UHaul, terrible rental experience

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CHRIS HODGES

STORE MANAGER SUN VALLEY CALIF.

7721 HOLLYWOOD WAY SUN VALLEY CALIF

818-768-4100

STERLING HOGAN

STORE MANAGER LOCATION

8620 S. LAS VEGAS BLVD ( LAS VEGAS AREA) On Tuesday 15 Oct 2002 I rented one of your full sized auto transport at the above location. I was waiting for service at the above location. Chris hodges was there with several other employees behind the counter. He was on the phome talking to a girlfriend and doing paperwork leaving me waiting for service. I was annoyed at the time that i had to wait. Finally one of the other service employees “LC” came and assisted me as Chris was to busy on the phone for actual customers. I told LC that I needed a full size auto transport trailer. I told him it had to be in excellent working order as I had a number of cars to move around. I frequently rent these units as I have a have a hot rod company. I have rented these units from Uhaul 50 to 100 times in the last several years and I know many of he store managers at many locations. Chris is new to the above location and this is the first time I have encountered him. LC wrote up the cycle and as always I purchased the damage waiver insurance as I always do this. LC picked me out a trailer and told me it was the one to use. He had one of the junior employees hook it up and I left as usual to do the ordinary moving of cars I do. I then drove to Clovis California to pick up a hot rod I had to exchange for another hot rod in Las Vegas Nevada. When I arrived to pick up the car and load it, we noticed there was only one ramp on the trialer and that the clasp that holds the ramp from falling out was broken off and had been for some time as the sheared off clamp had heaviy oxidation in the metal showing it had been broken off for some time also it was obvious that there was a major casting flaw in the clasp as the broken off clasp showed a large bubble in the casting had casued it to break.

The car could not be loaded without a ramp. I went to a local car dealer and borrowed one of thier ramps and loaded the car and gave the ramp back to them. While we were loading the car the trailer tipped backwards lifting it off of the trailer hitch. I looked this over and found that when the trailer was hooked up the guy who hooked it up failed to secure the screw down nut that holds the trailer to the hitch and that only the weight of the trailer and the safety chains were holding the trailer on for the whole trip up.

This may have been what caused the ramp to come off the trailer on the way up to Clovis but I cant be sure. This was witnessed by the 5 people it took to load the car due to the ramp situation. I usually have no trouble loading one of these by myself but due to a mix matched ramp situtaion i needed a lot of help getting the car on the trailer after I correctly rehooked the trailer hitch and screwed down the holddown nut that had been left undone. I then contacted the local Uhaul service center and informed them that the trailer only had one ramp and that I had to go to Las Vegas to exchange cars and needed a ramp in order to get the cars on and off the trailer. The service rep who was very nice checked all around and told ne no local Uhaul service centers had a ramp as it was a very old trailer and that Uhaul had been upgrading its equipment. She asked me for my phone info and that she would phone ahead to the Las Vegas area and arrange for me to pick up a ramp there so I could unload, reload and then return with the other car. This was great! and I was satisfied with this solution. I drove then to Las Vegas and contacted the uhaul service center and the service rep sent me to a location to obtain a ramp. This was in a store at 8620 S. Las Vegas Blvd. I went in and the manager there was expecting me and sent me to the service area. I went back and a technician immediatly saw that the clasp was broken and had been for some time. He grabbed and old loose ramp that he had and installed it. He did not have any clasps to replace the broken one so he hooked it in with a new bungi cord and it was tight and secure. However throught the trip both up and back the ratchet straps repeatedly came loose and I had to constantly re-tighten them.

Simply put this trailer was totally out of maintenance and in fact hazardous. If the ramp in fact did come out on the highway at 55 MPH, it could have hit another car causing serious damage or could have even killed someone. Had something like this happened you could be sued for criminal negligence or even manslaughter! Chris Hodges as store manager has failed to have his equipment adequately inspected and maintained and in fact allows units with major situation to be rented out to unsuspecting customers. I went to use the phone in the office to call the people I was delivering the car to, to let them know I was running late due to repairs being done on the trailer. The manager (Sterling Hogan I think was his name) immediatly told me I could not have the ramp and that it had to be taken back off because I rented the trailer from another store. This made no sense to me at all and I told him that this was a national company and was no reason I should not be serviced. He then antagonistically demanded the paperwork for my rental and became very rude telling me the ramp was coming off. I then told him to let me speak to his supervisor. He told me he was the top dog there and refused to give me his own name.

