LocalYolkel
kingston,#2Author of original report
Tue, August 28, 2007
I am sorry you experienced difficulties with the location in Cameron, MO. After speaking with the location, the employee that "had her husband check on it" actually made a comment about the dolly being late to her husband. Her husband, being a police officer, decided to check out if you had skipped town or not, which is frequently the case. She was not able to answer me if he actually contacted you or not, nor did you indicate. However, it is standard operating procedure to contact the police when the equipment is not returned on time, especially when no one calls to advise of issues they might be having. Per your contract it states " Failure to return this equipment by the contract due date and time and pay all amounts due (including the cost of damage) can be construed as intent to defraud and is punishable in accordance with state and local laws." In addition, almost all the equipment has a decal stating possession of the equipment without a valid contract constitutes possession of stolen rental equipment. The contract is valid until the scheduled return time listed on the contract, unless extended. And, technically, they should have filed a police report on stolen rental equipment at 24 hours overdue, they chose not to. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that defraud U-Haul, and thousands of pieces of equipment are "lost" or stolen every year. We, as a Company, have to take measures to ensure the timely return of equipment as agreed upon or we would not have the equipment to rent to other families. Our system did send text messages to try and get a response from you, and another family was not able to use the dolly they had reserved. Certainly, extenuating circumstances take place, and I am sorry your husband had to go to the hospital, a simple phone call would have simply solved the entire situation, the contract could have been extended, and we could have made arrangements with the upcoming customer that reserved. (I hope your husband is doing well.) I did check your contract and since your husband used a credit card, it waived the $60 deposit requirement, therefore, he did not pay the $60. You were only charged for the time you had the dolly on the return contract. Again, I am sorry that the circumstances happened the way they did and hope that my response will ease your mind that the dealer was simply trying to ensure the timely return of the dolly so that it could be rented to another family that had reserved the dolly to pickup shortly after your scheduled return time. I have talked to the dealer and advised that they should not have told you that her husband checked on the dolly, she simply should have processed the return, and thanked you for the business. Thank you for your business, and I hope you will continue to think of U-Haul for all your moving needs Sincerely, Sam Crane U-Haul Company of Kansas Area Field Manager, Route 5