I had a very, very bad experience of car rental from Budget Rent-A-Car located in the Amsterdam airport (Schiphol, Netherlands). Actually, it was the worst car rental experience in my life.

I booked a car through Economycarrentals.com. The rental company appeared to be Budget. Initially I was OK with that, as I had positive experience with Budget in Prague some years ago.

When we arrived to Schiphol and I signed the rental agreement, a guarantee deposit of EUR 600 was blocked on my credit card... twice, by mistake. Fortunately, I managed to cancel unnecessary blocking immediately via telephone call to the bank, otherwise Budget's mistake could have had very unpleasant consequences.

Our rental agreement looked very simple (just 1 page indicating the car details and the dates of rent, another page indicating existing damages of the car) and did not contain any supplementary conditions compared to those stated in the booking voucher from Economycarrentals (no such conditions as additional driver, extra insurance, etc.).

We returned the car on time on May'22, with no damage and with a full tank of fuel. I left the keys to the receiptionist who told me that the next day the guarantee deposit of EUR 600 will be unblocked, and the remaining rental fee will be charged to the credit card. My understanding was that the remaining rental fee totalled EUR 351, as it was stated in the booking voucher.

The next day I found out that my understanding did not correspond to the Budget's one. Additional EUR 168 was blocked on my credit card! And few days later, on May'26, another EUR 768 was charged! By the way, Budget did not unblock the money that had been blocked previously - I had to arrange it by myself. I suppose, Budget's staff does not know how to perform this simple operation... It's easier for them to make double charges.

EUR 768 was not the amount I expected to see. After several telephone conversations and e-mails Budget admitted their mistake and wrote that "the difference will be credited asap" (e-mail dated May'27). I understand they treated the car (Alfa Romeo 147) as a luxury car by mistake and applied higher daily rate.

On June'13 (more then 2 weeks!) EUR 352 was returned back to the bank account. EUR 65 was withheld as insurance premium for extra insurance! For sure, I was not informed about any additional insurance and insurance premium before the car rental started, did not ask for any extra insurance, did not sign any documents indicating such extra insurance... My understanding is that what Budget is doing is fraud! They charge me post factum for something that I did not order and use.

I challenged this transaction in my bank. Currently I am waiting for the result of their investigation. Regardless of the outcome of my claim, I recommend to avoid using Budget Rent-A-Car located in Schiphol. I believe, they do their job unprofessionally, make too many mistakes, make no efforts to find out the solution of the problem and do not respect their customers.