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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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07-27-2007,3;15 p.m.Requested Car Carrier, for Chevolet Cavalier 2003 4 Door, HT. front wheel drive. There, was some concerns amoung emloyees at U-Haul, uponwhich UNIT TO ATTACH. TO THEIR U-HAUL TRUCK. tHE DESTINTION WAS COPIED FROM THE ORIGINAL DOC. STARTING lOS ANGELES TO FRESNO CALIFORNIA ( 265 MILES). UHaul attached and instructed how to instaul and position clearly, this was done to position and parallel. After leaving he 110 fwy on to the 5 fwy. I pulled over the two units and Checked that all was secure before going threw the Grapevine. I stopped mid point in the grapevine for gas and rechecked the trailer and its connections. Secure.
Threw the grape vine north 5 fwy, just about 9 miles out side of bakerfield, the trailer started to woble ,sway, and tilt. We, pulled over with smoke comming from aft of the towing vehicle rear.
Both rear wheels tited inward and the front of the wheels facing outward.
The AAA Truck driver arrived in 45 minutes. before exiting his vehicle, in the dark, he shock his head. “It’s a broken rear axle it’s it “. I inquired How did you know. The driver exited his vehile with a flashlight and went down and looked as the light showed the break of the axle.
This Is a common tow call this type of vehicle carrier, It’s not suppose to go 100 miles to it’s destination. As the driver went and inspected the Axel and showed the area where the rear axle was broken into. Also, showed the tire rubbing into the fender wells on both sides.
But AAA, Two truck driver has censured, by a memo to all AAA driver, to Not tell the injured party. It’s bad for customer relations between AAA, and with U-Haul.
U-Haul, had prior knowledge that this particular model, of single axle car transporter should not go further than 100 Miles. Prior to used the computer information U-Haul, release the trailer knowlingly
Did U-Haul know that this carrier was going longer distance than 100 miles, YES, From LA to Bakerfield is about 120 miles and that is only half way. To Fresno. A distange of 260 plus miles.
U-Haul allowed the continued use of a known piece of defective equipment, remain on the roads and highway’s of America . If you have expierenced this type of unsafe equipment failure of U-Haul, please contact me at Michealoangelo@Yahoo.com.
Newer cars, are made cheaper. And do not have the same size or strength rear axle. New car have a curved flat axle. Older cars with rear wheel drive have a cast iron axle. The cast axle will not bend or brake. The 3/8 in curved steel axle will end and over 60,000 flexing at 60 miles per hour will not withstand it will break
The decision not to use a flatbed carrier, of which their were some available, was the decision of the personel at U-Haul in Los Angeles.
Unsafe vehicles should be removed no matter what or who are involved. Would the manufacture of a car carrier be responsible for damage because of it’s falty design. And was U-haul responsible for contracting out a known defective piece of equipment. Where does responsibility lie.
I have also had bad U-Haul experiences, including one incident where I spent hours on hold with the company (and daytime cell minutes add up!) to find out that the reservation I had made well in advance would not be available. The nearest location I could pick up a truck was hours out of my way, but U-Haul indicated that that was my only choice. I have also heard several stories about trucks leaking and ruining posesssions, despite purchasing all rain “precautions”. Of course, these people never got the refunded money that U-Haul indicated they would pay!
Being a worker and assistant manager of a local UHaul dealership, I am truly appalled at some of the things I have read here. In my own personal experience, regional UHaul dealerships have always been rude and overly agressive, but I would never have imagined it to this degree.
At our location in a little town in Oklahoma, we try our best to get the customers in whatever equipment they had reserved. There is absolutely no excuse for treating customers with such disrespect and disregard.
In fact, recently we had a problem with one of our trucks not working correctly with an auto transport that was sheduled to go to maryland. After waiting almost three hours for the mechanic to show up (which was an insult to us, a UHaul dealership) he finallly fixed it. I guess this is where a larger dealer would screw their customer over, but our owner refunded the price of the auto transport fully and sent them on their way.
My advice would be, go to the smaller, independent uhaul dealers who actually care about the customers. If you go to a large corporate dealer (they are easy to spot out: all of their employees wear khaki shirts and black pants), they are more likely to screw you over. Also, if you make a reservation in person or over the phone with an actual dealer, they will feel much more compelled to go out of their way to help you, as opposed to if you make it online.
