UHAUL is a rip-off

I reserved a UHAUL via UHAUL.com on August 2, 2007. I indicated that I needed to pick up the UHAUL at 7 am on September 1, 2007 and drive it one-way to Plainfield, NJ, where I would return the UHAUL. I input my credit card information and was told that my approximate charge would be $115 plus $18 for insurance and plus sales tax.

I called UHAUL's regional NYC offices twice a week over the next month. I requested that my pick-up location be 3915 29th St Long Island City, NY 11101 and asked for a confirmation. The person on the phone would never give me a concrete pick up time or location, but assured me that they'd entered my reservation in the computer and that I'd receive confirmation for the reservation time and location I was requesting the day before my move.

The day before my move, Friday, I had not heard anything from UHAUL. I called the regional NY office that day over 10 times. When I was able to get a woman on the phone, she would not give me my reservation. I pleaded with her because I had to be out of my current residence by 12 noon the next day and had moving help coming to assist me in the morning. She went through various stories, even, at one point, saying that it was my fault because I scheduled my reservation "last minute" (even though I scheduled it a month in advance!). She said that they'd get back to me at 5 pm with my pick up location if they had one, but that I shouldn't get my hopes up because it was the biggest moving day of the year. I'd known this, and this is why I made my reservation far in advance.

By then, panicked that I wouldn't be able to move the next day and would be fined for being in my apartment too long, I walked over to the local UHAUL where I'd requested my reservation be made. They had absolutely no record of my reservation and were all booked up, except for an "in-town" move truck coming in at 2 pm. I left because the in-town truck would mean incurring exta mileage and toll expenses.

At 4:30 pm, I received a text message from the UHAUL regional office for a 3:30 Saturday pick-up on the BQE in Woodside, Queens. I don't have a car and I had moving help coming in the morning and would be fined if I stayed in my apartment that late.

I walked over to my local UHAUL rental location again after receiving this message at 29th Street and requested the 1:30 pm truck they had offered. They refused to give me a one-way truck saying that this truck had to be returned. I would have to pay per mile and return the truck to Long Island City on Tuesday (they were closed all weekend for the holiday). I was put in a dire situation as UHAUL did not come through with my original reservation and I basically had NO CHOICE but to take the truck, take off from work, and return it to Long Island City.

I was able to move my help back to 1:30 pm and used the truck, returning it on Tuesday morning. The local office informed me that I would also have to pay for overnight parking in a lot because they did not have a place to park it since they were closed and the truck would get a ticket if it was parked in the street overnight. They did not offer to cover this expense.

On Tuesday when I returned the truck, I incurred over DOUBLE the expenses for the UHAUL, paying an additional $15 for gas, $8 for tolls, $10 for parking, and a total of $270 to UHAUL for miles driving it to and from my new home. The original bill would have been about $150 if they had given me the reservation they had promised. This is not counting lost work time that I needed to take off to drive the truck back to NY.

I sent this complaint to the Better Business Beaureu and Uhaul turned down my request for a refund, making a different excuse each time they did so. I would not deal with UHAUL ever again in the future.

Comment On This

UHAUL IS A RIP OFF. THEY ADVERTISE $0.59 PER MILE, THEN IT CHANGES TO $0.79 A MILE ONLINE. WHEN YOU GO TO PICK UP THE EQUIPMENT IT IS $0.99 PER MILE!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T BOTHER CALLING REGIONAL IF YOU ARE IN NEW YORK STATE B/C YOU WILL GET "JUSTINE" WHO IS A NASTY FEMALE, TALKS OVER YOU AND TREATS THE CUSTOMER LIKE DIRT. LIKE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF AND THEN BEING TREATED LIKE YOU ARE A PIECE OF GARBAGE? BY ALL MEANS RENT FROM UHAUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!