He went to Virginia . . . .

[Sapphire Silk]

So, I'm up here at my Mom's for the weekend. My plan is to take my bedroom furniture from when I was a kid (which is a really nice set) plus some other stuff back down to North Carolina.

So I had made a reservation with U Haul for a 5x8 trailer, and made arrangements for Brother to stop by and help me load it up. He was supposed to meet me at the house an hour after the reservation time (I figured that would give me plenty of time to get the trailer and get home, we'd load up quick, and he'd be on his way).

Oh so wrong.

Before I go to get the trailer, I drive over to the assisted living where Mom lives now to pay her a visit. Between the road conditions and the visit, I end up running a bit late. So I call the U Haul place to let them know I'd be a bit late. The guy who answers has a very thick accent but is understandable.

He says, "You have reservation? You coming to pick up late?"

Me: Yes, I'm running about 30 minutes late. I'm on my way there now. Ok?"
Him: Uhm.. . . oh. Oh. OK.
Me: OK. Be there in a bit.

This particular location is a store that sells ATVs, go carts, and scooters. The UHaul bit is a sideline (not uncommon, so I thought nothing of it when I made the reservation online).

So I get there, and the guy (whose co-worker is smoking IN the store, in front of a dad and his two kids--dad leaves in disgust) then tells me that the owner of the store has gone down to Virginia and he is the only one who knows how to do the rentals.

Me: Virginia?!?!?!?
Man: Yes. I'm sorry. I don't know how to do this.
Me: When didn't you tell me when I called?
Man:
Me: Forget it.

So I have to go home, get online again, find another location, make a new reservation, and am now even more behind. Brother has to cool his heels for 45 minutes waiting on me Fortunately, he was more upset with the U haul place than with me.

I wish the dude had just told me when I called that the trailer wasn't going to be available. It would have saved me a whole lot of hassle.

[rose_metal_nz]

Wow. Is that a chain store, you can complain about both issues (I'm counting the smoking staff member too) to? Very not cool

[Andara Bledin]

Wow, yeah. I imagine U-Haul might like to hear how their little franchise there is being (mis)handled.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

indeed. this is worthy of a complaint.

you made the reservation and they didn't bother doing fuck about it - not even telling you that they couldn't do anything - until you showed up.

all of this leaving you hoping you can make a last-minute rental agreement somewhere else.... and hoping the other locations even *had* trucks available.


i'm just glad another location had a truck available. it would suck balls to be stuck with no truck.

[Sapphire Silk]

I was very nervous about finding the right sized trailer at the last minute. I got lucky with the 2nd place; she had what I needed. As it was, all the stuff I wanted to take barely fit into it.

I did email a complaint to U Haul's corporate (I forgot to add the part about the smoking).

It's a private business with U Haul as a sideline, so complaining about the smoking to the people working there (they were Middle Eastern) would do no good: to them culturally, smoking is very acceptable.

But the other customer clearly was not happy with this guy smoking right next to his kid, and he voted with his feet.

[Andara Bledin]

Is smoking allowed in the workplace in your state? I was fairly certain that all customer-facing positions were strictly smoke-free at this point.

^-.-^

[wagegoth]

Is smoking allowed in the workplace in your state? I was fairly certain that all customer-facing positions were strictly smoke-free at this point.

^-.-^

It's a state by state, even city by city thing.

[Javarod]

It's a state by state, even city by city thing.

It can even be by type of business if i'm not mistaken too.

[Sapphire Silk]

Is smoking allowed in the workplace in your state? I was fairly certain that all customer-facing positions were strictly smoke-free at this point.

^-.-^

I honestly don't know.

The "store" is basically a garage space with a counter, so technically it's half inside half out.

I don't know what the law is in Maryland anymore; haven't lived there since 1997.

[Andara Bledin]

Apparently, Maryland went smoke free in the workplace in '95. Not sure whether the place you were qualifies, though, and since you'll likely never be back, you probably aren't too worried about it.

Although, I think I'd post a review of the place on Yelp, just to let people know how much they suck.

^-.-^

[Captain Trips]

Apparently, Maryland went smoke free in the workplace in '95. Not sure whether the place you were qualifies, though, ...

Do they take money for goods and/or services? (If they rent U-Hauls, the answer is yes.) If so, they qualify.

[Daskinor]

Yea. Maryland has gone full draconian. Work spaces, including the inside of company vehicles. Cant smoke within 100' (coworker says 50') of the doors to commercial buildings. And any state level property is completely smoke free. this would be schools, parks, etc. I am not sure if county/city property is governed by those rules.

Back when they had State Trooper park rangers at Sandy Point state park they where writing tickets left and right, and kicking people out for smoking on the beach.

[Kogarashi]

Good luck getting a response from U-Haul.

In the last five years, Hubby's helped out on so many moves where U-Haul and the local retailers renting out their trucks have dropped the ball. Frequently it's a case of a truck in the requested size not actually being at the location it was reserved for when pickup time came around, forcing the renter to drive to another city to get the right size (and U-Haul not caring one whit about the extra travel distance involved). This happened so much that Hubby decided to go with Penske for our recent move instead.

In Penske's defense, they did a better job of making up the snafu to us than U-Haul did to those other people we knew.... ::sigh::

See, when pickup time neared, Hubby called the place first to see if our truck was there. Nope, running late, because the shop guys had to go to NYC to pick it up (a 90-minute drive when there's no traffic involved; about triple that in normal conditions), and it was taking longer than they thought. Hubby shows up later, when they told him to, to discover that the truck is still about two hours out. We finally got the truck about an hour past when we needed to start packing it. Luckily Hubby had budgeted "snafu time" into our schedule for the day. Penske did end up cutting us a bit of a reimbursment on the rental price, thankfully.

[Sapphire Silk]

Well, I got an email from UHaul stating they would refund me $50 on the rental, and give me a gift certificate. But when I checked my bank account (I used my debit card) I don't see a credit posted.

I'll give it a couple more days, then inquire. I didn't ask for a refund, but since they offered, I'll follow up.

[Andara Bledin]

U-Haul likely has to get ahold of the shop you rented from and then have them do the return.

Good for them for at least acknowledging your complaint, and better for recompense for your ordeal.

^-.-^