Current Complaints Received Via E-Mail

 

 -----Original Message-----
From: gmartinez [mailto:hotdog@theriver.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 1999 11:29 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: UHAUL

I ONLY WANTED TO SEE IF ANYONE HAS POSTED THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLAINING TO YOUR STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS  OFFICE . TODAY I SPOKE TO ONE HERE IN AZ . SHE SAID IF THERE ARE ENOUGH COMPLAINTS THEY WILL BE MORE INCLINED TO TAKE  SOME ACTIONS AGAINST UHAUL . I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT IT HAS TO BEGIN SOMEWHERE SO IF YOU HAVE COMPLAINTS WRITE YOR STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL . I HOPE IF ANYONE IN AZ READS THIS THEY WILL CONTACT THEM . 

                                                                                THANKS

                                                                                        D.M.

 -----Original Message-----
From: gmartinez [mailto:hotdog@theriver.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 27, 1999 12:41 AM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: UHAUL PROTEST

MY HUSBAND WROTE OF OUR EXPERIENCE WITH UHAUL . WE WROTE TO THEM AS OUR ATTORNEY ADVISED . THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN NEEDLESS TO SAY WORTHLESS . WE WILL BE SEEING THE ATTORNEY AGAIN BUT WE (MY HUSBAND AND MYSELF ) ARE CONSIDERING ORGANIZING A PICKETT AT THEIR HEADQUARTERS WITH MEDIA COVERAGE ETC . PLEASE E MAIL US AT hotdog@theriver.com  IF YOU KNOW OF ANY INTERESTED PARTIES . IF NOT A CONVERGENCE ON PHX  (NAT'L HDQRTS )THAN PERHAPS ONE ACROSS THE NATION AT UHAUL MAYBE UHAUL CAN GET A LITTLE OF WHAT THEY DESERVE FOR RUINING SO MANY LIVES , AND GIVING OUT SO MANY HEADACHES .

                PLEASE RESPOND ASAP SO WE CAN GET THIS UNDER WAY . IF WE DONT  , (THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN FINANCIALLY , EMOTIONALLY  AND PHISICALLY DAMAGED ) WHO WILL ? I FIGURE WHAT WE HAD TO LOSE ,  UHAUL MADE SURE TO TAKE AND I THINK ROBBING HONEST HARDWORKING CITIZENS OF THEIR LIFE SAVINGS IS TOTALLY INEXCUSABLE .                                              THANK YOU

                                                                    D.M.

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Brent T. Humber [mailto:bthumber@earthlink.net]

Sent: Thursday, November 11, 1999 6:28 AM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: U-Haul Rental Trucks

 

 

I rented a u-haul truck this week.  And your right these trucks are

dangerous as hell, and you don't know it until your driving along and need

to do thing.  My turn signs didn't work.  I didn't find this out until I

almost ran a car off the road, was hit by a bigger truck.  At first I tought

people were mean.  But, it was not them, it was the truck.  And the ride was

so bumpy, I nearly threw-up a couple of times.  These are some bad trucks.

 

Brent Humber

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: GNCahill@aol.com [mailto:GNCahill@aol.com]

Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 2:14 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net; alan1366@spiritone.com

Subject: U-Haul

 

 

Dear Dave:

I have just experienced a similar experience. On 10/8/99 I hired a couple of

people to move some cabinets and some lab equipment from Bellingham, WA. To

Portland OR. Via U-haul. After the truck was loaded they got about 15 miles

out of Bellingham and the truck broke down, about an hour and a half  after

calling the 1-800 number the U-haul mechanic showed up after looking at the

engine he determined that the truck needed to be towed back to the shop for

repair (this was Friday night about 8 PM)

and would probably not be repaired in'til Monday. So the people that I hired

came back to Portland without the moving truck. That next week I contacted

U-haul, they told me that the truck had major problems and needed to go to

Seattle to be fixed. When I asked them about my belongings they gave me a

choice, I come back up to Bellingham (300 miles) and unload the truck myself

into another truck, I explained to them that I felt that it was there

responsibility to load my belongings into another truck, they refused. We

agreed that they would tow the truck to Seattle with the truck loaded. Two

and half weeks later the truck was ready. I went up to Seattle to pick up the

truck (after being directed to the wrong U-haul dealership) Upon arrival the

mechanic told me that the truck had been fixed. With that I left for

Portland, the truck smoked heavily all the way, I stopped in Vancouver WA.

