Help/Thoughts? (Uhaul and why they suck)

[morgin]

I was supposed to move tomorrow. Have friends lined up to help, and my elevator booked, etc. Made a reservation with U-Haul a while ago, got a confirmed reservation time, got an e-mail confirming the confirmed reservation time, etc. I just spoke with the gentleman at the local uhaul depot who was happy to tell me that "oh, sorry, yeah we don't actually have a truck for you after all tomorrow until late night - all e-mails are sent by the uhaul main office, they dont always tell us they reserved our truck"

So, anyone got any thoughts on where else I might be able to get a truck short notice? I need something in the 14 foot size range.

This blows. U-Haul. Also, when I called the girl at head office, she said "our contract with you is for a truck, it doesnt say we have to abide by any timelines." Here is my e-mail:

Dear Morgan,

This is confirmation that the Utility Dolly, and 14' Moving Van you reserved is scheduled and guaranteed to pickup at 12:00 PM on 09/27/2009 at (***local uhaul location***). This equipment needs to be returned to this same location prior to 11:00 PM on 09/27/2009.

Please contact us if you are unable to pickup your equipment at 12:00 PM on 09/27/2009."

Anyway, thoughts?

[RW99]

National, Driving Force and I think Enterprise all have larger trucks.

[You Need a Thneed]

Tell them (using strong language) that they will have a truck for you, if they don't have one of their own available, that you expect them to find you a different one, even if that means that they have to rent one from somewhere else, so they can rent it to you.

Either that, or find a different truck using the phone book, then invoice U-haul for any difference in price plus your time trying to find a different truck (at $100/hr).

[Dion]

Tell them you are a member of the Russian Mafia and you will be sending someone over to break some knee caps if a truck is not available as promised.

Seriously go to a car rental agency and see if you can rent a large truck

[onetwo_threefour]

Umm...

I think one of my clients stole your truck. They had a uhaul they were supposed to return yesterday but their possession got screwed up because their money wasn't in place, so they just decided to keep the uhaul over the weekend because they've got nowhere to put their stuff!

I wonder how much that actually happens to these truck rental places.

BTW, sorry about your luck, this is the worst time of the month to get something on short notice.

[morgin]

I think I have found something with Budget, probably just a cargo van but it should work, albeit require a few more trips.

Lesson learned.

[Drury18]

My sister had this issue in May. Rented a truck from Olds about a month prior and had a confirmation and even confirmed with the office the night before and when we went to pick it up and it wasn't there. They told her to go to Innisfail as they would have a truck. When she showed up, it wasn't there either. We called Red Deer and they said they had a truck for that morning. Placed a reservation about an hour before we were going to pick it up and was called by Head Office to say it wasn't there.

By that time, my sister was in tears and I took over the phone to talk to the Head Office with less then passive tone that we needed a truck. They offered a cargo van and I quoted them regarding their policy of having the exact truck or better if it wasn't availible. At that point the General Manager I was speaking to told me to put "The Man of the House" on the phone as she wasn't dealing with a "chicky" anymore and I asked her where she had the gall to use sexist comments like that towards a customer. I was then told that all my reservations were cancelled and U-Haul would not be able to help us and I could go to Hell.

I obviously filed a complaint with U-Haul and was called by an Executive Assistant to the President several days later who basically said she overheard the conversation by the GM and myself and that I "got what I deserved and no wrong was done by the GM". The EA said she heard the conversation at the time and spoke to the GM afterwards (who she said was a friend of hers) who told her I was cussing her out and made threats against her (neither of which happened), so her comments to me were justifed.

My sister was charged for several reservations as punishment from U-Haul (exact words of the EA), however VISA reversed all of them and told us that its not uncommon for U-Haul to pull this trick.

Long of the short, don't expect U-Haul to do anything about these cancelled reservations and in the future use any other company you can.

[RW99]

Originally Posted by Drury18

My sister had this issue in May...

Wow, just reading that made me angry.

[Nage Waza]

Uhaul did the same thing to me. Except I knew about the reputation beforehand, so I asked what I could do to 'guarantee' the reservation. Their answer was Tim's coffee and doughnuts. I brought enough for everyone the day before, and tea for the manager the day of. Of course they had no truck for me, even with all the bribes and even though I WAS FIRST IN LINE THAT MORNING. Somehow they had vehicles available for everyone behind me in line. I raised a real stink and did manage to get a vehicle, but it was very close to being a no show. And I had to be out of my place because the purchaser was taking possession in a day or so. I had to convince them to rent me one, and bump the last person. It is crazy how bad their system works.

Can anyone sue them?

[Shazam]

Never rent from UHaul. They suck. A good alternative is Budget.

[THEO]

rent a wreck???

[Bob]

++ to never dealing with U-Haul again. National, et al FTW.

The one time I used them I got extremely lucky, by the sounds of it. I was moving from BC to Calgary and got a brand new truck with < 3000 miles on it (Arizona plates, of course). When I got back into Calgary that night my mother told me she had been watching an expose on U-Haul trucks which showed how piss-poor their maintenance is and had been really worried.

Since then I tell everyone to stay away from them.

[ClubFlames]

Budget is the best option for renting trucks IMO.