I Hate U-Haul Truck Rental (And So Does Everyone Else)
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U-Haul is, in my personal opinion, quite possibly one of the most poorly managed businesses still in business and the only way they get away with it is because they’re almost the only game in town. The U stands for Unreliable. Ask anyone if they’ve ever had or heard of someone having a bad experience with U-Haul and prepare yourself for an intricate story about how U-Haul screwed them This is exactly what happened to me this weekend. (I added to the title because everyone else hates U-Haul too!)
I was to help my girlfriend and her roommate move out of their apartment in New Jersey starting at 10am on Saturday. The night before, her roommate called and confirmed (the guy said they had the truck on site and she could pick it up at 10ish the next day) that the truck they reserved was ready for us tomorrow. She calls the next day right before she is supposed to leave – truck isn’t there. Truck was never there. In the general area, there were no one-way trucks available for rental because it was the end of the month and they were all booked (reserved! ha!). We didn’t get a truck until 7pm, didn’t depart until 11pm, and worked all through the night until 6am unpacking.
One year ago, when my roommate and I moved out of our apartment (and into another), we too ran into the same situation. The U-Haul site had decided, even with our reservation, to rent our truck out to a walk-in customer because they didn’t know if we would show up. We didn’t get a truck that day until 2pm. This year, we opted to use a minivan from a reputable rental agency.
U-Haul is unreliable and dishonest. While they’ll gladly take your cancellation fee, they won’t give you any money if they screw you and rent out a truck you need. Most of the time we’re talking about end of the month moves where you need to follow a strict schedule in order to check out of the apartment, complete the final walk-through, and get on your way. If we didn’t move, we would have to continue paying a rent because of U-Haul’s unreliability. Don’t call it a reservation if you don’t reserve anything.
My fellow bloggers who read this, write a post about how U-Haul has screwed you and trackback to this one. Non-bloggers, send this to a friend and have them comment and/or pass it along. Spread the word, like a virus, that U-Haul is a business that should go down the tubes.
If you need to move, use these alternatives (I haven’t used them but U-Haul has screwed me two out of two times, so I’d use any of these before U-Haul ever again):
- Budget/Ryder – Ryder was acquired by Budget, so try Budget for your moving needs.
- Penske – I see their trucks all the time and the drivers are always smiling, so they can’t be all that bad.
- Hertz – Word on the street is that Hertz rents trucks as well.
- Public Storage – Storage companies typically will let you use their truck if you rent from them and with the smallest storage closets running about $30 a month, this is a great deal for in-town moves.
From the comments, it also sounds like even if you get a truck (the “lucky” ones), they aren’t reliable (surprise!) and could die on you.
U-Haul CEO’s Cell Phone Number
Courtesy of the Consumerist:
The CEO of Uhaul gave out his cellphone number last night on an episode of Inside Edition, inviting consumers to call with complaints or questions. Joe Shoen explained saying, “People can’t get this organization to behave, I can.” That number is 602-390-6525.
Let him have it!
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Aug 01, 2005 | Read more in Product Reviews, The Home
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ONE MORE THING, I PHONED JOE SHOEN’S CELL AND HIS VOICEBOX WAS FULL. I WAS UNABLE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE. HIS PROMISE TO ACCEPT PHONE CALLS FROM THE PUBLIC IS UNTRUE. FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO TRY THEIR LUCK, SHOEN’S CELL PHONE NUMBER IS 602-390-6525.
Three years ago I used UHaul to move a scant 90 miles. Here’s a synopsis of my experience:
* I reserved a truckin advance and go pick up the truck on the appropriate day at 7am. The truck has the “check engine” light on. I go inside twice to ask if I need another truck but they ASSURE me that it’s no big deal. Ok, whatever you guys say…
* Truck is loaded by 9am, we head out.
* When we get on the highway, I notice that the truck is making a horrible sound in its highest gear. When we get into the Texas hill country, I also notice that while the truck is making this horrible sound, I’m unable to maintain speed on hills: I’m getting no traction in the transmission in that gear. The transmission is hosed. I hope that coasting downhill will help me maintain speed enough to just get to my destination: it’s an incredibly short trip.
* About halfway through the trip I can no longer coast the truck faster than 45mph: I decide it’s unsafe to continue. I exit, stop on the side of the road, and call the UHaul help line.
* UHaul sends out a mechanic after an hour and a half wait: he tops off the transmission fluid and asks me to drive 2 miles to the nearest gas station to test if that helped. The check engine light went off (but the warning light was no big deal, REALLY!) but the problem was not resolved. The mechanic can do no more.
* I wait THREE HOURS at the gas station for a tow truck to hoist up the UHAUL truck and drive the rest of the trip. Remember how they tell you to pack all the heavy stuff at the front of the truck? Imagine the truck’s front tires being raised 3-4 ft off the ground, putting the truck at an incline towards the back of the truck. Heavy stuff shifts backwards onto light stuff. Good times. We get to our destination in 6 hours, usually an hour and a half trip.
* I bought insurance for my items because I was basically moving everything I owned in that one truck. Only a few things were broken, thankfully, but when I angrily called Uhaul customer service over 10 times in the next two weeks explaining that I had warned the station when I picked up the truck that the check engine light was on and that their customer service was atrocious, I ended up getting a FULL REFUND for the rental AND the insurance, which more than covered my broken stuff.
Bottom line: if you have problems with UHaul (or ANY service company) don’t give up on calling, every day, several times a day, until they resolve it. Oh, and never use UHaul.
Somewhere around here i have a pic of the UHaul up on the tow truck and on the side of it, I photoshopped their advertisement “In Town Moves” to say “In Tow Moves.” It is hilarious.
I hate UHaul….and I work for the shameless company! They screw you the minute you call. they dont care what your plans are, they overbook, just because they can! So what if you have to move or be somewhere? U-Haul’s policy….WE DONT CARE.
I made a reservation for truck pick up on Saturday morning in store three weeks ago .I got a message from U-haul, I was told the computer was shut down when I called back around 5. When I called early morning on Friday, I was told that I could only pick up around 5 pm. My friend spent one hour in store and begged whether we pick up a little earlier as we need to leave virginia on Sunday early Morning, finally we were arranged to pick up around 12pm. The problem was the mirror on the passenger side, it was almost useless as it vibrated so much. I have to ask my friend sitting next to me and watch out for the traffic on the right. It was 250 miles drive, and really scary.
Where should I begin? My complaints with this moving company are numerous, and rightfully so.
I had made a reservation for a 17′ truck for a one-way move. During the afternoon prior to my requested pick-up date, a service representative called to inform me that a 17′ truck was not available. As he stated, one may become available in the afternoon. When I inquired about the specific ‘afternoon’ time, he responded, “It could be as late as four [p.m.].” I was left with the option to obtain a 14′ truck with an attached trailer, being that I could not wait until the late afternoon to begin my move. I was irritated that, having reserved a specific-sized vehicle, I was not able to rent what I had wanted. Instead, I was stuck with a vehicle that was very difficult to maneuver. (More on the truck-trailer issue later.)
My girlfriend and I arrived at the U-Haul pick-up location at 8 AM. We were surprised to see only two employees working behind the counter and a line already formed in front of us. We had to wait for service for thirty minutes. The paperwork and truck-trailer attachment took another fifteen minutes. The employee who dealt with our rental did not provide us with much information–he told us that the truck had to be returned to the drop-off location the following day (which we had to inquire about–he did not offer this information without being asked).
When we drove the rental to my apartment complex, we quickly found that the trailer attachment was extremely hard to maneuver. Backing up the truck was a time-consuming task, being that the trailer portion would not align itself with the truck–rather, it veered off to the side.
Hours later, after having moved my apartment’s belongings into the truck (and trailer), we tried to close the truck’s door. Result: The door was stuck–it would barely budge. On closer inspection, we found that the coils on both sides of the door were incorrectly wound. So, we called U-Haul’s general service number and were told that maintenance personnel would arrive in less than an hour.
Over two hours later, after several phone calls on our part to find out what the delay was (traffic was the excuse given to us), a maintenance representative arrived at my complex, and he took about an hour to fix the door. Because of a maintenance issue that should have been checked by U-Haul personnel at the pick-up location PRIOR to renting the truck, our move was significantly delayed. We did not arrive to the location I was moving to until 7 PM. Because of arriving so late, we moved some of my belongings into the new location that evening but understandably decided to finish our move on the following day.
I called the 1-888 number the following day once we had removed everything from the truck and trailer. The service representative I spoke with over the phone gave me the address of a drop-off location, which we went to thereafter. Once we had parked our rental, we walked inside the gas station convenience store (of the drop-off location) and were told by the employees within that they were not set up to accept drop-off rentals and that we would have to take our truck-trailer elsewhere. Thoroughly irritated that I had been given an incorrect location, I called the 1-888 number again, reached the same female representative, and informed her of her error. I made it clear to her that this was a major inconvenience to us. However, she was not apologetic; instead, she was rude.
We drove to the second drop-off location given to us, which was quite a distance away from the house that I had moved by belongings to. On the way over, my girlfriend called the number for this second location to make sure they would accept our rental. (We did not want to have to make a third trip to yet another drop-off location.) The male employee who answered the phone said something to the effect of “I guess so” when my girlfriend asked if we could drop off our rental there. Unbelievable.
Hoping that we would be “rid” of the truck-trailer once and for all and would simply have to have the “I guess so” employee inspect the truck and have us sign whatever necessary documents, we were told that we owed eighty-some dollars. Shocked, we asked what the fee was for. He told us that we had turned in our rental late and had gone over the given/included miles. We had not been told that we had a specific drop off time, our move was delayed for three hours due to a maintenance issue that should have been caught and corrected prior to renting out the faulty vehicle, and we were given an incorrect drop-off spot by a U-Haul service representative and had to drive additional miles–essentially backtracking–to get to the second, farther location. Yet we owed eighty-some dollars.
Lastly, we were also overcharged at the pick-up location. After inspecting the receipt tucked inside the booklet given to us, I found that we were charged for two dollies that we had not requested, reserved, or used. I had to call numerous times to have the money put back onto my charge card, which, I should add, still (a day after the phone call) has not appeared on my account.
