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Warning! This post does contain language, and is of decent length. You are warned. 
Okay.. it's been a while since I've posted, just lurking mainly, since I've spent the last month moving across country and still not done with it. Long story, potentially another thread if anyone's interested. Anyhow...
To run down a bit of background.. my boyfriend of 6 years and I moved from PA to TX about a month ago, to share a place with two friends of ours, to consolidate bills/income to help us all out. (Giant culture shock, by the way, it's so different down here.. and I used to live down here before too! :P)
We rented a truck to pack up our stuff and tow our car behind, and drove about 36 hours to boot. Long trip.
We only expected to keep the truck until we had the newer, bigger apartment sorted, since all our stuff wasn't going to fit in with their stuff into a 1 bedroom apartment. It's been a month and we still have yet to have the bigger apartment, hence we still have the truck in use.
Here's the situation with the truck and company that rents it...
We had the truck sitting in a spot in the parking lot nearby, so we could grab a few things if needed from there, and really lacked another place to put it for now. We had recently renewed the contract for the truck, since we had it longer than we planned. One friend came home from work (same one who helped us drive across country) on Dec 21, three days after we renewed the contract on Dec 18, and asked if we moved the truck. None of us had left the apartment that day so no. He then replied "Well, it's gone."
My heart sank, and I had an immediate panic attack. Pretty much my entire life's possessions still sit in that truck, and my biggest fear was someone stole it.
A bit of calling around (at roughly 8 or 9 pm) and we find that it was towed away by the rental company. But the rental company was closed, so we had to wait until the next day to figure out what the hell.
I'm probably getting this a bit out of order or forgetting things, as this was almost two weeks ago, and I was very upset, but bear with me.
A couple more calls... either that night or early next morning I forget which.. and what's roughly told us is that the apartment manager basically called the rental company and said that it was abandoned. So, the rental company came and towed it away. Here's the kicker. We find out that not only did they tow it away WITHOUT CHECKING with the people who rented it first, but they also charged us $900 to do so! What I can't fathom.. is if they obviously knew who to charge, they could look up the information to see that it's still UNDER CONTRACT and not abandoned. Not to mention that we had a lock that was bought out of our pocked on the loading door, and it was FULL of someone's personal possessions.
AND... not only did they do all that (lacking common sense) but they said that in order to rent the truck back out asap, they started to UNLOAD IT.
I'm furious, and ranting all that night (I guess it was that night for the calls, I remember ranting about it all night
) about how stupid they are.
Next morning, as soon as they open, the one friend that helped us drive down and I go down to the location that they towed the truck to. Now, granted the first words out of my friend's mouth weren't probably the best, but his tone was calm, he wasn't yelling, and he just has a tendency toward what he calls "salty" language. The following is what was exchanged, to my best memory. (Disclaimer: Some bits I might be a bit wrong about, but again, it was a very long night AND day, and it was a little while ago.)
Me:
(Mostly just reactions, at first)
F: Friend
SM: Sucky manager of truck rental place.
We park, walk around the front of the building, and see some guys moving things around, but not my stuff. Guy steps up, and immediatly I peg him as the guy-in-charge.
SM: Can I help you folks?
F: Yeah... I'm the guy that kinda got fucked out of $900.
Sidenote... the $900 charge kicked his bank account into about 500-600 negative. So yeah, he was a bit pissed overall, but again, normal tone and volume with that comment.
SM: <stands up straight and steps toward us> You need to NOT use that language with me, you understand?
F: Alright, but I do want to resolve this whole thing, and I am kind of pissed off about it. This shouldn't have happened, as we had a damn contract.
This sentence was a bit more abrupt, but still not yelling or actually being nasty about it.
SM: <steps closer, a bit menacingly> You did not have a contract. It expired on the 18th. You will NOT use that language around here, do you fucking understand me?! You will calm the fuck down. Just tell me how you're going to remove your stuff.
F: Well, we DO need the truck, and I just want to resolve this!
SM: You're not getting the truck. I've already unloaded it. Just tell me how you're going to be removing your stuff.
