Budget Car Rental complaint: I think there is a scam going on in the business

Our family has rented dozens of times from various major car companies and many times from Budget. We have been to the islands 7 times and this is the first time we have been charged a cleaning fee. We were told, when dropping off the vehicle, that there was excessive sand and we would be charged $250. For a family of five on an island, you can’t expect us not to have had sand in the vehicle. That is absurd. I would understand if it were truly an excessive amount (like you could fill a sandwich sized ziploc) but honestly, there was barely any on the seats and the majority was from our feet on the mats. Had we had an opportunity to shake out the mats, that would have taken care of the excess. It would not take any more time to vacuum the amount that was in there vs. half the amount. I am assuming they do vacuum every vehicle upon its return. Anyway, we certainly left more sand in the past trips due to our young kids and their sand toys in a mini van vs. the jeep with our now older kids who prefer to get the sand off their bodies after a day at the beach (hence no sand on seats). We received an email from Nora Henry Budget Operations Team saying we are being charged $450!!!! What?!! It didn’t take much googling to find many people with the same experience as us. This has got to be a scam. I am absolutely disgusted with Budget/Avis and any other company that would choose to lose a loyal customer over grains of sand on an island. If anything, as a courtesy, hand over a dust buster to give an opportunity for the renter to vacuum the excess unless they want to be charged. Oh, and the bottles I left was something I would normally grab however, when we pulled up the attendant immediately enters the car which makes one feel so pressured to hurry and she was quick to mention the sand charge so I was dumbfounded that I didn’t think to get them. They were already in there snapping pictures to hold against us. It left a sour taste in our mouth to end our vacation on that note. I am all about principal and would take full responsibility if we actually did damage by leaving a stain or anything that would cause a lot of time in labor to remedy. This is WRONG!