morning long to confirm the truck was ready and no one answered all morning long. Awful awful awful. Had to move today and these jerks reserved a truck for me drove all the way here waiting and nothing. Don't waste your time. read more

These guys saved our vacation. We needed a van to take 7 plus luggage down to Southern California for a week, and we needed it in a hurry due to another company's failure to fulfill our reservation. These folks stepped up and provided us with a full size van for a very reasonable weekly rate. We left later than we wanted to, but we wouldn't have been able to leave at all had it not been for Budget. I will be returning here in the future for sure! read more

Rented a one-way truck from Portland to drop off at this location. All went well until I checked back on the paperwork after dropping the truck off in the after hours. Was informed that they needed to add 4 gallons of Diesel (@ $6 per Gallon) before accepting the truck. This despite my filling it at the Shell station up the street, knowing that I couldn't get any more in the tank without overflowing. Response from the manager was that there is an "air pocket" that needs to be filled - somewhat strange, especially if it required 4 gallons to fill with no proof to show that this went into the truck I rented. Overall, my reservation experience, pickup experience, and quality of equipment was very positive. Adding this review more as a caution to other who decide upon the after hours drop-off option, which gives you little recourse to correct. I did call Budget corporate to report my complaint and was immediately refunded, without question. No complaint with Budget corporate, just with this Pleasanton office. read more

Rented a Chrysler minivan for a trip to Las Vegas. About 10 miles from our destination the check engine light came on. After finding out from Budget corporate that our car was not in their system we found out that we rented from a franchisee and they had no facility in Las Vegas for service. We made it back OK after we were told to keep driving with the light on. We were not warned in advance that we would be up a creek if anything really bad happened. read more

They have good customer service, easy pick up and drop off process, they have an after hours drop off box which is very convenient, easy to find location. read more

AVOID THIS LOCATION! As others here have pointed out, the franchise owner may try to cheat you on gas. My wife and I rented a truck for one day. Because we had been warned by other reviewers on Yelp, we paid attention to the gas gauge and pointed out to the man who rented it to us that the needle was not up to F. He told us not to worry about it and said the truck had been topped off. He also said the truck gets 10 miles per gallon and we would need to buy enough gas to account for that. I pointed out that gas mileage varies according to driving habits. I'm sure every truck they rent does not get the same mileage with every driver for every trip. This 10 mpg thing is just a way of insisting that you buy more gas than you use and give it to the franchise. When we turned in the truck today, a different agent took the key and looked at the gas gauge. The first thing he said was that it was not full. My wife and I pointed out to him that the needle was not up to F when we picked up the truck and that we had discussed that with Albert, the other agent. C.J., the franchise owner, was there and asked to see my receipt for gas, which I showed him. He said that was OK and the first agent proceeded to finish up the return paperwork. A couple of hours later, C.J. called and said he was going to charge my credit card for two gallons of gas (which, by the way, the receipt is charged at the exorbitant rate of $5.99 a gallon). I repeated the discussion we had had at the franchise when we picked up the truck and when we turned it in, and I mentioned that we had been warned about this tactic on Yelp, and he backed down to charging for one gallon of gas. Then he hung up on me. I called Budget customer service. The agent found my reservation but had no record that the truck had been picked up -- possibly because this was a franchise-owned local truck, although it did have Budget's logo on the side. Now I have to scan and email the rental receipt and gas receipt and wait for a response from Budget. Even if I get the gas charge reversed, I'm sure C.J. and Budget will not reimburse me for the time I have to waste combating this cheating. AN UPDATE: I later realized that I did not have the gas receipt that I needed for Budget customer service. I guessed that C.J. had kept the receipt when I showed it to him, so I called to ask about it. He did have my receipt, so we'll need to go get it. He did say when I called that he was not going to charge me for the gas. read more

I was looking to rent a truck again today, and thought about Budget in Pleasanton, and now reflected on my last experience. I rent vehicles so often that I don't normally write reviews. As I read through some other reviews, I thought I better tell my story from last timeHere it is. I rented a truck about 2 months ago from this location. The first thing I wasn't happy was a $10 after-hour drop-off fee. I never have to pay anywhere else. It's a rip-off. Second, the guy told me that when I refill the fuel tank before I returning the truck, I need to go really slowly in pumping the gas in, and bring the receipt with you when you return it. He also said I need to put in about 3 gallons for every 10 miles traveled. It all sounded fishy to me, and I already suspected something is not with this guy. Normally when you fill a gas tank, you use the automatic shut-off, and when it pops up, the tank is full. Because the guy told me to go slowly the handle does pop up, and it turns out I had pumped in 3.5 gallons of more gas after the auto-shut pops up. Bingo. That's what the guy is after. Another thing. The owner (I think his name is CJ) would easily give you some discounts to make you feel he is doing you a big favor. First his rental rate is not published, and he would tell you the price orally. When you complain that it is higher than his web price, he would immediately drop it down saying "I'll charge this .. just for you". And, because I returned the truck in after hours, I called the next morning to ask for a receipt. He said that I will have to pay a $10 fee for dropping off after hour. I asked why he charges me a dropping off fee while no one else does that. He would immediately (before I even finished the sentence) said he'll waive it. I think he knows he is not doing it right. It could be illegal. I mean, dropping off after hours does not add any more work to them. Why charge a fee? Overall, I feel this guy is not running an honest business. I am not renting anything from them again unless the ownership changed. read more