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Maybe I am missing something but this has now happened three times and I am dumbfounded.
I scheduled a rental truck with U-Haul for the middle of June. I was a bit concerned that my confirmed receipt stated that I would be called by 6 PM the night before the move as to where the truck would be for pick up. Further reading informed me that my "confirmed" pick up site was simply a preference and that I might have to pick that truck up at a different location. A quick call to the "preferred pick up spot" confirmed my concerns. The owner told me that he didn't have any trucks but that one could come in over the weekend. When I asked him how likely was it - he didn't know. And he further informed me that likely no one would call me until the morning of the move because they didn't do Sundays.............I did a cursory check of all the U-Haul sites within a 50 mile radius and not one was showing any trucks available in the size that I was holding a confirmed receipt for.
Upon reflection, I cancelled the booking and started over. This time I decided speaking in person with U Haul instead of booking on line was a better approach so that I could explain to them how concerned I was with this "a truck may or may not be at your preferred location." The "booker" assured me that I could call a few days before and likely confirm and that that was just because sometimes people are late getting trucks back. But that worst case scenario was that a truck would be available within 15 miles of my preferred spot. Ok, I could live with that.
So I called the confirmation number - the central number - not the preferred location to double check just when I could get a "yes, definitely, there will be a truck." I was informed that really they wouldn't know until 48 hours before so that would be Sunday evening at 6 PM. I shared with them that 48 hours prior would be early Saturday morning so she said I could call back after noon on Saturday and they might know. But she also assured me that the information that a truck would be available within 15 miles was not assured. When i asked her if that meant if there was a truck available in Miami, Florida (about 900 miles from here) , would that be considered an available truck? She said yes. I told her I didn't think so......................
Amazed, I picked up the phone and called Budget. (Penske had already told me that they were doing absolutely NO local moves for the rest of June so they weren't in the mix.) With Budget, I booked a truck, again getting a confirmation that I was set up for the size truck I needed and at a particular location. Call me crazy but i decided to call the Budget location to confirm that I indeed would have a truck on Monday morning. Maybe it was a sixth sense.
Unbelievable - when I talked to the individual there, I was told that they too had no trucks but they didn't know what might come in on the weekend. He assured me that if I called on Monday morning around 8:30 am or maybe 9:00 am that someone could tell me if a truck was there. I told him my reservation said that my truck was to be picked up on Monday morning at that time.
He said they just overbook and that if I was talking about a larger truck that he was fairly sure there was NO CHANCE there would be a truck available. He followed this by saying he was still getting reservations coming in from the main office and HE HAD NO TRUCKS THERE. And that that very day a woman with a brain tumor had come to get her confirmed truck and that he had to tell her that there was no truck even though she had one booked (I won't even go into the strangeness of that story but I suppose he figured it showed me the absolute heartlessness of those setting up these overbookings.)
This is unbelievable - if someone told me this, I would think they were crazy. I have never ever had this occur and I have rented trucks in recent years. If I booked a truck, it was there when I needed it, mid-month, end of month, whenever. I would understand it if they said "sorry, no trucks" but to book a truck and not have it available and state that in your fine print after you have booked the truck is totally insane. I suppose the "mea culpa" approach for them makes it ok................
I don't expect any great resolution here but I'm just wondering , is this happening to other people or am I in the twilight zone of coastal carolina? This isn't just a local site - this is using U-Haul's book-on- line site where you can read right there in their literature that a truck may not be at the site where you have it confirmed for. But there it states if the equipment is not available, they will pay you 50.00. Which is absolutely no solace if you are sitting there with paid help, a pile of stuff to move and no truck. And even then, when the employees tell you that there is no mileage limit as to where the truck MAY be available, that is a worthless promise anyway.