We had the most awful experience. We needed a truck to move from So. Ca. to No. Ca. We told them that we really needed a very good truck because of the long drive.After taking most of the day to load the truck we headed north . When we stopped for gasoline near Bakersfield the truck would not start. We paid for a tow truck to battery jump it so that we could continue.We had no idea what the problem was and it was beginning to get dark and very foggy. We turned on the headlights and dicovered they did not come on. We had to call for the tow truck service again because this is danderous on the highway. We did not know where we were and there were no services near by that we knew of. After a couple of hours the tow truck was unable to get the lights to come on either.It was too dangerous to stay on the side of the road because no one could see you there. It was so late in the early AM and and such a long stretch of desolate area we had no idea where a Uhaul would be to turn the truck in and the visibility was only a few feet ahead.. Even if we did we would have to unload this truck and load into another truck after no sleep or rest and very little to eat and not having extra money for any type of delays.We turned the Uhaul in the following day and told the management of our troubles, hoping to at least get a partial reimbursement for our troubles, and tow truck services. No such luck. We were told to call the So. Ca. Uhaul manager and in return he told us to talk to the No. Ca. manager. We got the run around I hate the Uhaul Co.and what it stands for. I wish I could get everyone to be aware.If possible,DO NOT RENT UHAUL TRUCKS!
U-Haul Sucks!!! These idiots who call themselves managers of the rental centers (yes, Jesse Miller of the San Jose, California U-Haul rental center who i am referring to) can’t even keep their inventory straight! He charged me $232.40 for a ONE DAY trailer rental. When I called him to make him aware of HIS mistake, he told me to take it up with my credit card company!! The nerve of this jerk. Where does he and U-Haul get off by telling consumers to take it up with someone else when they are the ones doing the charging? Boy, they’ll take your money fast, but will find some excuse why they won’t give it back to you. U-Haul? You use them and U will watch them HAUL your money away.
Budget is just as bad. We reserved a truck and actually went to pick it up on the day of the reservation. Not only was there no truck there but no one expected any to show up any time soon and was not going to look for it. We were instructed to call the national reservation line where they said an inventory manager would find us a truck and contact us within two hours. After calling every two hours (because no one every actually called us back) for the whole day we just gave up and never heard from Budget again.
They are cheap and with competitors like Uhaul, I guess they don’t need to work very hard to keep customers coming.
My opinion on renting a moving truck with U-Haul:
Exremely rude, incompetent and arrogant staff all along both on the phone and at the branches.
Without going into lot of details the move from Toronto to New York city was a horror story
Starting with our truck being at the location but the key missing
To rude staff threatening to simply cancel our reservation when in fact I had flown from New York to Toronto over the weekend to help my wife move
To us paying at least 100 USD more for gas, since the key could not be found and we were given the only option of taking a 26-foot truck instead of the 10-footer that we had reserved.
To the New York U-haul guy arrogantly saying he was doing us a favor by making a copy of the contract, which the Toronto guys were supposed to give us, but forgot to.
To the New York U-Haul location charging us the CAD rate per extra mile in USD.
To U-haul not understanding the difference between CAD and USD when we were trying to explain to them over the phone that they had applied the wrong currency. Their argument: U-haul is one company and we charge a certain amount per extra mile. The contractual rate was 0.64 CAD per extra mile. The New York location’s usual rate was 0.40 USD per mile. So let us get the best of both worlds and pick the higher of the two rates and the stronger of the two currencies, yeah!, and charge 0.64 USD per mile.
Oh, by the way, on a previous occasion (in-town move in Charlotte, NC) I had also made the mistake to go with U-Haul and I was offered a truck without seat belts. When I pointed this out to them I was told: “Oh, who is waering seat belts”.
Conclusion. Don’t go with U-Haul. In my experience Penske is quite good, and the one time I rented with Budget it was not too bad, either.
The problem is that in the case of U-Haul people with low intelligence start abusing their power. But I hear U-Haul is not doing too well these days. I wonder why.
I will never recommend U-Haul to anyone, ever! This company has the worst reputation and only after having experienced there terrible customer service first hand am I suddenly seeing just how bad they really are. I made a reservation one month prior to moving from my condo. The day before the move which happened to be over the labour day weekend (good luck rebooking eleswhere)! they decide to tell me that my reservation for picking a truck up in Mississauga approx 15 minutes from my house was no longer available and I had to drive all the way to Hamilton for a smaller truck and my 24 hour reservation had now been reduced to a 4 hour reservation! UNBELIEVABLE! after trying several thousand times to reach customer service I finally got through to only sit and wait 45 minutes until someone could help me. Only then being transferred four times and then on hold again for 34 minutes! Luckily I was able to get a truck with Bristal Rental after calling several rental companies. By the way Im typing this note while still on hold for customer service at uhaul 48 minutes now!
