Complaint Review: U-Haul

My wife and I rented a truck from these jokers. $29.99/day they quoted. The bad experience started as soon as I entered the shop. You have never seen such atrocious customer service.

First he says, you are renting for $29.99 per day but we reserve the right to give you only as many hours as are availalble. What? Just so we are clear he says: If we have only 4 hours available, $29.99. If we have 8 hours, $29.99. But you are luckly today, he says you can have it for the whole day, same price. So I rented plus a $10/day dolly.

We all went out and we did a walk through. He read the ususal rights and gave me a paper that purported to list all the items we should be aware of. Good enough I thought. He emphasized the gas, bring it back as it was - 3/4 - full or else we will charge you $30 filing fee plus some large cost of diesel per gallon.

OK, I said. I rent a lot from car companies like Avis, Hertz, and I even used to rent Uhaul some back in the day in Texas. These all seemed like standard stuff, except the bad customer attitude and their odd iniquitous billing schedule which I had never seen anywhere else. Not at the car rental companies, not uhaul in Texas. But was I in for a shocker or what?

I ended up extending the truck for one day (They agreed). We returned on the second day 1 hour 20 mins later than the hour we had rented. So, immediately, (and I was not surprised), they said they would charge the whole extra day $29.99 for the 1 -1/2 hour late. Fine I said. Then again he says the truck is not completely clean. $25 cleaning fee. I look in the disclosure he gave me. It said right there: cleaning fee, $25. I was a bit surprised, uhaul texas and car rentals don't charge cleaning fee, one would think a customer focused organization would do that, but hey its in the contract. So, OK, I said go ahead, get me out of here.

Then he says, by the way, look at these two extra pieces of equipment - 1 small dolly, and 1 bag they said contained furniture pads - we automatically put these in your vehicle. Althoug, you did not sign up to rent these, the tags we put on them are broken, so you have to pay of each of these for all the time you had the truck plus the 1 day penalty, $5 / day each.

What? You got to be kidding me I said. I never used these. I rented my own BIGGER DOLLY from you so I could move my stuff. I never saw any tags. I WALKED THROUGH the truck with you two days ago, you were very emphatic about your gas and liability damage (for which I bought insurance after your well worn scare tactics), but you never once mentioned the equipment at the back or any tags!!! Completely blindsided.

So, we go back into the U-haul shop discuss all these. The "MANAGER" who had actually walked me through was there, we get into a heated conversation. He hands me a seperate sheet (not what my wife signed where he pointed out the gas and insurance when we rented), but a folded sheet with all the long legal stuff that he never referred to earlier and knows no one who has anything to do with their time would sit to read for 30mins to rent a truck for one or two days). I toss his sheet on the table and this guy just goes ballistic. He gets into my face pointing direct in my eyes. I hold my ground. I am throwing stuff in his shop he shouts, I should get out or he is going to call the police to come get me. Call them I say. I am standing my ground on this dispute. You are wasting your time.

So, he has his colleage call the police. He actually calls police on a customer complaining about their overcharging, for tossing a piece of paper on a table. And he had just done far worse subsequently. (All this is on their security camera in case anyone is interested, because he tried to point it out when calling police to scare me into leaving)

Anyway, his colleage tries to get the police to come on the phone. The police refuse. They tell him he is wasting his time, they don't come out for those kind of reports. After the "manager" and his colleague got deflated, I ask for the manager. The guy who had just being getting in my face tells me he is the "manager". Wow, how much training does Uhaul give these guys in customer service before they promote them? I tell him I will call their customer service and leave.

I call Uhaul customer service. They tell me to call South Jersey regional office, which I do. The lady there who called herself "Clare" is of the same stripe as the "manager", apperantly customer service is not a strong suit at uhaul South Jersey locations. Clearly, they don't have enough competition in South Jersey. Their Houston, Texas affiliate would never behave like they did. Anyway back to the lady in the regional office:

The seals were broken she said, you have to pay.

I never saw any seals. Your manager never showed them to me. We walked through the vehicle he never showed any seals, and I never used your extra equipment, I said.

We don't show the seals when we walk through she said.

Then you should, I said that is good practice, you show other items.

You can't tell us how to run our business, she said. And by the way, since you have carried yourself so badly, we are not going to "give you" anything. And she hung up.

She thought she had the magnanimity to either "give me" a gift or not. My own money. WoW!

That was my experience with Uhaul Mount Laurel and Uhaul South Jersey Distict, on April 5, 2007. Just thought you should know.

Lawal
Mount Laurel, New Jersey
U.S.A.

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