U-Haul Consumer Reviews - Page 2

CARROLLTON, TEXAS -- I rented a Ubox container to move furniture and some personal belongings from Texas to Virginia. I took out insurance and shame on me, I assumed I was covered. I hired a moving company through U-haul's moving help site to pack my container and it was delivered to a U-haul storage facility in Virginia. When the container was delivered to me, the moving company in Virginia which was also contracted through U-haul advised me that the marble top on my antique dresser was cracked completely in half.

I then contacted the U-haul location in Carrollton, Texas where I rented the container and advised them of the issue. Then things got real interesting. They had me contact their insurance provider some company called Rep West. After 60 days of trying to get my claim settled, I received a letter and basically the insurance coverage didn't cover much of anything.

It was determined my damage was caused by incorrect packing and shifting of the container and was not covered. I then contacted U-haul again and they put me in touch with their Plano, Texas office where the Ubox was actually shipped from. I was asked to email a copy of my receipt showing insurance to the GM. I did that and I have not heard another word from anyone. This has been the most horrific experience. I would not recommend U-haul to move anything even across the street.

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA -- I previously wrote a review and it all stands as is. I must add the good part I found out today. Thus far (Monterey's Manager) felt something was very wrong after I left a long letter explaining everything as I did in my review. She (The Manager) went through all my records and recordings and went to her managers and said "I cannot charge this lady the money charged to her and something is not right."

The, thus far, best relief, the manager had my bill reduced way down, way down to a fair amount. I understand to most and even I feel I should pay nothing but at least this lady Manager resolved this enough to make me jump with joy! It's bad enough my situation with my family life and my SLE Lupus so all the added stress just tossed me off my center. I am sick again yet if this resolution stands I am happy enough.

My good name means everything, my character. And I was sick to my stomach daily and thinking about it all the time. Were they going to make me take the them court and I would have. To have so much stress in my life and I lost homes I had applied to in Phoenix and will need another transport and I am Not in a good situation in another state completely; still had to pay new movers and do it again but at least this lady manager on Commission ave in Monterey did something. She could see all the times I have rented and paid and seriously stand up for yourself. Write a letter, precise, proof & witnessed. I pray you also get someone who can at least resolve issues.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- DO NOT USE THIS U-HAUL LOCATION!!! My entire experience has been an absolute nightmare. I am currently awaiting an acceptable response via the Better Business Bureau. The equipment I reserved and needed to complete my move was not supplied (as contracted). According to ** (Uhaul rep), a "reservation" is not guaranteed. "If someone comes in off the street and needs that equipment, we have to give it to them" and "woman to woman", I should have been able to handle my moving my washer and dryer without any assistance. ** should not be allowed to speak with upset customers. My frustration was escalated after my conversation with that rude woman.

What an embarrassment for the business as a whole! I was offered a $50 refund (total spent was closer to $450) and a $50 "VIP" future credit. I'm guessing that "VIP" carries as much weight as Uhaul's definition of a "reservation", therefore I declined. If you're looking for a moving solution, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

AUBURN, ALABAMA -- Reserved a truck to move to Tennessee! Had reservation for weeks, was called the day before and told I would not have the size truck I ordered but would be given a larger truck, but would only have it 2 days instead of the 3 I booked! Then they called back and said, I would not have a truck at all! This is not the first time this has happened! 4 times I have either not had a truck or had to drive 50 miles to another town to get it! Penske is much better company, I will never deal with U-Haul again!!

LEONARDTOWN, MD -- My husband and I move a lot and we just got our Uhaul containers delivered today. This is the first time we are doing it without a truck and with containers. My experience is as follows so far. The Negatives: I have a paved large circular driveway I asked them to be placed on. I am guessing it is slightly uneven in parts (like most pavement). Due to this the delivery guy wedged shims with a sledge hammer after delivering them. After putting in my lawnmower, however the door no longer closes.

This is a big issue because since it is a large wooden box basically, if you set weight in them the door no longer closes or latches since the weight settled the wooden box making the latches shift. The other issue is that I am only 5'5". I had to get a pole to push up the tarp cover to even close the door and I can't pull the tarp down enough to close it all the way (especially on the one where the door won't shut). It is currently raining and sleeting outside and although I only have my outdoor lawn stuff in the aforementioned box I am still worried something is getting ruined as we speak. (I suggest packing a step up stool and or ladder last)

There is a small step to get into the box so lawnmowers and stuff, you have to have a board to wheel them up into the box. I luckily had a few boards lying around. There are only tie strap latches on 1 of my boxes. They aren't as big as you think and can only haul 2000 pounds each. I have no way of knowing how much weight is in each which presents the problem of shifting if you don't pack them tight enough (boxes aren't an issue but furniture and lawn equipment is).

They make a limited size and aren't really wide enough. To give you an idea I had about 6 inches to spare width wise and maybe 3 or 4 feet length wise after putting in my 40 inch riding lawnmower (sm to med size ridding lawnmower). We had to fight to get the quoted price they tried to charge us twice as much during the confirmation call.

The positives: The truck is the cheapest option for all of our moves so far (we have used Uhaul in the past). What appealed to us was the time we would have to load and unload hopefully making it a lot less stressful of a move after doing the past moves in a day or two (unless you pay for more says with a truck but still you don't get it for a full month). They take up less than a parking space. I have 4 in a row in a space to park 2 cars comfortably. They would be better for longer distance moves. The drop off was great ( deliver I am sure will be the same). It was quick and all I had to do was tell them where and sign on a digital device similar to UPS.

