2001 E-mail
-----Original
Message-----
From: Minni623@aol.com [mailto:Minni623@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 8:43 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: Uhaul
I am
writing to seek your help in what I feel is a drastic oversight by your
company. I rented a Uhaul truck on Feburary XX, 2001 to move my
girlfriend
to my apartment. Unfortunately, she fell and injured her hip, and we were
delayed in emptying the truck. She called Uhaul the next morning to
inform
them that we would like to extend the lease on the truck to which they
obliged. There was no mention of additional paperwork or a requirement to
come in to the office to fill out additional paperwork. Over the next few
days, each night after work I would move a little out of the truck at a time
until one night I came out and it was gone. I called all of the local
UHaul
offices to find that NO ONE knew of any truck that was towed. The next
morning, I called Uhaul's corporate office and they were able to track down
the truck to a specific store. When I called that store (Glenside, PA,
one
of the stores I telephoned the previous night), I was told they did not know
the whereabouts of the truck but that one was brought in containing nothing
but cardboard and trash. I asked him to look again, and he returned to
the
phone saying that there was nothing on our truck. Later that day, I
talked
to the manager and was told that the truck was there but I had to settle my
bill with the Frazer store before I could empty it out. It took us two
weeks
to have the Frazer and Glenside store cooperate to help me get her
possessions to no avail. Finally my girlfriend called the corporation
again
to get the regional manager's name. When we talked to the regional
manager,
he told us our total was somewhere around $650.00. Now, we rented the
truck
for $19.95/day and had it from Sunday through the following Friday, totalling
$239.00 plus taxes, whereas they had us down for having the truck from Friday
to Friday which totals $279.00 plus taxes. We also still had our $120.00
deposit at the office. I found the charges to be absurb, but I really
just
wanted this whole thing to be over, and we agreed to pay a total of $420.00
to settle the bill and get her possessions out of the truck.
Easier said than done...
When we arrived to empty the truck out the truck itself was in disarray, with
all the locks cut off and most of my girlfriend's belongings gone. When
we
confronted RJ, the assistant manager, we were told that they "don't lock
any
of the trucks here no matter what is in them, this is Glenside we don't need
to lock them". We called the police and an Abington Police Officer
came and
took a report. The next morning on March 2nd, I called the insurance
company
of Uhaul to file a claim. Once I filed the claim, they told me that I
would
hear from someone within 3 days; I did not. I called back to find out
they
lost my claim, so I placed another one and demanded that it be taken care of
right away on March 5th. It is now mid-June, and I have finally received
word from UHaul that they will not pay our claim because "the insurance
doesn't cover the possessions inside after the return date on the
paperwork",
even though our contract was extended by the UHaul office on Frazer over the
phone.
I have complied with the entire investigation by your company, including
talking to their investigator, and now they are telling me that the claim is
invalid. Sir, if the claim was invalid, it would have been invalid the
day
they received it, and they would not have spent the money to investigate the
issue at hand. No one ever mentioned this would be an issue. This
is an
excuse, and worse, it's an excuse that does not carry any weight or validity,
and is intended only to prolong an inevitable judgment in our favor, with the
hopes that we will not be able to afford the court costs. Regardless of
whether or not the return date is valid or not, the contract itself was
extended, and if it was extended improperly by one of your employees, I can
understand that. But what I cannot understand is why I am being penalized
for your mistake? It is still your responsibility to safeguard our
possessions if you re-possess the truck, especially if it was due to a
misunderstanding by your employees. I would also like to remind you that
even if the truck was not covered for possessions inside, that it was picked
up by one of your staff and transported to your facility, and that
unfortunately DOES make you liable. If you paid someone to pick this
truck
up from our premises, that person is liable for an explanation as to why the
items in the back of the truck were not there when it arrived at Glenside (a
mere 2 miles down the road from my apartment as well liable for the return,
replacement or payment for those items.
I would ask your assistance in cutting through the red tape on this matter.
