U-Haul

I have used them successfully several times, in & out of state. My sons use them when they were in college, & job transferring. We have never had a problem, & we saved a lot of money by packing & securing the truck & driving ourselves. You will have several companies, within your area to choose from. Everything is done online. Tipping is left up to the customer. I always did, because I felt like they earned it.

I now headed to Tom’s Family Car Wash in Gilbert. Upon arriving there I was met by a distressed employee who informed me that their system was down and so her manger was requiring her to do all equipment check ins and check outs on her personal smart phone. She was the only employee at the desk and was responsible for managing the Uhaul orders as well as help all other customers who came to the desk for their car wash payments. This employee was clearly stressed and in need of assistance. She had not been given sufficient training on how to complete Uhaul orders and was unfamiliar with the functions of her phone. She called three times for her manager, Allison, to come help her. Allison would come and give limited assistance then leave again instead of staying to walk her employee through each of the steps she needed to take or at the very least be on standby to help other customers who came to the line.

The employee did her best to complete my order informing me that my truck was to be returned to my designated drop off point with an 1/8th tank of gas. After a few more minutes on her phone she triumphantly exclaimed that she had finally gotten through the process and could give me the keys to the truck. (It took almost an hour for her to reach this point.) I was not given anything to sign. No written contract with guidelines for usage or a fee schedule. Only verbal communication of the expected 1/8 tank at return and the keys.

I took the keys and found my truck in their parking area. When I opened the door to the cab I was greeted with empty water bottles and dirty, discarded face masks all over the seats. The windows were filthy and covered with bug guts from its previous usage. (Strike two for Uhaul for renting equipment that is filthy which at the very least is taboo in the climate of a global pandemic and more than a little unprofessional.) Given the arduousness of the check out process I also checked my bank account to see what charges were applied to my credit card. I discovered that I had been charged the rental fee three times in total, amounting to more than $700. (Strike three.)

I called Uhaul and waited on hold for about an hour before reaching a customer service agent. I explained that I had been charged my rental fee three times and would like two of those charges removed. The customer service agent claimed they had already taken care of it. (Great!...Right? Just wait.) After emptying the truck in CA the next day (Tuesday) I drove to my designated drop off point. The store was closed but had an after hours drop of with instructions to login to my Uhaul account and follow their online steps for completing the drop off. I logged in and found out my rental reservation had been deleted and I was not able follow any online prompts for returning the truck. (Strike four. Aren’t you only supposed to get three?)

Again I was on the phone with Uhaul. Once I finally reached a human I explained my situation and that I was trying to return my truck. He told me that, that wasn’t true because his system didn’t have record of it. Yet, somehow, I was sitting here with a truck. (Customer service at its finest ladies and gents and if you’re still keeping score that’s strike five) Our call got cut off before any headway was made and I called again. Now I’m speaking with someone new. I recount my saga to her and she says “Uh...I don’t know how to help you.” (Strike six! I’m under the impression that Uhaul should consider some revisions to their training modules.)

She puts me on hold to try and “figure something out”. When she returns she connects me to someone in the CA transportation division. He tells me that the woman who “rented” me the truck, never actually “rented” me the truck so there was no record that I had picked up the truck and my reservation was canceled. (But she somehow was still able to charge my credit card three times. Interesting. Oh and strike seven.) The gentleman from transportation instructed me to take the truck to a hub location two miles away and leave the truck in the parking lot and the keys in the overnight box. He would call the hub in the morning and wave any additional fees. So, I drive the truck to this new location (which was over 5 miles away but I think we’ve already established that details are not Uhaul’s strong point) and I leave the truck as instructed. (Surely this game is over. Right? Think again. This was only the seventh inning stretch.)

The next morning, Wednesday, I wake and check my credit card account. Not only are the three original charges still listed but I now have two new charges for $188 and $29. Also, in my inbox are contracts for a truck rental I’ve already returned, and a receipt for the $188 which indicates it is my equipment rental fee. I have no explanation for why I was charged $29 nor why I’m being charged another rental fee for equipment I’ve already returned so, to the phone I go. (We are up to strike 8.)

After some time on hold someone answers and I immediately asked to be connected to a manager. A few minutes later I’m speaking with Faith who tells me she is a customer service manager. I go into what is now my fifth or sixth retelling of my tale because apparently you aren’t ever allowed to speak with the same person twice when you call Uhaul. Faith isn’t able to tell me what my charges are for because she works for the customer service department so I wait on hold while she contacts the finance division.

15 min later Faith comes back and tells me that the finance department can’t do anything about the three original charges but that she’ll give me some authorization codes so I can call the number on the back of my credit card and perhaps reverse them that way. (Why I now have to put in the work to undo the mistakes that Uhaul made I don’t know...but I digress. Strike nine.) Faith further explains that the other two charges are the $188 rental fee and a $29 fee for returning the truck to a different location than originally assigned. Our connection is getting choppy so she wasn’t able to hear my inquiry as to why I was being charged when I was directed to change the drop of location and assured that any new fees would be waved. We lost our connection shortly after.

