Budget Truck Rental

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I made an online reservation for a 26' moving truck. On 5/26/18, I went to the local Budget Truck Rental location at 1933 Abrams Creek Dr, Winchester, VA 22601. This location is a resale/junk/antique store owned and operated by Steven "Steve" Glais. His business name is listed as Gsc Management Ii.

The owner, Steve, had me waiting while he talked to his wife about the store inventory. He spent more time pointing out items for sale in his store and repeatedly told me to bring any items I did not want to him so he could sell it. It was clear that this Budget dealer's priority is promoting his store.

The rental contract took more time to complete because Steve continued to talk about his store and items he had for sale. When the contract was finally completed it was approximately 12:35pm and his store closed at noon.

He walked me and the second driver to the truck, lifted the door and gave us the key. Once the door was opened, we saw debris and smelled an unpleasant odor. He did not conduct a walk around inspection of the outside or inside of the truck as most truck rental companies do.

At approximately 2pm on 5/26/18, I walked up the ramp and stepped into the truck in my parking lot. This is when I realized how filthy and smelly the truck was. It had not been swept, cleaned or deodorized. The farm animal odors were so strong, it made me sick. I and two other people spent two to three hours cleaning and deodorizing the entire truck - floor and side panelings. Because we had to use ammonia and strong cleansers, I became very sick from the fumes mixing with the feces and urine odors that dripped down the side paneling of the truck. We left the door open to allow the truck to air out for approximately five hours.

On 5/27/18, we opened the truck again only to discover the odors were still present. We did a second thorough cleaning using bleach, vinegar, Lysol spray disinfectant, Lysol deodorizing spray, and odor eliminating carpet freshener for the truck's floor. Finally, movers loaded my first load of items at approximately 6pm.

On 5/28/18, movers loaded more of my belongings onto the truck. The fresheners were prevalent and the truck smelled 90% better. There was still a faint smell of animal in certain areas.

At this point, I was sick from the strong animal odors from the truck and from the various cleansing and fresheners I had to use. My illness caused a delay in my move and the truck will not be returned on 5/30/18 as originally planned.

On 5/29/18, I contacted Budget's corporate office to file a complaint about the horrific ordeal I experienced with the Budget truck rental. Budget's employee said he would file a complaint against Budget dealer and that I needed to call Steve and ask him to extend time.

I called and explained to Steve that I had contacted Budget about the condition of the truck and my illness due to the odors and cleansers. He claimed he cleaned the truck and swept it. I told him that was not possible since I swept out matted animal hair and debris that almost filled a plastic bag. Steve became belligerent, yelling at me and accusing me of lying. I tried to talk reasonably and he kept yelling and threatening me. I hung up the phone and don't remember all of the nasty things he said.

During Steve's sales pitch for his store while I was waiting for him to complete the rental contract, he talked about his poor health condition and his potential need for a surgery. He stated he was unable to move around very well. How can someone in his condition get into a 26' truck and sweep as he claimed?

At the end of my rental, the foul odors returned. This was due to rain, heat, humidity and lack of air for days. My belongings needed to be sprayed with Lysol disinfectant spray to get rid of the odors. At least eight different people acknowledged the horrific odors in the truck smelled like odors from a stinky cattle farm.

DO NOT USE THIS BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL!!!