UHaul is the Worst
UHaul has to be by far the worst truck rental company in the world. They must also rank in the top five companies with the countries worst customer service. Here is my brief story…
I made a reservation two weeks ago at UHaul. The reservation was confirmed and I thought that was it. Well, yesterday I call to re-confirm my reservation and I am told someone will call me back. No one does. I call a few more times that night and no one returns my call. Today I call more then 10 times throughout the day, from morning to night. Its now 8:00PM. No one returns my phone call. Customer service tells me they are not resposible for reservations. They say that they can’t do anything and that I am basicly out of luck. “Someone will call you tomorrow.
Was it just me? Well I decided to do some research and found out there are more then 20 sites dedicated to how bad a company UHaul is. Please never use UHaul. I’m not saying this to be vendactive but if I’d found these websites before making my reservation I would have made chosen another company. Even if it was more expensive. Now I am sitting in a apartment full of boxes with no alternatives but to wait and pray.
http://www.uhaulhell.com/
http://www.dontuseuhaul.com
http://www.uhaul-sucks.com/
http://epistolary.org/1332.html
http://www.thepeters.org/uhaul.htm
http://clanboyd.info/uhaul/index.htm
http://adam.rosi-kessel.org/weblog/the_man/uhaul_sucks.html
http://www.kemasa.com/insanityinc/insane0011.html
http://www.jimschrempp.com/about_me/rantsraves/uhaul.htm
August 26th, 2005 at 9:13 am
Uhaul really does suck, they rented me an old a** truck that gave out on me halfway to my destination which was only 250 miles. Right Nine, stop haten’.
August 27th, 2005 at 3:24 am
I deleted Nine’s comment. Kind of wish I hadn’t. Though his comment was unintelligent I’m guessing he had some reason for it…
August 27th, 2005 at 10:35 am
I think Nine is just a bitter person. I personally hang out on your blog because I read your book.
You seem to be one of those persons who god uses to do phenomenal things.
I hope you get you stuff moved, keep on doing what your doing.
September 8th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
The worst. We rented a small truck for an “in-town move” where you get the the truck for just the business day. (Pick up when they open, drop it off before close) Problem was that they had only one person (a very slow person) renting trucks and so we wasted rearly 2 hours waiting in line and getting the truck. Then the truck was dead in the parking lot. They gave us a different one which was also a wreck. It died at lights and wouldn’t restart. Took 10 to 30 minutes to get it started each tim. It finally quit for good at the gas pump (we were refilling the tank for returning it). Uhaul said they’d come right over and fix it (we were stranded and it was a bad neighborhood - uhaul locations are not in the nicest part of town…). UHaul never came and we abandoned the truck finally 2 hours later so we could go get OUR CAR out of their gated parking lot before they closed.
September 13th, 2005 at 1:07 am
So what alternative do you suggest? UHaul is the only truck rental company I’ve ever heard of.
September 13th, 2005 at 10:15 am
Budget, Ryder, Penske or any local moving company.
October 27th, 2005 at 9:07 am
I would appreciate a link to my site as well:
http://saintvodkaofthemartini.blogspot.com/2005/10/dear-u-haul.html
Long live the uhaul hate,
Jay
January 14th, 2006 at 1:39 pm
Hello,
I am sorry to hear Your bad experince with U-Haul. I am a dealer for U-Haul and I go out of my way for my customers. I always call them when I have a reservation and I come in on my days off to rent what ever they need. If I don’t have what they need I find it for them. I also make sure my equipment is clean and in good working order. Customer service can be bad in any industry - Look at Walmart or Lowes. Not every U-Haul dealer is a bad one. I’ve received many compliments. So if You ever need a U-Haul come to Linden, NC. Or just get over it! - Tammy
January 15th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
People don’t just get over bad experiences with companies. Companies have to make sure every experience is a good one. “Oops, sorry about your bad experience, get over it!” is exactly why so many people dislike u-haul.
January 27th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
I wish, oh how I wish I had of thought of checking sites for Uhaul complaints. The worst part is they have NO customer service, not an inkly not a drop and they try to make you feel like you’re wrong about requiring that. And they are so huge that they honestly don’t care about losing $60 bucks here & there.