I called back again and was connected to someone brand new. I asked to speak with Faith but this new person didn’t know a Faith and didn’t know where in the country Faith was located so didn’t know how to contact her. (That’s right strike ten. Apparently we are aiming for MULTIPLES of three in this baseball game.) The woman I was talking to now read Faith’s notes on my file and eventually found her on Uhaul’s instant messaging system. I asked her to please ask Faith for her direct number so I could finish our conversation. Her response was that Faith didn’t have a direct number and that Faith would reach out to me directly instead. So I waited.

I never did get a call back from Faith (strike eleven) but I did get an email a few hours later from David **; Area Field Manager. He said he had reviewed my file and saw that I was charged a total of $217; $188 for the rental and $29 for fuel because I had brought the truck back on an 1/8 of a tank instead of a 1/4 of a tank like my contact had stipulated. (In case we need a review I wasn’t given a contract until the day AFTER I had returned the truck and this explanation for the fee was different than the one Faith gave me before.)

I returned Mr. **’s email explaining that I had not been given a contract until after I had returned the rental and that the only fuel information I had been given beforehand was to return the truck on an 1/8 of a tank and therefore the $29 was unauthorized and unprofessional. I requested that he please remove the $29 charge from my account as it was Uhaul’s negligence that resulted in a return on an 1/8 of a tank, not mine. Mr. ** curtly responded that the $188 rental fee was granted with a $27 discount contingent on the return of the rental with a 1/4 tank. (He had highlighted this stipulation in my contact for emphasis but once again (louder for the people in the back) I didn’t receive a contract until THE DAY AFTER I RETURNED THE TRUCK!)

His counter offer to my request was to remove the $29 fee from my account but rescind the $27 discount as well leaving me to pay the original rental fee of $215. (Apparently a $2 discount was sufficient compensation for the mountain of unprofessionalism Uhaul had displayed. Strike twelve.) I responded again to Mr. ** that his solution was unsatisfactory because I was essentially still being penalized for non-compliance to a contract I didn’t receive until AFTER the fact. I asked him to review my file again and come back with a more appropriate solution. I never got another response from Mr. ** and my bank statements indicate that he never did as he proposed nor as I requested so I’m stuck with the $188 rental fee and $29 fuel fee and more than a sour taste in my mouth from the unprofessionalism of this entire company. (I think we can count that as strikes 13-15.)

(Side note: the original three rental fees did eventually disappear which is a minor miracle because when I called the number on the back of my card they said they couldn’t do anything to reverse the charges and didn’t have any idea of what to do with authorization codes Faith had given me.) So 15 strikes later and this baseball game from hell is apparently played out. Uhaul’s customer service is disappointing at best and their area field manager seems to think that the best course of action when presented with a logical proposal for resolution is to ignore it. Clearly an apology and company accountability is beyond Uhaul’s capabilities.??? “So it’s one, two...fifteen strikes, you’re out!... Just kidding. Let’s blame the customer team...at the Uhaul ball game!”??

Secondly, when I picked up the uhaul finally it only had a half of tank of gas in it, not 3/4 like I was told, so I called the Martinsville location and spoke to the lady there about it so I wouldn't be charged 4.00 a gallon when I dropped it off and she didn't seem to care, I was told through your customer service that I would recall 70.00 credit off with my 100.00 deposit back and I'm showing here that the 100.00 has been sent to my card but not the 70.00.

Thirdly, when I dropped off the uhaul the guy there reran my debit card to get payment for something I had already paid for, luckily that didn't come out, then he said I didn't put the gas to 3/4 take which I kindly informed him about it, so really this experience was a very bad one and I will not recommend or use uhaul again. Bad customer service, no 70.00 credit as promised which that does need to be honored. Changing locations without notifying customers is unacceptable, overall very poor service.

I asked if they would reduce the price to what was quoted and I was told rudely that I didn't read the small print and that there was no 100% guarantee given. It isn't their fault I didn't read the details and it isn't their fault that I need to drive 10mi further each way to get a trailer that was much bigger than I needed. I gave them 5 days notice prior to the day I needed the trailer. When I started to ask about the misleading quoting process and that I felt it was extortion that I was being told to pay more after confirming with my credit card, the service rep said that I clearly was upset and she would not be willing to help me as a result.

So in summary. I confirmed a specific size, date & location to pick up, reserved with my credit card... and then 24hrs later was told I "needed to pay more" and drive further, opposite direction to pick up and drop off and had to get a larger trailer. No compromise was offered. Nothing but rude condescending comments about my inability to read and their lack of concern. Then told I was being rude and basically not worthy of their service. The kicker... what other options do you have? They can treat however because they know there is no competition in our general area.