i dont really know where to begin to explain the sequence of events that took place over the past couple of weeks. it started with picking up a uhaul truck in fayetteville, nc and returning it in fayetteville, nc some 14 days later.
the truck i was given was not the truck i reserved 3 weeks prior, and i could not get a satisfactory response from any uhaul representative. i reserved a diesel powered 26' "super mover", but what i got instead was an
82 model underpowered gas truck that was missing most of its dash and had loose/exposed wiring that rubbed against your leg. when i tried to push the wiring back into the dash, the truck would knock off. since we were out of time i decided to make the best of it hoping it would make the trip.
aside from endless breakdowns along the way (most of which i had to repair myself for various reasons), the real troubles started in the rocky mountains.
ive written a 7 page letter to uhaul and here is one small section of that letter that explains the straw that broke the camels back:
------------------------ The truck did "ok" up I-94. It was a real tease to see just how beautiful Montana really is and despite all the troubles I'd had along the way, I was still just happy to finally be in "Big Sky Country". When I-94 and I-90 came together my happiness of being in Montana was quickly replaced by fear, apprehension, and anger once again. Bozeman Pass was a nightmare, as well as all the other "passes" along the way between Billings and Butte. Passing signs that read "Chain Up Area 1/2 Mile" struck fear in me as I quickly came to learn that those signs meant another steep grade that I might or might not make. The truck would downshift, backfire, downshift, etc. until it dropped into 1st. gear where it would drop to 4 mph screaming as it crawled along impeding traffic. It was around Bozeman Pass that I had to explain to my 10 year old why so many people were honking and flipping us off as they finally worked their way around us.
The grade that changed everything was the Continental Divide (the first time you cross it heading towards Great Falls). The truck screamed until it came to a total stop not even 1 mile into the climb where it sat there and "moaned" but would not move. I got out of the truck (stopped in the middle of the interstate!) and backed my Jeep Wrangler off the auto transport trailer hoping that would be enough to get the truck going again. The truck moved less than 100 feet before it came to a dead stop again. If everything we owned had not been in the back of the Uhaul truck I think I would have got in my Jeep Wrangler at that point and drove away without ever looking back. Since that was not an option, we finally worked the truck off onto what there is of a shoulder and attempted to call Uhaul for assistance. Without cell phone service in that area however, there was nothing I could do. About an hour later a truck driver stopped to help and towed the Uhaul over the Continental Divide.
While not quite as bad since we were coming off the mountain, the dozen or so mountain passes that we had just climbed were no fun going over from the opposite direction. The automatic transmission offered no engine braking, and the truck constantly tried to run away coming down the grades. My wife (in her Jeep Cherokee behind me) had to back off because her eyes were watering from the fumes generated by my burning brakes.
----------------------------------------
i may post the entire letter at a later time, but that gives you a sample of the problems we had along the way. prior to trying I-90, we attempted to take 200 into great falls and had to be pulled over the grades outside of belt because the truck just didnt have the balls to pull itself. im referencing the first grade just past eddies corner, it didnt even make it to the steeper grades at belt.
by the time we got into montana, the wifey hated it (due to all the problems along the way). with tears in her eyes she begged me "please take me home, nathan" so thats just what i did. there was no reasoning, there was no point in even trying as i could see it in her eyes that i had no choice. now im stuck here again in this same house in this same f*ck-hole neighborhood in this same f*ck-hole state with the only difference being that now im roughly $5,000 poorer than i was a few weeks ago. "luckily" the house didnt close when it was supposed to which made it possible for me to break the selling contract without fear of suit, but i refunded the buyers expenses (roughly $600 for home inspection, mortgage fees, termite inspection, etc.) anyway.
there are a few things i learned along the way.
1) iowa is one huge cornfield with a road going down the middle
2) fill up in des moines because you wont find gas again
3) ever other car in indiana is a highway patrolman
4) minnesota is beautiful, particularly around alexandria
5) north dakota has free internet access at rest stops!
6) sadly, the indians on the crow reservation live up to their stereotyping
7) uhaul does very bad business
to make it worse, while parked outside of my hotel room in illinois the cab of the uhaul got broken into (even though everything was hidden behind the seat). they got my laptop (ancient anyway, but still), my digi-cam, my gps, and my cobra cb that i just bought before the trip.
at this point im not sure what our next step will be. im not happy in north carolina, but we need to regroup before we consider another move. i absolutely loved montana, but its going to take some convincing before the wifey will try that again. no amount of description or even pictures can prepare you for the awesome, rugged beauty of montana and i know ill make it back.
