Uhaul Truck Rentals First guaranteed a truck, was not available on move day corruption Kent Washington
My wife and I had finally closed on our new house and was going to move from our Apartment to the new house. We contacted Uhaul and ordered a medium size truck. Put it on our credit card and a reservation for it. We desided to contact a local charity company where you can hire workers to help us with the move as we had heavy furniture. We called a great company called Millionairs club in Seattle and hired 2 men for $8.00 and hour with a min. of 8 hours.
The two where going to bus to us from Seattle to the kent park and ride and I went to get the truck. When we arrived at the storage facility, My wife went to start the truck reservations as I dropped her off and I went to get our Hired employees that the clock started when I picked them up. I drove back to the storage and found out from my upset wife that Uhaul did not make sure we had a truck there.
Withing an hour and $16.00 to the two I had to pay these guys, they had trucks for us and would give us two smaller trucks for the price of the one. The trick was it was in West Seattle that was about 20 miles down the road and they where not going to bring the trucks to us. We should have called it all off that day and licked our wounds. Instead we drove all the way to West Seattle (after I dropped of the wife at the apartment) and the guys and I got the truck and even talked them into a flat bed car carrier.
We drove all the way back to kent and made the move. It only cost us 3 hours worth of pay to the workers to get the truck and before the move actually started. Uhaul refused to compinsate us at all for the amount we had to pay these guys for the time Uhaul screwed up.
Next time if I still use them, I will take Uhaul to small claims court to get the money back that I had to pay these guys. Total cost = $48.00
Robert
Puyallup, Washington
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Alison
Hawley,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
You may have a valid complaint if
#2Consumer Suggestion
Thu, April 17, 2003
I worked for a company that is an independent Uhaul dealer (not Uhaul owned).
If you contacted the dealer directly & made the truck reservation then you have a valid complaint & should indeed be compensated. If that is the case the dealer should have contacted you well ahead of time to let you know there was a problem getting a truck. However, if you made the reservation by calling 800-go-uhaul or online you should have been informed at that time that the pickup location you requested was only your preferred location & that location & equipment size may be changed.
Both also state that you will be called 24 hours before your pick up time to be given the pick up location information. Many times the phone number left by the customer picking up is not the number they will be at the day before or the number is already disconnected or hasnt been connected yet and Uhaul is unable to contact them. 8 out of 10 reservations we receive from the 800 # or from on line have this problem.
Im not saying this is what happened with your reserve you indeed my have a valid complaint. However, if the reservation was made on line or by calling the hotline then you need to take these things into consideration.
When making a reservation its best to make the reservation well ahead of time. We were told to have at least 7-10 days notice. Second call the location you want to pick up from direct and make the reservation through them this way if they know they cant fill it they will tell you. Third if you do find that you have to call the 800# or make it on line, be sure to do it well ahead of time. Do not make the reservation the day before. Your reservation will not be viewed and sent to the dealer until its too late, usually the day after the reserve is made. Most people know when they will be moving so dont wait to make that reservation.
I hope that you can be reimbursed for your extra expenses. Sometimes it takes a phone call or two to the main headquarters to get matters like this resolved. Just contacting the dealer or their marketing office is not enough; usually they do not want to deal with it.