Overall, we had a rough move thanks to U-Haul. We will unquestionably never rent anything from this company again.
First I would like to clear something up, Uhaul is based mostly off of independent dealers, and then there are the Uhaul centers, which are corporate. I bet the experiences came from the independent dealers. Why I say this I am an independent dealer myself and am sorry about the way you guys where treated. There are times a truck can break down, but that really don’t happen much. The worst thing happen for customer is another customer come back really late, so I would give the customer waiting a discount. Uhaul dealers in my area suck cause Uhaul is not their main focus, its a supplemental income to them, so thats why you get the crappy treatment. Where I am a mail and parcel center, Uhaul is a big part of my income with the rest of the business. here is my website and if you are ever in Pittsburgh, Pa i’ll take care of you. http://www.shippingandboxesplus.com
I agree with dealer attitudes and the supplemental income. However, corporate centers are just as guilty along with the traffic department that serve them. Get your blinders off about trucks breaking down though. I’m happy that you are one of the few quality, 5 star dealers ( I hope), that are remaining with U-Haul.
I recently rented a Hertz van to move stuff from Montreal to the greater Cleveland area. The problem with international moves is that a lot of times the Unlimited Miles thing becomes void once you cross the border…at least from Canada Hertz. It doesn’t seem to work like that the other way around. So, I took a quick bus ride down to a Hertz at the Burlington, VT airport and rented a van from there. It’s about 1.5 hours south of Montreal, so I drove back up, loaded the items, and headed out to Ohio. 12 hours total (from initial move to Cleveland) and not a problem. The only downside is when you go to a car rental place (Hertz, Budget, Enterprise, etc) they tend to charge you more when you are not returning a vehicle then when you bring it back to the original location. Still, the one-day one-way rental was nothing compared to the horrors of a U-Haul that leaves the local area (where they charge $19,95 a day). Hertz even had a weekend special where I got a GPS free (it’s usually something like $25-35/a day.)
Another issue with U-Haul is (and sorry if someone already mentioned this) that in smaller towns and cities the U-Hauls will be operated by someone who owns a moving or storage company. So half the time you are not actually dealing with U-Haul directly, but some schmuck who runs his own small business and has to keep track of these beat-up rental vans themselves.
I know the U-Haul policy. You have misunderstood U-Haul policy regarding next day reservations. You should have received a call by your local regional office (traffic) by 10 am the morning of your move informing you of your pick up location. It sounds like you are one of the majority of people that call at the last second demanding a U-Haul truck when and where they please. Your pick up location and time is subject to change based on equipment availability. The next time you set up a reservation you should listen to what the agent is telling you.
U-Haul trucks are a finite resource and cannot appear when and where every
single person wants them. Next time, plan ahead, and you will receive a truck when and where you want it.
I agree with this comment. You should plan ahead. I am sure that if you had, you may not have encountered those problems. U-Haul gives you exta days to make one-way moves, so you could have picked up your truck a day earlier than needed and had it packed for an early morning departure. That is what I did. P.S. Your ideas about Budget and Penske are not great either. Both of those companies use freight trucks. Freight trucks are high off the ground. Have you ever tried lugging a refrigerator or heavy chest up that ramp of theirs? Good luck! They also have a center beam beneath the floor that is meant for heavy weight bearing loads. With furniture and boxes it only causes them to bounce sky high and cause damage. You really need to do some research before you go advising people out of anger.
Best,
Marc
I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance for a 17 ft truck . No problem until the day before when they called to confirm the reservation for pick up in another city ! They didn’t have a truck available at the original location anymore and there was no offer to make amends or allowances…. this is 2nd time they have not had the truck that I reserved and I will not use them again.
OMG!! i thought i was the only one! I was just looking them up in the bbb because much like what i have just read. I got charged $50 reservation fee mind you i called the same day to cancel, because i found a truck to help. Uhaul informed me that they went ahead and canceled my reservation because they weren’t going to have the truck available for me the next day. So why do i find a charge on my credit card for something I NEVER EVEN USED?????? i am currently trying to find out who owns this said location to give them a kick in the ass!! thank you for posting the CEO’s number!
I gotta tell ya…. I’ve use U-Haul over and over and over again and never ONCE had a bad experience with them. The employees have always been courtious and very accomidating. I’m not saying they have a perfect day everyday…. no company does. However, everyone seems to be bashing the company and I have to say for me, they have been the most inexpensive and accomidating moving company available.
Need a hitch for your Jeep Wrangler?
Forget your local U-Haul Dealer; they’ve never installed a hitch on a stock Jeep Wrangler with 5300 miles and they have no idea of the time-labor cost until they finish the job.
They’ll low-ball the price (half hour labor) over the phone and, then, play the “surprise, surprise” game and tell you it took “over an hour” to install it.
In my case, their installer never showed up for work after I left the vehicle, so, an hour later, I was called and told to come get the vehicle; “we’ll install it tomorrow and knock off fifty dollars.”
“Knock off Fifty Dollars” translates to “inflate the price of labor and charge you what we were originally going to charge you but thanks for coming back, sucker.”
My suggestion: stick with a local company who can look you in the eye with an honest estimate.
Dave Johnson
I stumbled on this, and just wanted to say I’ve had a positive experience with U-Haul. One time I had to do what was supposed to be a short In-Town move, so I only booked a van for an hour. Well, turns out there were some unexpected traffic problems and other issues that were certainly no fault to U-Haul. It ended up taking 3-4 hours, partially because of unforseen circumstance and partially because of bad planning.
I was afraid that they were going to be really mad at us for returning the van late, but it turns out that they were very understanding, and it turns out that they didn’t even charge us for all the time we used (we must’ve gotten like 1-2 hours free). Any other company would have socked us for our mistakes.
Even some of the people who are complaining about U-Haul on this blog admit that they got full refunds in the end. No company is perfect, and it does sound like U-Haul has some reliability issues, but at least they don’t try to nickle-and-dime you like other rental companies.
I would choose U-Haul over Hertz, Budget or one of the other well known rental companies, because while the latter may be more slick with handling customers, my experience is that they are also very dishonest and sleezy when you just want rent a car, much less a truck. They will not tell you the full price upfront, and they will try to find ways to tack on as many charges as they can after they have your CC. You may not even find out what all those hidden fees are until you get your credit card statement.
With U-Haul at least, you can often pay with cash so you don’t have to worry about scumbags playing with your credit card charges. Also, I’ve heard of people having reservation problems where they can’t get the vehicle they want, at all major rental places. I think that maybe people want more from U-Haul, because moving is hassle enough without extra complications, but I doubt anyone else is really doing better.
I don’t usually complain but I really have a problem. I have a 2003 Ford Explorer and I can’t get anybody to help me tow my Dads’ old 68 Ford. That truck has been his since 68, now it is mine I live 37 miles away from where it sits. AAA won’t tow it because I used my towing allotment for the year. They said if I don’t use it I can have the truck towed 100 miles at no cost to me. Unfortunatly I used the tow service to unlock the keys in my car. I had to use it when my cars tranny went out. So…… Is U-Haul the only company that won’t let you use a 2003 Ford Explorer to tow a vehicle with a dolly????
Uhaul will not rent ANY trailer behind Any Ford Explorer, including Explorer Sport-trac
That is correct sir. U-Haul is the only company that offers customers to rent behind their own vehicle excluding the Ford Explorer of all years. All the other moving competitors actually REQUIRE you to use their MOVING TRUCK to rent and tow their Car Carriers and Dollies. The best alternative if you have a Ford Explorer is to find someone else with a different vehicle OR PAY
I can honestly state that I have never been as dissatisfied with a business as I have been with U-Haul. Your business practices are deceptive at best and border on fraudulent.
When making a reservation on-line, you quote a rate, however, the actual reservation will most likely be in another city. This requires extra mileage which is charged at $0.69 per mile. In my case this amounted to an additional $40 to the already quoted rate. Additionally, the reservation location is not disclosed until after close of business on the day prior to the required reservation, therefore, there is little opportunity to locate any other provider.
The most deceptive charge, and the one I fond most concerning, is the fuel supply. The contract states some amount and the customer has little choice but to accept it. The problem is that it is not a quantifiable amount. The analogue gauge in the vehicle is little more than an estimate of the actual quantity of fuel in the tank. If the tank were full, the amount could be determined accurately, but when it is given as 3/8 or some such, it is not possible to determine exactly where the fuel level should be when the vehicle is returned. This leave ample room for interpretation and fraud. So it was with little surprise that I was contacted and notified that the fuel level was not what the attendant thought it should be. To my utter dismay, I was informed I would be charged $50 for three gallons of fuel! This is nothing short of extortion! Given that there is NO valid determination of an accurate measure of how much fuel was actually in the vehicle when I took possession of it, how can it possibly be determined how much more should have been in it when it was returned? In addition, how can you possibly justify the exorbitant fee of $50? That amount would more than fill the tank, even at current prices. There is absolutely no method by which you can quantify or validate this charge.
The fact of the matter is that the amount of fuel I replaced was greater than that I used, and left the tank with more fuel than was in the tank when I took possession of the vehicle. Since you provide no service attendant to check in the vehicle, I can only assume you have a thief, or your representative is misstating the facts to his own purposes or advantage.
I find your business practices appalling, deceptive, dishonest, and outright fraudulent. Because of your deceptive practices, a rental that should have been around $100 increased an additional $90! Almost double what was expected.
I can assure you that I will never utilise your services again, and I will actively discourage others from using your services whenever I have the opportunity.