I know that many folks are trying to lay claims and take people for any
nickel and dime they can these days. I assure you we are not in that
category. If you review the case yourself, or with a trustworthy
individual,
you will surely see the circumstances are incredulous at the very least.
If
you dig further, you may even notice a trend in your claims for a specific
location in Pennsylvania. But the bottom line here is that we were paying
customers with extenuating circumstances involving a physical disability
delaying the return of our truck, and a paid representative of your company
picked that truck up, emptied the truck out of all our worldly possessions,
and returned it to your location, a story that I feel the media will have an
excellent angle on in exposing the fact that UHaul, particularly the one in
and around Glenside, has an abundant number of claims piling up regarding
simlar circumstances, a fact we were made aware of when our original claim
was lost. Will we find others who will step forward upon hearing this
story
on the 6 o'clock news? I think so. A similar story broke in the
Philadelphia metro area regarding the same type of claims with a different
company, and the owner of that company is now running through the court
systems on fraud charges, all because a few people went to their local news
station and asked them to investigate. If you choose to allow your
company
to continue withholding a claim for items stolen while they were in your
possession, I will be extremely disappointed. I cannot afford to hire an
attorney and fight this battle with you, all over a measly $10,000.
You've
probably already spent more than that in trying to figure out if we were
lying or not through your investigators. We aren't lying, you may
reference
your investigator for those opinions, it is on file. If we were, that
would
have been the reason the claim was rejected, not some invalid technicality
which will not apply to the repossession of the vehicle. We have been
victimized by a large, uncaring corporation that attempted to extort
additional money out of us because they had our possessions, and that's
exactly how we'll raise the awareness and capital to take this to court and
fight for it if necessary. The hopes are to find enough victims that you
are
are either not aware of or just choose not to investigate to file a class
action suit against you.
Please, I implore you to investigate this claim with your own eyes, review
the investigator's report on this claim and the circumstances, as well as the
police reports on file regarding this case, and help us resolve this issue.
My girlfriend is an emergency medical technician in the area, and I am a
firefighter, as well as a decorated Navy veteran. We are community
people,
for the people, with the people, and we will beseech those people with our
positive image in the community to help us bring this case, and all others
regarding this type of problem to justice swiftly, begging them to boycott
your firm until you do. And we will be successful. You can
eliminate this
by paying our claim so we can rebuild the shambles of our lives and move
forward again.
I truly appreciate your time. Please kindly reply by July 10th, 2001,
with
some additional information and we can begin to work with you and your
company as we have been to settle this claim.
Sincerely,
Dave Black
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Broekhoven
[mailto:pbroekho@slakey.com]
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001
6:47 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: U-Haul
I just had a disgusting
experience with U-Haul, if you're interested let
me know and I will tell you.
I also wrote to 20/20 as well. I'm sick of
this company and feel
something should be done.
-----Original
Message-----
From: Chuck Thompson [mailto:codered44@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 10:50 AM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: U-Haul
I
have tried to contact different online magazines, so that I might tell the
public the real truth about U-Haul's customer service. I was an
Internet Specialist w/the company and dealt with all anti-u-haul web
sites. On this site I posted many things trying to get people to respond
to me so that I might help them with there situation.
*** I created the account: utel_u_haul@hotmail.com
> CAN YOU HELP ME FIND THE COMPANIES, THAT WOULD PRINT MY STORY ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE AND HOW THEY TRAIN THERE EMPLOYEES TO APOLOGIES TO CUSTOMERS, AND OTHER THINGS THAT GO ON IN CUSTOMER SERVICE/HOTLINE-TAKING YOUR BREAK DOWN CALLS, LIKE YOU HAD.
codered44@hotmail.com Chuck Thompson
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Ross
[mailto:mash8074@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001
6:28 AM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: Please Read--From
UHAUL General Manager
Importance: High
Dear Mr.Billings,
As a General Manager of a UHAUL Moving Center, I feel that I
MUST
respond to some of the customer
complaints that have been posted on your
website. First, I would like to address some general
complaints, then I
would like to address 2
selected letters form your web site.
