No surprise here at all. What would surprise me is if all the rest of budget outlets and all the other rental companies were not doing the same. companies like this prey on peoples lack of knowledge to gouge money. I had a similar situation with hertz here in Australia where i returned a rental car in perfect condition, inspected it with a staff member before i drove it off and after i returned it to the lot, both times signed off by said staff member, then next thing i see on mastercard statement a $600 charge for damage and fuel. I returned the car with a full tank which the staff member also signed off on, They tried to charge me $2.40 a litre for fuel... and also they charged me for a scratch ... and get this. UNDERNEATH the car on the chassis... no bullshit, this was on the paper work they sent me . Needless to say i went into don't f**k with me mode and got their head office, the ACCC, Police and my local member of parliament involved and whoa and behold all of a sudden hertz tells me they made a "mistake"... hahahahahah mistake my frackin ass. they tried and failed to get away with it...tossers. anyway the manager of the branch got fired and so did another staff member and i got a letter from hertz offering free days when next i rented a car from them. They can stick that offer right up their perpendicular orifice, i will never rent a car from them again.