So many terrible U-Haul stories. Lets hope that they can fix themselves up.
I RUN A UHAUL in a small town…………….. people ask for to much all the time to much to much uhaul is a huge company that covers all of canada and the u.s if u dont get a truck in your small shit stain town cry about it and cry so everyone see’s u crying and calls u a cry baby
I find it hard to believe that you have the ability to run anything after reading your childish and poorly structured rant. I guess you do qualify to run a U-Haul in a small shit stain town because an education is obviously not needed to apply within that failing company. Your company sucks and it is due to having ignorant morons like yourself running branches. Instead of writing a response to this, do us all a favor and sign up for an online class in English so you can finally get that GED. We know you can do it and we’re pulling for you.
My husband and three year old daughter rented a truck to go from Maine to North Carolina. It broke down 5pm just outside of Hartfor Connecticut on friday evening. The never called for a mechanic until saturday morning an hour and a half before I was supposed to check out of the hotel. When asked how I was supposed to be in contact with uhaul when I was stranded out in the parking lot “Ma’am that isn’t my problem.” The truck wasn’t fixable at the point. And they were supposed to bring me another truck. They wouldn’t. They found one about 20 minutes away and the only cab company wouldn’t bring us out there “We don’t have the cars for that.” And he hung up. In short a family member drove down and brought us to the store to get the truck and when I got there he said they didn’t have one. He talked to someone via phone and gave me a truck. I assume he took someone’s “reserved” truck. Which the truck wasn’t cleaned out before he gave it to me, but it got me home. 5 hours before I was due to go into work. But I made it finally!
U-Haul is not the problem. I think the problem is with you people that expect the world to revolve around you. If you want everything to work out perfectly you should hire a professional moving company which would probally cost you 3 or 4 times more.Budget/Ryder; all locations closed on sundays and short hours… & for the rest; no one offers moves across the US (one way moves…) U-Haul serves the whole entire United States for a fraction of what it really should cost to move. Its the 21st century.. people sue left and right and insurance costs a ton… People should be happy with U-Hauls competitive prices & service…
U-Haul is a AMERICAN family owned business. Dont hate on americans you should be putting your time fighting other stuff.
U-Haul sucks, and so do most of the deadbeat that work and protect this shitty company. Regardless of cost, if they can not honor reservations, then don’t take them. That way people can know what to expect, and they don’t waste their time and the time of others.
Customers have a right to expect to be treated nicely.
U-Haul and the incompetent people who work there are the problem. People don’t expect everything to work perfect. But if you make a reservation weeks in advance, there is NO EXCUSE for U-Haul not having a truck there when you go pick it up. NONE!!!! They also should not rent trucks that are unsafe to drive.
Also, do not use patriotism to protect ineptitude. That is shameful.
Also, how can people be happy with U-Haul’s service. U-Haul does not provide any service. If your lucky you get keys to a shitty truck that might or might not get you to where your going. On second thought, the lucky one might be the ones that don’t have a truck when they get there. At least their life is not put in danger when my moving their valuables in a broke down truck.
If you think renting from U-Haul sucks try working for them
U Haul sucks big time. (sorry laura. hope you find a better job soon). NEVER again. and i’m making another move shortly here and it’ll be a long distance one with a return trip in a few months. the one thing on my list in big red letters is DONT RENT FROM U HAUL. or listen to brian. moron. see comments above..U Haul was horribly rude and unreliable. the interoffice communication was grossly lacking and their response to inquiries was non existent. i even emailed the big corporate head..multiple times.. nothing. and so thats what they get from me…nothing. ever again. RUDE and Unreliable. Non responsive. irresponsible and an american shame. Shame on you U Haul. and you too brian.