You can get as many as you want and for me, they were so much cheaper then PODS. PODS wanted to charge me $1400 for a cross county move in MD where after fighting to get a quoted price, the Uhaul containers were a little over $600 (a 26 ft truck would have only been $200 though but would have been more rushed).

Advice: Watch out for hidden fees. Pack your ladder last. Make sure the spot is really level to avoid shifting after added weight.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- My roommates and I recently rented a truck from your company this past weekend to move from New Orleans to Fort Worth, Texas. I wish I could report that it was an enjoyable, hassle-free experience but in reality, it was quite the opposite. The problems began almost immediately. To begin with, the truck was supposed to have been available for pickup at the St. Claude Avenue location in New Orleans. A night before we were supposed to leave, I was informed that I would have to travel to Mandeville, 45 minutes from where I live, and across the Causeway no less to get the vehicle.

I had reserved this truck two weeks in advance; this change in plans was not acceptable. After calling to complain about the truck location, one finally became available at the St. Claude location, so that issue was settled
and we proceeded as planned. My friend and I picked up the truck Saturday morning, June 26. Although it was filthy inside, it was the only truck available so it had to suffice. I could not put my plans, and my roommates' plans on hold for a failure on your part to make sure the truck was sufficiently cleaned for our rental. To delay even so much as two to three hours would have left us unable to secure our apartment in Fort Worth.

Again, another letdown, but we had to make do. Upon loading the vehicle with my possessions, we were about to leave when yet another problem arose, the key provided didn't open the doors. Who rents a vehicle that doesn't have an operational key to open the locks? Do you expect me to travel 10 hours and not be able to secure my possessions? Unacceptable. I called the U-Haul hotline and was informed that a service tech would be out to fix the problem within 45 minutes. As two hours approached, and our schedule became more and more delayed because of your ineptitude, I could finally get a feel for what kind of organization I was dealing with.

The service tech finally arrived, delayed as he was. But instead of fixing the key issue, his only suggestion was that we use the small triangle window as our "key": push it open to reach in and unlock the door should we lock it. It would have been hilarious had it not actually happened, but as it was, it was downright ridiculous. What kind of solution is this? Is this company policy when faced with non-matching keys? Who puts a truck out on the road that doesn't have a working set of keys anyway? Is there any oversight to the condition of the trucks?

This one obviously had its locks changed in the past as was evident by the new installation on the passenger side, and who knows what happened to the driver's side lock - the entire door had been changed out because
the paint didn't match and door didn't fit in its frame. Regardless, as has been mentioned previously - there was a timeline to meet and this was the only opportunity we had to meet the requirements of getting into the apartment in time and returning to work as scheduled, so we had to accept this problem and make the best of it. So we did, albeit under duress.

After the key problem was "solved", and I use that word ever so sparingly, we had to fill up for fuel as the truck was provided to us with the tank reading empty. We filled the truck up in New Orleans, however once we set out, we realized the gauge didn't work, because even though the truck was full, it only read 3/4 of a tank. This would serve as a huge detriment throughout the trip, the gauge apparently was broken, as it would read anywhere from empty to 3/4 full at any given time in the trip. Not knowing how much gas we had, much less how much it was using, forced us to stop on instinct so as to not run the truck out of diesel.

Operational gauges are a requirement of any vehicle, much less one rented for profit by a national company.
As we set out to the roommates' apartment to pick up their belongings, we realized more problems of the vehicle, such as why the air vents were aimed away from the passengers, the air conditioning promised by your ads on the side of the truck blew nothing but hot air. And lots of it.

The AM/FM radio, promised as well on the side of the vehicle, would work when it wanted to. Which wasn't often. And with the roar of the engine plus the fact the windows had to stay down because of the intense heat and lack of aforementioned a/c, it was basically worthless even when operational. We were also glad that we had two people in the cab at all times to see each side, considering the mirrors were worthless due to the fact that they were broken and despite all attempts to angle them at the proper places to see the traffic and maintain safety,
it was a losing effort.

Upon leaving in the early morning for Fort Worth, we realized at our first stop that the problems would continue.
After fueling the truck, we tried to start it to leave. It cranked twice before going completely dead. Had it not been for the kindness of a diesel-driving stranger in rural Lafayette at 5:30 am, we would probably have been totally screwed as far as our time constraints. As it was, the delay took 45 minutes to correct, and then we were advised correctly, looking back that we had to leave the truck running the rest of the way for fear of it not starting again.

Finally on the road after yet another delay, the trip was delayed again as we were traveling up Interstate 49. In addition to the previous pitfalls of the vehicle, all the other gauges began to fail. Oil pressure - up, then down, then fine, then no pressure again. Battery gauge - non responsive. Headlights and turn signals? Nonworking. Horn? You guessed it. This was a traveling road hazard that your company set us out on the road with as 'operational.' What a joke.

As it was, your failure to provide a functional vehicle was something we could not have planned on, so we had to continue for fear of being stranded in rural Louisiana when we had to arrive in Fort Worth by 1 p.m. It's amazing we weren't involved in a traffic accident of the worst kind, thanks to your negligence. In a driving rain with already slow windshield wipers, they stopped altogether as we were driving in some of the worst weather I've seen in a while. This equipment failure occurred just a mile after a hard curve in the interstate - I hate to think what would have happened had the wipers stopped working in that area of the road.

