My review that I just submitted to U-Haul

[smileyeagle1021]

Rather than tell a fancy story, I'll just share with you the review I submitted to U-Haul, because it says it so much better.

I have nothing but good things to say about this location, the staff was fast and professional, the truck was in good working order and clean, and they were willing to move my reservation earlier when my plans changed. The central reservations agent on the other hand I have very little good to say about. I told her upfront what I was moving (a set of bunk beds and some other small stuff from a storage unit to a thrift store) and ended up reserving me a 14' truck which is massive overkill (one of the cargo vans would have been sufficient and saved me on both gasoline and milage charges), she put the address of the thrift store as my home address on the contract (because she wasn't listening when I told her that I was just moving stuff from a storage unit to donate to a thrift store), and made my reservation at the wrong location (I had asked for the Salt Lake City location at 3900 South Main Street and she put me at the Murray Location at 5300 South State Street, which while not that major of an inconvenience is not what I asked for).
So overall I was pleased with my uhaul rental, but will definitely be contacting the store directly for my next rental rather than trying to deal with the toll free reservations office.

[dbuzman]

I read somewhere else that the central reservations people have no idea what the local agencies have available and don't always forward info to the local people anyway. So they just agree with whatever you ask then you show up at the local agent and they don't have what you need.

[MadMike]

My experiences with U-Haul have been hit and miss.

When I rented one to move my then-girlfriend (now my wife) into my last apartment was a bad one. The vehicle they gave us was ancient, and had a stick-shift. Thankfully, I still remember how to drive a stick, but a lot of people don't seem to know how these days. There was only one seat belt, and the driver door was loose. And the thing ran really rough. Worse yet, I later found the battery wouldn't hold a charge. When we went to leave after loading the stuff from her old apartment (thankfully all her stuff fit in one load), it wouldn't start and I had to get someone to come out and jump it. Then after we unloaded at my apartment, it died again. I got someone to come out and jump it again, but I had to let the damn phone ring for half an hour before someone picked the damn thing up.

We had a much better experience when we moved into the house where we live now. There was a place within walking distance of the apartment, and they gave me a nice vehicle. There was some mix-up when I went to pick it up, and they didn't have any in the size I had reserved, but they made things right by giving me a bigger vehicle at no extra charge, and no time limit.

[Sapphire Silk]

I read somewhere else that the central reservations people have no idea what the local agencies have available and don't always forward info to the local people anyway. So they just agree with whatever you ask then you show up at the local agent and they don't have what you need.

I've had similar experiences with the call center. I won't use them anymore, either. The truck I order is never there when I get there.

I contact the local store directly, ahead of time if possible. I've had much better luck getting what I need.

[MoonCat]

I had very good luck with U-Haul when I moved into my house. When we got to the lot, the guy let us (my brother was going to drive) into the cab and then when to check on the back. He decided it was too dirty, so he gave us another truck, a newer one. Only thing I didn't like was that the lot was in a very dicey part of town and I was a little worried about my brother having to leave his car there all day, but it was OK.

[MadMike]

Only thing I didn't like was that the lot was in a very dicey part of town and I was a little worried about my brother having to leave his car there all day, but it was OK.

That was the nice thing about having one within walking distance of the old apartment -- I left my car at the apartment, walked to the dealer, picked it up, moved my stuff, drove it back to the dealer, and then walked back to the apartment and got my car.

[Mytical]

Have only had one experience with U-Haul, and it was decent. Nothing spectacular either way. Of course I went to the place I wanted to rent something from, talked to the people there, got a decent deal, and they even waived the fuel charge (was an in town move, so think I put like 10 miles total on it).

[PepperElf]

the one time i've rented a moving vehicle (it was budget) instead of calling them up, I drove to the local office I wished to pick the truck up from and made my reservation there in person and over a month in advance.

granted not everyone has the time to do this... i just did it that way cos I was planning on picking up the truck on Christmas Eve Day, and I wanted to make sure they'd even be open and what their hours were. Plus, I wanted to be sure I knew how to find them.

Although it turned out the hours they quoted me were actually wrong... We got there before opening and they processed us through. So either they opened earlier than I was quoted, or we were the only ones they had coming that day and they processed us early so they could leave early.