for the night. the next day I filled the tank up (diesel) and got down the

road about one mile, the truck started to smoke from under the hood and

through the ventilation system into the cab, I thought the truck was going to

catch on fire so I quickly pulled over and got out of the truck. Once again I

called U-haul and a mechanic came out. He fixed the line to the fuel injector

and said it was safe to drive. I took the truck to our first drop off

destination. We opened the back of the truck to find that most everything in

the truck had been damaged. (from the tow) The next day I got in the truck to

take it to my final drop off point (I had a couple items left in the truck to

unloaded in a second location in Portland)  I got about 10 miles down the

freeway and the truck started to lose power and smoke started to come out of

the hood and ventilation system)

right into the cab (this time the smoke was intense)  the emergency lane on

the side of the freeway was to narrow to stop on (not to mention the freeway

was very busy)

While I was looking for the first off ramp I was starting to choke on the

fumes and had a feeling of dissyness, I finally got off the freeway and

parked the truck, I Immediately got out of the truck and vomited (I had to

sit down for about a half hour before I was well enough to get up)

 Once again I called U-haul and explained that the truck had broken down

again, and that I would not drive that truck again, and to have someone there

to help me move my belongings into my truck.

It was agreed. I got a call from the shop (mechanic) about 1 hour later

telling me that the truck had been fixed, and was ready. I explained to the

person that when I called U-haul Customer Service I told them that I would

not drive that truck again (I explained that I felt that my safety was being

jeopardized) with that the person at the shop told me that if I did not pick

that truck up and return it, they would and bill me for the tow and I would

be responsible for any damage and excess time. I told the person I felt the

truck was unsafe and I refuse to drive it, and I was going to seek legal

counsel, I ended the conversation. 10 minutes later the phone rang it was the

same person from the shop, and told me that they had since found additional

problems with the truck, and that they would help me transfer the storage and

take the truck. Do Ihave any recourse?

 

 

Gary Cahill

360-750-6811

fax 360-750-6807

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: McQueen, Michael [mailto:Michael.McQueen@norwest.com]

Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 4:04 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: U-haul

 

 

I also had a bad experience with U-haul although not life threatening, it

was very inconveniencing.  Our truck had the alternator go out at 10:00 PM

in the middle of an intown move.  So it sat load with half my furniture

overnight with just a padlock purchased from an all night grocery to safe

guard my possessions.  During the interim the 8 men and 4 wives who had come

to help finished what was able to be done then left.  We finally got to bed

at midnight to be woken up at 6:30 AM by a customer service person who had

to have me re-explain the whole thing to him, 20 minutes later he said that

the Mechanic will call in about 30 minutes.  When he did call he said I had

to meet him at the truck in 45 min.  He was late, then I sat there and did

nothing while waiting for him to finish.  So finally just my father inlaw

(with a bad back) and I had to finish the job.  What would have taken the

whole crew of us a couple of hours the night before, took the rest of the

next day to finish.  Then they (u-haul) would not waive the daily rental fee

(I was more than willing to pay the mileage) but would give me an in-store

coupon for the daily rental (as if after the move I would have anything to

do with them) for my next move (within 2 yrs).  So now I am very unsatisfied

with the whole experience, and am more than willing to share my thoughts on

the matter.

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: gmartinez [mailto:hotdog@theriver.com]
Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 4:40 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: Uhaul

We too can now join the list of those who have been damaged by U-Haul . We rented a 6'x12' UHAUL (we'll take you) trailer in Tucson to tow from our motorhome in the attempt to move our family to Spokane. What followed turned out to be the nightmare of our lives. In the California desert I slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing into a semi that pulled abruptly in front of me at an entrance ramp. My wife fell to the floor holding the baby, but fortunately there was no serious injury. She immediately reported the incident on the call box phone. Afterwards the motorhome started overheating.  At the time we didn't suspect anything but in retrospect it appears that as a result of the near accident, the surge brakes on the trailer may have already started to malfunction (or function at the wrong times) in causing additional drag on the motorhome. 