I must also add that I
MUST remain anonomys due to company regulations,
and the desire to keep my
job.
GENERAL COMPLAINTS:
One of the most common complaints that I hear is that the
customers
had problems with the
truck/trailer. After every rental, the
truck/trailer
undergo a
"safety
certification." This includes a
walk-around of the truck, to check
for new damage. This is usually done before the returning
customer
recievies his/her
deposit back. After the customer has left, the truck is
checked more
carefully. This check includes; the trucks fluids,
lights, brakes,
steering, cab, and tire
pressure. If the truck does not pass the check,
whatever is wrong with it
is corrected. If the personell at the center cannot fix
it, the truck is
"grounded"(not
rentable) until it can go to
the repair shop to be fixed.
Even though we inspect the truck before it goes back out, freak
things
may occor during the rental
time. A few examples include, flat
tire,
blowout, dead
battery, failure to start
(This occours more often on Diesel trucks, as too
much moisture in the gas
tank will prevent the truck from starting), and
transmission
failure. If any of the above listed, or major
accidents happen, the Phone
number to call is the 24
Hour Emergency Hotline (1-800-528-0355). The
hotline will
attemept to dispatch some
one to look at the truck, and if need be swap the
truck for another truck at a
nearby UHAUL Center (Over 1,100 in the USA and
Canada). However, the swapping of trucks is limited
to normal store hours
(Mon.-Thu.--7am-7pm//Fri.--7am-8pm//Sun.--9am-5pm)
and if replacement
equipment is available. Just as on your own personal vehicle, bad
things
could happen, without
warning--no matter how good you take care of it.
FUEL POLICY
Printed on each and every contract it is stated that you pay
for any
fuel used, or PAY a 20
dollar fueling fee, and 2 or 3 dollars a gallon for
estimated fuel
used (A UHAUL rep. will make
the determination of the gallons)
RENTAL POLICY
Just because you rent a truck, it DOES NOT automatically give
you the
truck for 24 hours. You get the equipment for the agreed upon
rental time
UP TO
24 hours.(If the equipment
is available). Normally equipment may
not be
rented for more than 24
hours at a time. (There are exceptions to the rule,
but
management approval is
required and it is not given very often).
WHY WON'T PEOPLE GET THE
INSURANCE?????
The answer is simple, people don't want to spend anymore money
than they
have to. But for an extra 14 dollars, alot of the
complaints about
accidents/damages would have
been taked care of by UHAUL. After you
are in
an accident, that does lets
say 5 thousand dollars of damage to the truck,
if
you purchased the insurance,
you come in fill out a damage form, and that is
it. But if you did not purchase the insurance,
you are responsible for the
full 5
thousand dollars. (Regardless if your insurance company covers
it or not)
DOLLIES AND PADS
The next one is about the dollies and pads in the back of
the
trucks. If you are renting one of the centers' local
trucks, a dolly and
pads WILL be in the
back of the truck. These items CANNOT BE REMOVED. They occupy very little
sapce, and the mounting
brackets for the cage, and the dolly are built-in to
the truck. The charge is 5 dollars for the pads, and 5
dollars for the
dolly. If the truck is returned with the seals
broken, YOU WILL BE CHARGED.
( There
are VERY FEW exceptions to
this rule, and require management approval.)
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IF YOU
RENT A UHAUL
YOU NEED TO DO THIS BEFORE
YOU LEAVE THE LOT WITH THE TRUCK!!!
1. Do a quick walkaround inspection of the truck noting any
damage to
the truck, if there is
damage notify the UHAUL rep. on duty for a waiver
form.(NOTE THIS IS NOT
REQUIRED IF YOU PURCHASE THE SAFEMOVE / SAFETOW
INSURANCE)
2. Double check the gas reading on the contract, with the gas
reading on
the truck, as well as the
miles on the contract, and on the truck (THEY MUST
MATCH BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE
LOT)
3. If renting a local truck, equipped with a dolly and
furniture pads,
make sure there are seals on
the items, and count the pads. (There will be
one dolly, and
six pads).
