I would like to share a horrible experience I had with UHAUL. On Saturday (7/16/2005), I helped my friends move. They had rented a UHAUL. We finished the move and were on our way to return the truck. Two of my friends were in the UHAUL and my brother and I were following in my car. We were driving down I-85S and all of a sudden the UHAUL broke down. Luckily we were in the rightmost lane and were able to pull over onto the shoulder. This happened at about 5.15pm. We were at around mile 86, which is just a mile north of the exit to get onto I-75N. The break down location was on a bridge so the shoulder was barely wide enough to fit the truck. Cars were speeding by us no more than 3 feet away from the truck. The first thing we did was call the 1-800 number on the UHAUL contract. They told us that they would call back in 30 min after a mechanic has been located. We didn’t hear back from them for an hour. So we called the number and were put on hold for over 30 min. They said they had not been able to locate a mechanic by then. Since we had better things to do than sit at the side of the interstate with speeding cars going by, we asked them to send us a tow truck. They said they can’t send a tow truck since its more expensive than a mechanic. The only way they would send a tow truck is if a mechanic decided the truck was unfixable. We then told them that we feared for our safety and we wanted to leave the truck and go home until they found a mechanic. They told us that if we did that, it would count as abandonment and there is a hefty charge for abandoning a vehicle. So basically they couldn’t find a mechanic so they refused to send a tow truck and told us that we couldn’t leave the broken down UHAUL either. This meant that we were stranded on the shoulder of the interstate until they found a mechanic. We tried to talk to a supervisor but we were told that the supervisor doesn’t want to talk to us. We kept calling back hoping to find someone with a little bit of heart to send a tow truck. I can’t even quantify the total amount of time we were on hold. After this went on for a few hours, the four of us started getting agitated. We had every right to be upset with the situation. If we called and displayed some attitude, they would hang up on us. Finally we decided that we had to bite the bullet and pay for something. We called and asked UHAUL what the abandonment charge was. They said they were not allowed to discuss that with us. We asked if there was a time window within which they would have to find a mechanic or else send a tow truck. They said they were not allowed to share that information with us. We called 911 and asked to get the truck impounded. We were told if we do that, the ticket would go to the person renting the truck and according to the contract, that person would also have to pay to get the UHAUL from the impound lot back to the rental location. We tried calling our auto insurance providers and AAA. None of them would tow a commercial vehicle. We also tried calling independent tow companies. Most of them wouldn’t tow a UHAUL. After help from some friends who searched on the internet, we found one towing company ready to tow the truck for us. We ended up paying $100 out of our pockets to get the UHAUL off the shoulder and into the parking lot at my apartment which was less than 5 miles away. We ended up reaching home at 12.30am, over 7 hours after the truck had broken down. We were no more than 3 feet from speeding cars and trucks for over 7 hours hoping that UHAUL would help us out. How hard is it to find a mechanic in Atlanta. I understand that it was the weekend. But did they expect us to sit on the shoulder until Monday morning? Luckily the UHAUL had already been unloaded. Luckily I had my car with me. Luckily we were in Atlanta. I was able to go get food and drinks for us. What if a situation like this happened when moving out of state and your truck broke down in the middle of nowhere? If UHAUL can’t help their customers in a big city like Atlanta, how would anyone feel safe taking a UHAUL across the country? The mechanic was supposed to come inspect the truck on Monday. He asked my friend (the one who had rented the truck) to be by the vehicle at 5.30pm sharp. My friend was there at 5.30pm but there was no mechanic. We tried calling UHAUL but couldn’t get through. He had a softball game to go to at 7pm. So he waited till 6.30pm and then left. Finally the mechanic calls at 6.45pm. Why make an appointment when you can’t make it? This weekend showed me UHAUL’s complete disregard for their customer’s satistaction, time and most of all safety. In my moving experience, I have rented from UHAUL about four times. Two times, the truck broke down on us. A 50% rate is bad enough for me and I will NEVER rent from this company again. I strongly recommend considering other options when you plan your next move.
I said it before and I will say it again, that whole situation sucks. I had problems with my Uhaul when I moved to Atlanta. Luckily, my truck made the trip from PA to here. When I got to ATL, parked the truck at my sisters for the night, the next morning, my Dad and Sister took the truck to the Uhaul/Storage place and the truck broke down on the street right in front of the Uhaul place. We were right in front of the building, and it still took over an hour to get someone out to help. They ended up sending a bigger truck and using it to push my truck up the hill into the parking lot for UHaul. After the problems I have had with Uhaul and your problems, I will never use them again. I will gladly pay $300 to have a moving company load up my stuff in their truck, drive to the new location and unload everything. If something breaks down it is there problem and I am sure they will do what needs to be done as opposed to the rediculous customer service of Uhaul.
Don't send an email. Send a certified letter to the higher ups, or possibly a fax. They will have far more impact than emails which tend to get ignored.
http://clanboyd.info/uhaul/ Another nice story about UHAUL.... http://www.thepeters.org/uhaul.htm And Another..... http://www.inetconnects.com/uhell/list.nhtml Another.... http://www.dontuseuhaul.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=103 Still More..... http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Moving_Services-All-U_Haul_Moving_Service/display_~reviews/pp_~16 Just WOW!!!! http://www.amerco.com/ ^^^^Parent Company Investor Relation Site^^^^^ http://epistolary.org/1332.html One more story still!!!!!! Uhaul International 4101 State St Santa Barbara, CA 93110-1817 (805) 683-3154 http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff51173.htm How are they even still in business?? Headquarters Address: Company headquarters 2727 North Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85004 Public relations Email Addy: mailtoublicrelations@uhaul.com
We used uhaul ourselves many years ago. The 26? footer was the biggest POS I ever drove, but it did get the job done (floored @ 50 mph on I-285 )
thanks for the info scott... im sending a letter to the president of the company... im also going to post this up on every forum i am a member of... and lets not forget clark howard
yea i just shell out the extra money for professional movers..its well worth it..sorry about the bad experience
That's true Moose, sending a certified letter looks much more professional and plus people tend to ignore e-mails and delete them. Milo, I am truly sorry that you had this experience with U-Haul. I feel for ya buddy!!. Cross my fingers, I haven't had any problems yet. I heard that Penske is the best though.... Mark