       North of Los Angeles we noticed that the motorhome was climbing hills with unusual difficulty and strain. By the time we were leaving Monterey there was something obviously very wrong with the motorhome. The best way to describe the sensation was as though one is going at a certain rate of speed, then suddenly the transmission is shifted into low gear. There was additionally a high whirring sound emanating from what I suspected and evidently turned out to be the transmission. With starting and stopping the tugging would intermitently occur and release repeatedly.

    We knew that the motorhome was in no condition to put back on the highway, so the next day we had a service manager from Penske automotive in Seaside, CA . check the brakes on the motorhome. After finding that all was normal with the motorhome, the mechanic went with my wife for a test run on the motorhome. This was when he confidently suspected that the trouble was in the surge brakes of the Uhaul trailer. He has since attested to his findings on paper. We then had a UHAUL "mechanic" named Mr. Bill who examined the brakes, BUT NOT  the master cylinder of the trailer brakes themselves. I will swear in a court of law that this UHAUL representative repeatedly stated that he could not definately say that there was nothing wrong with the trailer brakes but only that he could not find anything wrong with them. In addition I felt that my intelligence was insulted when Mr. Bill tried to blame the problem on the hitch of our motorhome.

    That night in order to verify if it was the trailer or not, we disconnected the trailer and found that the motorhome drove without a problem until it had to be put in reverse. By this time it had no reverse because the linkage was broken. A couple of fellows assisted us by a band-aid fix up.  We rehitched the trailer and attempted to hit the road again. The trailer brakes continued to lock and on level ground the motorhome could move no better than at 15 to 25 mph.  We  then found ourselves in a situation where we were stuck in a dip. There was no way to back out and the motorhome was locked down due to the trailer brakes.

    At last the moment of truth. I did what I felt there was no other recourse to do - disconnect the brake lines. And when I did, whad'ya know. Slowly but surely we pulled out of the dip. I was not going to  risk the lives of my family on the highway with no trailer brakes, plus the transmission was no longer in any shape to go  any further, so the following day we had the motorhome towed to a garage.  Sure enough the transmission was history. When I got the repair estimate I realized that this wasn't just a ruined vacation, but that our hopes and dreams to buy a new home and start a new life up north was shattering before our eyes. $2,000.00 was what we were saving towards a down payment on our next house. But instead it went to repair our house on wheels crammed with 8 kids and a dog. Well $1,997.79 to be exact. That's just the repair cost. What we've spent in meals, car rentals, motels that charge extra for local calls with "continental" breakfast that consists of stale pastry and watered down coffee has still to be calculated.

    By the fifth day (Oct. 15 - 20) I wanted out of Seaside, CA. so badly that I was willing to humble myself in paying $900.00+ to UHAUL to rent a truck to go back to Tucson in utter defeat and humiliation. I am a 45 year old man forced to live at his mother's house with a famly of ten because I sold our home in order to embark on an adventure which turned into nothing less than the road to ruin.

    To twist the knife, in the middle of this experience in Seaside, a Uhaul representative in Fremont, CA. named Lee assured my wife that Uhaul was going to reimburse us for everything. Later Lee turned the phone over to his supervisor. Nothing doing. Some consolation to know that we didn't stay at the Marriott for two reasons: even if Uhaul was going to reimburse us we didn't want to take advantage of them and two, we weren't so sure that we could take Lee's word for it. Sure enough we couldn't.

    Like everyone, we've been ripped off and treated unjustly by other individuals and companies before and swore to "sue the bastards". This time it's not a matter of getting back at 'em.  It's a matter of necessity. We see nothing but a fat lawsuit as our only chance of getting on with our lives with a decent amount of self respect.

    Please help us with your advice and prayers.