4. If the lot is large enough, drive the truck around the lot a
few
times to test acceleration,
brakes and steering. If the lot is not
big
enough, drive it around a
few blocks, if something is
not right RETURN IMMEDIATLEY TO THE CENTER-DON'T
WAIT TOO LONG-10min TOPS!!!
5. If you are renting a trailer, it is your responsibility to
provide
working lights, and the
correct hitch class. UHAUL can install
custom
hitches for almost
any vehicle. The center personell can and will assist you
in hooking up
your trailer to your
vehicle, as well as help get your lights working.
HOWEVER: IT IS
ULTIMATLY YOUR
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE WORKING TRAILER LIGHTS (REQUIRED BY
LAW) UHAUL WILL NOT PAY ANY
TICKETS RESULTING FROM
NON-FUNCTIONAL LIGHTS!!
6. GET THE INSURANCE!!
Many car insurance companies, and credit card
companies will cover rental
cars. ALMOST ALL DO NOT COVER
RENTAL TRUCKS!! THIS IS
USUALLY AN OPTION THAT IS OVERLOOKED, AND USUALLY
CAN BE ADDED FOR AN INCREASE
IN
PREMIUM. Hey- it is only 14 dollars a day for in-town
rentals, not a bad
idea. If you do get into an accident, your car
insurance will not go up.
The
insurance will cover alot of
things unless you are 100 percent at-fault
(drunk, speeding, illegal
parking, failure to yeild, and things of that
nature.
I know the above seems like
alot, but can usually be compleated in about
10-15 min.
PART 2
On the 2 selected letters:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
From: Ron Dobberowsky
KAD@SOFT.COM.NET
Sent: 12-27-00
It does not matter if you use one pad, or all six, if the seal
is
broken, then you are charged
the 5 dollars. Also the dolly and pads
CANNOT
be removed
from the truck. There is no reason that you would have to
make 2 trips, as
the items are right inside
the back on the right hand side, taking up very
little space.
(About 5 foot tall, 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------
From: Tom McGowan
TMCGOWAN@CISCO.COM
Sent: 12-18-01
Question? Why do you
automatically assume it was a UHAUL employee that
backed into your car? Many customers leave there vehicles there,
just as
you
did. Another customer may have backed in to your
car. And why do you
assume that UHAUL employees
"barrel in and out of the lot?"
Alot of
customers
do this, which is why the
trucks need repair more often than they should.
Many of the UHAUL employees
that do drive the trucks are experienced in
driving
large trucks, and take
precautions to avoid doing damage to the UHAUL
equipment, as well as a
customers vehicle.
But, at any rate, maybe you are right, maybe it was a UHAUL
employee
that damaged your vehicle,
if it was a corporate-owned UHAUL Moving Center,
there should be a security
camara outside observing the lot. Did
you come
back to see the manager to
inquire about the camara? People are
qiuck to
place
blame, because they are not
interested in finding the facts, just putting
the blame somewhere, so they
can feel more at ease with an explanation.
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A
MOMENT TO EXPRESS MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES TO ANYONE
INCONVIENCED BY A MISHAP
WITH
UHAUL. WE TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN THE WORK WE DO, AND
AS CAREFUL AS WE ARE
MISTAKES WILL HAPPEN FROM
TIME TO
TIME, AND I APOLOGIZE FOR MY
COUNTERPARTS THROUGHOUT THE USA AND CANADA FOR
THIS.
Unlike other people posting
messages claiming to be form UHAUL, I can assure
you that I am in fact a
General Manager for UHAUL.
Unfortunitly, I
MUST REMAIN ANONOMYS IN
ORDER TO KEEP MY JOB. Some postings
have referred
to Copy Right Infringement,
I assure you, as long as you do
not use any of our logos,
and "UHAUL", and "AMERCO"remain strictly in a
typed context in the form of
an informational page such as your web site,
you
are protected under the
Freedom of Speech Act. All policies
described can
be confirmed by calling your
local UHAUL Moving Center. Call
1-800-GO-UHAUL for the phone
number to the location nearest you.
