Uhaul.com; Uhaul Reservations; Kymberli Orenstein ripoff deceptive company Global Inernet Internet
Online reservation confirmation received 5/20/03 8:52 AM. I placed my reservation and received a confirmation for pick up 5/23/03 5PM for 24 hours. I mistakenly considered this to be a reservation, since I was charged a "service fee" of $5, and I received an email confirmation. What was I thinking?
Instead I received a call from the UHaul rental location in a nearby city the morning of 5/23/03 advising me that the truck I needed was not available, and I had to have any available rental back by 9AM next date, because there were "reservations" for the trucks on Saturday. That was not acceptable, since "I" had a reservation as well. Why is my reservation a complete non-issue?
I phoned the regional office at 800-326-4020 and spoke to Sarah about my issue with the reservation, who advised me there was no availability, and my request was subject to availability. She seemed quite used to this complaint. She advised me to actually read the agreement, that I was expecting things not promised. Imagine my amazement when it is my responsibility to accept conditions such as a $50 cancellation fee should I cancel, yet there are no conditions under which UHaul honors the reservation. And the words Reservation and Confirmation are the words on their very own automated email.
The reservation on 5/20 was not forwarded to the traffic office until close of business the day before my pickup, according to Sarah. What this tells me is my equipment was NOT reserved at the time of my reservation, when likely there was availability.
I was not notified of lack of availability until the day of my move, leaving me with the following:
* Cancellation of moving help contracts, resulting in cancellation fees.
* 2 persons requested Saturday off of work to assist - for nothing due to the lack of moving equipment.
* Payment of storage unit usage for days I anticipated being vacated.
* Change of the move date, resulting in rent being paid for two places of residence.
All in all, monetarily, the UHual.com "reservation" system cost me several hundreds of dollars, not to mention the frustration of my inability to move as planned over this particular weekend.
The above are reasons I am upset and frustrated with UHaul failing to notify me that their reservation process was not a reservation process at all; and that their confirmation is little more than a confirmation of my request which will be ignored. I could have reasonably found alternate vendors at that time of booking, but not at this late date. Ive spent the morning on the phone attempting to locate a rental truck, to no avail.
I have been subjected to rudeness, apathy and pitiful customer service throughout this process. Not once has any resolution been offered me. Though I have left a message with the Regional Managers voicemail and contacted by phone the national customer service department, I have not received a return call. Every attempt to deal with UHaul has resulted in my being referred to the Regional Traffic Manager, Kymberli Orenstein, who has not returned my phone call.
The most I have received is "read your agreement - we're not responsible". The agreement should also read that UHaul.com is not RESPONSIVE. I choke at "The Agreement", since an agreement requires burdens on all parties.
The sole reason I placed my reservation early in the week, was my absolute requirement that I be able to have a truck for this 24hours.
I expect UHaul to:
1) Honor the "reservation", somehow, some way -- today. Offer me a resolution.
2) Alter the business process whereby the reservation request is forwarded to the traffic office for actual reserving of equipment upon receipt
-- OR notify the customer at order entry that the request will be forwarded to the local offices for "reserving" only the day before pickup, necessitating a phone call to make reservations directly with the local office.
--- OR do away with the psuedo Reservation site.
-- OR become informed about the legal definition of Reservation. Obviously they dont use the same dictionary I do.
2) Not charge me the $5 online reservation fee, and certainly do not charge me a cancellation fee of $50 if I refuse to accept less than what I requested and what was confirmed.
In a nutshell, Uhaul, if you are not equipped to have a working online reservation system, you are not professional enough to have a website available to the public.
Andrea
Round Rock, Texas
U.S.A.
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5 Updates & Rebuttals
Eric
King Of Prussia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Small Claims Court
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, September 01, 2008
I just want to suggest a possible solution that I am exploring at this time. The fact is, UHAUL makes it SEEM LIKE they intend to provide the equipment detailed in the reservation. The subjective observation of that provides a base from which you can conduct your move. In other words, they are assuming a point of support for your move to the point that you do not intend to have a backup, or the reservation through another Rental system to cover the event that UHAUL does not have the equipment for you. In repeated events detailed in many similar accounts, UHAUL floods their system to the point of inconvenience. They do this to secure their bottom line while you end up losing money and in some cases time from the job, just so Uhaul can conduct their business as they see fit. Why they have been able to operate this way is beyond me.
But, I think if they get sued for their blatant misrepresentation, they will fix their system. Small claims court. I have read that they will not appear. What then happens is the judge will reschedule. Then, they will still not appear. You then find out who the local uhaul is banking with. That way, you can take the judgement in your favor (trusting that the judge has ruled in your favor because of UHAULS absence), and get an garnishment order, freezing your judgement from the UHAUL franchises assets. They will then, in turn, see the judgement and do the legwork of getting UHAUL to pay. You can read all about how to do this from GOOGLING dont-use-uhaul. There are interesting stories relating to recovering your money. Dont let UHAUL do this to you. Sue them. That is why I responded to you. I will be filing this wednesday though my story is a bit different.
Eric
King Of Prussia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Small Claims Court
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, September 01, 2008
I just want to suggest a possible solution that I am exploring at this time. The fact is, UHAUL makes it SEEM LIKE they intend to provide the equipment detailed in the reservation. The subjective observation of that provides a base from which you can conduct your move. In other words, they are assuming a point of support for your move to the point that you do not intend to have a backup, or the reservation through another Rental system to cover the event that UHAUL does not have the equipment for you. In repeated events detailed in many similar accounts, UHAUL floods their system to the point of inconvenience. They do this to secure their bottom line while you end up losing money and in some cases time from the job, just so Uhaul can conduct their business as they see fit. Why they have been able to operate this way is beyond me.