                                                 Sincerely,

 P.S. We have contacted an attorney and do plan to pursue this . If you have any advice please send it to our e-mail

 

-----Original Message-----
From: CHRIS ROBERTS [mailto:doctordigital@earthlink.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 1999 5:47 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: UHaul Selling death mobiles now

  I  JUST READ YOUR SITE AND HAVE SOME BAD NEWS .  UHAUL IS NOW SELLING THOUSANDS OF IT'S UNSAFE TRUCKS TO THE PUBLIC . 

 

I live near Wiles Barre Pa  The trucks I puchaced were from the Wilkes Barre Pa. U Haul terminal .  I passed by there today ant they had three more trucks out front for sale today .

If you go to U Haul's web site they advertise all the trucks for sale including the ones we purchaced .   U haul sold us these trucks and a bill of goods that they would not sell any unsafe trucks , or they would fix whatever is wrong .   Well the trucks they sell are not fixed

Once off the lot ( get this using their U Haul license plates )  they just about Ignore you and send you an open title in the mail !    Forget fixing any problems .   Whatever you buy is you lemon now .    When we looked at the trucks they had handtrucks in th back and everything .

To add more insult when we looked inside they had taken the handtrucks out !  Talk about bait and switch selling pratices .   So they sit two very expensive lawn sheds .  I will not drive them on the road , and it will cost over 1100.00 to fix one of them up to inspectable shape .  If you look at the rear window of the trucks they have some inspection sticker our suposedly safe truck passed this inspection just two months ago .   Who did this inspection ?  I think U haul is playing games with their trucks again .    Go to the web site all those trucks will be in a nebior hood near you .   Delivering antiques, construction materials , machenery , as campers, whaterver .   Will those people park their trucks as well , or will they say what the hell and drive them to a local lick and stick inspection . And run those dangerous trucks .

 I guess I will be watching traffic while I am driving now , trying to avoid and de imaged U Hauls . 

doc 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Len [mailto:gmlm@atl.mediaone.net]

Sent: Monday, September 06, 1999 5:19 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: Uhaul

 

 

We have your bad experience beat hands down. And after three months of

stalling us they offer a $100.00 credit to make up for endangering or lives

and putting us through hell. I am attaching the original letter I sent to

Uhaul so you will know our story. Have you found others with Uhaul problems?

I am looking and then I will set up websites newsgroups anything I can to

get this kind of treatment out to as many people as possible. Have you filed

a report with the Better Business Bureau yet? I am. For a business as large

as Uhaul to pull this kind of garbage is asinine.

 

Len Straw

 

                                                                                                            6/30/99

To whom it may concern,                           

 

 