My ordeal with this joke of a company began when I tried to rent a trailer from Toronto,Ontario one way to Pennsylvania. Called the online number and set up the transaction complete with a resevation number at which time I was informed I would need a pre trailering inspection. I was sent to a bicycle sales store (which doubles as a U-haul rental facility) and after dealing with someone who knew little or nothing about trailering or U-haul itself, I bought their wiring so as there should be no problem with the hookup. I travel a distance of 320 mi. to Toronto and informed the day before the rental that the pickup spot has been changed. No problem, I arrive to wait 1 1/2 hrs in line to find they do not have the trailer that they themselves redirected me to. The helpful girl at the counter informs me that this is not only a hassle for me but that it is a hassle for her as well. I guess the meaning is she might have to do something extra and find another trailer. She locates another trailer 45 mins away across Toronto. I travel to the other Uhaul dealer to find they do indeed have a trailer but after trying the lights find they do not work from the trailer back. All connections on the towing vehicle side of the connection were fine. All the part time Joe’s gave it a shot with different wiring plugs ( which I refused to pay for ), to no avail ,and I was left after 6-7 hours start to finish of this fiasco with no trailer and empty handed across the border to the U.S.
All this was nothing compared to the runaround I have recieved since trying to voice My dissatisfaction to the U-haul Corp. Initial complaint calls have been dealt with ( or not dealt with is more to the point) by taking the complaint and being told I will be contacted withing 48 hrs (which as yet has not happened). Other instances are simply ignored and I am either disconnected or routed to non existant phone numbers. In every instance I have to repeat this sordid tale to whomever fields the call and once again am told to wait for a follow up call which never happens.
Apparently it is comforting for U-haul to know that in a world of fierce corporate competition they are the only one way moving game in town and therefore have no responsibility to customers. I am not shocked since having this experience with them to see so many dissatisfied customers on this site. I’m sure it’s only the tip of the iceberg. I can only hope in the future that I am able to read about the not so untimely demise of their corporation. If there is ANY other way do yourself a favor and use another moving company.
A post script for Brian: Just so you know Brian, this so called “AMERICAN” family business will not accept AMERICAN DOLLARS at their Canadian rental centers. I understand that the exchange has swung the Canadians way but this is after all an AMERICAN FAMILY BUSINESS, right?
I don’t like U-Haul. Haven’t had good experiences with them. But Penske and Budget have been consistenly good. I recommend both.
I booked a regular size truck over the phone. I tried the website, but, it was wierd and not getting me anywhere, so I gave up on it. The call center person took by credit card info and confirmed my “reservation”. An hour later, I got a phone call from a Uhaul center that my reservation was confirmed and the truck was ready and waiting for me to be picked up. When I reached the center, guess what – there was no reservation for me in their office and they could only access their local database. I spent over 2 hours on my cell calling up multiple numbers (used most of my monthly minutes) with Uhaul trying to sort out the problem. Finally gave up and got home, and saw the called id on my home phone and called them. Turns out my booking was made in a different location – at least about 15 miles away – I cancelled it immediately. It took me about a month to get the charge removed from my credit card and that too only after I got my credit card company after them (good work – Chase). I still had to pay the reservation fee of $5.
If you are not aware – Menards rents trucks for short haul (1-2 hours, 15-20 miles), costs nearly $20, – no gas, no mileage, etc. Not meant for full day or more. Worth a try. I did and will do again, if needed.For this, Uhaul would easily cost close to $60
I don’t know about you guys, but I live in Raleigh NC and I rent uhaul trucks all the time, i have never had a problem…. with their customer service or there trucks……. Moving is very stressful, but not to me and my company, and rent from different locations all the time, and I will say that I have never had a problem….. Sucks to be those of you that have had problems….
By the way, if you try to use a Ford Explorer, they will refuse to rent to you. Their response is that they have been subject to too many lawsuits.
It’s true moving is as stressful as it is, and this is the second time using U-haul and running into problems. The first time, the truck was not the right size, then we had to wait for a truck to become available. This time we rented the truck at one location, then they called the next day saying we should pick it up at location about 20 minutes away. The phone number for that location was not inoperatable, so we went on a website to see who was close by to find out if there was indeed a U-haul location there. After getting the number, the person seemed clueless about everything. She did not know if there was a truck or if there was a booking, and this is 3:00 pm, when the booking was done a couple days ago.
For the people out there who think that the customers are the problem….are ignorant in how to run a credible business. When you provide a service, and you stand by it, you should honor what you offered the customer and if you don’t have it, u should state that. If something has come up and you cannot provide the service, you should go the extra mile to make sure that your customers needs are being taken care of, instead of taking their money and being rude or inconsiderate. Whether the price is $1 or $1000, you’re still providing a service.
U-Haul gave us the shaft as well. We kept the trailer we rented from them for an extra day and they came and stole it back when it wasn’t connected to my truck. Then they charged me a recovery fee even though I needed the damn thing to get an empty weight ticket. I loathe U-Haul. Down with U-Haul.