And to make matters worse, with the nonworking air conditioning, the windshield was one solid pane of steam; my passenger had to continually wipe the fog from the driver's side just to see even the slightest. We had to make
an emergency stop in the striped-triangle area of an exit just to gather our senses, then limp the vehicle off the interstate and into a gas station to see what could be done. After buying Rain-X to help the situation, the rain let off slightly and surprisingly, the wipers came back on, however extremely slow they were. The gauges and lights, however, remained nonoperational.

We finally made it to our destination hours late and stressed out from driving the rolling road hazard known as your U-Haul truck - and got everything unloaded. Then came time to return the vehicle to your office. What better way to end the trip than, you guessed it, another breakdown. The truck wouldn't start. Not even cranking. And it
left an oil stain in a brand new development, I might add - the size of a large puddle on the freshly poured concrete. Perhaps the only thing worse than this debacle of a rental vehicle was your customer service following the demise of the aforementioned truck.

Never before have I been given the runaround and treated so poorly in my entire life. After summoning the hotline again as to how to get the truck out of my future driveway, I was insulted by your customer care clerk as she attempted to blame the failure on me. I know what diesel fuel is and I certainly know how to start a diesel engine.
Talking down to me and insulting my intelligence was the last thing I needed from your organization. After speaking with the 'dispatcher', and her insulting me, she promised a service tech would arrive within a half hour.

Two hours passed, during which I attempted to speak to someone 'in charge' to resolve the myriad of issues this vehicle had. No one would connect me with a supervisor. Countless roaming minutes on me and my friends' phones were logged on hold, all while waiting on the elusive person who could resolve the problems that plagued us from the moment we picked this truck up. There is no reason this truck could not have been towed back to the rental center. It was in no shape to drive legally nor physically. But your staff insisted that once it was running I would be forced to drive it back to the rental station, endangering my life and all I came in contact with en route.

Even though, after the two hour wait and hour-long repair got the truck started, it was still not legal or safe. The gauges didn't work. It was constantly near-dying, requiring me to keep the gas pedal revved. And who knows how much oil had drained out of the truck during the travel period? Your insistence 'no, absolute decree' that I physically drive the truck back to the center put my life at risk yet again and could have been much better handled with a tow truck. I scoff at your pledge that safety is number one - you proved your reckless disregard for my experience and general safety when you forced me to drive the vehicle 10 miles to return it.

After returning in the morning, and yet again getting the runaround from everyone I spoke with who knows how many hours I wasted trying to talk to ANYONE in charge - your manager in New Orleans completed the insult to injury. To begin with, he lied that he had personally checked the truck out and personally driven it to the St. Claude location. Is it normal protocol for a manager to lie to consumers? I guess at least for ** at the St. Claude location, it is. And it's also OK for managers to joke about death, it seems. In discussing our near accident, the manager told me that U-Haul would have covered the funeral expenses had we been killed.

What kind of sick answer to our serious issues is that? That kind of unprofessionalism warrants discipline of some sort, if not outright dismissal. To put it bluntly, this has been one of the worst commercial dealings I've ever encountered in my life. The drive with the truck was bad enough. But your lack of respect, utter incompetence and outright failure to find solutions to our issues, not to mention the lies and disrespect to close the transaction, made a bad situation exponentially worse. I expect an appropriate response, in a timely matter, to this letter.

BELLEROSE, NEW YORK -- This is very lengthy but if you are considering doing business w/ Uhaul, please read. Instead of retyping my ordeal I am pasting below the actual complaint I sent to their website: I have a storage room at UHAUL for which I pay about $215 a month, I have had it since July '03. My storage fee is due on the 5th of every month and if it is not paid, they charge a $15 late fee. Then 15 days later, they charge another $15 late fee and start sending threatening letters about how they will seize your property if they do not receive their payment.

I knew of all this since day one, and since I am one to usually be late with my bills, I almost always got stuck with the $15 late fee for being a day or so late and on 2 or 3 occasions paid the $30 late fee for being 15 days late. When I signed the initial contract with them to rent the storage room, I was asked if I would like to have the monthly fee automatically deducted from my credit card and if so, I should fill out the necessary credit card info and authorization which was a small box located on the contract. I declined this option, preferring to pay cash.

Then, I proceeded to pay my rent fee every month (usually late but never more than 15 days) and always paid the late fee as well. I always went in person to pay my rent even though they sent me a letter in the mail every time I was late (the letter would come a day or so after the due date) and this letter always offered for me to "sign up for the monthly storage fee to be automatically deducted from my credit card and we will waive the $15 late fee" and it requested for me to provide my credit card info and signature and send it back to them. This option never appealed to me and I always chose to pay in cash in person.

At this point, I should add that the employees in this location have horrible attitudes towards their customers and are lazy, impolite and downright rude. On every occasion that I arrived to pay my bill whether there were NO customers in there or 1 or 2, there were ALWAYS several employees standing around doing nothing and they never greet me or even look up to acknowledge me.

I always spend about 15-25 minutes in there paying my bill (which should only take a minute) and I get to listen to the employees speak among themselves about what they are going to "have for lunch" or "who did their nails" or how their "scalp is itchy because of the oil they use in their hair", etc. I have NEVER in my life experienced such a lack of customer service in any business establishment in my entire life. Anyhow, to get to the issue at hand. On one occasion several months ago, I paid by credit card because I was short on cash.