F: We NEED that truck. I WANT this resolved, and I'm not going to leave here until we can work something out! We DID have a contract on it, I just renewed it!
A bit louder at this point, but understandably frustrated with this guy's rudeness and inability to even TRY to work with us or check anything out.
SM: <steps up to Friend so close almost touching him> You did not, and you will NOT talk like that here. Now tell me how you're removing your things or I will remove you!
F: I will more than gladly call the fucking traffic office from my cell phone right now so we can resolve this, but I will NOT leave until this is done!
SM: OKAY, you can just LEAVE right now! I'm not going to deal with a fucking pissant like you, or I will call the cops and have THEM remove you!
F: Go ahead and call the cops! I'll call the traffic office!
SM: <takes a more menacing step forward, as much as he can since he's pretty damn close anyway> Leave! Now!
F: Fine!! <growls>
SM: Squirrely little pissant!
Me: <trying to think about something calm and reasonable to say quickly to get the point across to this assmonkey>
SM: <points to me> YOU TOO! LEAVE!
Me:
Yes sir...
Yes, I'm a coward, but it happend way to fast for me to think!
My friend, being pissed off, even though he is a big fella, hasn't ever gotten into a fight in his life, and was kinda twitchy about getting hit, which is why he left. We honestly both thought the guy was gonna get physical. He was a bit scary.
Anyway... to continue.. we drove about five minutes over to the traffic office, basically a smaller version of the company store, with more parts and things and more "paperwork" done there than handling in trucks, although they have a few of those too. We go in, and explain to the guy there what happened. Note, this guy is working by himself, four days before christmas. We spent about an hour there, partly because other customers kept coming in/calling, and he had to deal with everyone, and was switching between us and his boss at a different location (district manager?) on the phone, trying to sort everything out.
What got sorted was this... the $900 charge was $240 for the cost of the truck, which would have been paid at turn in anyway, $500 for the tow of the truck from the apartment parking lot to the rental place, and $150 in "cleaning fee" because of unloading the truck and cleaning out all the stuff from the cab. (Yeah, I know the math's a bit off, but I'm rounding it out.) Since the second guy is the one that renewed the contract anyway, he and the DM sorted it out so that the tow fee was returned, but that still left my friend's account negative, and we weren't happy. As for the truck, we had to rent another one from him, and since we were a "Problem Customer" we had to come in every two days to renew the contract. Even though the "problem" wasn't our fault. In addition, there was nothing they could do about the unloaded stuff from the truck, we had to go there and reload it ourselves. And they wouldn't return the "cleaning" fee either.
Somewhat still annoyed, we leave from the traffic office with the new truck, still have the key for the old truck, and go home, grab my boyfriend and our other friend as helpers to load (at that point they each only had about three hours sleep) and head back toward the SM's rental office. Before we got there, it was determined that I would do all the talking and such with SM, since maybe he would have two brain cells and realize that I was polite and didn't even say anything to rile him up before.
We get there, I grab the key for the old truck to give him, and go inside. He's at his desk.
SM: Yes?
Me: I'm here to get my stuff, where is it currently? We have another truck to put it in.
SM: You still have the key for the old truck?
Me: Yeah, right here.
SM: Okay. Just pull up, back the truck up to the truck there. <points to a truck that looks familiar>
Me: Um.. the truck? That's where our stuff is?
SM: Yes, just pull it around, and you can load the other truck.
Me: ... okay... <walks back out the door, confused>
Me: <to everyone else> Um... he says all the stuff's in the back of the truck there.. still...
Everyone:
Me: <goes to check out the truck, then goes back to everyone> Yeah, ALL the stuff is still in the damn truck, and the cab isn't even cleaned out, all they did was put everything in a plastic grocery bag that was already there, and leave it on the seat. There's even still a small puddle of dried soda on the seat where one spilled at some point. The only thing messed with in the back is the lock was cut and the door was opened.
F: <growls and calls up the traffic office, tells them the situation> The other guy's going to call the DM, and the DM's going to tell SM what's going to happen here.
Two minutes later, the phone rings there at SM's place (the ringer's linked to an outside PA system so they can hear it when they're working). A moment later, we get a call back.