Do your research. Don’t get caught up in a panic to move and end up choosing a name just because it’s recognizable. Sometimes it’s the largest companies who have the worst service b/c they don’t care about their clients just the all mighty dollar.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
I am very sorry to here about your bad experiences with u-haul, but you should not judge a company as a whole based on one incident. U-haul has been around for 60 years so they are apparently doing something right. I agree as far as some people’s customer service that work for u-haul, but not everyone gives that i don’t care attitude. U-haul is no different than any other major corp. After all your in business to make money.I have worked for u-haul for 6 years and i have seen alot of customer;s that want something for nothing and i am sure that some of there complaints are because they did not get something for free.
July 23rd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
When their are 20+ websites dedicated to how bad U-Haul is, even one dedicated to how they almost DIED in a u-haul truck then it is much more than about trying to get “something for free”
July 24th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Speaking of bad companies… Les schwab. I have personally experienced (at least at one location) where they almost caused the death of my (at the time) girlfriend. Then they tried to blame it on her and tried to cover it up. They replaced the tires on a Saturday. Same day one punctured, so they replaced that, but claimed it could have nothing to do with them. The very next day a different tire (these were the new tires that they just put on) punctured while driving, car spun off the road into a gaurd rail and was totalled. Les schwab went as far as to say that “there was no possible way” they could have been in any way responsible. BUT!! They were insistant that if we found the remenants of the tire we should immediately hand it over to them, rather than to the police or a lawyer or anyone else. Anyway, I know it’s not U-Haul, but it is the same situation. Afterwards I checked around and it turns out that it was not just a freak thing that happened to us. Many people who I knew had experienced or heard of similar incidents with Les Schwab. So, if you’re keeping a list of places not to go, that one is at the top of my list. And I’ll add U-haul as well.
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:36 pm
I worked for an independant Uhaul dealer for 5 years. It was the most stressful job I have ever had. what Betsey said is the opinion of the entire company. They think that everyone is trying to get something for nothing. It was not uncommon to not have a truck for reservations in the summertime which is prime moving season in the midwest. Then I had to explain to the customer the policies that do not make sense to me, why should the customer understand? Nor is uncommon for Uhaul employees from the marketing company up to the corporate office to simply hang up on complaining customers. Their equipment is unsafe and poorly maintained. One customer was driving on the interstate when a bald front tire blew and he hit a tree in a median. Uhaul was trying to blame the accident on the customer. The dealer who sent the truck out failed to inspect the truck or he would have seen the bald tire. Their business practices are unethical and they slot in-town reservations which is illegal. They give the dealers the veribage to explain that they have an opening for 4 hours but never use the term time slot. Uhaul has gotten away with this because until the past decade they were the only game in town.
November 24th, 2007 at 1:28 am
I paid rent for one month for a friend, U-haul then stole over $400.00 from my checking account over the next two months. They said the contract with my friend said they could use any means possible to collect a debt. I had no contract, the guy at u-haul got defensive the minute I started to talk with him. The bank gave us our money back, but U-haul would never respond, even after emailing the corporate office. They are thiefs.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I know that many of these messages are from a while back, but for anyone who is reading this now, the experience described here is not unique to this individual. SO many customers have had awful experiences with Uhaul. Uhaul has rented out dangerous and poorly maintained vehicles and trailers, and people have even lost their lives due to Uhaul’s poor safety practices. To learn more or to share your own Uhaul horror story, please visit http://www.uhaulsafetyalerty.org .
October 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Here is another site to add to that list:
http://www.uhaulsafetyalert.org
I strongly urge you to visit that site if you or someone you know is thinking about renting with Uhaul. Uhaul’s awful safety record has caused injury and even death to its customers. There is also a place on the site to share your own experience with Uhaul. It is our responsibility to get the word out so that others can make a truly informed decision about Uhaul.
April 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Ive rented from Budget and have had nightmarish experiences. Ryders trucks are too large, I have only rented uhaul once and it was great, such a low loading deck too.