Not only will I advise family and friends to avoid them, but I will consider it a personal insult if anyone I know ever enters into a truck rental contract with U-Haul ever again.
One month ago: I call U-Hell to reserve a truck for the morning of Wednesday, August 31st through the evening of Thursday, September 1st. We need to be out of our former apartment by 6am on the 1st, but the new place will not be ready until 9am. So we need to do a one-shot move, one big truck, all packed up the day before. Noooo problem.
One week ago: I get a reservation letter that says I have a truck reserved for "one day" and they will call me by 5pm the day before to confirm the pickup location and time. I call them because I have a funny feeling about the "one day" thing, since we're going to have the truck for more like a day and a half. The U-Haul lady says that one day means 24 hours, but if we keep it longer then we will just pay for an extra day, no late fees or anything: they just schedule pickups, not returns.
7:00pm, Tuesday, August 30th: U-Haul calls to tell me that they cannot tell me where or when we are to pick up our truck, but that we will get a truck of some sort, some time the next day. Oookay. Hence the not sleeping!
7:00am, Wednesday, August 31st: We are perfectly, completely, gloriously packed. On schedule. Enough boxes and tape, but not too many. Boxes sorted by room. A plan in place for packing the truck for ease of unpacking. It is a thing of beauty.
11:00am: We start calling U-Haul...
1:00pm...then Budget, and Ryder, and Penske...
2:00pm...then random people who might know a guy with a truck...
4:00pm...no trucks. Panic. Despair.
4:30pm: U-Haul has a truck available, finally, so sorry for the wait but people returned trucks late. Late? How can there be "late" when your reservationists do not take into account the time that callers like me say they will return the trucks? The truck is in Salem. Oookay.
8:00pm: Ten hours after we had planned to start, we return from Salem (rush-hour commuting on the way out, Sox game traffic on the way in) and start loading.
2:00am: The apartment is empty and clean. And now we have three whole hours to sleep! (As an aside, that was the most satisfying vacuuming I've ever done, although the neighbors probably didn't feel the same about it at 12:30 on a Wednesday. But seriously. The filth! The miraculous transformation! Wow!)
So, anyway, Thursday is kind of a blur, but we did manage to unload everything and return the truck "on time." Heroes include Josh's dad, who has now helped us move twice, this time knowing what he was in for; the Qs, who arrived at just the right time during frantic truck-loading to help us figure out how to Tetris all the furniture in; a Salem-based co-worker who let us follow her home the fast way and then led us to the highway after we picked up the dastardly late truck; another co-worker's boyfriend who came and carried boxes for three hours on Thursday even though he himself just moved. They are all awesome. I'll still cut them dead if any one of them gives those U-Haul fuckers any money ever, though.
Posted by hilatron at September 3, 2005 12:56 PM | TrackBackfuck uhaul. their entire system is based on happy accidents. in many attempts, i've never gotten the truck i requested at the time i requested.
once i had a truck that broke down. they kept saying someone would be there to fix it in 20 mins. this went on for 4 hours. it took threats to leave the truck on the side of the road to get a mechanic out to us.
Posted by: jason at September 3, 2005 03:32 PMI would like to apologize because I feel that your U-Haul experience is my fault. 3 years ago I had a similar U-Hell experience. I told all of my friends and family to never use them. I vowed to tell everyone I could about how bad this company is. But I didn't tell enough people. I didn't spread the word about the crappy customer service, hours of phone wait time and could-not-care-less clerks. I'm so sorry. My bad. It is everyone's duty to tell the truth about those fuckers.
For the record, this year I used Budget and had zero issues.
Posted by: Jeff at September 4, 2005 12:35 PMGlad it all finally worked out for you. Unfortunately I wasn't able to offer much help since I don't know anyone with a truck.
I had a very similar experience with U-haul when I moved from Pittsburgh four years ago. They couldn't tell us where or when to get our truck. It finally took my ex yelling at them for a while, and they found us a truck (though much bigger than the one we'd reserved). That'd be why I used Budget last time I moved...
Posted by: Colleen at September 5, 2005 11:26 AMThe same thing happened to me three years ago. They never called by 5:00 p.m., and no one could answer my question as to when and where the truck would be ready.
I was hysterical because I was moving most of my stuff & had a paid crew coming in at 9:00 a.m. to move it. I had rented a UHaul trailer to take a small amount of stuff to my mother's house, but I planned to have the crew load the UHaul trailer. No trailer available until 3:00 p.m. that afternoon. So I ended up loading that trailer myself, in 95 degree heat.