Thank you for taking the
time to read this.
I hereby give permission to
the Webmaster or other authorized administrators
of ANNAMARIA.NET to post
this message in whole or in part (provided
proper context is given) To
the internet-at-large. ALL UHAUL
POLICIES
DESCRIBED IN LETTER CURRENT
AS OF 3/22/01
-----Original
Message-----
From: alice [mailto:alicericket@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2001 9:07 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net;
confirm-sub-3QfMDH0Q-z-ZZiIPaA55g0vhdQU@yahoogroups.com
Subject: u-haul
You are
definali right about u-haul. Last Oct,00 My husband rented one of there
trucks with a car transporter from the San Francisco Bay are to central
Ohio. He notice that the truck was pulling really hard to the side, and
that it was taking allot of gas, but he was bound to make it to
Ohio. Until another driver signal him to look at the back of his
truck, so he stop to find that the whole tire and ream were missing , and was
shock to see his 1999 BMW was still on it. Later he found out the axle
was locket( since who knows when) My husbands point of view was that the
tire could had cause a accident that he didn't see, and with a personalized
license plate any one could accuse him of living the site of the accident with
out him knowing it. Please forgive me for my poor grammar I'm another country.
May be you could summit all this comments to some government agency.
-----Original
Message-----
From: sricket [mailto:sricket@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2001 6:18 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: U-HALL KILLER TRUCKS
Importance: High
I recently rented
a U-Haul truck and auto-transport. My story is that while driving across
country from California to Ohio, the autotransporter not only lost a tire, but
the whole tire assembly connected to it. The bearings had seized up on
the trailer and when I came out of Kansas City, someone flagged me that
something was wrong with the trailer. However that is not all, when I
went to get it replaced they had two trailers...one the wiring didn't work and
the other (brand new) had a jack stand that didn't work. My hope is that
the tire that came loose at approximately 50+ miles per hour did not do any
damage, hurt, or even kill, anyone.
I am ready to legal action.
Stephen.
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Coyle
[mailto:timcoyle@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 17,
2001 5:11 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: U-Haul
Hello Dave! Last September I
rented a truck and transport from U-Haul in
Alaska for a trip to Ohio.
What a mistake. The front end was out of
alignment and the tires were
trashed, I made it to Waston Lake, Yukon
Territories where they were
able to replace the front tires but could not do
an alignment. U-haul then
proceeded to send me to four other cities over a
1500 mile span, through the
Rockies with crap for steering and never did get
the truck fixed.
I sued in small claims for
breach of contract and lost today when they sent
in a coporate contract
attorney with a motion to dismiss based on
juristiction. They argued
that since I paid for the truck in AK and U-Haul
provided the defective truck
there that the case should be sued there. I
didn't even get to present
my case.
Do you know of others like
us that have had these dealings with U-Haul? I'd
like to entertain a class
action suit.
Thanks, Tim
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of
MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
-----Original
Message-----
From: SilkyGhst@aol.com [mailto:SilkyGhst@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 2:30 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: RE:U-Haul
I'm
writting this to find out if you ever got any satifaction from U-Haul
as I had and am still having a problem with them they are really for any
better way of putting it bad news.. I rented a truck from them and when
it
broken down called their 800 number they never returned any of our calls ..
Then once truck was unloaded the first time went to location truck was rented
at asking if we could trade for truck that was in at least better running
condition ... They told us there were no other tucks ...Anyways to make long
story short on second load after having major trouble with truck we parked it
and got hotel for night fully loaded when we got up next morning truck was
gone and after calling police U-Haul everyone could think of asking if they
had truck.. We were told by U-Haul they didnt have truck but then more tahn
17 hours after they recovered truck fully loaded they said they had it ...