I have worked for u-haul(a store owned by u-haul, not a gas station that rents them out) and I have to say this, the people who run the hole in the wall U-Haul’s outta gas station are complete idiots, and usually mess everything up. Also recently U-Haul has been producing heaps of new trucks, so the older truck get retired and put up for sale. When I first started(two years ago) i was renting out a 1989 Ford F-Series, not the oldest thing we have is a 1997, most of out trucks being 2000’s or newer. Regarding the Fuel gauge, the reason you were charged 50 bucks was there was a 30 dollar refuleing fee, as well as 5dollars per gallon(5 dollars is what my store, in the boston area is charging. I understand it changes from place to place). Next time you rent ANYTHING with wheels, before you leave check the millage and gas against the contract, if it’s wrong go back in and talk to the employee. You also might have underestamated the thirstiness of the engine. Most of the 14 foot trucks have 7.5 litre v8’s, im pretty sure all the 17’s have a V10. And to you people calling for U-haul to go bankrupt. Youre selfish idiots. U-Haul has something like 5000 u-haul centers nationwide, Place run and owned by U-Haul, if you haul closed, and each center had 3 people working, that would mean 15 THOUSAND people would no longer have a job., and most centers have more than 3 people workin. You people who expect the world from U-Haul when you make your reservation less than 24 hours in advance are seriously deluded. During the week in the winter, You could walk right in and get just about any truck off the lot, but in the summer your going to need alot of luck, especially labor day weekend. Sure U-Haul may have some complete Jalopies in their fleet, but for the most part, they do a pretty good job keeping the trucks clean and well maintained. I probably deal with around 20 people a day who are genuinely glad they chose u-haul, and I have a lot of repeat customers BECAUSE we take care of them. Your mostly gunna hear from the angry customers, because they’re the ones who are gunna scream the most. Happy Renting!
This guys are RUDE at best; DISHONEST to the best; SCREWED UP my whole moving plan even after reservation 3 weeks in advance.. and they still advertise $50 guaranteed if your reservation is not held. LIERS! Talked to Corp 800 number, regional office customer service and store managers they all same.
I WONT TRUST or RENT UHaul again!
I had a bad experience with U-haul.
I had reserved a U-haul pick up-truck to be picked up from my town.
One day before I move, they called me and said that the U-haul office in my town does not have the pick-up truck. They instead reserved me to pick up the truck from another city which was about 30 miles away from my town and then deliver the the truck to the same location.
I couldn’t pay extra money for 60 miles so i just canceled the reservation
This will top them all. Atlanta U-Haul. My brother-in-law and his friend were returning the truck. Got pulled over and 3 State Trooper cars blocked the truck. Threw them on the ground, yealling at them and searched them and the truck. UHaul had forgotten to deactivate the “stolen truck report” from weeks prior. Again, no apologies and no money back. These two guys were in their 60’s and both with serious health problems. Good job UHAUL!
We had an extremely bad experience, also. We rented a uhaul storage unit, in Indiana. The person in charge ended up taking our payments, and not posting them. We moved to Ohio, and were still sending payments. All of a sudden, we get a letter stating that our belongings had been sold, due to non-payment on the unit. When I contacted higher-ups, to complain, nothing was done. I didn’t even get a response, even though I sent copies of the receipts given us. After a year of fighting, we just gave up, and lost thousands of dollars worth of belongings. Upon my last attempt to rectify the situation, right before giving up, I was told that the manager had been fired. Was that supposed to be a comfort? Oh, and by the way, it was NOT at a gas station rental site, it was one of the big company sites!
I wish I had read this before I rented a U-Haul trailer to move my soni into college–not the kindof move you ever hire a mover for. I thought I was renting a U-Haul in Stamford, CT but the day before I get a call saying that I have to drive out to White Plains NY to pick it up. Then I get 2 e-mails with pick-up times for the afternoon which give me 2 different pick-up times, and differ from my arrangement. When I pick up the trailer the lights on the one we tried don’t work. I feel badly for the guy on his way to pick up that one! I get a different one. I follow the plans and call the 800 number when I am donein Boston and they give me a return location somewhere in a place called Malden, MA. No directions, of course, but I somehow find this place and when I get there they refuse to accept it, saying that they can’t fit it in their lot (what?) and threaten to charge me $300 if I leave it. They tell me I can return it to one of 2 locations in nearby towns. Running out of time because it is near closing time, on the way we call one of them and nobody there can give us directions because they are not familiar with the area. Are you kidding me? This must be a bad dream. I am trying to get rid of this darn trailer, driving in a strange location without adequate maps or directions beacause I never knew I would be driving there!
I finally arrive at location number 3 in Lynne, MA and the staff is helpful, kind and intelligent. Whoa! A U-Haul breath of fresh air!
I have read this blog and am amazed at the stories. I hate to say it, but a few of the stories actually had me laughing very hard. (It’s only funny if you are sitting in the comfort of your home) I agree with some of the defenses raised by the company employees here–it is fairly inexpensive–but the service is just horrible.
In my case, why send me way out to Malden MA and then refuse to accept the drop-off? It’s not like I picked a convenient location for me, I was sent there!
Uhaul gave me a truck at 2pm. They told me it was due back at 6pm. They told me this, not over the phone the day before, but at the desk when I came to pick my truck up. I complained that that wasn’t enough time, but the less than sympathetic staff said I had to take it or leave it. Since my lease was up and I had hired movers waiting, I really didn’t have a choice.
I signed up for a day rental, they gave me 4 hrs. That’s how much time I had to move my entire home. And of course when I didn’t turn it in on time, they charged me for a second day rental (even though my total time was well below 24 hrs) and an inconvenience fee. I had to pay THEM an inconvenience fee, when being forced to move my home in less than 4 hours is pretty darn inconvenient.
I will never use Uhaul again. Penske all the way. I’ve even had good experiences with Budget. Uhaul deserves to die a horrible, horrible death.
I used to work for u-haul these trucks and company is crap, all they care about is making a buck and not caring for the customers. They had fleets of trucks in service for over 15 years of service and still wanted to make more on these crappy trucks. Then they sell them to other people for more money. This is my two cents
The guarantee is a joke. Just try to collect on that!!!!
Uhaul has lost me forever.
Yeah give Penske a try, pretty solid.
Unfortunately, each U-Haul station is vulnerable to the manager of that location. As a company, they are reported to be the “cut-rate” guys and now you see how they do that. They also sell moving supplies – expensive and poor quality. Do NOT buy their boxes and wrapping materials. If you have STAPLES in your area, you will do better there. My other complain on two experiences was the very poor quality/condition of their trucks – and the take-it-or leave it attitude. Good idea to go take a look at what they have in stock ahead of time – then you have time to negotiate vesus trying to keep a deadline. Also – do shop around – there are other options. Best luck!
Oh boo hoo, you bunch of whiners..You haven’t noticed or awakened to the fact that U-Haul has cleaned up it’s act and now operates with mostly new trucks and expertly remanufactured trailers. If they are abandoned on the road now, it’s usually out of gas problems.
As far as not having a truck at your disposal….Don’t whine on the weekends..It’s supply and demand and the dealers try their best to accomodate the customer. Things happen, like a truck you’re suppose to get is not brought back to the dealer as the contract states by some “don’t give a s*** ” customer, or a truck has an unforseen maintenance problem. BTW, if you have a guaranteed reservation and UH can’t fill it, you get $50….Did U Know That?
I agree.. U haul is shameless in business … I am going online just now to get a truck and i will pay more just to not give them money. They lie and probably treat their employee poorly. They say the truck you paid for 2 weeks in advance has been rented from the location of which you need to pick up… and that you must travel to another city to get one and then to a totally opposit city to get the trailer for your car… and then laugh at you when you plead for them to help you… however, if you drive to the location where you had the reservation … there could be 20 trucks like you reserved.. then, if you call and try to make a reservation right there on the spot for that moment .. they say “Sure, we have one for you” … then they have no explanation as to why they have put you through total hell in the mean time. DO not give them business… we need a revolution.
The Payment is not taken when you reserve the equipment ( unless you reserve on-line, then there is a $5.00 fee), for a local rental, you pay when you return the truck. One way rentals are paid in advance.
i’m gonna get it i’m sure! i just left a crap msg for the guy at uhaul… i said some bad things… then i told him he can call me if he wants…
i hate what u haul did to my last move…. they suck pretty bad.
Oh please you people should try working on the other side of the counter. I’m a GM of a corp owned U-Haul. Try dealing with customers that come running in on a busy end of the month weekend and demand a truck “I see some one your lot” yes but they have reservations on them. Or how about when I ask them “how long will you need the truck?” and they tell me “oh i’ll be back by 2pm” then i book the next customer at 2:30 but then guess what the first customer calls and say “Oh I’m going to need it till tommorrow” When I explain about the next customer they reply “not my problem” or how about the customer who drives 200 miles drops my truck off at night with no gas and then when we go to charge there card its declined.
I work with every customer that walks into my store. If I dont have a truck for them I’ll find them one. Things do happen to our trucks but we cannot foresee them just like if your car broke down on the side of the road. How am I suppose to know if the fuel pump is going to go out at that moment. Did you know your fuel pump was going to go out no I don’t think so.
I know I’m going on but everyone has something bad to say about every business. Some supermarket has higher prices then another. I could go on and on about Wal-mart and there nasty cashiers and floor people but thats for another blog.
As a Uhaul Dealer I see the other side also
For example, Two women came into my shop, in Pittsburgh Pa. at 5:30pm on a Friday in August. They wanted a 17 ft truck. The only one available, had a prior reservation at 11:00 am Saturday, when I informed them of this, they assured me it would be returned by 10:00 am.Fast foward to 4:12 pm Saturday, after repeated unanswered calls, I finally get a breakdown report about my truck, it is in Montgomery Alabama, with a dead battery.
The truck was returned, 3 days late,at night, no gas, dirty in the cab and the box, damaged mirror, and over 1800 miles on the meter. I missed 4 reservations, and their credit card only cover $250 of the $2000.00 they owed.
Remember this; Uhaul is a BUSINESS not a charity.
I’ve rented from Uhaul 3 times this year and had major problems 2 of those times. I spoke to the regional manager this last time and he could hardly care less. All he did was feed me a ton of excuses. I will never use them again!