I've never been really impressed with U-haul trucks (now you see why), though their trailers are OK. Whenever I rented a truck for a serious move I went to Budget.
Just out of curiosity, is your wife's job still in Montana? Sounded like you are staying put in NC for now...
I, too, have been down the Uhaul road of poor equipment and incompetent employees. The above link does not describe my misfortunes with Uhaul, but I see an awful lot of similarities between all of the stories I hear or read.
thanks matt. good to be back......er, online anyway.
her employer in montana said the job is hers whenever she decides to try again. they also went on to say that they are going to drop their corporate account at uhaul if they dont make this "right". had it not been for the poor service we received from uhaul im sure i would be posting from montana today. once everything fell like it did, the wifey got turned off fast and just wanted to come home. im sure i could have coerced/forced/talked her into staying, but that would have made me a much bigger asshole than i care to be.
It would be interesting to see if there is anything you could do on the issue of bait and switch [if the two trucks are in the same "class" as defined by UHell, rotsa ruck]. The junker is probably gone by now, so a safety inspection probably is out of the question. Still, it would be worth seeing if small claims court or such could get money back for all the outright vehicle outages. Too bad there isn't a class action suit against UHell for their notoriously bad rep.
And hopefully, some day you'll make it to Montana, I think they'd like you out there.
"Jerry Newton" wrote in message news:AujTa.21473$ snipped-for-privacy@kent.svc.tds.net...
wow, thanks for that link jerry! here is another segment of the 7 page letter that ive written to uhaul to explain more of my troubles, and all this happened BEFORE the first breakdown:
------------------------------ Dear Sirs, I would like to describe my recent experience with Uhaul in hopes of helping to prevent anyone else from having to experience the hell that myself and my family have been through in the past two weeks as a direct result of the lack of customer service we received.
Having a lifetime dream of moving out west (from North Carolina) we were very excited when my wife was hired by ******* in Great Falls. After learning that ******* has a corporate account at Uhaul I began to research my moving options at uhaul.com. I downloaded the marketing video on the 26' "Super Mover" and I was very impressed with all the additional features and benefits that the competition did not offer. Although a competitor was $700 cheaper than Uhaul, their trucks did not offer the features of the "Super Mover" so I ultimately decided upon Uhaul to move my family and I safely on our 2500 mile journey.
Several weeks before my scheduled move I called Uhaul to reserve the 26' "Super Mover" that is advertised and promoted in the marketing video. Having been warned previously concerning using a diesel powered truck in the mountains, I explained that I needed a diesel and was reassured by the national corporate reservations office (800.528.6042) that I would receive a truck comparable to the one I saw in the marketing video. I was also guaranteed (oral) a manual transmission that would aid in braking while descending the steep mountain grades. At the same time, I reserved a hitch for my wife's Jeep Cherokee as well as other trailer towing accessories and moving supplies. After Uhaul phoned Mrs. ******* (at *******) the reservations agent assured me that the accessories were approved and would be waiting for me to pick up when I picked up the truck.
I was contacted on that same day by my local Uhaul office in Raleigh, NC (919.875.0059). They reassured me they would have a diesel powered 26' "Super Mover" identical to the one advertised and promoted in the Uhaul marketing video for pick up on the day of my move. I called them back a week before my scheduled move to confirm the accuracy of my reservation (particularly the availability of the diesel powered truck) and was again assured that they would be able to provide me with exactly what I reserved, accessories included. They did not know which Uhaul lot I would go to and promised to call me on July 3 to give me pick up information. July 3 came and went and I got no phone call. When I attempted to call them they had closed for the day so I called 800.528.6042 and they could not give me the pick up information. The morning of the 4th the Raleigh office called and told me to pick up my truck at the local Fayetteville Uhaul moving center.
Later that morning I headed to the Uhaul moving center on Bragg Blvd. in Fayetteville, NC. I signed all the paperwork and gathered my accessories and was informed that I would have to pay for the accessories out of pocket because they had not been approved for the corporate account. I informed the manager that Uhaul reservations had already received authorization for the over the counter items and was told that I would have to make a second trip back to her lot in about an hour to pick up the items while she got them approved. I had made my reservations weeks in advance to prevent these hang-ups; this was just the first sign of much trouble to come.