Well they didnt give us first bill for over a month and wouldnt let us get
any of belonging out of truck they told us couldnt have it back even
after
paying bill then they added another 2,000.00 which wenever got a bill for ...
Plus they unloaded all belonging into there storage what they didnt break
or
destroy they took... I've since beeen recovering as many receipts as I could
for missing items and looking for lawyer to take case on a persentage basis..
Have had no luck so far but somehow will find a way any thing you can offer
in where I could look for asst. would be most helpful and I would be very
greatful ... I want to be able to get a class action going against them so
others can maybe recover something as well for their loses...
Thank You
Maxine R. Pollock
4233 W. 164th ST
Lawndale, CA. 90260
(310) 542-8454
SilkyGhst@AOL.COM
Ps ....So far reciepts Ive recovered are around 40,000.00 they got
me real
good most of what was taken was computer parts as well as programs...
-----Original Message-----
From: kad@softcom.net
[mailto:kad@softcom.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December
27, 2000 2:40 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: Webmaster Request
Form
Below is the result of your
feedback form. It was submitted by
(kad@softcom.net) on Wednesday, December 27, 2000 at 14:39:45
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
name: Ron Dobberowsky
phone: 209-366-0482
location: CA.
topic: Comments
comment: Dear Sirs.
First of all i hope this is the
u-haul site. Over the past years i have rented many trucks from u-haul. But
this last week i have come to see all they are interested in is the all mighty
dollor.I was very upset when we picked up a truck expecting to have a empty
truck. But you have come up with a scam to make five to ten dollors more per
truck? That hand truck you have wire tied to the back took up MY RENTED SPACE.I
had to make two trips because of that hand truck and bag or hanging gate with
the moveing pads in it. And when i asked to have them removed i was told NO !!!
Then i was never told about the TWENTY DOLLORS fill up charge, and i only drove
the truck 12 miles round trip. Soin closing i fell i was cheated and misled.
And i only used one blanket. And it was almost like pulling teeth to get me to
use it. If i would of been moveing my own things no way would i have used it.
FIVE DOLLORS one blanket. I will have to say , who ever dose your thinking on
how best to make a buck is doing a great job.
Thank You
Ron Dobberowsky
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom McGowan
[mailto:tmcgowan@cisco.com]
Sent: Monday, December 18,
2000 3:59 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: Hit and run in
U-haul Parking Lot
Friday, December 15th 2000, I rented a Pickup truck from the
Murray,
Utah U-haul store. I asked if it would be ok if I left my white
'97
Mazda Protege in their
parking lot while I used the pickup truck for a
few hours. I asked if my car was ok where I had parked
it. They said
it was fine. I offered to leave the keys to my car, in
the event that
they needed to move it out
of the way. They said that wasn't
necessary.
I drove off in the pickup truck and did my Christmas
shopping. When I
returned, it was dark. It appeared that my car had been parked
rather
crooked in the parking
space. I thought to myself, "I
really didn't
think I parked my car this
badly, but I guess maybe I did..." and didn't
think about it anymore and
drove home.
It wasn't until the next day when I went to get in my car to go
to the
supermarket that I noticed
U-Haul had left me a Christmas Present.
There was a large chunk of
paint missing from the right corner of my
rear bumper and the bumper
was cracked.. Now I know why my car was
so
crooked in that parking
space! Those idiots at U-Haul had
backed a
moving van into my car and
didn't even have the balls to admit it!
They
said absolutely
nothing. I guess they thought I
wouldn't notice. I've
written to their corporate
office about this incident. I've also
made 2
attempts to contact the
representative who was working there that
night. I have not yet gotten a response from either
one. I know this
accident is my word against
theirs, and in all likelihood they will deny
any knowlege of having
backed a truck into my car. <Have
you SEEN the
way they go barrelling in
and out of their parking lots in their
vehicles?> I'm upset about the dammage, but I'm even
more upset that
they aren't honest enough to
admit it and said nothing.