I was again offered to have my credit card kept on record so that they can automatically bill me every month, and I declined this stating that I was just using it "this time" and I would usually be paying cash as I preferred to. I did NOT sign anything authorizing them to automatically deduct any future payments from my credit card, nor did I receive the $15 late fee being waived since I did not sign up for this method, I merely used it on that occasion. I only signed the receipt for that particular transaction as I would for any routine credit card purchase. Since that date, I always paid cash as usual for the next few months and usually "late" including the late fee.

Since the same employees are always working there when I go, they pretty much know who I am and that I always come in and pay cash somewhere between the 5th and the 20th of the month (rent being due on the 5th). I always get the same letters from them every month, the first letter stating I am late and I am being charged $15 dollars, and if I do not pay within 15 days an additional $15 will be added. And very rarely I get a telephone (maybe 3 times in 7 months) message that is usually not understandable except for the fact that I hear the word "UHAUL" along with a lot of gibberish and I assume they are calling to inform me my rent is late.

I have never paid my rent later than the 20th of the month (which is 15 days late) but I am almost always late and I always pay in cash, in person. Then, in the month of 12/03, I did not pay my rent on time on the 5th (as I hardly ever do) and I received the letter on the 6th or 7th informing me of the $15 late fee, as I always do, and I had planned on dropping by with my payment later on that week as I always do. Suddenly, on about 12/10/03, my credit card was charged $230 (the rent fee plus the first $15 late fee)!!! It was charged without my permission!!

I did not authorize for them to charge my credit card and I was outraged that they even had kept my credit card number on record and used it without my consent and without my signature and my rent was not even 15 days due yet!! Prior to this, it had gone up to 15 days past due and I was charged a $30 late fee (total of $245) and paid in person by cash and I could not understand why they would take it upon themselves to just charge my credit card out of the blue.

On top of this, the letter I received stating I was late and I was being charged a $15 late fee also offered me the option of the automatic credit card deduction(as it always did) if I signed the form and provided the info and mailed it back and it also offered to waive the late fee if I chose to do so (as it always did). But the point is, I DID NOT CHOOSE TO DO SO, I did not sign anything or authorize anything and they just charged my credit card INCLUDING the $15 late fee. This made me exceed my credit card limit causing me to incur additional penalty fees with my credit card company.

I immediately called UHAUL and provided the associate with my name and storage room number and asked her why they charged my credit card without my permission. Her response was, "I didn't charge your credit card", I asked her "What do you mean? I was charged $230 by UHAUL". She replied (emphasis on the I), " "I" didn't charge your credit card" very rudely. I said, "Well, maybe YOU aren't the actual person who charged me but when I say YOU, I mean you people who work at UHAUL". She said, "Well, I didn't do it", I asked her, "Who did?", she said, "You will have to speak to a manager".

So I requested the manager and was then told she was not there and I should call back tomorrow after 10:30 AM. The next day I went in person around 12 noon and requested the manager who happened to be not there again, I told the employee that I was instructed to call after 10:30 and it is now 12 pm, so how come she is not here. I was told she was in but she left already. I then explained the situation to a male employee who asked me if I authorized them to charge my credit card, I said "No". He checked his computer and verified that I was not on their "automatic credit card deduction program" and gave me the business card of the manager.

I also took a comment/complaint postcard to fill out and asked him for the location # so I can put it on the card and he told me that I should call the manager and she will give me the information (he wouldn't even give me the location # to write on the comment card!). The next day I tried to call in the afternoon and she was not there again, I plead my case to another employee on the phone stating that I wanted to ensure this does not happen again and I cannot keep calling every day if the manager is never going to be there. I was then put on hold for an extended amount of time until I hung up.

I waited a day and called again the next day and I still could not contact the manager and the employees would not take a message for her, they just kept telling me I would have to call her back. After that I found myself to be very busy with the holiday's, and then I was involved in an auto accident and the matter slipped my mind since I had other things to deal with, and I was pretty sure that at least it would not happen again since I was clear to the employee's I spoke with that I did not authorize this to be done, and my overall intention after that was to try to move my items from that storage location before 1/5/04 and to write a complaint to the BBB.

Well, like I said, with the holiday's and the accident, before I knew it , it was January and the incident was far from my mind. That is until 1/08/04 when I received my monthly UHAUL letter stating that my rent was due on 1/5/04 and a late fee of $15 has been charged to my account and an additional $15 will be incurred if it becomes "14" days late (notice I stressed the 14 days because it used to say 15 days and they suddenly changed it, I will comment on that later). It stated that my balance was $230 and again it offered to waive the $15 late fee if I sign up for the automatic credit card payment plan.

When I received this letter, it reminded me of the previous month's occurrence and I made a note for myself to write a complaint to the BBB and also to go down to UHAUL next week to pay my bill before it becomes 14 days late and I figured maybe I would catch the manager at that time to speak with her. Well, could you imagine that on 1/10/04 they charged my credit card AGAIN!!! They charged me $230 AGAIN (the storage and the $15 late fee) as they did the month before without my permission and again the rent was not even 14 days late yet, I had just received their letter 2 days before!!

Now, this credit card that they were charging (that I had used once in the past for ONE payment) is actually not even my OWN credit card account. It is a card in my name that my father had gotten for me to use for emergencies only and it is actually HIS account, he receives all the statements, I just have an extra card with my name on it. That is really the main reason I never chose the credit card billing option and also the reason I only used it once when I really did not have the money to pay my rent.

