I rented a 14 foot uhaul truck on 6/14/2008. Equipment Number DC7005B. I picked up the truck and everything appeared to be going fine. They were so generous to give me 3/8 of a tank of gas. So first thing I did was to fill it up with gas, which cost me $75.

I then proceeded to the storage unit we had to load it up. We got it all loaded and drove about 10 miles to our destination. Just before we got there smoke started coming from under the hood of the truck, since we were less than 1 minute away from where we needed to be we drove and parked it there. As I turned the truck off more smoke started pouring out from under the hood of the truck.

We opened the hood to find a fire on the drivers side, we quickly got some water and started dowsing the fire. As we thought we were getting it all put out we learned that the fire has spread to the inside of the truck on the drivers side, we then put the fire out inside the truck also.

We then dowsed the entire engine and inside to ensure that the fire was out. Finally it was. We then called the Roadside Assistance who said they would be by to tow the truck in less than 1 hour, after 6 hours they finally showed up and towed the truck.

The next morning I went to talk to the General Manager of the Torrance Store (Carl Arnold). I wanted to ensure that my contract was closed out and that I would not be charged anything because the truck caught on fire. I was assured by him that I would not be charged for this. He also told me that there was nothing he could do for me at all at that time to close out the contract. He stated that someone would call me the following day to close the contract out and make sure I was satisfied.

Still after 14 days I have not received one single call back about this and have called and talked to many people about it that just keep running me in circles. To this day and to my knowledge my contract is still open and well what do you know I just received a charge on my credit card from U-Haul for this truck.

I am still waiting to get this solved, I would like to not be charged for this rental, get my $75 in gas money I spent and did not use and also find out why U-Haul thought it was a good thing to rent out a truck that caught on fire and risked mine and my family's lives when these trucks are supposed to go through normal maintenance.

Where I rented

U-Haul Centre Old Town

21707 S. Western Ave

Torrance, CA 90501

3105337037

They told me that I hit a tree with a 17' truck. They claim that an employee saw me hit a tree. I didn’t hit anything. They left me a message telling me this at 5:00pm right as they closed so it was too late to call them back. I called them the next morning around 9:30am on my break at work to ask them what the heck they were talking about. They aren’t talking about a full size tree, they are talking about one of those baby trees with sticks holding the, up. They told me get this "there is no damage to the truck», ok so why are they calling right? Anyways, I work for a Nursery & I know the tree they are talking about is $75.00 full retail in the store I work for. They charged my Debit Card $700.00 for a $75.00 tree BEFORE I even got a hold of them to dispute the fact that I didn’t even hit anything. Now they won’t change anything, & customer service will call me back within 48 hours, I can’t even call them, they are going to call me??? What the heck?? In the mean time I now don’t have a dime to my name because they are trying to get free money! This company needs to be taking to court over a freaking tree that I didn’t even hit. They told me there is no damage to the truck, & they have an employee say they saw me, but that’s crap, I think the employee did it & is covering there tracks. What happen to honest companies? I know this isn’t legal, it can’t be.

I will never Use U-Haul Again!

Behrouz Roomiany- July 24 07
I have not received any answer back yet!!!

1) Tursday July 12th- My first E-mail

I made a reservation for a van on 06/14/2007 with maria at u-haul branch in bakersfield.

I told her my destination is monroe, wa. She said that she can not find monroe in the list and she wanted to know if we have u-haul location in monroe. I told her that i'm pretty sure that there is one in there.

She still was telling me that she can not find anything for monroe. Finally she told me that she will put seattle as my destination but i can drop the van off in monroe if i saw a u-haul location .

Few days later when i was sighning the paper work, i asked her again about the destination and she again asured me that as long as i return the with no more milage or less amount of gas there is no problem.

Today i check my credit card on line and i noticed that there is an additional $553.30 charge from u-haul branch in monroe, wa.