With that I headed out to pick up the 26' truck figuring I would make a second trip to pick up the accessories later in the day. I met with one of the mechanics who brought up the trailer hitch for my wife's Jeep Cherokee (although I couldn't leave with it because it had not been approved along with the other over the counter items), and he showed me were the 26' truck was parked.
I became concerned as soon as I sat down inside the truck. There was a large portion of the dash missing and exposed wiring was hanging out through the large holes in the dash. I cranked the engine and started to exit the parking lot when I became concerned about the noises the truck was making. At that point I knew that it did not sound like a diesel, and I knew that something wasn't running right due to the way the exhaust was popping. I stopped the mechanic who had brought the Jeep Cherokee trailer hitch out and he assured me that the truck had been gone over thoroughly by trained mechanics and that it was fit to drive. I informed him that I had been assured multiple times by Uhaul that I would have a diesel and he directed me back to the manager.
I approached the manager again and asked her about a diesel and she told me that the truck I had was the only 26' "Super Mover" available and that I could "take it or leave it". I asked her about the 2 diesel trucks sitting right beside the truck I had and she told me that I could take one of them if I wanted to, but that they were not fit to make the trip to Montana. When I told her that I would rather take my chances with a diesel than the truck I had, she changed her story and informed me that the diesels were for local trips only, not one way. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the truck I had and she told me that it could take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 weeks before they got in a diesel comparable to the one that is advertised and marketed as the "normal" 26' "Super Mover" in the Uhaul video and obviously waiting 2 weeks was not an option for me. Due to the urgency of getting to Montana, I left with the gasoline powered truck against my better judgment.
When I arrived at home I called the national reservation desk at
800.528.6042 and expressed my dissatisfaction with the truck I had received and they instructed me to call the Raleigh office at 919.875.0059. Since the reservations agent could not help me I spoke with her supervisor "****" who told me that he was going to handle the matter and he instructed me to contact the local manager in Fayetteville. Once again the manager in Fayetteville told me to "take it or leave it" because that was all she had.
Frustrated, I decided to give it a try because I was losing valuable packing time. I attempted to push the exposed wiring that was hanging out of the open holes in the dash back into the dash (I didn't want to ride around with exposed wiring hanging out for obvious reasons) and the "Check Engine" light came on and the truck engine died. At that point I became scared of the truck and called the national reservations desk at 800.528.6042 and they instructed me to call the Seattle office. Within 2 hours of picking up the truck, I placed my first call to "****" at the corporate moving center in Seattle but only got an answering machine. I expressed concern in my message to **** that I had not received the truck that I had reserved weeks in advance and asked for help. When I did not hear back from ****, I called the national reservations desk again who instructed me to call the Raleigh office again. I called the Raleigh office at 919.875.0059 and once again spoke with ****. I again expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the truck I was given and I asked him to find me a truck comparable to the one that I had reserved (the one advertised and marketed as the "normal" 26' "Super Mover" in the Uhaul marketing video) on another Uhaul lot. I told him that I would drive any distance required to pick up the truck that I had reserved, but did not feel comfortable taking the gas powered truck with wiring hanging out of the dash. **** told me that he was going to call the manager in the Fayetteville office to (his exact words) "put it back in her lap". I was not comfortable at all with this solution, as the local manager in Fayetteville had already instructed me that she could not help me.
This was the point that I lost all trust in Uhaul. After first pulling a "Bait & Switch", **** was now "passing the buck" and by this time most of the packing day was gone. I do hate to use the term "Bait & Switch" but that's exactly what Uhaul has done. You advertise a shiny comfortable diesel powered "Super Mover" (see for yourself at
formatting link
apple "quicktime" requiredto view), you assure me and reassure me that I will have one just like theone featured in your "Super Mover" video, and then when I go to pick it up(when its to late to make reservations with a competitor) you give me agasoline powered truck with exposed wiring hanging out of the dash that runshorribly and doesn't even have the items promoted in the video (inflatablesuspension bags bags to lower the rear truck Deck for easier loading, 12vpower supply for cb, manual transmission for engine braking, etc......thevery reasons I chose Uhaul over the competition to begin with!).
