Rental car cleaning fee

 
When returning a rental car, I follow what I believe are best practices:

1) Bring it back with a full tank, since I choose not to bring it back empty and pay their high price for gas
2) Remember to gather my belongings (of course) and clean up any other trash I’ve left in the car
3) Bring it back to and wait for a rental car representative to provide what I consider the final bill

We did all these things when returning the car to Budget at LAX this past April 29. The printed bill seemed right. So imagine my surprise when I received a letter from Budget to inform me that my credit card would be charged an additional $450.00 cleaning fee for “excessive dirt and sand.”

 
If you think I was a little upset by this, you would be correct. My thought was that there may have been some dirt or sand on the floor of the car, about what you would expect after two weeks of normal use of the vehicle. But wouldn’t Budget vacuum the car anyway in order to prepare it for the next customer? I researched what to do at Elliott Advocacy. Christopher Elliott is also known as the “Travel Ombudsman.” Sure enough, there are step-by-step instructions for problems such as this.

First, I contacted Budget’s Customer Service to request documentation. After they partially complied, I sent a detailed signature-guarantee letter to Budget’s VP of Customer Service. At the same time, I disputed the $450.00 charge on my credit card and provided a copy of my letter.

The results? First, the bank agreed with me and removed the charge. Then I received a nice, almost apologetic letter from Budget saying, sorry, but they still need to charge “something” for the cleaning. They made it a $50.00 fee.

$50.00 to vacuum the dirt that they should have vacuumed anyway? I felt like fighting it further and certainly could have. The next step would have been to contact the company CEO. But I decided not to. At some point, there would be diminishing returns from all the effort.

The text of my letter follows:

David Holloway
Budget Rent A Car
Director Customer Service
6 Sylvan Way
Parsippany, N.J 07054 May 15, 2021

Dear David Holloway:

I am writing to you regarding a customer service issue related to an unexpected Budget Rent A Car charge. I had recently created an account with Budget Rent A Car. The rental (Rental Agreement Number: U340040573, returned to LAX on 04/29/2021) seemed to go quite well. The agent checking the car in for the return said nothing about any dirt or sand. I had just (the same morning) begun using Budget Rent A Car’s website to search for future rentals when I received a letter from Nora Henry of the Budget Operations Team informing me that “we must assess customers for the cleaning service required to return the vehicle to a tidy and sanitary condition that will meet the next customer’s expectations.” The amount charged is $450.

I believe the charge is unreasonable and unwarranted. Upon receipt of this letter, I requested the following documentation:

- A copy of the original agreement and the receipt
- Time-stamped and dated pictures of the damage
- A picture of the mileage indicator showing the mileage on the car when the damage was noted
- A copy of the incident report
- Copy of the invoice showing the cleaning cost estimation
- A copy of the license plate number on the car to ensure it is the car I rented

Virginia (last name not provided), Representative - Email Customer Service, responded with the first three items that I requested. From the photos, I can see a small amount of sand/dirt, but certainly not an excessive amount. These are the results from the normal use of the car during the period that I was using it. Notably, Virginia did NOT respond with the requested copy of the invoice showing the cleaning cost. Nor have I seen the incident report.

I am being charged $450 for a simple vacuuming. Budget Rent A Car ought to be doing this vacuuming as part of its standard cleaning practice between rentals. I feel fooled and robbed, especially since I had been about to provide positive reviews on social media, Tripadvisor, and Costco (where I made the original reservation). Also, as noted, I had been planning to use Budget Rent A Car for upcoming rentals.

To respect the employees of the company I took the time to clean the car’s dashboard and doors, and I removed all the papers/receipts/etc. The rest of the car was clean, with no sand or dirt. The small amount of dirt and sand was only on some floor carpets, where you put your feet after walking outside.

David Holloway, to resolve this issue to my satisfaction (and for me to remain a loyal customer, as I had used Budget Rent A Car in the past as well), I would like this unreasonable fee removed.
Sincerely,

Daniel Horvath
1512 Troon Ave.
Brunswick, OH 44212
danqpmg@gmail.com
cc: Virginia (last name not provided), Representative - Email Customer Service