So, he was the one getting stuck with the penalties for going over the card limit (which happened again!) when they chose to charge this card without anybody's prior consent! Like I said, I only have the card for emergencies and I never use it without asking him first since he knows the balance and the amount available to use. For the $230 they charged on the card in December, I had to pay him instead of paying UHAUL so that he could pay the balance on the card.

But he incurred the penalty and now this month, he had to cancel the credit card completely since he was very concerned about them charging the credit card again without us knowing and him having to get stuck with all the fees. So again, I just visited him today to pay him the $230 that I would have paid to UHAUL directly (today is 1/12/04) had they not chosen to charge the credit card for a second time without our consent.

This also caused a rift between me and my dad since he thought I took care of the issue last month, which I tried to but never was able to contact the manager but thought I was very clear that this card should never be charged without my consent to every employee that I did speak with. On the day the card was charged, I tried to contact the manager with no success as usual so then my father called UHAUL and amazingly he was able to reach the manager.

I now think that she was purposely avoiding me since I gave my name each time I called but when he called (he has a different last name), she was caught off guard and did not realize that he was calling for the same issue as I was. All she told him was that she would make sure not to charge the card in the future and proceeded to tell him that if I do not pay my rent in time, that they would seize my property that is in storage and auction it off and sell it!!! Can you believe the nerve? My dad is an older man and instead of demanding an explanation from her on "why?" and "how?", they charged our credit card without our consent and signature.

He let her turn the conversation around on him and make it seem like I'm going to have my property seized and auctioned off since I keep paying my rent late and she got him all worried about that, so he just thanked her for her time and then called me to warn me about not paying my rent on time! I then tried to call and she was gone for the day already (supposedly). My point is this: we never received an answer on why they charged the credit card in the first place, not once but twice and with the late fees (since the letter states if I choose to use the credit option they will waive the late fee).

Even though I did not choose this option, they still charged me and they still charged the late fee and then she had the nerve to make it sound like my property was going to be seized from me!!! I NEVER EVER once paid my rent more than 15 days late, and because I pay my rent late, I am charged a late fee and I know this but I CHOOSE to pay that late fee because I CHOOSE to pay my rent late!!

I am not worried about my property being seized since I know that I will never NOT pay my rent!! I will always pay my rent as I always have for the past 6 months, whether I choose to pay the normal fee of $215 on the 5th of the month or pay $230 after the 5th or pay $245 on the 20th. I have never let it go THAT FAR!! How dare they use my credit card without my permission and scare my dad into thinking I'm not going to pay my rent in time and my stuff will be seized in order to turn the tables on him and make him lose sight of the issue at hand. So, that is my MAIN concern and the issue that is at hand. I want to add one more complaint to this form while I am here.

A few paragraphs above I mentioned how this last letter I received from UHAUL stated that I would incur an additional $15 late fee if my rent was "14" days late instead of it saying "15" days late as it did in the past. This was an issue I had with UHAUL several months back, the first time I was ever charged for both late fees in one month bringing my late fee charge to $30 for that month.

In that month, I went on the 20th of the month to pay my bill because I understood the letter I received to mean that as long as I paid my rent by the 20th (which was 15 days from the due date) that I would not incur the second late charge, I believed I would only incur that charge if I paid after the 20th. When I went in person to pay my bill and was being charged $245, I questioned why I was being charged the additional $15 since it was the 20th and the rent was not 15 days late yet, it would have been if I let it go past that day and that was the reason I went there on the 20th so that I did not incur the additional $15 late fee.

I was used to paying the first $15 late fee many times in the past but had never had to pay $30 and I did not understand why I was being charged. The first employee I was dealing with (a woman) was very uninformative and rude and said, "The late fee was charged this morning and once it goes in the system, I cannot take it out, there's nothing I can do". I asked her for a manager at that time also and I was told I would have to call Arizona. At this point, I did not know your headquarters were in Arizona and I asked her why I would have to call Arizona. She said that if I wanted to speak to a manager, the manager is in Arizona and I would have to call there.

We proceeded to argue a bit because I was getting very frustrated because I did not understand what "Arizona" had to do with my storage room in New York and the employee was not explaining anything to me. I said to her, "I don't pay anyone in Arizona, I pay you and I would like for someone to help me here at this location". She did nothing. I went on stating that I had a contract with THEM in NY, I signed a contract in New York and I have no dealings with Arizona and what was she talking about? She got all confused and asked another employee to assist me.

The other employee was no better, she at least explained that the headquarters are in Arizona and the late fee was charged through their main system and could not be changed by them once it is charged and I would have to contact Arizona for further assistance. At this point, I tried to plead my case to her, asking her if she understood where I was coming from (she did not).

I slowly explained to her that if my rent is due on the 5th and I pay on the 5th it is $215.95, and if I pay any day after the 5th I incur a $15 late fee as I always do and I usually pay $230.95 when I receive the letter which states to me that I have an additional 15 more days before I will incur another $15 late fee. So, if it was the 20th of the month and I came there specifically on that day so as not to incur an additional late fee and not to let the rent become over 15 days late, then why am I still being charged the additional $15 late fee?

She said she all she knows is that the charge went into the system early that morning and that she could do nothing to take it out and I have no choice but to pay and take it up with the people in Arizona. I told her that I refused to pay because it made no sense and it was ridiculous and there was obviously some mistake made and I did not believe I should be charged this additional late fee. I then showed her my letter and asked her why the letter said I would only be charged the additional $15 if the rent was 15 days late and if I am there on the 15th day then I am NOT late.