F: So.. here's the thing. They're refunding the cleaning fee since they didn't do shit. BUT... we still have to switch from one truck to other. They won't let us just take the first one.
So... we spent about 45 minutes switching cargo... and exhausting us all, since none of us are real physical-work type people, and only some of us running on little to no sleep (friend that's been through the whole thing with me hadn't slept in two days).
We get everything nice and spiffy, INCLUDING the garbage... so I go back in to hand in the key to the old truck.
Me: We're all done, everything's nice and neat. <hands key over>
SM: <serious face, leans forward> Alrightly. You have a Merry Christmas then. <shakes my hand>
Me:
Methinks someone got chewed out! The guy that had renewed the contract did mention that SM gets TONS of complaints, but the company can't do much because it's a privately owned store.
But to wrap up my rant... I just don't get it. If they knew who to charge for the whole situation, obviously they had the info to call us and/or check the contract for renewals before trusting a THIRD PARTY just randomly calling them up to tell them it's abandoned. AND the apartment manager KNOWS we're still waiting on the new apartment, and the truck was sitting RIGHT next to the current place we're at. AND since the truck is AT the location that the credit card's address lists, you'd think they would realize it's not abandoned. AND the SM SAID it was unloaded already, as well as whoever was on the phone the previous night, so what the hell was up with it not being unloaded, thus giving us more hassle and work?! Argh!
/rant
On the somewhat bright side... all the money that was refunded to us was taken out of SM's store profits, not the truck rental company itself. And he had to be polite to me.
My hands are hurting from so much typing, I think I should stop.
I'd like to know what others think about this too... I do somewhat see SM's side, he must deal with some assmonkies himself, but lying and cursing and basically threatening back when barely anything was said on our part yet? And not giving any chance and sorting things out?? Ugh!
Hmm.. thought I said /rant. Heh... as you can tell, I'm still a bit pissed off, even a couple weeks later... but it's not really over yet, we still have the truck and are STILL awaiting the new apt. *sigh!*
I'll try and update on this later, or elaborate on apartment-ness if requested. Just ow. Typing pain.
Okay.. it's been a while since I've posted, just lurking mainly, since I've spent the last month moving across country and still not done with it. Long story, potentially another thread if anyone's interested. Anyhow...
To run down a bit of background.. my boyfriend of 6 years and I moved from PA to TX about a month ago, to share a place with two friends of ours, to consolidate bills/income to help us all out. (Giant culture shock, by the way, it's so different down here.. and I used to live down here before too! :P)
We rented a truck to pack up our stuff and tow our car behind, and drove about 36 hours to boot. Long trip.
We only expected to keep the truck until we had the newer, bigger apartment sorted, since all our stuff wasn't going to fit in with their stuff into a 1 bedroom apartment. It's been a month and we still have yet to have the bigger apartment, hence we still have the truck in use.
Here's the situation with the truck and company that rents it...
We had the truck sitting in a spot in the parking lot nearby, so we could grab a few things if needed from there, and really lacked another place to put it for now. We had recently renewed the contract for the truck, since we had it longer than we planned. One friend came home from work (same one who helped us drive across country) on Dec 21, three days after we renewed the contract on Dec 18, and asked if we moved the truck. None of us had left the apartment that day so no. He then replied "Well, it's gone."
My heart sank, and I had an immediate panic attack. Pretty much my entire life's possessions still sit in that truck, and my biggest fear was someone stole it.
A bit of calling around (at roughly 8 or 9 pm) and we find that it was towed away by the rental company. But the rental company was closed, so we had to wait until the next day to figure out what the hell.
I'm probably getting this a bit out of order or forgetting things, as this was almost two weeks ago, and I was very upset, but bear with me.
A couple more calls... either that night or early next morning I forget which.. and what's roughly told us is that the apartment manager basically called the rental company and said that it was abandoned. So, the rental company came and towed it away. Here's the kicker. We find out that not only did they tow it away WITHOUT CHECKING with the people who rented it first, but they also charged us $900 to do so! What I can't fathom.. is if they obviously knew who to charge, they could look up the information to see that it's still UNDER CONTRACT and not abandoned. Not to mention that we had a lock that was bought out of our pocked on the loading door, and it was FULL of someone's personal possessions.