My mother-in-law passed away recently and we were in the unfortunate position of having to go to London Ontario Canada and close out her house and remove her possessions so that the house could be sold. We were fortunate in the fact that we had well over a month to plan this trip since both my wife and I have extremely busy careers and a fast in and out trip would really limit the emotional distress of being in her mothers home. Well I would like to describe our trip. We knew time was very very short so we lined up a 14' U-Haul truck well in advance since U-Haul was the only moving truck company we found that would allow us to cross the boarder within the time limitations we had. We even received a reservation confirmation letter over a month before our trip. (Reference number is 5482746) We had people lined up to help us move furniture from a three-story home both in Canada and back in Georgia, since I have a degenerative disc in my neck I am not supposed to be lifting heavy objects. This trip was planned very carefully because there was no room for error or oversights. Well we arrived by plane in Canada around 5:00 am on Saturday morning the 26th of June.... A little early but time was paramount. We stopped by the U-Haul center on Clark Rd where we were supposed to receive our truck when they opened to pick up boxes and verify our truck would be ready the following morning. The gentlemen there looked our reservation up in their computer and told us "everything was set" call before we came down in the morning and everything would be ready when we got there. We spent the day going through personal effects, packing, cleaning etc... So far so good (if this kind of trip can be considered good) The next morning we met the people we had lined up to move furniture at the house and called the U-Haul store. This is where things go from a bad situation to a horrible situation. We were told that our truck had been double booked and given away to someone else. There supposedly was another 14' truck at another store in town but that they had not been able to reach the owner of that store to obtain the keys to that truck but they would have it ready for us real soon. Well during the course of the day we talked to 15 or more people trying to get this truck. We heard so many different stories from "14' is the smallest that can cross the boarder" to "only American trucks can cross the boarder" to "we don't guarantee pick up times or locations" to "there could be a five to seven day waiting period to receive a truck" to "you can drive down to the states and bring one back." To a very rude lady at the regional office telling my wife “well there is nothing we can do you are just out of luck”. We had different people in the same store and from the regional office tell us different versions of your "rules" every other call. Now none of these things were ever explained to us in advance, nor were any of these things in any of the literature we had received with our conformation letter. Of course since the excuses just continued to contradict them selves we knew we were being lied to just to get us to leave them alone so they could handle other customers. Well the day came and went with my wife steadily breaking down more and more the longer she had to sit in her deceased mothers home trying to figure out how we are going to get this job done. The movers are standing around with no truck to load. And yet more and more different excuses from the people we tried to get to help us. The next day was Monday and our help had to go to their regular jobs so now we had a house full of furniture and no help to load it and no truck to load it in. The other U-Haul center in town at 974 Western Rd (#058332) finally opened so we ran over there before they gave away the 14' truck they were supposed to be holding for us according to the Clark Rd store where we were supposed to pick it up. We arrived at the other center and not only did they not have a clue who we were or that they were supposed to be holding a truck for us, but all they had was a 10' truck (now keep in mind we were just told the day before how only certain trucks over 14’ could cross the boarder, yet another lie). So, now we have a truck that is too small, has no ramp, no help to move the furniture, and we are a day behind schedule. And since the people at this center spoke very poor English we couldn’t even argue over what we got. Well as you can imagine between my medical problems and her emotional distress we had a hell of a time loading what we could fit into this truck that was not big enough to accommodate everything. Not to mention the difficult decisions about what to leave behind (more emotional stress on my wife). We finished loading around 9:00 PM that night and immediately got on the road since we were behind schedule already.

 

This truck should have been de-commissioned a long time ago. It was beat up, dented up, rusted out in some places. The tires were so badly out of balance that the mirrors were virtually useless at interstate speeds, which according to the vehicle maintenance record in the glove box were exactly 1 month and 2 days old. They shook so badly you could hardly make out a shape to see if the next lane was clear or not. The suspension in that truck was no less than horrible. The wind shield wiper motor is on it’s last legs. The front end was out of alignment. The headlights aim about two feet in front of the truck so you can't see where you are going without your brights on which got me "flipped off" numerous times and even pulled over by a state trooper who was luckily very nice and sympathetic and did not write me a ticket. The air-conditioning did not work, which would not have bothered us if it were not for the hole in the fire wall blowing hot air out of the engine compartment into the cab, and the rain almost the entire trip forcing us to keep the windows up. And the A/C was just fixed on March 18th 1999(again according to your maintenance records). The air on my feet was so hot that I was forced to change my gas foot about every 45 minutes to an hour because it felt like my shoes were melting. The interior temperature in the truck cab was in excess of 100 degrees. So home we head, for 17 hours we drove that truck sweating, shaking violently, blind as a bat in the mirrors because of the tires, the windshield because with no A/C and the windows up because of the rain the defrost could not keep the windows clear, and the headlights that pointed straight down. The first few hours were bad. The next few were worse. By the time we had  gone a couple of states I thought I was going to need medical attention. Our insides had been shaking for so long it hurt, and the disc in my neck....my god the pain, and the heat was torture enough by itself.