UHAUL OPERATES LIKE ALL RENTAL COMPANIES. RESERVING EQUIPMENT BASED ON ITS RETURNING FROM PREVIOUS RENTALS. IF A RENTER DOES NOT RETURN ON TIME (EXPECIALLY ON A BUSY WEEKEND) YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY EQUIP TO COVER RESERVATION.(EXAMPLE AMERICAN AIRLINES LIKE ALL AIRLINES DOUBLE AND TRIPLE BOOKS ALL FLIGHTS AND CANCELS ADDS AS NEEDED) SOMETIMES WITH CUSTOMERS SPENDING HOURS EVEN DAYS WAITING. IF YOU WERE SMART YOU WOULD HAVE USED THERE MISTAKES TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AND GOTTEN THE RENTAL DISCOUNTED AND OR FREE HAPPENS EVERYDAY WITH ALL RENTAL ,AIRLINE,HOTEL ETC. IT IS PART OF RENTING.
wess you are an idiot who more than likley works for u-haul
chucky shamroci i dealt with you personaly & i also know you personaly & i think you are the rudest idiot i have ever knowen
Uhaul took my money for boxes and moving help then refused to rent me a truck the day I went to pick up the truck they confirmed with me, because they allege I rented an appliance dolly for over a month and traveled 3 states south to drop it off, in a different truck that was not mine. Clearly, the UHAUL agent lost the dolly and the truck ended up in South Carolina. I rented a truck and a dolly for ONE day. Now, UHAUL is saying: “its too far back for us to go in the records to prove you dont owe that money. just pay it”.
Mr. Shoen is getting a call from me. I had to pay 4 days rent to both my landlord AND the place I moved to because UHAUL screwed me so bad. UHAUL is INCONSIDERATE, NOT VERY POLITE and IRRESPONSBILE. Hopefully, Mr. Schoen can tell me otherwise. I also filed my report on RipOFfReports.
ive rented from uhaul once, i moved my college belongings to my parents house 150 miles away, and i got the in town trailer cause it was $18 instead of $77 for the one way and i was gonna be staying in the college town at a friends for another week. That was perfectly good and this is the center in Chico, CA
However, when i wanted to move all my shit BACK from Napa to Chico, i went to the gas station in napa on the corner of imola and freeway dr, and the guy says he doesnt have any 5×8 trailers, so he redirects me to a liquor store on the other side of town, and its $75 so i go fine thats still less than it would cost to make 2 trips with my pickup truck
so then my dad sayas hes gotta go up to chico anyways and he also has a pickup, so i call the liquor store to cancel the reservation, he does it no cancellation charge says its all good. Uhaul then calls me 2 hrs later to confirm my reservation and i said i cancelled it and the liquor store said it was all good
uhaul ended up canceling
but anyhow, im likely moving from Chico CA to Phoenix AZ in January with my new girlfriend, so my pickup and a 5×8 likely isnt gonna cut it
so for a 16′ truck budget is $732 while uhaul is over a grand … so no uhaul is not the cheapest game in town anymore … and this doesnt make sense seeing as uhauls headquarters are in phoenix!
I have rented with Uhaul 5 times and I have never had a problem with them. I always put my reservation in 2 or 3 weeks early and they always have the truck and the “tow”. Hopefully everything goes well next week when I move from Tampa to St Louis. But I would always refer my friends or family to U-Haul.
I work for U-Haul. U-Haul is the biggest SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT truck company
THIS SITE IF WONDERFUL. WISH I HAD READ IT BEFORE WE RENTED THIS U-HAUL
I HELPED MY DAUGHTER’S FAMILY MOVE FROM GAINSVILLE FLORIDA TO
PALM COAST FLORIDA. NO PROBLEM GETTING THE U-HAUL. HERE IS THE
HITCH. THEY RENT OUT THESE U-HAUL TRUCKS TO US HARD WORKING CUSTOMERS AT A QUARTER OF A TANK FULL. NOW, YOUR RENTAL CAR COMES FULL, CORRECT? NOT U-HAUL.
THIS IS TO U-HAUL’S BENEFIT. HOW MANY OF YOU OUT THERE CAN GET
IT RIGHT BACK TO A QUARTER OF A TANK? U-HAUL HOLDS THE $35.00
FEE OVER A RENTERS HEAD IF THE GAUGE IS NOT WHERE IT WAS WHEN IT
WAS PICKED UP. SO THERE IS SOME GUESS WORK INVOLVED AND I WOULD
VENTURE TO SAY THAT THE MAJORITY OF US GO A LITTLE OVER. (MULTIPLY
THAT TIMES THE AMOUNT OF TIMES THAT VEHICLE IS RENTED OUT AND WE’RE TALKING QUITE A CHUNK OF CHANGE AT THE END OF THE YEAR FOR JUST THAT ONE U-HAUL TRUCK ALONE.) THE NEXT MORNING ON THE WAY TO DELIVER THIS U-HAUL MY SON-IN LAW STOPPED AT A GAS STATION TO PUT MORE GAS INTO THE TANK, IN ADDITION TO THE GAS HE PUT IN ON THE TRIP OVER SO THAT THE GAUGE WILL BE UP TO A QUARTER OF A TANK. $35.00 WORTH OF GAS AND THE NEEDLE IS NOT MOVING. HE FIGURED HE’D GO A LITTLE FURTHER TO SEE IF THE GAUGE WOULD REGISTER. NOTHING. SO HE STOPS AT A SECOND GAS STATION TO GET YET MORE GAS. THE DROP OFF SITE IS ABOUT 7 MILES FROM HIS NEW HOME SO WE’RE NOT GOING ON A LONG TRIP HERE. THE ADDITIONAL $15.00 WORTH OF GAS AT $2.79 A GALLON SHOOTS THE NEEDLE UP FROM BELOW !/4 OF A TANK TO 1/2 OF A TANK! NOW WHO GETS THE BENEFIT OF THE ADDITIONAL 10 GALLONS OR SO THAT WE PUT IN? I’M GOING ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT SINCE WE WERE TOLD THIS IS A 40 GALLON TANK, EACH 1/4 INCREMENT STANDS FOR 10 GALLONS. I REALLY FEEL CUSTOMERS GET SHAFTED BY U-HAUL.
I TALKED TO SOMEONE ABOUT THIS-NOT AFFILIATED WITH U-HAUL. I WAS TOLD THAT SOME TANKS ARE ROUND. WHEN THAT HAPPENS IT IS
VERY LIKELY THE GAS WON’T REGISTER UNTIL A CERTAIN LEVEL.
WELL, ISN’T THAT NICE—FOR U-HAUL.
WE’VE CALLED THE PICKUP SITE IN GAINSVILLE. THEY’LL GET THE MANAGER TO CALL US BACK. HE’S UNAVAILABLE ON SATURDAY MORNINGS I GUESS. WE CALLED AND SPOKE WITH ‘MELANIE’ OR ‘MELODY’ AT “GO U-HAUL” AND SHE’S GOING TO HAVE SOMEONE CALL US BACK WITHIN 48 HOURS SHE SAID. I GUESS THEY HAVE A RUN ON COMPLAINTS.
ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS OUT THERE?
wes, from sept 23 2008
Give me my $50 since you sound like a Uhaul employee. When I reserve a truck, I expcet it to be there. When I waste an entire day trying to get one with my “reservation” and have to drive 50 miles to another location to get one, more than $50 is at stake.
On top of not getting this $50 you mention, how about the rent for not getting out on the specified date? How about the all nighter when it was planned to do it during the day? How about the money from the missed day of work the next day because we were still moving because of Uhauls mistake?
Stay away from Uhaul.
just like to say that i would recomend penske over u-haul (u-junk) any day! the problem i had was unfriendly people at uhaul. i had to move from n.carolina to michigan. well penske hooked me up. no problems no hassle no headaches truck availible when promised. way to go u-haul you must be penske best ad!
YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH PENSKE! We got the same size truck PLUS AN AUTO TOW AND DOLLY for $250 less than UHaul! And the truck was new.. Uhual has crap… good luck to them!
After being screwed on our reservation my girlfriend and I are using budget rentals. I will never consider uHaul again.
UHaul customer service sucks in Winnipeg, MB -
Not so much the customer service hotline or email, but the manager of the store at 175 Mcphillips St. has the ABSOLUTE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE skills I have ever experienced. His name is Michael Risk, and he is a straight-up uneducated, ignorant, a**wipe. This guy hung up on me after I called him with a complaint that UHaul triple-charged me for my rental (which was attributed to a computer glitch). After not taking responsibility and hanging up on me when I demanded restitution, I travelled to the store and he tried to kick me out of his store because he didn’t want to deal with me. UHaul eventually refunded me without acknowledging responsibility.
I will never use this company again, and I hope that Michael Risk ends up at the end of a very long unemployment line… what a prick.
Please, Please, Please, If I have done anything on this earth worthwhile let it be the fact that I have warned anyone from ever using U Haul. Do your research. They cost lives, limbs, expensive repairs. I was involved in a roll over from pulling a U Haul trailer with my SUV. My vehicle was totalled and I had to recover from a back injury. I just thank the Lord my children were not in the vehicle with me. The side of the SUV that recieved the most damage would have killed them instantly. When I researched the company they are notorious in roll overs, deaths, and permanant bodily injuries leaving some wheel chair bound. No ONE is putting a stop to this company. Not only did I lose my vehicle I ended up losing my battle with the company to pay them $1,500.00 to repair their trailer. BAN U HAUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I “reserved” a 5×8 trailer to move from Massachusetts to NYC. Not surprisingly, when I went to pick up the trailer the morning of my reservation, it wasn’t there. They offered me a larger one but I drive a small pickup and couldn’t pull (and more importantly, stop) more weight than the 5×8. So they send me 40 miles away (no gas reimbursement) to get a 5×8 from another dealer.
I get to the new location and the lady working there I don’t think has ever done this before. I help her figure out the U-Haul computer system (I’ve never seen it before but the questions were really pretty simple) and we go to hook up my trailer. She has NEVER hooked up a trailer to a car in her life, good thing I happen to know how. The trailer was also parked in a very muddy area and if I didn’t happen to have 4 wheel drive I would have never gotten it out of there.
I get it attached and go to hook up the lights, only to find that the trailer doesn’t have a connector for the lights, only wires. I try to figure out which wire goes where (I am an electrician!) for 10 or 15 minutes before deciding to drive home 40 miles with no brake lights so that I can get from my house the necessary tools to fix the trailer wiring myself.
