Thinking U Haul? Think Again… U Haul

U Haul, U Suck! U Haul Having been in the military, I have had to move around the country a couple of times. More often than not I found it to be more cost effect...

Most horrible moving experience U Haul I have used U-Haul twice before. The first two times I lived in a more busy area, where there was a local U-haul center near by. I attempted...

I’ve moved many times over the past ten years and usually have used U-Haul for the moves. My last experience with them will likely be the last.

Using U-Haul’s online reservation system, I reserved a one-way rental truck (17 foot) from Newark, California, to Redmond, Washington. Pickup was scheduled for Saturday, February 23, 2002 around 3 pm, at the U-Haul Fremont Moving/ Center, 44511 Grimmer Blvd in Fremont (Dealer Number 707-058). The dealer called two days prior to confirm the reservation.

When I arrived to pick up the truck, I was told they couldn”t get it to start, which in retrospect should have been a sign of things to come. One associate from the dealer came out to tell me that since the truck reserved for me wouldn”t start, they had located another one for me in Alameda, about twenty minutes away. But, that quickly fell apart when I let her know that I didn”t have a car to get there, since friends had dropped me off and left the dealership once I confirmed the truck was available.

The associate walked away and almost instantly, the manager returned to tell me they had gotten the truck (EL4967Y) started. After inspecting it for damage, picking up my moving blankets and signing the papers, I headed back to my home to load my things. During the remainder of Saturday and Sunday morning while , I started the truck up approximately five or six times, each time successfully. At 2:30 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2002, I pulled out of Fremont and headed for Redmond, Washington.

At 4:30 pm, I stopped at a rest stop just north of I-5 and 505 in central California. After about five minutes, I returned to the truck and it wouldn”t start. I called their Hotline and explained what had happened and where I was; they sent a tow truck to take me to Williams, California, and I was told that I would have to spend the night there and wait for the U-Haul maintenance vehicle to arrive on Monday morning. This was at 5:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, after two hours of total driving.

The maintenance vehicle arrived at 8:30 am the next morning and worked on the rental truck until 11 am. After verifying the problem with the truck not starting, the maintenance specialist wound up swapping out and replacing all eight glow plugs and the fuel check valve. Additionally, he noticed that the driver”s side outside rear tire wasn”t holding air and had it replaced (it had a nail in it), replaced the driver”s side headlight, which had moisture on the inside of the lens and applied lubricant to the underside of the body. After verifying that the truck would start on several occasions, I filled the truck up with diesel and headed on the road again, a little after 11 am on Monday, February 25.

At 1:15 pm that same day, I stopped at a rest area just inside Shasta Lake, on northbound I-5. Within five minutes I returned to the truck and found that it again would not start. I called the Hotline and was told that it would be at least an hour before someone could get to the location, since they were coming from Weed, California. My physical location at the time was about 20 minutes north of Redding, but apparently no one was available in Redding. Fifteen minutes later, my cell phone rang and it was the tow truck operator in Weed, California, trying to troubleshoot the starting problem. While on the phone, he said he just received a call from U-Haul, telling them that the truck had been started and the call was cancelled.

Unfortunately, the truck HADN”T been started! I immediately called the Hotline back to ask why they cancelled the call and was told they had found someone closer, who would be there within 45 minutes. When the tow truck driver finally arrived almost two hours after my initial call, he was able to get the truck started and I was on my way again at approximately 4:00 pm, over two and a half hours after I had called in the problem.

Finishing what was a memorable day, at approximately 5:30 pm, I stopped for gas in Ashland, Oregon, about ten miles over the Oregon-California border. As the attendant was filling the truck, I mentioned that I didn”t know if I would be able to get it started again. Guess what? For the third time in almost twenty-four hours, I had to call the Hotline to report that the truck wouldn”t start. Again. This time, I was told that the maintenance vehicle would be there within 30 minutes and sure enough, it was right on time. Once he arrived, I was on the road within an hour, this time the fuel filter was cleaned and replaced. The truck started on several occasions and with a full tank of gas, I again headed down the road.

My original plan when leaving the Bay Area was to drive to Portland, Oregon, on Sunday night where I would stay with friends for a day or two, head to Seattle, unpack and return the truck. With all of the time lost to breakdowns, I would up getting to Portland after midnight on Tuesday morning, February 26, 2002, leaving little time for visiting. The last time I stopped for gas outside of Portland, I told the attendant that I was going to leave it running because of the troubles I”d been having. For the remainder of the journey to Seattle the following day, I had no problems starting the truck and finally returned it to the U-Haul dealer (046-474) in Bellevue, Washington, on Thursday, February 28, 2002.

As I indicated in my Pros of renting from U-Haul, I have to start and end with the U-Haul Mobile Repair Specialists I dealt with, Joel (who showed up in Williams, California) and John (who met me in Ashland, Oregon). Both were highly professional and truly seemed to care about the inconvenience I had endured and wanting me to get safely back on my journey. It”s a nice service that U-Haul provides for people and it”s very impressive to see the rolling shop-in-a-truck appear when you”re broken down. On any other trip, this peace of mind would have been welcome, but after losing significant daylight driving time, it was a reminder of how far behind schedule I had gotten. The dispatcher that I spoke with repeatedly, who I believe was Bill, also expressed concern and seemingly was very embarrassed by the last service call.

EVERYTHING else with the rental, including the follow-up with their Customer Service department has been ridiculous. When I requested partial reimbursement for the repeated inconvenience I was put through during this one-way rental, U-Haul ignored me. No one in their Customer Service department has even acknowledged seeing my request, much less taken the time to contact me.

Obviously, the rental truck NEVER should have been put in service in the first place and makes me wonder what other mechanical defects were present that didn”t relate to the starting problem. Insist that a mechanic accompany you when you’re performing your pre-rental review of the truck. Also, never, ever rent a U-Haul truck with a ‘Y’ designation on the equipment number. Aside from my problems, the engine insulation is so bad that you won’t even bother to turn on the radio in the truck because you won’t be able to hear it from all of the engine reverberation. There are also no cupholders and no 12v outlet for your cell phone to recharge.

If you’re curious, I requested that U-Haul reimburse me for one-day of the five-day truck rental (approximately $200) and the cost of the motel in Williams, California ($36.63), a total of $236.63. After surviving the experience, I don’t think it was an unreasonable request.

I”ve previously rented from U-Haul, but this is the worst experience I’ve ever had from ANY rental company. I will be needing to rent a truck again in the next month as I move my personal property from a temporary facility to a permanent location in the Seattle, Washington area and right now U-Haul is not even on my list of companies to select. I would strongly suggest anyone looking for a truck rental consider another company if you can find one.

UPDATE - APRIL 12, 2002

Ending the story on a good note, I finally received an e-mail from U-Haul Customer Service and my account was credited on March 28, 2002, with the $236.63 I requested for this rental fiasco. If anyone should run into this type of problem, U-Haul has an online Customer Service section on their corporate web-site and it seems that they respond better to online requests than by calling their toll-free number. I just moved my belongings from into my new house and used another rental company for the move. Buyer beware!

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Like a nightmare you can’t wake up from… U Haul

Tags: packing, rental com, storage, truck rent

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