But, I think if they get sued for their blatant misrepresentation, they will fix their system. Small claims court. I have read that they will not appear. What then happens is the judge will reschedule. Then, they will still not appear. You then find out who the local uhaul is banking with. That way, you can take the judgement in your favor (trusting that the judge has ruled in your favor because of UHAULS absence), and get an garnishment order, freezing your judgement from the UHAUL franchises assets. They will then, in turn, see the judgement and do the legwork of getting UHAUL to pay. You can read all about how to do this from GOOGLING dont-use-uhaul. There are interesting stories relating to recovering your money. Dont let UHAUL do this to you. Sue them. That is why I responded to you. I will be filing this wednesday though my story is a bit different.
Eric
King Of Prussia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Small Claims Court
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, September 01, 2008
I just want to suggest a possible solution that I am exploring at this time. The fact is, UHAUL makes it SEEM LIKE they intend to provide the equipment detailed in the reservation. The subjective observation of that provides a base from which you can conduct your move. In other words, they are assuming a point of support for your move to the point that you do not intend to have a backup, or the reservation through another Rental system to cover the event that UHAUL does not have the equipment for you. In repeated events detailed in many similar accounts, UHAUL floods their system to the point of inconvenience. They do this to secure their bottom line while you end up losing money and in some cases time from the job, just so Uhaul can conduct their business as they see fit. Why they have been able to operate this way is beyond me.
But, I think if they get sued for their blatant misrepresentation, they will fix their system. Small claims court. I have read that they will not appear. What then happens is the judge will reschedule. Then, they will still not appear. You then find out who the local uhaul is banking with. That way, you can take the judgement in your favor (trusting that the judge has ruled in your favor because of UHAULS absence), and get an garnishment order, freezing your judgement from the UHAUL franchises assets. They will then, in turn, see the judgement and do the legwork of getting UHAUL to pay. You can read all about how to do this from GOOGLING dont-use-uhaul. There are interesting stories relating to recovering your money. Dont let UHAUL do this to you. Sue them. That is why I responded to you. I will be filing this wednesday though my story is a bit different.
Eric
King Of Prussia,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Small Claims Court
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, September 01, 2008
I just want to suggest a possible solution that I am exploring at this time. The fact is, UHAUL makes it SEEM LIKE they intend to provide the equipment detailed in the reservation. The subjective observation of that provides a base from which you can conduct your move. In other words, they are assuming a point of support for your move to the point that you do not intend to have a backup, or the reservation through another Rental system to cover the event that UHAUL does not have the equipment for you. In repeated events detailed in many similar accounts, UHAUL floods their system to the point of inconvenience. They do this to secure their bottom line while you end up losing money and in some cases time from the job, just so Uhaul can conduct their business as they see fit. Why they have been able to operate this way is beyond me.
But, I think if they get sued for their blatant misrepresentation, they will fix their system. Small claims court. I have read that they will not appear. What then happens is the judge will reschedule. Then, they will still not appear. You then find out who the local uhaul is banking with. That way, you can take the judgement in your favor (trusting that the judge has ruled in your favor because of UHAULS absence), and get an garnishment order, freezing your judgement from the UHAUL franchises assets. They will then, in turn, see the judgement and do the legwork of getting UHAUL to pay. You can read all about how to do this from GOOGLING dont-use-uhaul. There are interesting stories relating to recovering your money. Dont let UHAUL do this to you. Sue them. That is why I responded to you. I will be filing this wednesday though my story is a bit different.
Alison
Hawley,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
How on-line reservations work
#6Consumer Suggestion
Sat, May 24, 2003
I work for an independent uhaul dealer (not uhaul owned). When you make an on-line reservation for a rental or call 800-go-uhaul your are actually contacting the main office in Arizona. They do not have any idea what equipment is available in the area you are requesting a pick up or how many reservations there are compared to what equipment is available. Once you make the reservation it is then forwarded to the local marketing company office in that area, 800# reservations are forwarded as soon as completed, on-line reservations are forwarded as soon as viewed, which depending on what time of day the reservation was made could be the next day. Once the marketing co. office receives the reservations they will contact the customer & begin looking to see which dealers will have the equipment available. When booking through either of these your are told that it is subject to availability, pick up location is only preferred along with equipment. You may be sent to a different location & equipment size may be substituted.
In deed their may have been other reservations made by customers contacting the dealers directly, it is not that your reservation is a non-issue but that on line reservations & 800 reservations are placed in available time slots & you may not get the amount of time requested.
Being a holiday weekend most areas were booked about 2 weeks ago. Our location stopped taking reservations for this weekend about 3 weeks ago.
Unfortunately we as dealers do not like how the Internet & 800# reservations system works. We have been trying for some time to have those two options give the customer the local dealers phone numbers instead of making the reservation, especially when the customer is making the reservation 7 days or less before the rental date.
As for the $50.00 cancellation fee, you should not be charged that fee if Uhaul is not able to fill your reservation & you must cancel. If they do charge you that fee I would contact the main office by calling 800-go-Uhaul & get your money back.
Hope this helps you and other potential customers understand how the reservation system works. Your best way to make a reservation & know you will be taken care of is to contact the dealer directly. You can go to Uhaul.com and look up dealers in the area you want to pick up. It will list their address, phone number along with when they are open.