AND... not only did they do all that (lacking common sense) but they said that in order to rent the truck back out asap, they started to UNLOAD IT.
I'm furious, and ranting all that night (I guess it was that night for the calls, I remember ranting about it all night
) about how stupid they are.Next morning, as soon as they open, the one friend that helped us drive down and I go down to the location that they towed the truck to. Now, granted the first words out of my friend's mouth weren't probably the best, but his tone was calm, he wasn't yelling, and he just has a tendency toward what he calls "salty" language. The following is what was exchanged, to my best memory. (Disclaimer: Some bits I might be a bit wrong about, but again, it was a very long night AND day, and it was a little while ago.)
Me:
(Mostly just reactions, at first)F: Friend
SM: Sucky manager of truck rental place.
We park, walk around the front of the building, and see some guys moving things around, but not my stuff. Guy steps up, and immediatly I peg him as the guy-in-charge.
SM: Can I help you folks?
F: Yeah... I'm the guy that kinda got fucked out of $900.
Sidenote... the $900 charge kicked his bank account into about 500-600 negative. So yeah, he was a bit pissed overall, but again, normal tone and volume with that comment.
SM: <stands up straight and steps toward us> You need to NOT use that language with me, you understand?
F: Alright, but I do want to resolve this whole thing, and I am kind of pissed off about it. This shouldn't have happened, as we had a damn contract.
This sentence was a bit more abrupt, but still not yelling or actually being nasty about it.
SM: <steps closer, a bit menacingly> You did not have a contract. It expired on the 18th. You will NOT use that language around here, do you fucking understand me?! You will calm the fuck down. Just tell me how you're going to remove your stuff.
F: Well, we DO need the truck, and I just want to resolve this!
SM: You're not getting the truck. I've already unloaded it. Just tell me how you're going to be removing your stuff.
F: We NEED that truck. I WANT this resolved, and I'm not going to leave here until we can work something out! We DID have a contract on it, I just renewed it!
A bit louder at this point, but understandably frustrated with this guy's rudeness and inability to even TRY to work with us or check anything out.
SM: <steps up to Friend so close almost touching him> You did not, and you will NOT talk like that here. Now tell me how you're removing your things or I will remove you!
F: I will more than gladly call the fucking traffic office from my cell phone right now so we can resolve this, but I will NOT leave until this is done!
SM: OKAY, you can just LEAVE right now! I'm not going to deal with a fucking pissant like you, or I will call the cops and have THEM remove you!
F: Go ahead and call the cops! I'll call the traffic office!
SM: <takes a more menacing step forward, as much as he can since he's pretty damn close anyway> Leave! Now!
F: Fine!! <growls>
SM: Squirrely little pissant!
Me:
<trying to think about something calm and reasonable to say quickly to get the point across to this assmonkey>SM: <points to me> YOU TOO! LEAVE!
Me:
Yes sir...Yes, I'm a coward, but it happend way to fast for me to think!
My friend, being pissed off, even though he is a big fella, hasn't ever gotten into a fight in his life, and was kinda twitchy about getting hit, which is why he left. We honestly both thought the guy was gonna get physical. He was a bit scary.
Anyway... to continue.. we drove about five minutes over to the traffic office, basically a smaller version of the company store, with more parts and things and more "paperwork" done there than handling in trucks, although they have a few of those too. We go in, and explain to the guy there what happened. Note, this guy is working by himself, four days before christmas. We spent about an hour there, partly because other customers kept coming in/calling, and he had to deal with everyone, and was switching between us and his boss at a different location (district manager?) on the phone, trying to sort everything out.