After figuring out THEIR computer system myself, pulling the trailer out of the mud, hooking it up with no instruction, and fixing their trailer lights, I was beginning to think that the company maybe owed ME some money but I never fought it, I just wanted to get moved and get it over with! But never again…
I am aghast to admit that at one time a few years ago, my UHaul truck’s brakes went out while in the middle of a move and the clerk, when I drove back to the store (after waiting for triple A to pick me up and take me home since they couldn’t haul a truck anywhere) that he didn’t rent bad trucks and I had done something to it and therefore, they weren’t going to give me another truck and it was my responsibility to get it back to their facility. I am a criminal lawyer and was lucky enough to have some criminals helping me move my stuff so I happily told him that these thugs will happily whip your butt and I will gladly represent them for free if you don’t give me another truck now. (it was about 98 degrees and humid). He saw the light and I never rented from that group again. Talk about criminals. The real thugs are the UHaul clerks.
Thanks for the heads up!! I’m researching for my one-way move and this helps me decide!
Call penske!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we are doing a oneway from NC to FL
16″ truck plus Car dolly $365 total tax and everything
Public Storage trucks are great for local moving. They also have great suspension as I found out when I jumped one over a set of railroad tracks. Only broke one lamp! Just make sure to get the insurance!!!
I have used U-Haul over a dozen times with NO problems. I recently moved from Michigan to Texas and everything was great. I even needed to add a trailer (when everything wouldnt fit in the 26′ trailer) and got one quickly – the manager at employees where excellent, friendly and quick.
Not sure where you all have been renting from. Maybe most of these blogs are from employee’s of the competition, not real customers.
Well I have read most of the stories on this site and all I can say is that you will find problems with any large company and you will run into equiptment problems when you rent equiptment that others have rented and abused. U-Haul does its best to make sure that every truck or traier that is rented is in the best shape possible. They are not in the business to rent damaged equiptment. If they was they would not have been in business for over 60 years now. U-Haul has more equiptment then all the other rental truck companies conbined. They have more locations and more places to store then anyone. So for a company that rents to 100’s of thousands people each year you will expect a few problms. But I have yet to be treated bad as long as I keep my head and remember they are only human too. Most of the people behind the counter. Do not know you and deal with 100’s of people in a stresful time in there lives. I bet if someone put a site out there to hear the good things u-haul has done to people it would far exceed what we see here.
Dave, you goof, despite how large a company is, they should still offer good service. Especially a company that deals with a large portion of customer service. I’ve had run-ins with Uhaul too and they totally suck. Unfortunatly, they will always be around until another competitor becomes large enough to threaten their market share. That’s when they will pull their head out and get things in order. “Only human too” are you serious?? I’ve never dealt with a u-haul employee that had a shred of compassion for the situation they caused. Also, you seem to be a U-haul cheerleader, why don’t you put up a “Hooray for u-haul” blog and go to town. Good luck with that.
Hmmm, the Person above makes a point, we all deserve & want sincere, respectful & proffesional help, unfortanatly I have never gotten that from uhaul, I have waited for my truck, had to buy their “adapters” to make their eqpt hook to mine etc etc…but the worst to happen yet was the MORON who rented a piece of shit uhaul truck which was missing the rear license plate that actually RAN Me & my motorcycle over on the freeeway & left me for DEAD on the side of the road!!!!! spent Two weeks in ICU & past Three months in PT, Still messed up & will be FOREVER!!!! Soooooo, all you U-haul employees, THINK before ya send an inept IDIOT down the road in One of your big orange Pieces of Shit!!!!!!
as I was lying on the freeway, unable to move, or breath due to my busted ribs, legs, shoulder & crushed lung….the last thing I saw was a Big uhaul adventure truck slip away into the sunset………the only thing missing was a wave goodbye.
Sorry to hear that happened to you but why is that UHAUL’s fault? No accidents have ever happened to anyone while driving a rental car? Come on now, think twice before you blame the company not the person who was driving. Lets see I’ve been in an accident who should I blame dodge or chevy?????
well the people that rent the trucks have no way of knowing the persons driving record or what they are like as long as there drivers licence is good and they have the money the get a truck
I used to work for UHaul and I do understand that they do screw over the customer. They often rent the worse equipment first, and trust me that they have some shitty trucks. I HATE UHAUL
If you worked for UHI, then you know that the new trucks are used for one way rentals, the older ones are for local use, so that in the event of a breakdown, the trucks are closer to available repair services
i learned some things in recent years while using uhauls…first always go in or call local uhaul place instead of making reservation online…don’t go to sideshows like gas stations or mechanic shops that carry uhauls cause half of the time they don’t know what they are doing…go to corporate owned stores if you live in big town/ if your city have one…
secondly follow up after you made your reservation.. its good to call and confirm atleast a day before…if they say they dont have a truck call 1-800-go-uhaul or there regional main office…they wont consider a reservation confirmed untill they call you or you call them a day before to confirm; recently i have been noticing there customer service got better and they got lot of new trucks too…also they are pretty cheap for in -town use, i mean who will give you truck for 19.95. you can’t even fill somebody’s pick-up truck for that…they do charge you mileage for motor use which won’t add up that much if you are just moving in-town. its cheaper to do one-way if you are moving more than 50 miles away…
I won’t get into the few bad experiences I have had with Uhaul, even though there are many as we move quite frequently. From poorly managed rental and storage facilities to decrepit trucks and trailers with broken brake lights, I finally looked elsewhere for moving options. I started researching and came across http://www.doortodoor.com, one of the few national moving pod companies. I had never tried moving pods mostly because I thought it would be expensive, nor did I really know how they worked. I’ve been converted. Depending on where you live, options for these companies may be different. Costs were very fair, especially considering the only work I had to do was pack the pod. They dropped it off, picked it up and dropped it off at the new location. I honestly believe these services are here to stay. I highly recommend trying them out http://www.doortodoor.com
Here’s my letter to them:
I am writing to inform you how utterly dissatisfied I am with your business. I did an online reservation that showed 5 locations near the moving site (within a 10 mile radius). The pick-up location, which was undisclosed at the time of reservation, that had “available equipment” was 25 MILES AWAY! Not only was this a 50 mile detour it was completely in the wrong direction. After finishing the reservation confirmation phone call I then realized that I would incur and additional $30.00 charge (in mileage) for this lack of available equipment. I called back to speak to a representative, I informed her that I understood that the equipment may not always be available exactly where I’d prefer. I was, however, expecting it to be substantially less than 50 miles out of my way. Understanding that I was sacrificing my time to drive the additional distance, I didn’t think it to be fair that I should be financially penalized for the circumstances. The representative informed me that someone would call me within two hours in an attempt to “transfer the order” or “gift miles”. After two hours without a return phone call I had to call back to establish what was going to occur. The representative that I spoke with on the subsequent call informed me that there was nothing that could be done and that I should have read the conditions of the reservation better. After explaining, multiple times, that the previous representative had mentioned alternative solutions she reaffirmed that she was not going to provide any other options. Personally, I thought the approach was rude and condescending. I know that a truck is available SOMEWHERE. My assumption is that it isn’t going to take me 50 MILES out of my way.
My business closely relates to the moving industry, and I thought it important for your company to understand my level of dissatisfaction. Never again will I recommend U-Haul.
Penske trucks are also a local truck rental business that not only accommodated my every need, on time, but also gave me a discount after explaining my difficulties with your company. How can you possibly expect to maintain a positive reputation under these circumstances?
I just had my own horrible experience with u-haul on December 27, 2008. My 81 year old mother who lives in Ohio was quite ill and we realized we were going to have to relocate her to TN to live with family. We rented the trailer, loaded it, and broke down 2 miles from her house. It took two hours for them to change a tire.
That wasn’t too bad…the real kicker was the price. They charged me $459.00 for a one way trip from Ohio to TN. When I turned the trailer in the girl laughed and said we could have rented the same trailer from TN to Ohio for $151.00. I don’t get it, how can there be that much of a price difference?
Call me stupid, but I need a trailer this week-end to move a son, and it won’t be a u-haul.
Laura
Supply and demand….Does that answer your question?
I am sitting at a computer following a move that I did for a friend from MN to CT. I used Uhaul and can honestly say that I couldn’t think of anything more they could have done to help me. When I made my initial reservation I had to rent a 26 ft truck and a 6×12 trailer. As you all know Uhaul is the only company that rents one way trailers. When Penske dropped their online price I called Uhaul to see if they would meet the Penkse quote. (even though I knew using Penske wasn’t an option because I needed a trailer)They actually gave me a rate lower than Penske and dropped the trailer rental by $400.00! He also suggested returning the truck and trailer to another “region” which would allow him to discount the truck and trailer even more! He was so willing to work with me and help me get the best price. A Uhaul rep called me the night before my pick up day and let me know different locations in the metro area that 2008 trucks were available. She did have a truck at my original location choice but it was 3 years old. Being that I was traveling 1600 miles she wanted to give me the newest truck. I ended up driving 20 minutes from my house to pick up the truck with only 12,000 miles on it.The truck ran perfect and pulled the loaded trailer like a breeze. The temperature was around 0 degrees for two of the nights it sat outside the hotel. It started with no problems both times. When I went to return the truck and trailer in New York City I was really nervous about finding the return place and getting everything taken care of in time to catch my return flight home. The manager of the Uhaul Center talked to me on the phone 5 seperate times to give me detailed directions to his establishment. When I got there he personally welcomed me, checked the truck and trailer in and took care of all the paper work. When it came time to leave I asked him to recommend a taxi service to call for a ride to JFK airport. He said he really couldn’t say he would trust any taxi service in the area – if you want to wait five minutes I will take you to the airport myself! I was walking into JFK 15 minutes later after he said he would take me. I have used Penske and Budget numerous times and don’t have anything negative to say about them but Uhaul gave me exceptional service and did more than any other moving truck company ever has.
It did help that it was not the first or last weekend of the month. These two weekends are always ones that I try to avoid no matter which company I am using.