Upon returning the truck to the center at 1150 Dogwood RD Conyers Georgia on Wednesday the 30th of June the manager was very polite and extremely apologetic. But like everyone else our “adventure” brought us into contact with he was quite powerless to do anything to help the situation other than give us a phone number. So we called this 1-800-528-0463. There we found the normal message system about how all operators are busy please continue to hold. Eventually a live person answered the phone. I started to explain my problem and was cut off and told that I needed to speak with another person and that the hold time was around 43 minutes. So it’s back on hold for another wait. The next operator must have been having a day like mine with the attitude she presented. She tried to rush me right off the bat so I tried to calmly tell her that this was not a minor situation and would take some explaining. Her response and I quote “Well hurry it up then” I wish I had recorded that call to catch the tone of her voice, and if you do I implore you to listen to that tape. I was trying to give her an outline of what I had written down so far and asked her to bear with me while I went through my notes and she told me “well if you have it written down you should just mail it in so we don’t have to go through this”. Once again we run into the attitude of “go away you are bothering me”. I hope for the emotional sake and safety of others when they have to endure the difficulties of relocating that this is not how U-Haul does business these days.

As a business owner I can understand that every fleet has a few lemons and the difficulties in training such a large number of employees and all the difficulties involved with providing consistent service through such a large corporation. As a consumer I don’t care. We were flat out lied to, put off and told any excuse that would get us to go away. The truck was UN-safe to say the very least. Other than one of the operators at the regional office and the manager at the return center I can’t even say the U-Haul people were polite much less helpful. We were forced to throw away and give away things that had great sentimental value to my wife because the truck was the wrong size. I for one do not appreciate that kind of treatment nor do I appreciate our safety being jeopardized by being given a vehicle that has no business being on the road. I can not even imagine how U-Haul could possibly begin to make up for the emotional (and physical) pain that was brought on by these experiences. But I believe VERY strongly that you should and this letter is only my first step, hopefully it will be the only one I need.

 

Sincerely,

Len Straw

Denise Tichbourne

802Navajo CT.

Conyers, GA. 30094

(770) 761-9309

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: WEST3396@aol.com [mailto:WEST3396@aol.com]

Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 6:19 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: u-haul nightmare adventure

 

 

My husband and I just had a trip much like yours only worse and we were

treated far worse by the people at U-haul.  We rented a 26' truck and tow

dolly from Vernal Utah and our destination was to Coos Bay Oregon.  When we

picked up the truck and dolly my husband pointed out that the lights on the

tow dolly weren't working and that the wheel well was loose.  They changed a

light  and duct taped the wheel well together and told us to bring it to

U-Hauls attention.  I pointed out that the front steering tire looked like a

retread and they assured me that it was brand new and that U-Haul never used

retreads.  We were traveling with two cats one that was almost 9 years old

and we put the cats in the U-Haul because we would be driving through the

desert and knew the cats would need it the aircondition they advertised all

truck had.  Well less than 100 miles out the airconditioning went out, the

tow dolly lights kept shorting off and on, the truck was blowing thick clouds

of smoke and wouldn't go over 35 miles per hour (top speed).  Half way

through the next day our cat was almost dead, I mean this literally.  He was

drooling saliva like a river he was panting with his tongue hanging out.  We

stopped and wet him down with water.  We had driven all day and all night

trying to stay on schedule because we had arranged in advance to have family

drive into town to help us unload.  Because the truck was running so poorly

we only got 4 hours sleep in two days time.  We kept checking the oil but the

level never changed, yet my car following behind was covered with a residue

from the truck and it wouldn't pick up any speed.  We were being blown off

the road by faster moving trucks - it was a very stressful and scary

experience.  Finally we limped our way into Ontario Idaho and called the

breakdown hotline.  We were transferred 6 times and then finally accidently

?(disconnected).  We called back and told them we could see a U-Haul

dealership off the highway where we were and they told us to go see if they

could help us.  They gave us no information or reference numbers just poor

service.  We went to the dealer and he immediately began working on the truck

and dolly.  He had to replace a fuel filter that had been on so long it had

rusted on (even though the truck log said it had been replaced 3,000 miles

prior).  They fixed the airconditioning relay switch, they had to replace the

tire that I had pointed out at the beginning of the trip because the tread

was actually tearing away from the tire and they replaced the two tow dolly

tires.   They found the power steering was leaking and when my husband

pointed out that there was no parking brake, they discovered that we had

driven a stick shift truck all that distance with a blown transmission.  They

told us to get a hotel and they would try to find us a new truck.  We stayed

waiting for the new truck for two days.  During this time at the hotel we had

to call the hotline number again, my husband spent over two hours on hold. 