Tom McGowan
When we
first got here to Virginia, we stayed at my brother's house in Virginia Beach,
until we could find a house. Because of this, we put almost all of our stuff in
a 10x20ft. storage facility. We did keep out some basic necessities while we
stayed at my brother’s. Keep in mind that we moved using the services of Ryder
Trucks and Ryder Storage. I was very happy with the equipment and
service I received from Ryder. Once we found a house, I needed to move our
belongings again. The house we bought is about 60 miles to the north of my
brother's house, in Williamsburg, VA. Our storage facility was inbetween the 2
of them. So I decided to rent a one way truck from Virginia Beach to
Williamsburg, where our new house is at. That way, I could get our stuff at my
brother's house and the rest of our stuff out of storage. I rented a truck from
U-haul. Big mistake.......Huge mistake! The truck I received from
u-haul was a piece of junk. The steering was so loose it was difficult to keep
on the road. When I applied the brake pedal, it would rise up and
down(indication of warped rotors). About 10 miles into my journey the exhaust
blew out the manifold gasket. The general overall condition of the truck was
such that my biggest mistake was ever leaving the lot with it. But, you know, I
only had a weekend to move and only that weekend did I have any help available.
By this time it is Saturday afternoon and I decide to just take the few items
we had from my brothers and go to the new house. I did not want to haul the
stuff in storage with this truck. I called u-haul when I got to Williamsburg.
While I did not have an emergency with the truck, I did want to get a different
truck to finish the move with. They said they could send someone out to look at
the truck that evening, to try and fix it, not to provide me with another
truck. The following day I attempted to return the truck to a u-haul dealer in
Williamsburg. One place was close, the other didn't want anything to do with
it. All this time I had been calling u-haul to arrange for a different truck.
Finally, running out of week-end, I decided to return the truck the original
dealer. Second mistake! I should have taken the truck to a state inspection
station. You see through all of this, U-haul has never addressed the
condition of the truck. Their main concern was that I was trying to scam them.
Anyway, I dropped off the truck and explain the situation to them. The manager
was not available, so I called a cab, went to my brother’s, got my car and went
to my empty home. To this day, U-haul, their customer service, the local
u-haul service center and especially their regional manager have treated me
with indifference. Not once have they came close to accepting any short comings
in the service or equipment. This whole disaster was my fault. I should have
waited Saturday night for someone to come out and look at the truck. If I felt
it was so unsafe, why did I drive it all the way back to Virginia Beach? All my
fault. Did I get another truck??? Did I get any kind of refund??? No, what I
got was a wasted week-end, and another week in a empty house. Oh yea, can't
forget, they also kept most of my deposit. They said I went over on mileage!
Unfortunately, U-hauls total disregard for quality, customer service and safety
probably means that the truck they rented to me and others like it are on our
roads…..Pretty sad. Nobody likes a sad
ending. Not to worry! The following weekend I went to my Ryder storage facility I rented a
larger truck, a nicer truck, a newer truck, a dependable truck, and safer
truck! It even had a power ramp, and since I lost my helpers from the previous
weekend because of u-haul, this was very handy. Guess what? It was cheaper than
u-haul, even if u-haul had given my deposit back. You can sometimes excuse poor
service as an oversight or one time thing. However in this case the U-haul
company, from the rental center to the regional manager(which according to
them, is as high as you can go) chosed to distrust and disclaim any and all
complaints on my part. Hope you all enjoyed my little story. If you send this
to 10 of your friends and spin around three times great things will happen to
you!!!!
Drop us
a line,
Hope
all of you have a great holiday season
Sincerely,
Todd
Swanson
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Murrell
[mailto:DDM@middreut.com]
Sent: Monday, October 16,
2000 3:46 PM
To: webmaster@annamaria.net
Subject: U-Haul Tow Dolly
I am counsel in litigation
in which U-Haul is an opposing party. We
are attempting to find out more information regarding accidents involving
tow-dollies, particularly where the driver has the tow-dolly swaying while
driving on a down grade. If you have
information regarding such circumstances from operating your message board,
please share it with us. Thank you.