I’m glad I read these problems and comments before I rented from U-haul. I never thought there was any such problems. I have 18 people going on a trip to the opposite side of the country and none of our luggage will fit in any of the cars… so I was looking into renting a trailer from U-haul. Now I’m begining to think twice. I don’t want anyone to screw me over.. especially on the day I have to leave. So thanks for letting it be known! I’ll just have to find someone else who seems more reliable!
follow instructions and have no problems
I would like to say that the customers that had bad experiences with uhaul surely made reservations or rented from uhaul independent dealers and not corporate dealerships. The problem that most of you seem to be having is that some independent dealers either don’t know what they are doing or just don’t care. First off, I would have something in writing if I reserved something for a later date even if it was only a day away. That responsiblity is that of the customer to protect themselves from such a problem. Secondly, it is sad that some independent dealers aren’t up to par but that doesn’t mean all of them aren’t. Some of us actually care about our customers. We care about the business we run as it is a source of income and making our customers happy is ultimately going to be the rise or fall of said business. So, in short, those of you who wish to complain about your “bad” experiences with u-haul should be specific about whether it was in fact an independent dealership or a corporate branch. I sound as if I am a spokesperson for u-haul, I assure you I am not. I am an independent dealer and my family runs their business as it should be and we care about our patrons.
Jackie At Cutting Edge U-Haul
Norfolk, Va.
2 stories. I “reserved” a truck in Ames Iowa to move to des moines. Like others commented on here, I called to confirm a few days before. When I arived, I was told my truck wasn’t there. That I had to drive to des Moines to pick it up. So I drove to des moines to pick up the truck. Drove it back to ames. Got my stuff. Then back to des moines to unload. It took a lot of arguing, but I got them to give me more “free milage” because of the extra miles I had to drive. Bascically they were only going to give me 50 miles for a 35 mile trip three times.
Now I’m moving to Utah. For entertainment, I called them to find out how much I could rent a truck for. To get an Idea what “over charging” would be. $2000!!! OO! But I get to keep the truck for 7 days. woo-hoo. I did the math. If I told them I was going to move back to ames, but took a denture to utah and back instead.. It would cost me around $800. Course.. the gas would kill me. I could get professional movers to do this for me for under $2000 WTF?
I have a complaint about U-Haul’s Storage facilities. I “used” the storage facility in Fullerton, CA on Orangethorpe. I went to my storage unit to check it out and walked in and there was a flood of water in there. It had just rained the day before. Thank goodness it hasn’t rained that much. There was a hole in the ceiling.
They have an insurance policy which I didn’t buy. None of the items were ruined except for the cardboard boxes because I have the rest of my stuff in plastic boxes. Thank goodness.
Anyways, the manager told her assistant manager to tell me that I could move to another unit and get the month for free. They fixed the hole, so I figured why should I go through the hassle of moving. At least they were giving me the month free for the hassles due to flood. WRONG!
I saw that I was charged for this coming month on my bank statement and I called the office up. The storage manager called me back and stated that the free month was only good if I had moved to a new unit. WHAT? I thought it was a done deal no matter if I moved to the storage unit or not. Good Customer Service and all….FORGET CUSTOMER SERVICE. They don’t know what it means.
DO NOT RENT STORAGE UNITS FROM U-HAUL EITHER!
I do not understand why you would be upset with UHAUL because there was a hole in the ceiling? How could they have predicted that, that would occur. Secondly you must have not been to upset because you did not even move your belongings….What’s up with that?
I am also glad for you that no damage was done.
Sincerely yours!
Our uhaul experiences haven’t been ALL bad. Yes there has been times when I was appalled by the lack of service, but I will admit some owners are good people and will honestly try to help you get you where you want to go. Unfortunately there is no consistency between uhaul outfits…maybe they should hire someone to visit them all and pass sort some sort minimum requirements to stay in business. On the other hand, if more and more people just stop using them, they’ll have to respond, or if other companies, such as Penske, Budget or http://www.doortodoor.com can take away business, they’ll surely have to rethink their business model.
I wanted to cancel a rental the same day of the rental. This was prohibitive because of the amount of the cancellation fee. During the discussion of this the representative was so verbally abusive that I was going to call the police. I ended up being forced to accept because I could not afford not to accept. I had work the night of the rental and was very tired and sleepy. The truck that I got was decrepit. and was intentional. Falls Road U-Haul Baltimore MD 21218. The place should be closed for good. I will never rent from U-Haul again.
I too was stuck between a rock and a hard place with U Haul. I needed to move items from Monroe, Mi to Richmond, Va. The charge was $294 plus tax. If I had to move from Richmond, Va to Monroe, Mi the cost would have been $149 plus tax. I called the headquarters to see what the difference was. It was the same distance and the same equipment. Here is their reply: ” It cost more from Mi to Va because there are fewer trailors in Monroe Mi than in Richmond Va.”
So because I was moving from a small town (unemployment rate of 12%), the only dealer still open was U Haul and I really needed to use a trailor…I had to pay more.
Talk about Wall Street ripoffs….maybe someone should look into U Haul.
Out of 5 encounters with U-Haul, only 1 is positive (at a small U-Haul store in Redmond, WA), where the guy was friendly and helpful. All other experiences, the service people treat customers with total disrespect as if they were illegal immigrants waiting to be admitted.
I probably don’t care if they weren’t dishonest. On my last rental, when I just parked the truck for return, a U-haul guy in Issaquah WA waited there and quickly asked me to step out the truck. Then he hopped in and drove the truck away. Later on, he came back and said the fuel was 1/4 tank short. I was pretty sure that I refilled to exactly the previous level. He refused to let me check the truck again. Ripped me off once, you’ll never get a cent from me again.
Until they work to make their customers happy, I’m not using U-Haul if I have any other choice.
I have read several of these complaints and I agree with them all but let me tell you about our experience with U-haul right here in Springdale Arkansas. My mother in law had a storage unit that was in my hubby’s name that has been paid on every month for the past 3 years that we have had this storage unit. Needless to say, my mother in law passed away June of 2008. As od March 2009, my hubby and I decided that it’s time to clean out the storage and bring it home to sort throug. We get to the U-haul, and have to open the storage unit door to find it COMPLETELY EMPTY!@!! All the stuff was gone. Nothing was in there. Here we have been paying on it for 3 years and it’s empty. No one has any answers they told us that we have to call the U-haul in tulsa Oklahoma and talk to the head supervisor. I am not waiting till Monday. We paid when they wanted their money and we want our stuff and no one know where it’s went.
I’ve had issues with U-haul in the past… reserving a truck that wasn’t available at pickup… luckily they (later than I wanted) had a truck available. I also do like the time limit thing… maybe I need the truck for more than 4 hours. I now only use Penske because you have the truck for 24-hours. The people that I’ve asked to help me move have never shown up on time… they get there but never when I ask them to… With Penske if I pick up the truck at 9:00 and my movers don’t arrive until 11:00 I still have all day to get packed, moved and unpacked. It’s the only way to go even if it cost more than U-haul.
I also had the misfortune of renting a uhaul for a out state move…I got there they wanted more money for the car dolly and truck…I could only get the truck…got to my town and the cops pulled me over….claiming I stole the Uhaul…got back and they found the missing cash for the truck decided to discount the car dolly. Got to my out of state apartment on a Sunday. My apartment not ready for two more days…had to get a motel room for 2 nights, take the uhaul to my job for two days…I called the 800 number to let them know my situation….they want more money for cleeaning they say on the bill….well I was laid off and moved with a borrowed trailer and a pickup///I have lost the bill…I need their address…since I am still unemployed for 15 months I am having to file a chap 7…needd their address to send the paper filing notice…anyone got their address please email…I need this week to file…and I hope no one else rents from U haul they rip u off…
How is it a rip off? What do you want the equipment for free? And I do not understand why it is UHAUL’s fault that your apartment was not ready. Sorry that things worked out for you that way. They do say that moving is the most stressful time in a persons life. Good luck next time!
Sincerely yours…..
I would like to say that i have used uhaul 2 times with-in a six month period, and each time i iether used cash, or a credit card for the reservation, and indeed my truck was always there!
you need to reserve at lease one week in advance with a credit card so you dont get forgotten. i will always use uhaul, due to the adiquite billing, rental fees, and self service. I am a woman in her late 40’s with corpral tunel, and a bad knee. now if i could move a four bedroom home by my self…????without any problems from the UHAUL rental place, than what is your problem? maybe you didnt make the reservation in a timely manner and you make big demands for things to happen ???well, lots of luck to you, and have fun!
You go! I so agree with you, If you plan ahead and not at the last minute then things work alot better for you!
Sincerely yours…..
Try having a spouse who works for U-Haul. My SO works as a manager. He gets poo for pay and he gets paid a salary. No overtime, nevermind that he’s there most days from 6am-6pm because they are always so busy.
Also, his DM is a complete bitch who thinks she’s “God’s gift”. She uses her position to constantly threaten the jobs of the people below her for no good reason. She also uses her position to make people think if they don’t do things that aren’t work related, she will have them fired.
U-Haul treats most of their employees as crap. The pay is crap and all of the things they have to deal with during the day is crap.
Soooooo, he works for a big company, little pay, long hours, hmmmmmmmmm, he could be working for (insert ANY big company name here). Hate to say it, but there are companys like that all over AMERICA…..
While that is true, he works at U-Haul and since this site is related to bitching about U-Haul that is what I did. Thanks for your 2-cents though
Uhaul is “the worst company ever” by far! I called yesterday to speak to the Atlanta Georgia manager and she decided to be the nastiest person ever in liue of my peaceful speaking inquiry to drop off at another location.
I moved from Northern VA to Georgia and couldnt believe the Woodbridge location gave me a truck with the worst alignment and brakes which was hazardous driving in the night with my children and dog in the car tow. People were looking at me sway from side to side on the road but i was doing the best I could.
Now I’m on the phone and have been since 8am with no luck of ever speaking to a live representative to change my drop off location. I was told i couldnt drop off yesterday by the Atlanta Georgia manager whose name I didnt get before just hanging up in shear frustration. She proclaimed to be the Regional Manager in Atlanta. Guess I’ll call her back today.
My mother is ill and I had to detour to Augusta.
Seriously I have not been able to speak to a live representative and this is nuts. On top of this I spent $733 for my first contract and was told abruptly that I’d have to pay an aditional $150 per day and up to $400 additional for the different drop off location by that “regional manager” in Atlanta because of some shortage of truck inconvenince on my part. ??? huh are you kidding?
What a horrible experience! Yes, I hate Uhaul!! and recommend that NO ONE USE UHAUL EVER!!