What got sorted was this... the $900 charge was $240 for the cost of the truck, which would have been paid at turn in anyway, $500 for the tow of the truck from the apartment parking lot to the rental place, and $150 in "cleaning fee" because of unloading the truck and cleaning out all the stuff from the cab. (Yeah, I know the math's a bit off, but I'm rounding it out.) Since the second guy is the one that renewed the contract anyway, he and the DM sorted it out so that the tow fee was returned, but that still left my friend's account negative, and we weren't happy. As for the truck, we had to rent another one from him, and since we were a "Problem Customer" we had to come in every two days to renew the contract. Even though the "problem" wasn't our fault. In addition, there was nothing they could do about the unloaded stuff from the truck, we had to go there and reload it ourselves. And they wouldn't return the "cleaning" fee either.
Somewhat still annoyed, we leave from the traffic office with the new truck, still have the key for the old truck, and go home, grab my boyfriend and our other friend as helpers to load (at that point they each only had about three hours sleep) and head back toward the SM's rental office. Before we got there, it was determined that I would do all the talking and such with SM, since maybe he would have two brain cells and realize that I was polite and didn't even say anything to rile him up before.
We get there, I grab the key for the old truck to give him, and go inside. He's at his desk.
SM: Yes?
Me: I'm here to get my stuff, where is it currently? We have another truck to put it in.
SM: You still have the key for the old truck?
Me: Yeah, right here.
SM: Okay. Just pull up, back the truck up to the truck there. <points to a truck that looks familiar>
Me:
Um.. the truck? That's where our stuff is?SM: Yes, just pull it around, and you can load the other truck.
Me: ... okay... <walks back out the door, confused>
Me: <to everyone else> Um... he says all the stuff's in the back of the truck there.. still...
Everyone:
Me: <goes to check out the truck, then goes back to everyone> Yeah, ALL the stuff is still in the damn truck, and the cab isn't even cleaned out, all they did was put everything in a plastic grocery bag that was already there, and leave it on the seat. There's even still a small puddle of dried soda on the seat where one spilled at some point. The only thing messed with in the back is the lock was cut and the door was opened.
F: <growls and calls up the traffic office, tells them the situation> The other guy's going to call the DM, and the DM's going to tell SM what's going to happen here.
Two minutes later, the phone rings there at SM's place (the ringer's linked to an outside PA system so they can hear it when they're working). A moment later, we get a call back.
F: So.. here's the thing. They're refunding the cleaning fee since they didn't do shit. BUT... we still have to switch from one truck to other. They won't let us just take the first one.
So... we spent about 45 minutes switching cargo... and exhausting us all, since none of us are real physical-work type people, and only some of us running on little to no sleep (friend that's been through the whole thing with me hadn't slept in two days).We get everything nice and spiffy, INCLUDING the garbage... so I go back in to hand in the key to the old truck.
Me: We're all done, everything's nice and neat. <hands key over>
SM: <serious face, leans forward> Alrightly. You have a Merry Christmas then. <shakes my hand>
Me:
Methinks someone got chewed out! The guy that had renewed the contract did mention that SM gets TONS of complaints, but the company can't do much because it's a privately owned store.
But to wrap up my rant... I just don't get it. If they knew who to charge for the whole situation, obviously they had the info to call us and/or check the contract for renewals before trusting a THIRD PARTY just randomly calling them up to tell them it's abandoned. AND the apartment manager KNOWS we're still waiting on the new apartment, and the truck was sitting RIGHT next to the current place we're at. AND since the truck is AT the location that the credit card's address lists, you'd think they would realize it's not abandoned. AND the SM SAID it was unloaded already, as well as whoever was on the phone the previous night, so what the hell was up with it not being unloaded, thus giving us more hassle and work?! Argh!
/rant
On the somewhat bright side... all the money that was refunded to us was taken out of SM's store profits, not the truck rental company itself. And he had to be polite to me.
My hands are hurting from so much typing, I think I should stop.
I'd like to know what others think about this too... I do somewhat see SM's side, he must deal with some assmonkies himself, but lying and cursing and basically threatening back when barely anything was said on our part yet? And not giving any chance and sorting things out?? Ugh!Hmm.. thought I said /rant. Heh... as you can tell, I'm still a bit pissed off, even a couple weeks later... but it's not really over yet, we still have the truck and are STILL awaiting the new apt. *sigh!*
I'll try and update on this later, or elaborate on apartment-ness if requested. Just ow. Typing pain.
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