When I went to pick up the trailer it was ancient. There was a warning label on the rear door that had a 1980 date on it. The woman at the desk sympathized, but it was the only one she had. I would have to wait for an undetermined amount of time, perhaps days, for another one.
To add insult to injury, as I drove to my mother's house the next day, the ancient trailer blew a tire on the Mass. Pike. past Springfield. No cell service there so I walked a mile back to the exit & called UHaul. They told me a local garage would be called to replace the tire, and that they would stop by, pick me up, & take me back to the car.
Two hours later after hearing & seeing no one I walked back to my car to find the tire repaired. Turned a 6 hour trip into an 8 1/2 hour trip.
I will NEVER use UHaul again. Never.
oh gosh tron, so sorry. when i rented a u-haul last year, it actually kind of worked, and i was so shocked i just sat in it for like four hours without doing anything.
but in other cases, i've ended up reserving an SUV from zipcar. thank god for my zipcar membership.
Posted by: EV at September 6, 2005 11:14 AMI also had a hideous experience with UHaul when I moved from Florida to Cambridge. Highlights include being charged TWICE for the one-way, several-day, ginormous truck rental (total if charged once: over $800). And then having the UHaul manager in Cambridge try to charge me a THIRD time. And then responded to my numerous complaints about the truck (including the fact that the gas cap had been *CHAINED* to the gas tank from inside so that it was impossible to open the cap enough to fill the gas tank) by saying "That's not my problem. I'm only responsible for my "sends" (ie. outgoing trucks)."
Posted by: Ty at September 7, 2005 01:51 PMGot a complaint..Here you go:
joe_shoen@uhaul.com (president)
mark_shoen@uhaul.com (2nd in command)
my person favorite: jeremy_frank@uhaul.com (he is the one all e-mails should go to..he is the regional president..he is in charge of ALL U HAULS!!)
As for me, I will tell you what i had to deal with.Imagine this. 200 trucks.500 people= very pissed off!! every weekend!! We did perfect reservation times,and everything.Here is what can simply (fuck your day up..98% it happens all the time) when we say to bring the truck back at a time.you promised,hello..i have other people waiting for you to show up....now.imagine what happens when that happens 20-30 times a weekend,what a chain of problems all mgmt has to deal with.we stress just as much as you..becauce we look just as stupid when your truck isnt there! now, for the breakdowns..**all trucks and trailers must be "safty certified" its a sticker on the trucks right on the cab,and on the trailers on the side).. if its not current.refuse to take the truck or trailer..if u do take it,you might have a case against them... now for the breakdowns.. yes,shit happens..95% dont start.why?? because they are diesal.( which means you dony pump the gas pedal to start it) all u do is turn the ignition wait till it clicks 3-4 times...and off you go.i really can tell you how many times i have made the customer feel stupid,and start the truck every time.(( also, a extra tip.... buy some starting spray.kragens $3.00) works every time)
and for my personal favorite.coustomers who want to leave the trucks and walk away.(remember the contract you signed? well.to keep it short.means.you WILL PAY,AND GET F#&*ED.every time.So,my advive. Alway be in contact with where u got the truck,and keep notes,and times,and be sure to get the name of who you talk to.u-haul is a money machine.And the contracts own you after you sign.Very few times i had to refund a coustomer there money.so be careful.. best advice.pay cash!! here that?? cash!!! this way.they cannot keep charging your card..and yes it is ok for them to do so,it on the contract..I know.So.......bottom line..Dont go there..oh yeah,I did have a great laugh i want everyone to share from it..
I had a coustomer,comes in all made because his truck had a problems. and kept on ranting and raving.Finally.I got sick of hearing from him, and asked " since you hate using our trucks and complaing so much..why are did you come here in the first place?"
" he said," Because of the reputation and our good trucks"
then i laughed at him.......and said " sir", the only reason you came in here is because your broke ass.couldt afford penske.Personally.I hear so much complaints..but yet stupid people keep coming here.hello....there are much better places.As for me.Oh yes.one more of my faorites."had a guy said "i am going to buy this compay out and fire you.i laughed in his face....and said,sir...unless you have about 600 millin in you bank account.i just thin you should shut the f-up.
I am retired.and very wealthy..
i work 4 them the pay ant good theres more crap u gotta put up uhaul blowz nutt sacks
Posted by: her at October 23, 2006 01:54 AM