ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County man claims someone stole a rental truck he returned and now the company wants him to pay for the joyride.
Josh Allbee regrets using the Budget rental truck for his move from Virginia to Oviedo. He claims the company is forcing him to pay for someone else's wild ride after he returned the truck.
“I just don't have $1,500 to give away for their mistake,” Allbee said.
According to Allbee, Budget's Winter Park office was closed when he returned the truck, so he used the drop box and followed directions.
“I filled out the form, put it in the box with the keys and everything," he said.
Nine days later, Allbee got a disturbing call from Budget.
“The police have found the truck you were renting alongside the road with an empty tank of gas and keys in the ignition,” Allbee said he was told.
Budget blamed Allbee and billed him $1,500 in rental charges for nine extra days. He protested and wanted to see the company's security videos, saying that would prove he dropped off the keys and the truck.
“Have they shown you the surveillance tapes?” Action 9's Todd Ulrich asked Allbee.
“They have not,” he said.
Ulrich went to Budget's location run by Hill's Van Service.
“He's being charged for nine days. How can that happen? He dropped (the) keys off,” said Ulrich.
“There were no keys here,” replied a manager.
Budget told Allbee his contract reads until an employee has the keys in hand he was responsible.
“Then the customer's held responsible no matter what happens,” said Allbee.
Three days later, after Ulrich contacted Budget, the $1,500 fee was dropped. The company could not prove he kept the truck, a complete reversal from what Allbee had been told.
“I did what I said I did, and someone else took it,” said Allbee.
Budget suggested when keys are left in a drop box, the customer's responsible until an employee removes them.
Hills Van did not respond to Action 9's latest calls.
Here is the response from Budget:
"According to the Terms and Conditions of the Budget Truck Rental contract that Mr. Allbee signed, he as the customer remains responsible for the vehicle when it is returned after hours until it is checked in by an agent, and will be charged for any late return.
"On this basis, Budget Truck sought to recover the rental fees for the full-time that the truck was out, for which Mr. Allbee was contractually responsible. In light of the fact that the video that would confirm or refute Mr. Albee's assertion is no longer available (we do not keep such recordings indefinitely) and based on our investigation, we have decided to accept Mr. Albee's assertion.
"Accordingly, we have dropped all extra-time charges and have closed this case, and have communicated this to Mr. Allbee."