Finally I went to the hotel lobby and used a pay phone to call.  I insisted

on speaking to a manager and finally I was given a reference number.  When I

got back to the hotel room my husband was still on hold.  They transferred

our belongings into a new truck and we were on our way again.  About an hour

out in this truck the airconditioning went out and we spent the rest of the

trip hot and miserable and having to stop and cool our cat off along the way.

 The drivers seat belt was broken and unusable and the tow dolly lights

shorted off and on and then finally stopped working.  We ended up having to

pay strangers to unload our belongings because we were three days behind

schedule and our family had to go back to their town.  Our children which we

had left with a sitter had to go an unnecessary length of time and we had to

call them every night to reassure them and of course we had the extra expense

of 3 days of childcare for 3 children.  When the people had reloaded the

truck they put car ramps on top of my $500.00 mountain bike and scraped paint

off the entire back side of it.  When I notified U-Haul of all the additional

stress, inconvenience, and cost that we were put through their response was

sorry for the inconvenience but no refund (not even partial, not even enough

to pay for the movers and the childcare!) NOTHING - ZIP!!  I am currently

trying to find the name and address of the CEO of U-Haul because I haven't

given up yet.  This was extremely unsafe and harrowing trip and I feel they

owe me alot more than money, I only wish I had enough money to sue them.  If

you can pass this letter along to others or if you have any insight on how I

can further pursue my complaint I would appreciate it.  Thanks for letting me

share with you my experience.  Sincerely,

Kathy & Dave Stack  if you respond to me please respond to email address

kapstack11@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Ellen Quinn [mailto:ehquinn@fs1.mar.lmco.com]

Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 11:38 AM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: Bad U-Haul Truck

 

 

I had an experience over the past week end that seems to be getting to

be the norm for U-Haul at least out of my region. I rented the truck in

daylight hours and my son pick the truck up during the daylight hours

taking it to my home to be loaded for a trip to Erie, PA. The following

morning early, I discovered that the running lights on the right side of

the truck function intermittently at best, flickering occassionally

after hitting a bump. The radio did not work which made the trip longer

than it should have been, not that I would have been able to hear it

over the clatter of the engine. At my first stop for fuel, about 2 miles

from my home, my wife informed me of the lights and the next problem was

mirror adjustment. The driver's mirror looked at the ground due to a

bent brace, unnoticed by my son and me for that matter until we started

to make the necessary adjustments after taking on fuel.

 

Upon leaving the station, I noticed that the fuel guage was on full as

it should have been and upon turning onto the freeway ramp, possibly 1/4

mile, the reading was down to 3/4's. Further adjustments to the mirrors

were made prior to continuing onto the freeway. At first, I did not

grasp exactly what was amiss with this vehicle. It sounded as though it

was going to explode, but was written off to start as a quirk of the

diesel engine. After stopping some time later, I was telling my family

that something was wrong, but could not put my finger on the problem.

Things went along uneventful for a while and then things started going

sour in a hurry. First, as stated earlier the fuel gage worked only

intermittently as did the running lights and the radio never worked.

Somewhere along the line the tailpipe fell of and was almost hit by my

family members trailing behind me. Next to become a member of the

non-working was the speedometer and odometer, which gave me no accurate

means of determining when fuel was required. I relied on the odometer of

my son's car for fuel requirements and he had to lead so that I had an

indication of speed through the numerous speed zones for road work along

the way. In addition to the malfunctioning of the minor equipment, the

steering became excessively loose causing the vehicle to dart one way

and somewhat free wheeling in the opposite direction (the wheel kind of

turned all the way around). I finally figured out that the three speed

transmission was hung in second gear and I had driven the majority of

the way from Kennesaw, GA to Erie, Pa in second gear. I discovered this

by intently listening to the shifting process.