While my wife made the return trip to pick up the counter items (that national reservations had assured me would be taken care of when I picked up the truck to start with) she informed me that the manager was noticeably upset because I went above her head in an attempt at finding a solution (getting the truck that I had reserved to begin with). She informed my wife that there was nothing she could do and asked if we wanted the truck or not. My wife called me upset by the treatment she had received from the local manager, and again I called **** at 910.875.0059. I asked **** about finding me the correct truck that I had reserved weeks prior to, and his response (instead of being helpful) was "I already explained that to you before". I reminded **** that I was not 12 years old, and that I was a paying customer, and that if I needed him to explain his position again that I felt he should just explain it again. He told me that he would once again contact the local manager at the Fayetteville office who once again told me over the phone that there was nothing she could do.
I could not reach **** in Seattle, national reservations continued to send me to Raleigh (****) who continued to send me to the local manager in Fayetteville who continued to tell me that she could not help me but did offer to take the truck back leaving me stuck with absolutely nothing (although in hindsight I realize that would have been the best thing I could have done).
In frustration and fear of failing to make our due date in Great Falls I decided to attempt to make the trip in the gas powered 26' "Super Mover". It was obvious that Uhaul had pulled a "Bait & Switch", multiple "pass the bucks", and had clearly shown me that they were not concerned with fulfilling their obligation of providing me with the truck I had reserved but I didn't feel like I had much choice if we were to make it to ******* in time.
After wasting 4 hours attempting to install the Uhaul trailer hitch on my wife's Jeep Cherokee, I realized something was wrong. While some of the bolt holes lined up, others did not. I took the part number on the hitch and pulled up uhaul.com to cross reference the numbers. My wife's Jeep is a Cherokee, but they had given us a hitch for a Grand Cherokee (distinct difference). I called the Uhaul moving center and spoke with the manager who insisted that I asked for a hitch to go on a Grand Cherokee, not a Cherokee. Although I was not going to argue with her, I found this suggestion to be ridiculous. As a hardcore Jeep enthusiast and owner of multiple Jeeps, I think I know the difference in a Cherokee and a Grand Cherokee, and I can assure you that I know which one my wife drives. After making a third trip to the Uhaul moving center, we got the correct hitch and I installed it and continued to pack the truck.
------------------------------------
after that point the breakdowns started with the first one being in my front yard as we attempted to leave. lol. this has been so outrageous.......
YES! that is my exact thinking which youll see if you read my second post including more of the letter i sent uhaul!
the wifeys employer in montana was actually paying for the uhual via their corporate account. we're waiting to see now if uhaul tries to bill them anything for it.
many thanks! and im going to get out there again. i knew i belonged there as soon as i crossed the state line. at a small "quick stop" type gas station in glendive their welding section was bigger than the local welding supply store here. while the uhaul was broken down we took the wifeys jeep and did a little looking around. helena/butte are awesome!
seems there may be a pattern of abuse here. You appear to be a right testy little feller when someone steps on your dingus, maybe your attorney from the DC days can help you stomp on UHell a bit. Or better yet, see if the DC attorney has a bit of spare time.
it was a real kick in the nuts for sure. i never imagined that a truck rental company could truly make the difference of which end of the continent i live in.
it goes a little beyond that. although i had never been there before, it just felt like i was "home". the terrain, the people......you should have seen how surprised my wife was when an attendent washed her windshield while she pumped her gas. all i could see was loading up and hopping on my rhino to ride for days at a time exploring the vast wilderness.
am i bitter towards uhaul at this point? words couldnt describe what i feel at this point. luckily my frustrations (i can be "intense" at times) are being spent on unpacking and trying to return to a life of normalcy (which for around here isnt saying much).
i certainly agree with you. my wife is very good to me, and rarely asks for much of anything. since she loved me enough to take me out there, i suppose it was only fair that i loved her enough to bring her back when she was so upset about it all. now its just going to be a matter of letting her unwind from the whole ordeal and get settled in again to figure out our next move. her employer in montana has offered to pay for a moving company to move us out there without regard to the previously imposed spending limit so im hoping she comes around soon.
Let her decompress, then take the moving company offer. They aren't completely hassle-free...namely when the movers actually arrive any sign that they actually had a conversation with the estimator is pretty rare. However, it sure beats UHell. And promise her an ATV to decompress from the stress of dealing with a moving company.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.