I told him if he took the ramp back off and left me with no solution and didnt give me his name I would be speaking to his regional manager about his job. He stormed out of the office ranting about taking the ramp back off and seeing my paperwork. By this time things were pretty heated as I was already very inconvenienced and late for delivery of the car I had on the trailer and also confronting not being able to unload because he was taking the ramp back off. I got him the and sat in my truck while he took some notes from the agreement. He also retained a copy of the and didnt tell me he took it. This alone should have made it clear that I had purchased your insurance for just this type of situation. Shortly after this he rudely told me to go and leave the store. He did not in fact remove the ramp as he claimed he was going to and I left the store disgusted at the rude dis-service (by the manager only as the other service personnel were great) and went and delivered the car with the now replaced ramp. I picked up the other car and went back to the Los Angeles area. I got my work done on Saturday afternoon and returned the auto transport trailer to the place I rented it from as always. I walked into the Sun Valley Store. I saw Chris Hodges playing footsies with some female customer and just went straight to LC the guy who actually serviced me when I rented the trailer. I asked him to come out and look at the trailer so I could show him the broken off clasp and told him I only had one ramp for the trip. Just then Chris Hodges chimed in and said “YOU STOLE THAT RAMP AND YOUR CREDIT CARD IS BEING BILLED FOR IT” He said this in front of several other customers which is libelous and incredibly bad manners not to mention totally false. needless to say I was furious by now. I told chris to come out and look at the broken clasp which he did.

I showed him the bad casting that had caused the clasp to break and that it was all black from oxidation meaning it was broken for some time. He saw this and re-terated that I was a thief and stole the ramp and that my credit card had been charged for the price of a new ramp. I was incensed by this time and told him I would be suing him and Uhaul for calling me a thief in front of the now 8 or 10 customers in the store. He just got snotty and said go ahead.

I asked him for the name of his regional manager and he told me he did not have one. I told him to give me his Uhaul business card so I could take this up with his management strata and he refused to give me of his cards. By this time I was yelling at him and being profane. I told him to get his @%$##$^@ broken traqiler off my truck and get the paperwork done so I could leave. He started bating me to try to take a swing at him which of course I didnt bother. When I didnt respond to his efforts to get me to take a swing at him, he started yelling at me to get out of the store. He refused to process the transaction while I was there and I got in my truck and left. Throught the above encounter with Chris Hodges he continued to reiterate in front of others that I was a thief and stole the ramp. This was despite his knowledge of the fact that I had contacted the Uhauls service center on several occasions during this trip. I dont know if you charge store managers from thier bonuses or what for lost or damaged equipment. Regardless the communication from both Chris and Sterling was utterly rude and the disservice rendered by the 2 of them has never been seen by me ever as I have always been well serviced in the past when situations like this come which they do on a rare occasion. SUMMARY

1. Chris Hodges is too busy doing other things while on the job.

2. Due to his distractions he has failed to adequately inspect and maintain the rental equipment to the point of causing customers damage and putting hazardous equipment on the road that can cause damage injury or even death.

3. He tries to shift not only the blame but the actuall cost of the repairs to the customer when the customer had no cause in the situation. 4. He is rude and imflamnatory in dealing with customer situations. I have been renting from Uhaul for many years and I spend many thousands on rentals with your company. in all the years I have been doing business with this company I have never been mistreated by personnel. In this case not only was I mistreated but accused of stealing comapny property to cover up the fact that the store manager failed to take care of his own equipment. None of the service personnel were rude only the STORE MANAGERS!, AT BOTH LOCATIONS!!!!! I dont know whats going on with your company and what you are currently training store managers to be like. But if this is the new standard for store management you have made a terrible mistake. Should my card in fact be charged for this ramp I will be suing not only for the cost of the ramp, but also for libel and negligence on the part of your employees as well as credit card fraud! I dont like to have to be like this but the existing standard at your stores from store managers is totally unacceptable. If it is now your policy to rent out substandard equipment and then make it the fault of your customers after the fact of equipment failurte and then charge the customer for losses or damages resulting from negligence on the part of your store managers for failing to inspect and maintain equipment, Ill have no choice but to seek class action legal remedies until your policies change back the the earlier standard of just giving good service and being responsible for your equipment being in good shape when rented and having managment personnel who are service oriented and not shifting blame to cash paying customers of your company to cover thier losses! Needless to say this has been an abismal experience at the hands of 2 of your store “managers” It is my hope you can respond appropropriatly to this situation! I await your response.

Michael Ash

utterly dissatisfied customer

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Tags: rental agreement, trailers

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