More fun with U Haul

[Sapphire Silk]

Back in February I posted some U Haul suck I had when I rented a trailer to move furniture home from my Mom's http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ghlight=U+Haul

Well, I went back last weekend to bring down some more stuff, and have got more stories to tell.

Stuff ranges from the merely idiotic to the amuzing to the downright sucky.

Moving Helpers
I had an appointment to pick up my trailer from a different place than the two I used in my last story. I've used this place before, and it's been reliable, they just didn't have the size trailer I needed last time.

So I get there at the appointed time (9 am) and find the place packed. A guy doing a DIY move for the Navy and another guy and his wife who need a trailer to move stuff related to a wedding were there before me, so I had to wait.

Navy man has just moved to town from somewhere in Virginia. When they arrived, there was a massive thunderstorm that did a lot of local damage (a couple of tornadoes landed locally) so they had decided to wait til today to unload. So his truck was going to be late coming back. On top of that, they hadn't made any plans for how they were actually going to unload the truck. So Navy Man needs last minute moving helpers.

He ties up the manager for a good 20 minutes getting a list of local companies, but has to come back because the list doesn't have any phone numbers, just web links. Apparently you have to set up everything online. Then he starts complaining about the rates ($150/hour plus).

Dude, you were the one who didn't think ahead. Suck it up.

That's not me

Man and Wife are there to rent a trailer to move stuff for a wedding to take place that day. Trailer was reserved by wife's sister in wife's name. Manager keeps asking for ID from Man, who of course has the wrong name, then from the Wife in her sister's name ins pite of the Wife repeating several times the correct name on the reservation.

Finally, we get to me, when Navy Man comes back again because he can't get a hold of anyone because there still aren't any phone numbers on the list. Manager stops and helps him out just to get rid of him.

My rental goes fairly smoothly. While we're getting the paperwork done

Hitch stuck

Mom and daughter roll in with a trailer return. Manager asks them to back the trailer to the far side of the lot, which Mom can't do because she doesn't know how. Manager interrupts getting me hooked up with my trailer (she's supposed to hitch it up even though I know how) to park the trailer. She then finishes hitching me up.

Manager had closed the door to the office while she was working with me and the other customer, but I had to go back in to pick up the blankets and the boxes that I got along with the trailer. Manager gets tied up again (this doesn't affect me yet) trying to get the hitch out of the receiver; it is stuck.

Meanwhile yet another customer, Mom #2 and her two kids (grown women) show up to rent a truck. All three are heavy smokers, and follow me into the store as I'm getting my blankets asking about a rental.

Me: Sorry, I don't work here. I'm a customer. Manager's over there, she'll be back in a minute.

The two grown daughters linger in the store as I'm picking up my blankets, to pay with the manager's little dog, who was barking at them.

Me: I don't think the manager meant for other people to be in here. She left the door unlocked for me so I could pick up my stuff.

They ignore me and continue playing with the dog.

Meanwhile, I wait outside (I still needed to pay for the boxes as I bought them after the rental stuff went through). The girls get the hint and come outside. All three start smoking like stacks. I have to move away because the odor is so thick.

When the manager comes back, she asks if someone had been smoking inside the office, the reek from these three women was that bad (they had not been).

I was so glad to get out of there.

1 1/2 hours later I finally roll out of the parking lot.

[MadMike]

I've had mixed results with U-haul myself. When we moved my wife out of her apartment and into mine, it was nothing short of a disaster. Some of that was probably my fault by waiting until the last minute to try to find something. I it took several calls to find a dealer that actually had one available.

When we arrived to pick up the truck, I couldn't believe it. The thing looked like it should have been taken out of the service back in the 70's. It had only one seat belt, and in PA, seat belts are required. It was a stick shift, which I hadn't driven in years, but thankfully I knew how to drive a stick. A lot of people don't, including my wife. The driver door was loose, and rattled the entire time. At least the one seat belt it had was on the driver side.

If I had a choice, I would have refused to drive that death trap, but we needed to get her moved in. We made it to her apartment, and since she didn't have a lot of stuff, we were able to get it all loaded in one stop, with maybe a quarter of the space left over. Then I went to start it up, and it was dead. Apparently the battery was so old, it wouldn't hold a charge. I had to call the company, who sent someone out to jump the truck. We drove it over to my apartment, and unloaded.

By this time, it was getting late, and I just wanted to return the damn thing and be rid of it. I went out to start it up, and... well, I think we all know what happened. I had to call the company again, and no one was picking up, even though it was supposed to be a 24-hour number. I literally let it ring for about a half an hour before someone finally picked it up. They sent someone out to jump it a second time, and I was on my way. I was supposed to top off the fuel before I returned it, but there was no way in hell I was shutting it off again.