I would only be late if I paid on the 21st or later, so I would like her to explain to me why I was sent a misleading letter by them. At this point she got defensive about how "She" personally did not send me the letter, and I had to explain to her that whether it was "her" or any other employee at Uhaul, somebody sent me a letter leading me to believe I would only be charged an additional fee after the 15 days and yet it turns out to be false. She said I should have paid it that morning. I was dumbfounded!! What difference did it make, morning or afternoon, it is still the same day and still during their business hours.

Since I was not happy with their answer, they wrote down the Arizona phone number for me which was not toll free and told me to call Arizona. At that point, I requested that THEY call Arizona, since I should not have to also incur the long distance phone charges and also, I did not want to drive home and have to make another trip back to Uhaul after calling Arizona. So, she called the number and started speaking to someone on the phone but she was not clearly explaining the situation she was basically just saying, "A customer does not want to pay her late fee, etc. etc." but not explaining "why".

I asked her if I could speak to whomever she was speaking to but she ignored me and I asked her at least 3 times making full eye contact with her while she proceeded to avoid my eyes and look down and say, "um hum, uh huh, OK" and then hang up and tell me that they are not going to take the additional $15 off my account!! She did absolutely nothing for me and I'm starting to wonder now if she was even really on the phone with anybody!! Now, I was really aggravated and tried to get anyone's attention who worked there who would here me out. I asked them if there was no manager on the premises, then who is in charge?

I did not understand how nobody could be incharge and since these 2 employees were completely unhelpful, I wanted to speak to somebody who could help. Finally, a male employee who was at least more polite and more informative at answering my questions came to assist me. I explained to him that it made no sense that the other 2 employees said if I paid this morning I would not have incurred the late fee.

I said that if the bill has to be paid by a certain time it should be stated in the letter I received, because an average person would believe that the payment can be made any time during business hours that day (like is true with any other company awaiting a payment on a certain day). After looking in his computer, he said that I was charged the late fee at 7 or 8 am and that they were not even open at that time so I would have actually had to pay the day before (the 19th) in order to avoid the late fee. So that would have been 14 days not 15 and the letter was not accurate!!

He explained to me that the letter was meant to be understood that on the 15th day the late fee would be charged and that I was understanding it differently. So finally, somebody made sense!! I understood him but still felt that the late fee should be taken off my account since the letter was misleading but since they could not help, I would pay the fee for now and send in a complaint to Arizona later. So that was that. I did send one of those postcards in explaining this issue but I never heard back from anyone and it was only during my last Uhaul visit when I took another comment card that I noticed that it requested the location #.

Since I did not provide a location # on my previous comment card, maybe that is why I never heard from anyone. You may want to look finding that comment card sent several months back. Anyhow, it's quite ironic how the new letters you send out correctly state "14" days instead of incorrectly stating "15" days as they did in the past. This leads me to believe that my comment was in fact looked into and I was in fact correct, but instead of receiving the credit I was due, Uhaul just decided to correct their letters and ignore the fact that I was the one who brought up this issue and ignore the fact that they owe me that $15 due to the misleading information on that letter.

I am sure you agree that just by Uhaul changing the 15 days to 14 days is an acceptance of being wrong on your part but instead of attempting to resolve that issue with me, they just decided to start a whole new issue and start illegally charging my credit card without my consent or approval or signature. My intent now is to take this up with the BBB but when I checked their complaint form on their website, it instructed me to attempt to solve this first with Uhaul directly. This is my last attempt to give you a chance to right these wrongdoing's and offer me some sort of explanation.

I am saving a copy of this letter I am sending you so that I can show it to the BBB should I have to contact them in the near future if you do not show some concern about this matter. I will also look into having the credit card company take legal action for the fraudulent use of the credit card if necessary, if this matter goes unresolved.

For the record, the response I received to this was "please take this up with the original location of storage". To which I sent another lengthy response explaining (as I did previously), how I could not receive any help at that location and they referred me to the headquarters in Arizona (the website form I used for my complaint) and my next response from them was, "please contact the regional office in Brooklyn" and I was given a telephone number to call.

My response to that was, "I refuse to be thrown around from one location to another and yet another and if they had any customer service ethics, they would forward my complaint to the proper person who handles it instead of wasting my time having to explain the same story over and over to Uhaul employees who seem unconcerned and offer me no explanation or resolutions. And I stated that if the matter is not handled ASAP, I will promptly pursue further action with the BBB and Attorney General, etc, etc."

I am awaiting their response at the moment but I have been researching Uhaul via search engine and I have so far came across over 1000 web sites dedicated to spreading the word about Uhaul's unethical business practices. If anyone has a similar situation regarding the unauthorized credit card use, please respond with advice or explain how you handled it. Thank you.

LEWISVILLE, TEXAS -- I am writing this review to expose some very serious issues. I recently rented a U-Haul trailer (my first experience with U-Haul) and was given a rate of $29.00 for the trailer. Everything went smoothly and I was told to return the U-Haul by 6 P.M. There were no specifications to what location the U-Haul must be returned but that it simply must be returned by 6 P.M. The next day I noticed an unauthorized pending charge of $73.75 and called to find out what the charge was for. I was told that it was simply a hold in accordance to U-Haul policy and it would disappear within 3-5 business days. Satisfied with this answer I did not further investigate.