If this is really the state of affairs that exists when renting a truck, I am so incredibly sorry for anyone who has ever been surprised at this occuring on their moving day. As it is, I'll survive this but it is going to be one hell of a weekend loading up one van load after another to do what I thought could be done with one truck, one curmudgeon and a little ticked lady....sigh - i stand in total contempt of corporate america..............................curse you, u-haul, budget and any other company that does business in such an inept, irresponsible, unaccountable and blatantly stoooooooooooooooopid manner..............................
This happened to my friend with a u-haul trailer. She never in a million years thought that they would be out of trailers in Buffalo in April, but she had to drive to another location about an hour away to get a trailer. Yes they gave her the $50 "I'm so sorry we messed with you move fee" but it really threw her move off.
Last edited by Dogmama50; 06-24-2011 at 03:36 PM..
Reason: Can't spell.
Are you kidding, talk about moves gone BAD, last move I had...the movers I called, told me that they took another job that day, and would come move me the NEXT day! Well, I had to be OUT that day...then the house cleaners did not show up...I had to call other movers, which cost me much more money...the whole thing was a fiasco. My problem...is that I don't speak Spanish..and where I live, that is what all the movers and house cleaners speak...great.
That's why I would do just about anything to avoid moving in June. It seems like everyone who was waiting for the school year to end, is suddenly ready to move - and it's impossible to get a truck. And the last weekend in June, when you also have all the renters who want to move out at month's end? That's got to be the craziest weekend of the year!
We moved last summer, at the end of August, and even then it was hard to find a truck. The one thing in our favor was that we were moving mid-week, so we weren't competing with all the weekend movers. But it still meant calling several places, even though we were booking early.
Then in October I needed to move a few pieces of furniture, and one of the couches was long enough to need a fairly big truck - so I called U-Haul and had absolutely no problems. They had trucks in every size - my pick! And I didn't even need to reserve one, I just showed up on Saturday, and picked out the one I wanted. Kind of nice, after the headache of even finding a truck in the summer!
last move I had...the movers I called, told me that they took another job that day, and would come move me the NEXT day!
That happened to a relative last summer, on his actual moving day, and he had to leave that very day. So I ended up being the one there, when the movers finally came the next day to pack up his house, and get everything in the truck.
The fact that they canceled on him at the last minute made me nervous about the whole thing? Would he even get his stuff at the other end? I mean, if they're that unprofessional... And it did take nearly a month longer than it was supposed to for him to get his stuff - and this was only a 1300 mile trip - imagine if it had been 3000 miles? Would he have had to wait 60 days? But evidently because his was a "small move" - meaning one person, two bedroom, small - rather than a family with a ton of stuff - he was lumped in with other small moves - which made the whole thing take longer. Ridiculous, but true! Luckily when his stuff did arrive, nothing was damaged, and there was nothing missing - so there was a happy ending - it just took over a month to happen!
Yes, I had another "nightmare" move...the movers took half my stuff. Or whatever happened...oh well, just part of the "adventure" of moving.
But, I did have a really great move once, with nice movers...and everything went perfect. Luck of the draw I guess.
I am going to be moving at the end of next month, and am still in denial about the whole mess. It does not help that I am completely broke right now either, and have no one to help me with this move...it should be interesting...and have to work full time as well!
U-haul I hoping the person who rented the truck one way to the location that you are getting your truck at drops it off (and does not need any repair/maint) when they are scheduled to. If they don't or the truck can not be sent out they look around for another one of equal or larger size. This is the busy month for them, also alot of the rental truck fleets have released the older trucks, and not bought as many new ones, so the total fleet of truck is smaller.
mzfroggez, if you're open to some advice? I would try to get a truck on a weekday, instead. There's less competition than on weekends, and if by chance they don't have a truck for you on the day you reserved, then you should have first chance at whatever truck comes in next - which could mean you still end up moving on the weekend, when you wanted to. Just a thought...
Last truck I rented was with Budget, it was much better than those wrecks that U-Haul tries to hump you with.
Where I live - Southern California - the U-Haul trucks are all brand new and really nice, and Budget is the company I try to avoid. Guess it depends on where you live!
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