 

Upon turning the vehicle in, I reported all of the stuff to the

gentleman who had to accept the truck. One of his employees took the

vehicle out and a shot time later came back rather ashen and stated that

the vehicle should not have been on the road and that they would be

recoomending that the truck be scrapped. This made me feel as though I

had been taken. The man gave me a number to call in a complaint to,

which I did first thing this morning, to no avail. I was lucky to have

made it as far as I did without a serious mishap and steps should be

taken to prevent this situation from ever happening again. I was

informed at the turn in location that this was the second such vehicle

to arrive at his location in exactly the same shape from the same

origination point.

 

SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE AND NOW BEFORE DEATHS OCCUR!

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Glenn T. Livezey, Ph.D. [mailto:glivezey@mail.ahc.umn.edu]

Sent: Monday, August 09, 1999 5:20 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: U-Haul

 

 

I have had my own "experience" with U-Haul and would like to know

what 20/20 and other media exposure this problem has gotten. Can you

give me an update as to how recently anyone has tried to get

compensation from U-HAUL and their outcome? Are you still without

compensation?

Any information would be helpful as I will first try to get satisfaction

from U-Haul before turning the complaint over to my credit card company

(to dispute the charges) and my lawyer.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

--

Glenn T. Livezey, Ph.D.

Cell Biology/Neuroanatomy

Room 4-102 Owre Hall dc:1222

421 Delaware St. SE

Minneapolis, MN 55455

 

(612) 624-2991 FAX 4-8118

 

glivezey@lenti.med.umn.edu

absent-minded_professor@bigfoot.com

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Chris or Rhonda [mailto:cwcnrmc@neonramp.com]

Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 3:45 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: Another bad experience

 

 

Hello Dave,

    Just recently rented a U-haul truck from a dealer here in Bellevue

Nebraska.  What an experience, although not as bad as your's yet still

bad.

 

    I rented the 17 foot truck for two days.  When I picked it up, it

was in bad shape (dent's and scratches all over), but I needed a truck.

They said that it had just gotten back from the garage.  Well after

about 12 miles on the Highway, I determined that there was no A/C as

advertised on the side of the truck.  It was 103 degrees that day.

After I made it to my first destination and loaded up our household

items, I drove about 15 miles on the highway to get a scale ticket.  On

the way back I noticed that the truck was very gittery in the stearing.

After pulling into the drive way of our new house I noticed the rear

passanger inside dual tire was "SHREADED."  I went ahead and unloaded

the truck in the early evening.  I was planning on making another run

but would have to wait for service.  I called the 1-800 # and was put on

hold,  I waited 25 minutes until I finally hung up,  I would try later.

1 hour passed and I tried again.  30 minutes passed and I decided that I

would try in the morning at the place that I rented it from.

 

    The next morning came and they put me right through to the mechanic

and he was on his way.  When he arrived and checked out the tire, he

told me that both inside rear tires were flat.  He stated that he only

had one tire with him to fix one tire, and that he had just come from

another U-haul truck which had both inside rear tires flat.  So he had

to go back to the shop to get another tire.  Once he arrived the second

time he installed both tires.  Great I was on the road again.  I went

back for two more trips.  The bad thing is that beings now that it was

after 5 pm I had to go out of my way to get a scale ticket.  Thus

pushing me over my milage.  Luckly I got all of this done in the allowed

time (2 days) but I still not satisified with the service that I

received.  I shouldn't be charged for those extra miles and I should

receive some sort of discount instead of the $29.95 a day going price.

If I were to have had a complete blow out on the highway, I'd still be

on the cell phone waiting for a service person.    Good luck on your

next move.  Me I will go to Ryder!!  Thanks for your story. Chris

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: StormAZ100@aol.com [mailto:StormAZ100@aol.com]

Sent: Sunday, August 01, 1999 12:36 PM

To: webmaster@annamaria.net

Subject: u-haul sucks

 

 

I can't give you any information on how bad is the condition of U-Haul

trucks.  That's because I had to pay the $80 deposit, or 'risk losing the

reservation,' only to find there were no trucks available, deposit or no.  Of

course I had to drive 100 miles to find this out.  To add insult to injury,

U-Haul then informed me it would take 30 days to return my $80 deposit.

 

After reading your story, I decided to share my experience with you.  How

does this company manage to stay in business?  Sounds like there is a world

of problem with this company.

 

Good luck.