However, on 11/3/2010 the additional $73.75 charge had gone through and had created an overdraft in my account and I was charged an additional fee of $34.00. I am never overdrawn and am very cautious with my money so I was very frustrated at this point. I called the Lewisville store located on 525 North Stemmons Freeway (College Pkwy) Lewisville TX 75067 and spoke with the general manager there. It was the most unprofessional and inappropriate call I have ever experienced and merely exacerbated the stressful situation.

The manager told me, “It's not our fault you didn't return the U-Haul here”, and “You should have known”, and “If you tell me you will bring my U-Haul back here then I will just believe that's true.” (Please note on the last quote that I had never spoken to him before and I was neither informed that the U-Haul must be returned to that location and I never told anyone at the store that I would be bringing it back to that specific location either). He also continued to cut me off in mid-sentence saying, “Listen to me, listen to, hey, listen to me.”

He was argumentative and offered no apology for the miscommunication between his staff and I; he offered only blame and false scenarios. Toward the end of our exchange he told me, “Hey there's nothing I can do anyway because the other store charged you! So you're not helping by being mad at me!” I responded in frustration, “You should have informed me of that at the beginning of this conversation and apologized for the inconvenience and given me the number to call the other location instead of being argumentative and inappropriate. I cannot understand how you became manager with this level of customer service.”

His response was merely, “Well, ma'am, thanks for that suggestion and now I'm going to let you go so you can call them.” I proceeded to call the other store and spoke with the manager there. I relayed all that had happened and he did everything in his power to help for which I am extremely grateful. Unfortunately, the corporate office instructed him to call the other manager to ask that the extra charges be dropped, of course, the other manager refused saying, “We told her to bring it back here and she didn't so we will not refund anything.” As I stated above I had never spoken to him and was never informed of this policy or I would have adhered to it.

This is my last option and I am pleading that someone take care of this matter. The Lewisville manager will be able to continue on with his week unaffected by this matter while I attempt to recover from the damages. I expected only to pay $29.00 for the U-Haul but instead (including the NSF fees) have spent approximately $150.00 dollars and counting if other transactions are processed. This is bad enough in of itself, but the real tragedy for me is the money I am spending to recover from this is the money for my wedding dress I have been saving for my wedding in early December this year.

Because of this incident, I have no way of purchasing my dress and I am devastated by this ordeal. I truly hope someone will read this and rectify this needless situation. I can be contacted via email at ** by any U-Haul personnel that can assist me.

76013, TEXAS -- So I finally got moved to Abilene before Christmas, I ended up using U-Haul to do the move. I made a reservation online for the truck and picked up from some back alley franchise place less than 3 miles from the U-Haul service center in West Arlington (this should have been the first sign). The employee told me that if I returned the truck early and under the allotted amount of miles I would receive a partial refund for doing so. So I think to myself I can do a move from 2nd story apartment drive 200 miles in 4 hours and move into a 2nd story apartment in less than 24 hours and get the truck turned back in the following day and get a partial refund.

It was nice that day probably about 65 degrees outside at 10 am so I get started and get everything loaded up and I am on the road by 3 pm. I get to Ranger, Texas which is about the 1/2 way mark to Abilene and realize that a cold front has blown in and it is cold probably 30 degrees with the wind chill and all I have on is a windbreaker, polo shirt and a pair of river shorts and all of my clothes are inside the U-Haul at the front of the truck.

I make it to my new place around 7:30 pm and try to find the cowboys-ravens game on TV but I am screwed because it's on the NFL network. I start unloading and it is really getting cold outside. I think about saying forget the early return on the truck and just crashing out on the sofa and starting early in the morning but decide not to because I can get a partial refund and the sooner I get unpacked the faster I can get to my warm clothes boxed up in the front of the cab of the U-Haul. So I unloaded the truck till 4 am in shorts and polo shirt. The low temp that night in Abilene was 20-something, the wind chill was ungodly.

I get up the next morning gas the truck up and get it turned in 18 minutes before the 24 hour mark on the contract and I am pretty amazed that I pulled it off all in less than 24 hours. So I ask the guy at the drop off what the refund to my card would be and he just kind of laughed and said "they told you that?" and he goes on to tell me that they tell people that all of the time and proceeds to tell me that there is no refunds for turning a truck in early and under mileage.

U-Haul will charge you for going over the mileage and keeping the truck out past the due date, but they give you no credit for returning it early. He tells me to call customer service and raise hell and they will partially compensate me for my troubles. U-Haul customer service was a joke. I filed a claim and was told someone would contact me within 48 hours and they actually did (first time Uhaul kept their word). 2 days later as I am laid up on the couch sucking down bottles of NyQuil and eating Benadryl like they were M&M's because of the cold I picked up from working through the night.

I get the call. The representative offered me 30 dollars in U-Haul bucks for my next rental and didn't even apologize... I was so pissed that they thought they were going to buy me off with 30 dollars in U-Haul bucks as if I was ever going to use them again. Since I wasn't satisfied with the offer someone from Management would call me back in 48 hours. I guess they have so many complaints it takes them 2 days to resolve an issue. No one ever called me back.

I waited 7 days and fired off another email to customer support, got a callback this morning from some ass in Fort Worth who was insistent that no one promised me a refund for turning the truck in early. He claims that the owner was at Streamline Auto that morning that I picked up the truck (which he wasn't. If he was he must have been under the desk) and that the owner never promised me a partial refund for turning the truck in early. Bottomline U-Haul sucks. I screwed up by not calling Penske Truck Rental. Their rate for a 24 hour one way 1000 usable miles 157 dollars, 100 less than I paid. U-HAULSUCKS.