I have rented from UHAUL plenty of times and on your contract they can only charge you that amount. Just FYI…Sincerely yours!
Put on your glasses and read the fine print!
Okay first of all it will state that upon returning the equipment you will have to pay fees. What do you except it to be free to change your mind???? You should have thought about where you wanted to drop it off at before you rented the equipment. Everyone who is writing on here about how they went to pick up equipment and that truck or trailer was not there for them needs to read this story. This is a prime example of someone who agrees to something and decides to change their mind because it does not work for THEIR schedule. What about the person who needed that truck at your correct destination??????
with my children and dog in the car tow
????
What?
Hey, just a note for those of u on a budget.
U-Haul is not the way to go. Glad i called Penske!!!! They were over $200.00 cheaper. Then they called me back the next day after i requested a quote to let me know the rates had dropped again. They let me lock in the rates without knowing the exact date of my move
U-haul: 14″ Truck over $400, Penske: 16″ truck $233.00.
Now thats a big Difference
But have fun trying to load your belongings into their truck it sits up very high. I would go look at one to make sure that it is what you are looking for…Sincerely yours!
Let me explain why I felt ripped off….higher cost for truck and car dolly after getting reserved truck and dolly went to pick it up only had cash to fill gas in tank and move across 2 states. Left me with no money….then the embarassement of being pulled over…then having to return the truck back and finally getting the truck I ordered and a car dolly but had no $$ for gas (had to borrow from a relative)….then ariving on a Sunday and no apartment ready (of course not their fault) I had to borrow $ for gas, motel, and food that I didn’t count on…yes not their fault either/// but I should of had the price I was quoted a month ahead of the move at registration time…also the car dolly I was getting wasn’t there until my second 15 mile trip back to the Uhaul center…and then still wanting more $/// that is why I said you get ripped off! not blaming them for my unforseen problems….I got their address anyway…so I no longer need it…but I am going to complain about what they did do to me and my husband…I will never deal with them again!
I am not going to use them anyway because doing rate quotes they seem to be more expensive. Given this information I cannot afford to be put in a situatation as the stories I have just read. I guess they rely on their name and feel no need to comply with customer satisfaction guidlines. Thank you for sharing your stories, they are definatly taken to heart.
I’ve had several bad experiences with UHaul.
Best Lesson I’ve learned is not to move the last
weekend of the month when demand for trucks is the highest. Also, dont make reservations and plan to pick it up at 9 or 10am , your truck wont be there. Best bet is to show up early
and be first in line when the doors open to get a truck. That being said, its an awful exp and UHaul is not a great or good company, as evidenced by their customer service complaints on this Bulletin Board. They are in a dirty, uneven business(end/first of month busy cycle) and are the worst in their field
of truck rentals.
There has to be a reason that people continue to use them. They did not get their name for nothing. Correct?
I just tried to rent a trailer to bring my son home from college in May from UHaul. Here was what I was told when I called the nearest local UHaul listed near the college: “sure, I will take your reservation. Someone will call you the morning you need it to tell you where to pick it up. Oh, it could be within a 50 mile radius (hey, that is 100 miles round trip!!!) And you can’t choose what size, whatever they have is what you get.” I asked, “what if it is too big for me to pull?” “Oh, they’ll try and get one you can pull but no guarantee.”
I drive 12 hours to the college and find out we have no trailer ‘cuz all they have are huge ones?! What type of company IS this?!
I will go out and buy a trailer before I rent from UHaul. We have been screwed before from them but at least by calling every day and complaining, we got refunded, probably because they were tired of taking my calls. What an awful company!
Why hasn’t any other company stepped into the gap and begun renting trailers?
“with my children and dog in the car tow.”
What the hell where you thinking
I used a uhaul in Hyatsville, MD. I never used them again even when we moved last September. The attendants were slow and rude and made mistakes resulting in our paying more than the cost. They behaved as though they were doing us a favor to rent us the truck and sell us the packing materials. It was just a nasty experience.
I moved from Buffalo, NY to Miami, FL; renting an 8foot trailer. The trailer had a flat in the boonies of South Carolina (But that was my fault. I pulled over to the shoulder to rest and there was some nasty piece of metal there that stuck into the tire). I was the middle of the night in the rain and I wasn’t about the wait in the middle of nowhere so I drove it into a nearby town and called Uhaul from there. They sent out some independent guy from a tire company…
All in all, just like life; your U-haul experience will be what you make it. You rush in there expecting VIP treatment you’re bound to find the I in this case means insignificant. Plan ahead and doubly so if you need something at the end or beginning of the month and triply so if you’re trying to do it over a weekend… or be follow my advice:
If you have the money PAY THE MOVERS.. if you don’t, then don’t act like royalty when you’re using the common joe service.
Don’t reserve from the ghetto… and that’s not a racial slur.. White, Black, Hispanic.. doesn’t matter. Try to get your truck from the burbs.
even if you’re going to do it over the weekend.. get the TRUCK BEFORE AND AFTER… blanket yourself… it’s so much easier to get a nice truck in the middle of the week.
And last but not least; DO NOT ACCEPT BULLSHIT. Shady reps… Equipment that doesn’t look GOOD… BE PICKY… don’t be affraid to walk out WITH YOUR MONEY and go elsewhere… and you’ll use Uhaul with little or NO problems again and again.
To all posters crying:
Nobody is perfect. Quit your damn cryin and buy your own $20k truck or maybe higher some movers, but you obviously cant afford either so you take what you can get. Deal with it. I have used U-Haul many times for my side business and they are always good to me and treat me fair. We have ran into small problems in the past, mainly due to customers not returning the truck on time and screwing up the entire system, or customers wrecking trucks so they can’t be rented which screws up reservations as well. Hell I even broke down once, but it was a unforeseeable problem. Consumers are just a bunch of cry babies, everybody is so tense and so quick to point fingers. Everyone just needs to chill and be grateful that they have stuff to move, have a family, a new career, a new home. Whatever the case may be just remember that somewhere someone has it way worse off then you and your uhaul employee or truck ordeal. From a soldier fighting over seas to a low income man trying to figure out how he will feed his family. Think of this when your yelling at the kid making minimum wage behind the counter. Of course Uhaul has more complaints then any other moving company, its because they are the largest moving company and the cheapest. One last thing is yes they have fees, cancellation fees seem to be complained about the most. Everyone is charging cancellation fees, from doctors to hotels. When you wait till what they consider the last second it makes that seat, room, or moving truck sit unless by chance they get a call when they allready turned away calls because it was reserved by you. Just chill out people and enjoy your short lived life.
Amen man to that, I agree with you and hope that others will read your story and think the same thing. Sincerely yours!
[...] of people have complained about their service, including Jim over at Bargaineering in his article, I Hate U-Haul Truck Rental. I’ve never had a serious problem with them, but I’ve used U-Haul multiple times in [...]
Another story: got a one way truck ok but they said just find a drop off location the town I was going to. Please note I paid for estimated mileage to my destination. I ended up using my gps on my iPhone at 9pm looking for a uhaul drop off. I went to 7 locations before I got a correct uhaul facility. Not only did it cost time & gas but it took me over my alloted miles. What a mismanaged company.
How did you pre-pay on overage for mileage, thats a new one. They have a 1-800 24/7. You could have called that.
Moved 3 years ago and rented a truck via their website. No truck was ever available. Ended up borrowing trucks and damaging wife’s grandmothers display case that she inherited because of rain. They did send us a coupon for next move when we complained. Yeah right!
I’m sure the BBB gets tired of receiving complaints. For all those folks that have lost their jobs and have a little investment money, consider this a good opportunity.
Stop Complaining if you dont like them then dont use them. This is whats wrong with our country bunch of cry babys.
Then why don’t you stay off the site!
WHY??? So you can CRY?????????
U-Haul is either a bunch of theives, or a bunch of idiots. More likely, they just don’t care. I am sure there are some good franchises out there, but there are also some really bad ones. The head office has to keep all the franchises in order..to follow the rules…and to keep the brand value. Right now, it’s losing value. It’s only got value because everyone knows it. I got ripped off by them twice, first time being that they made me wait for the van, some four hours, and then charged me for the whole day. Second time, they charged me for refueling even though the tank was full when I returned it.
The first truck I rented was a late 70’s early 80s Ford. it was really run down. The second one was a brand new Van, very nice.
I’d rather pay more money to a company I had confidence in. This would be a place that tells you exactly what the situation is – if someone is late returning the rental you need, they should tell you what the situation is and call you as soon as the truck is ready. The gas situation has to be very carefully monitored. A real measuring device, and an on-site refilling station would be ideal. Imagine, a rental place that would fill the truck up when you turn it in, and not sharge you and arm and a leg. Sure, maybe the gas would be a little bit more pricey than average, but it would be so nice not to have to worry about refueling. The trucks should be tested each time they come back – make sure everything is running okay, no one has stolen parts, etc. A real rental company would go out of its way to make it easy to use their services, and make the most out of them.
Imagine if you paid $50 for a truck for a day, but it was ready, clean, and fueled when you went to pick it up. Imagine the fee included insurance. You could check the maintenance log and see that the equipment was serviced regularly, with checkups, oil changes, etc. No extra money for a dolly. People there who were knowledgeable and willing to answer your question, and had th time to do so. Imagine that the $50 included mileage. It would come with a GPS which you could use, which had all of the drop-off locations and hours built-into the GPS. Imagine if they provided materials such as how to pack, how to drive a truck, how to move heavy equipment safely, and made this all available for free. I wonder if this is something zipcar could do. Moving, driving a big, strange vehicle long distances is stressful enough – the rental company should be there to help.
Hello Mr. White, you have a phone call, its the kettle. You call Uhaul idiots after that statement. You crack me up Mr. White. I don’t know what world you live in but the one you dream about does not exist. If someone was stupid enough to come up with the company that you dream of, they would be bankrupt in no time at all. $50 a rental including everything but the gas, are you nuts or just stupid. How about you buy a fleet of tens of thousands of trucks, build thousand of centers all over the country including Canada and Hawaii that include on site gas stations (lmao), hire tens of thousands of employees, buy all the equipment needed to run those centers and maintain the fleet of trucks, not to mention all of the other millions of dollars of costs and then rent each truck for $50. Good plan, you would make tons of money lol. BTW these are not franchises, Uhaul is a corporation. Uhaul is the lowest cost in the industry and you still complain, still want more.
