My Bad U-Haul Experience Complete with Local TV News Footage
Written: Jul 20 '03 (Updated Aug 20 '03)
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Pros: I had a confirmed reservation
Cons: But they had no truck
The Bottom Line: If you expect a truck for the day U-Haul has promised you one, then you need to rent from someone other than U-Haul.
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| chposter's Full Review: U-Haul |
I wrote this review in hopes that you do not have the experience that I and many, many others have had.
More Information and News Footage
See more details, WRAL-TV footage, and News articles about my experience at http://www.thepeters.org/uhaul.htm
My Experience = No Truck anywhere in the Area
Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the quality of the trucks nor the helpfulness of the local dealer because U-Haul did not have the truck for which they gave me a confirmed reservation after I gave them my credit card number several days in advance of my move. I have read over 50 accounts of people's U-Haul problems on various web sites and I have found that I pity the local dealer, who is usually fairly good natured and just trying to earn some supplemental income. But, U-Haul is powerful and many dealers end up with bad personal reputations due to U-Haul's extremely poor customer service and lack of commitment. I asked U-Haul to pay the difference between my $105 reservation and the $290 alternative I had to seek. U-Haul sent me a lame $20 coupon for a future rental. With WRAL-TV's involvement, U-Haul reimbursed my full $290. Without a TV station on your side, though, you will have to take U-Haul to small claims court and it may not be worth the effort, as documented by another U-Haul customer in a link entitled "How to Sue U-Haul" on the above webpage.
A Strong Word of Caution about "Confirmed Reservations"
UHaul doesn't care about your "confirmed reservation", they only care about making money by renting trucks. UHaul's goal is to rent every truck every day. It appears to make no difference to UHaul if a hundred or ten thousand "confirmed" reservations are unable to be fulfilled. Based on a conversation documented on my web site, UHaul always gives out a "confirmed reservation", but has no way to know if you are going to get a truck because UHaul does not track its inventory. I have never had this problem with car rentals or hotel reservations. Airlines disclose that they overbook, they only overbook a certain percentage, and they are usually quick to compensate for changing your flight. If UHaul's ran the airlines, a popular flight would have thousands of folks with confirmed reservations vying for 200 seats. Even worse, though, is that most folks who use UHaul have a lease or closing deadline and friends and family lined up to help them move. Delays in getting a truck typically affect many other people and commitments.
What should be done?
State Attorney Generals office and the Federal Trade Commission should look into the fact that UHaul's confirmed reservations do not perform reasonably (I have filed complaints with NC AG and the FTC - but no action is evident). UHaul needs to shape up and disclose their overbooking rate and percentage of reservations unfulfilled after 1 hour of customer arrival reported by day of the week recently and in the same timeframe during the previous year. It appears that there is a class action suit in California on this matter.
I hope you don't have an experience like mine
I have documented every call I made trying to get this truck at http://www.thepeters.org/uhaul.htm
Equipment
UHaul has a variety of truck sizes from very small to very large, and they are one of the few rental places that offer a wide variety of trailers, including a trailer to carry your car behind the truck. I was going to rent the 17' truck for $95 including 140 miles free as well as a dozen furniture pads for $10. As I recall, the rentals are fixed at a particular number of days regardless of the distance, so make sure you check that out. UHaul reserves the right to upsize you at no additional fee, though I have read consumer accounts where a higher mileage rate is imposed in some situations. They also rent boxes, dolly, blankets, and other equipment (but sometimes they are out of these, as a very good friend of mine discovered in a move last year). Keep in mind that a local dealer's inventory of equipment is comprised of two groups of equipment. One group is for local rentals only and the other is only for one way rentals. You may not experience the reservation problem if you need a local rental and work directly with a particular local dealer in advance.
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Here's A Way That We Can Reduce identity Theft
Recommended:
No
Punctuality: Showed up late
Amount Paid (US$): 105
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Epinions.com ID:
chposter
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Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Discriminating hypershopper. I buy the best products and return the ones I don't love.
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