WICHITA, KANSAS -- Let me start by saying U-Haul must have the dumbest people working for them. I wanted to rent a car dolly to pull a truck. I went to the website to gather information on U-Hauls car dollies and this is what I found. A car dolly is designed for the front axle weight of the vehicle, not the entire weight of the vehicle. Here is what is written on the web site:

The vehicle being towed: Must not weigh in excess of 3,450 lbs. if it is front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and 3,900 lbs. if it is rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. Must have a maximum outside-to-outside tire width of 72". Must not exceed a body width (at the doors) of 75". Note: body widths over 72" must use late-model U-Haul Tow Dolly (identifiable by silver galvanized color). Low-hanging equipment on the vehicle being towed such as spoilers, air dams, ground effects, etc., may be damaged by contact with the tow dolly during loading and unloading. Make sure there is enough clearance for these items. Tow lights (tail/stop/turn) required at rear of vehicle being towed.

VEHICLE TO BE TOWED: The vehicle that I wish to tow is a 1991 Ford F-250 super cab, front axle weight is 3765 pounds according to the manufacturers sticker inside the door. The outside-to-outside tire width is 71” according to my measurements. I have established the truck I want to tow is within the guidelines posted on the internet.

TOW VEHICLE: Now the truck I am planning to pull this truck with is a 1990 Ford F-250 super cab, 460 cui engine, 1-ton towing package including a automatic transmission made for towing, receiver hitch rated over 10,000 lbs. (I use this truck to pull a bobcat skid steer and with the trailer on my truck, skid steer on the trailer and the weight of the towing truck I am somewhere in the weight of 18,000 pounds total that's including my topper and tools in the bed.)

I have the correct mirrors, operational trailer light hook up and interchangeable receiver hitch balls. Now there is no question I am equipped to pull a U-Haul car dolly, using their internet guidelines for the dolly and the vehicle I want to pull. U-Hauls internet guidelines is as follows:

Your towing vehicle: Must be equipped with a full hard top if it is a sport utility type vehicle. If the top or any portion of the top is removed, or is not a hard top, your sport utility type vehicle cannot be used for towing U-Haul equipment. A full hard top must be in place. Must weigh at least 750 lbs. more than the vehicle being towed. Must have Class 2 tow hitch (3,500 lbs. minimum weight-carrying rating).

Must have 1-7/8", 2" or 2-1/8" hitch ball (3,500 lbs. minimum). Must not exceed maximum allowable hitch ball height 25". Must have external mirrors on both sides. Must have fully operational lighting. Tow dolly lighting must be operational at all times, day and night, loaded or unloaded. Maximum recommended speed is 45 MPH

I drove my 1990 Ford truck to a U-haul dealer, I informed the salesman behind the counter that I wanted to rent a car dolly for 24 hours. I was asked what my pulling vehicle was, I gave him the same information I wrote above for the tow vehicle. Then I was asked what kind of vehicle I was planning to tow. I gave him the same information I listed above for vehicle being towed. The U-Haul salesman proceeded to tell me my front tire width was too big and my truck would not fit. I told him I measured the width and it was 71” and I told him I measured the car dolly and it would fit on the dolly.

Then the U-Haul salesman tried to tell me my truck to be towed was too heavy. I told him the weight of the truck did not matter because the tow dolly utilizes the axle weight and the front axle is rated at 3765 pounds under the 3900 pound limit which is listed in the website for U-Haul. Then the salesman tried to tell me my truck transmission wouldn't handle towing another truck after I told him the transmission in the tow truck was for towing.

The salesman then entered all the specs I gave him for the truck to be towed and the truck that is doing the towing in his computer. GUESS what I was told, my towing truck was not big enough to tow the other truck. Therefore he could not rent a car dolly to me. For grins an giggles I asked him to enter my Crown Victoria as the vehicle being towed using my towing vehicle information (The 1990 Crown Victoria weighs 3715 pound total). Its gets better, the computer says my truck is still not big enough to pull the Crown Victoria.

The website gives the information you need to see if you can use a car dolly and because the program on their computer says something different I cannot rent a car dolly. The sales people DO NOT FOLLOW what is even written in their brochures (same as the website). This only gets better. I called 2 different numbers for U-Haul and not one person I spoke to could over ride that damn computer nor did they have any answers for me that would help.

Since no one can override the computer and what is written on the computer is gospel, I stand to lose a truck I really needed to get home. A car trailer would work if my truck had steering and a transport company wasn't too expensive.

TO YOU U-HAUL: Let me suggest that you gather your information from people in the real world who pull trailers for a living, not from statistics or from some educated idiot who thinks he knows what's going on. Teach your employees to think for themselves instead of letting them think your policies have no options. I think your services suck and here is a list of websites of people's complaints about you. I think you better get a clue as to why your sale's is down. I also want other people out there to know they are not alone with bad experiences. I will NEVER use U-HAUL in the future and I hope other people who reads this will learn something from it.

The CEO of U-haul gave out his cell phone number last night on an episode of Inside Edition, inviting consumers to call with complaints or questions. Joe Shoen explained saying, “People can't get this organization to behave, I can.” That number is 602-390-6525.

Mike
Wichita Kansas