The maintenance logs are kept in each truck behind the seat, the moving materials are available on line and in every store. But if you cant figure out how to pack or drive a truck than maybe you shouldn’t try doing it yourself anyway.
This “real rental company” you dream of does not exist and never will because it would fail. Businesses are in the business to make money, that’s the whole idea. Keep dreaming Mr. White and God bless America.
You are living in OZ!
I dont know if your Brian, Mario or Leon but thats about as original as you living in your mothers basement.
U-Haul is a numbers based company! Upper management, under Joe Schoen (President and CEO), are by far the utmost undesirable set of human beings you will ever encounter. My experiences as an employee, have confirmed the fact, that They don’t care about employees and want the equipment rented out period. Unrented equipment on the lot, will force a negative work loads directly effecting the Manager of the location and the marketing company that they belong to. The last Area District Vice President, located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, and I where walking thru a storage facility. His comments on an employee with 30 years service, and having a few issues regarding his parents passing away where “Fire Him”. When I mentioned who the employee was and the years of service he devoted to U-Haul, he said “I don’t care” This practice snowballs down to every inch of this corrupt organization. The customers pay with long lines, (reservations time slotted, even though it is against the law), overbooking, sending customers to locations sometimes 50 miles away, and employees on the fringe with bad attitudes. I have met Joe Schoen, I know he is a good man, I know he cares about the people in his organization and cares about every individual that rents a piece of equipment from U-Haul. However, he is wearing blinders and trusts his Vice Presidents so much, that they will never come off. Unfortunatly, this once great part of American history and one family’s dream to provide it’s customers with a new service, unheard of in those days, Is entering into the sunset of it’s life.
They aren’t any different here in CT. A friend was demoted from being a manager and sent to work in “traffic”. 2 days later he was fired because they “conducted an inventory” in his old store and found shortages. Since he was the manager he was held responsible. I doubt they ever conducted such an inventory and even if they did, how on Earth would they prove the items were “stolen” during the time he worked there. Anybody bother to check the cameras? They are just lame.
where else are you going to go rent a truck/trailer so you move from one place to the next. All those other companies mentioned in your article dont have very large trucks, they cant have very many, charge more, dont have nearly as many locations to drop off at, when your moving out of state or to another city, and thier service is better than uhauls? a company that has developed over 50 years, what kind of crap is that, theres a one in a million shot that someone could be mistreated, some people are finicky.
YEAH LETS MOVE
WITH UHAUL
LOSERS
where else are you going to go rent a truck/trailer so you move from one place to the next. All those other companies mentioned in your article dont have very large trucks, they cant have very many, charge more, dont have nearly as many locations to drop off at, when your moving out of state or to another city, and thier service is better than uhauls? a company that has developed over 50 years, what kind of crap is that, theres a one in a million shot that someone could be mistreated, some people are finicky. ESPECIALLY WHEN MOVING
I work for U-Haul and sometimes the company DOES screw people over, but I can tell you MOST of the time it’s the people that rent from us that are dumb.
-If you don’t show up on time and a walk-in wants the truck we will give it to the walk-in!
-There are warning signs stating how fast you can go in the truck!
-We tell you/print off a confirmation when you reserve equipment it might not be at the location you reserved it at!
etc………
We rented a in town truck and even though there are 3 Uhauls within 5 miles of us, they ONLY had a truck available at the site 15 miles away, we only had to move one thing 1.5miles from our house. it cost us $50.30. They would not let us turn it in at a closer location. so we had to pay $0.79 a mile, 30 miles was going to the damn store. They suck, and would not help us out.
So its Uhauls fault that they didn’t have a truck near you when YOU expected them to, and because they don’t allow certain trucks to be dropped off at other locations “they suck”? Unbelievable…
You people never sease to amaze me with your petty and not thought out complaints.
By the way you didn’t “have to pay” anything, you could have chosen not to rent the truck. It was your choice and they did what they were supposed to do by allowing you to rent one.
Hey Ding Dong
1) YOUR responses are the incorrect, and not thought out.
2) To everyone on the planet, except apparently you, “reservation” means “I get the truck I requested on the date and time we agreed upon”. Not: “we’ll let you pay us to use whatever truck we happen to have available, at a time of OUR choosing”. That’s just insane.
3) U-Haul has forever tarnished their reputation.
Oh silly Barry, we are not talking about a reservation. Heather did not mention a reservation and neither did I, read the post silly. I guess you didnt think before you wrote, just like silly Heather. I am glad to see that you passed math, just keep working on the reading.
uhaul is actually NOT hated by everyone. as with any other franchise, some stores have idiots that run them, or inexperienced employees that don’t know the rules. i have been a uhaul dealer for almost 6 years and my biggest advice to ANYONE on ANYTHING is to pick up the phone and TALK to someone. a local will be more than happy to help you with problems, and they can explain RULES that are in the fine print on the website. reservations are first-come-first-serve, so if you wait until the last minute, your area might be out of equipment. we can’t please everyone, and my repeat customers have told me they have had bad experiences with everyone BUT uhaul!! it’s all in the eye of the beholder, and an attitude never helps. i’m a dealer, not a store, so i can refuse service if someone gets loud with me or my employees. it is NOT always the person behind the desk that screwed up. we are all under the orders of a strict district director thats JOB is to accomidate you with your requested equipment.. we give discounts, equipment upgrades, and extra days/ miles to ppl who have problems, but you have to be smart enough to let UHAUL know that one of their employees is not doing their job correctly.. AND not get your panties in a wad. moving is stressful to everyone, so rather than trying to start a fan club, you should GROW UP!! voicing your opinion is one thing, but holding a grudge like a child towards a company that has a bad employee is like me saying i hate one particular pizza chain because they didn’t put enough cheese on my pizza a time or two.
It’s been interesting reading all these comments, because I have been both a customer and an employee, and have had good and bad experiences on both sides. So here is the good, the bad, and the indifferent on UHaul:
Good: They have been around for sixty years, while they are not perfect, they have done enough things better than their competitors that they are still in business and making money, while Ryder is out of the home moving biz, Budget is on it’s financial deathbed, and Penske, while doing OK, is less than a third the size of UHaul. They really do try to keep prices down, the 19.95 daily rental price for trucks has not changed in twenty years. Where else can you rent a big truck for a local move, even an older one, and do it for less than fifty dollars?
The bad: Like most price-oriented retailers, they don’t pay well and demand long hours from management. (How’s the customer service at KMart?) So a lot of their management are guys and gals who started out part time renting trucks or installing hitches and just hung around long enough to get promoted. So a lot of management is not customer service oriented. Some are, and UHaul talks a lot about customer service, but frankly, some just want to get the money they can short term. And as a manager, I noticed that the customers I went out of my way the most to help or give a deal to were the ones most likely to go online and burn UHaul and me personally. That’s right, if you want, you can go to UHaul.com and post a review, good or bad, it gets posted for 90 days and is available to the public. And you are a lot more likely to get a response to your problem, since management reads those comments and uses them to review store managers.
Finally, the indifferent. About eight years ago, UHaul went through some tough times and bought no new trucks for a few years. Now things are better, they are buying new trucks, but right now it means that the one-way fleet is made up of newer, nicer trucks, while the local move fleet is a bunch of battlewagons, often with over 200K miles on them. They do get maintained, but obviously, there are more problems with them, and I have seen trucks that should have been “downed” kept in service over a busy weekend then sent for repairs on Monday because the alternative was making three or four customers mad and paying them each fifty dollars.
BTW, if you want a truck for 24 hours, do it on a weekday. UHaul wants that truck to go out at least twice or three times on a Saturday, so don’t ask to pick it up Friday and return it Sunday afternoon. Even if you pay for two days, UHaul sees 4-5 rentals on a typical truck from Friday to Sunday and will take trucks away from centers that don’t get enough “workload” and give them to those that do. That’s one reason it’s still only 19.95 plus mileage.
I just called (Joe) and told him that his Jacksonville, Fl 103rd /295 location was wide open and completely dark. why charge your customers for monthly rent and security if the gate is wide open and office is dark?? My son noticed that it’s been open and dark for 2 days. Nice security i’m paying for.
Uhaul has never “screwed me” out of anything. I have a feeling it is because you failed to follow the directions that they have in their stores and on the website. Maybe it is RESPONSIBILITY you are having the problems with. Next time try to reserve online and keep a copy of your reservation. Then if you seem to have problems, report them to the BBB.
I moved about 3 times in the last 2 years. I love using Budget. The trucks are really nice and new. My reservations have always been ready for me. And one time, they gave me 65 free miles! I use the internet for my reservation with coupon codes I find online. I always get great rates. My total moving costs are averaging $35 per move for a 17′ truck. Also, they let me use debt cards too. I can’t imagine using another company.
Let me explain how all these mistakes can be easily corrected. If you reserve online, READ THE FINE PRINT! If you call someone to reserve a truck, LISTEN TO EVERYTHING THEY TELL YOU! All these “little issues” I keep hearing about are actually written and/or read to you off of a script. How do I know? I am a dealer, and I read this script all day long.
If you reserve a truck at one location, DON’T ASSUME YOU WILL PICK IT UP THERE. When they call you to confirm your reservation, ASK where they are calling from so you don’t go to the wrong location. If you have followed all of the fine print correctly, and the equipment is still not at the location that called you, you may ask for your $50 RESERVATION GUARANTEED
**Computer screwed that one up** FEE. That’s right, if you have a GUARANTEED RESERVATION, and the equipment is not there, they are to hand you $50 CASH!!!! But, that is only if you follow the fine print that no one ever reads, or follow what is read to you from a Customer Service Representative, which no one ever listens to. I hear these same complaints all the time, and I explain why these problems occurred. Because of my patience with these customers, I have a higher customer satisfaction rating than all of the other dealers/centers around me. But, it is up to YOU, the CUSTOMER to assure you have been given all of the correct information. If you are not sure, ask and ask, and ask again. Only then will you have a satisfactory experience with uhaul.