The next day, I went in to settle the paperwork, and explain why I didn't top off the fuel. They were at least nice enough not to charge me for it, and they even gave me a partial credit because of all the trouble I had with it. On top of everything else, it turned out the thing also had a fuel leak. Unbelievable.

When we moved out of my apartment and into the house we live in now, it was a much better experience. There was a place just up the street from the apartment that rented U-Hauls, and this time I learned my lesson and reserved it as soon as I knew we had the house, which was almost 2 months in advance.

There was one minor issue, but as far as I'm concerned, they made it right. They didn't have a truck that was the size that I had reserved. I had to settle for something slightly smaller, but they knocked the price down a bit, and they waived the time limit. Originally, I was supposed to have it back after a certain number of hours, but with this one I was OK as long as I had it back before the start of the next business day. The truck they gave us was much nicer and newer, and we had no problems with it whatsoever. When I was done with it, I swung by the gas station to top off the fuel, parked it at the shop, and left the keys in the drop box.

[Sapphire Silk]

I've tried some of U Haul's competitors, but they never seem to have the size I need available on the date I need. I can always find what I need with U Haul, though I sometimes have to use different locations.

My local location is VERY well run, and the folks there very nice. For local use, I'll always go to them first.

[Argabarga]

I must be blessed, I've never had a problem with U-Haul, customer service or equipment.

[Shalom]

it took several calls to find a dealer that actually had one available.

When we arrived to pick up the truck, I couldn't believe it. The thing looked like it should have been taken out of the service back in the 70's. .

Makes me wonder how many years that truck had been sitting unused in the back corner of the lot. "Yeah, he sounds desperate, everyone else is sold out too ... hey, maybe stick a plate on that old Ford and see if you can get it started? Jump it if you have to..."

[protege]

Makes me wonder how many years that truck had been sitting unused in the back corner of the lot.

That wouldn't surprise me. U-Haul's Canadian arm actually got busted some years back for the condition of their trucks. Many shouldn't have been on the roads at all. Similar claims were made in the US around 2007.

When my dad and I moved my grandmother into an assisted-living place (basically an apartment...but with someone that would check up on her) in 2006, we looked at U-Haul, and a few other local firms. What steered us away, was that their rates were not only the highest, but some of the available trucks were pretty bad. (I'm not bashing the company, rather the local agent.) Sorry, but a dragging brake pedal isn't exactly something you want when you're moving a ton of furniture. In the end, we went with another firm. Dad knew the owners, so why not?

[Captain Trips]

That wouldn't surprise me. U-Haul's Canadian arm actually got busted some years back for the condition of their trucks. Many shouldn't have been on the roads at all. Similar claims were made in the US around 2007.

Unfortunately, U-Haul has a reputation for poor maintenance. I remember a story on 60 Minutes must have been 20 years ago or so on them - tires with the belt showing through, no brake maintenance, etc. It's a wonder the trucks even moved. This is why I'd rather pay more from a different company - especially seeing how they still allow the poor maintenance habits to continue...

[dalesys]

In May 62 my parents were moving back to Salt Lake from Columbus, OH. Station wagon full of six kids aged 1-10. They'd just swapped drivers, and as mom got up to highway speeds, the U-Haul trailer brakes malfunctioned, causing the trailer and car to fishtail madly.

I remember the trailer toungue coming through the back window, spraying glass over the babies. Broke some of the furniture, too.

We stayed in a motel in an Amish area of NE Indiana for several days. One morning there was black leather and fabric and kindling all over the road... One of the local wild ones had been listening to the radio at the drive-in when his horse decided to take the buggy home... In front of a semi!

[protege]

This is why I'd rather pay more from a different company - especially seeing how they still allow the poor maintenance habits to continue...

Me too. In fact, when my grandmother eventually moved, we went with a pricier firm. They're local, been around since 1954, and usually help the movie industry when they come to shoot flicks here. So far, their blue-and-white trucks have been with 2,200 different movie/TV/commercial projects

[IamEmancipated]

When my mom and us four kids moved from New Mexico to Kentucky some years back, we paid an actual moving company to bring the stuff; there was only one driver at the time (mom).

Did you know you have to go through New York to get to Kentucky from New Mexico? We didn't. We spent the first two nights in KY without beds, but thankfully we had blankets and pillows and cat/people food. They had told my mom that it would be a 48-hour move, so we were certain the stuff would get there before us---it takes about 2 days give or take to drive that far. We even waited until the movers had started to drive before leaving.

The next time we went with UHaul but there were two drivers and the worst that happened was a minor fender bender that destroyed a crappy foam cooler in my grandpa's old truck. (And a nice angel at a truck stop who fixed the truck's leaking water hose by simply reattaching it for us car-illiterate ladies! You go trucker angel guy!)