I called the bakersfield branch and and i talked to april mallwood. She introduced herself as the manager assistant. She said you can not do any thing because you sighned the contract for seattle not monroe. I explained what had happend in detail. But she said she can not do any thing about it. I requested to talk to the manager but she said she is not in. Then she put me on hold and after few minutes she came back on line and told me that she can refund the charges back in to my account but u-haul has to change the destination now from seattle to monroe which has different fee and is way more expensive.

To me it sounds like u-haul staff made a mistake but i have to pay for it. Customer service in that location is horrible. I mention just few of them:

1- The van that i got was dirty and was not washed. Windshiled was full of dead bugs. When i mention this to felisha, who is the lot attendance, she said that they are short in staff and i'm the only one in here. She was complaining about william mcthrow who is the manager/owner. Finally they did not wash the van. I have pictures and video film.

2- I was promised a locker for the cargo. When i asked maria, she went to a guy who was covering for the manager and he said "we don't have any locker, buy one".

3- I wanted to put my car on transporter. I asked felisha if any one can show me how to secure the car on the transporter. She said "as you can see i'm the only one and i have no time to show you this. You can go to service department and get help. Customer safety is not a concern for this u-haul branch.

4- We came to inspectin part and again i was told to go out and do the inspection yourself and mark the green sheet. I did it my self and i wrote it down.

This was the worst u-haul customer service that i've ever seen. Your web site says that i will recieve a respound with in next 24 hrs. I hope so.
B. Roomiany

2) July 12th- first respond

Dear b. Roomiany,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your rental concerns. We apologize for the difficulties experienced and any inconveniences caused by this matter.

Your communication has been forwarded to the office responsible for the area in which your situation is based. We have requested they review your situation and contact you in two business days.

Customer satisfaction is vital to our success. Again, we appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention.

Sincerely,
Katy arnold
U-haul customer service

3) Monday july 16th- my second e-mail

Hi katy,

Thanks your response to my e-mail. You have mentioned that with in next two business days u-haul will contact me. I received your response on thu, 12 jul 2007. Today is monday and i have not received any response from u-haul yet. Please let me know why is that?

Regards,
B. Roomiany

Every time I (or my family) has used Uhaul we have had major problems. First, the uhaul truck unexpectedly died, luckily we got off the highway before the truck stopped dead with no warning. Second, towing a trailer from central Oregon to just north of San Francisco, we drove for 2 hours and when we stopped to get gas we found the tread of the trailer tires peeling off in large chunks. When we went to a nearby uhaul dealer they said we would have to unload and then reload a new trailer. Two hours later, after several confrontations, we got the tires changed. And the third is the best. In mid September, I was towing a trailer from Austin, TX to Sonoma County, CA. No more than 45 minutes outside of Austin the trailer detached from the hitch (not installed by uhaul) on the car and I managed to come to a safe stop but the trailer wedged itself under the car and I was unable to move forward to get off the road (to a safer place). I had bought the insurance with the trailer and as I left the uhaul store I was given a brochure that said call this uhaul hotline if you have problems and we'll help you get back on the road. Of course, when I called the hotline they put us on hold and then said we'll call you back in 30 minutes. They called right back to test the phone number and then never called back. I got a call two days later from the insurance company with a claim number. The positive side of the story is that some very kind men stopped and helped us. With their help we were back on the road within the hour. Thankfully strangers stopped to help because uhaul and their help hotline were useless. I know there are few companies to choose from when you need to move your belongings, but I would against renting from uhual. In my experience, there is a good chance the uhaul vehicle you would be driving or towing is barely road worthy and in the event you need assistance you cannot count on uhaul in my experience.

Nicole
Santa Rosa, CA

I reserved a two wheel car dolly to transport a new vehicle from Toledo, Ohio, home to Hudson, Wi. My reservation was to pick up in Sylvania, Ohio on 7/2/06. The 1800gouhaul service rep stated that someone would call me the day before to arrange time and location. I gave my credit card # and my wife and I took a not very fuel efficient truck to Toledo to pull the new car home.

On 7/2 I called to get location because no-one had called me the day before as they indicated they would. I was told that I would be called by 5 p.m.. I was ok with not picking it up until 7/3, even though my reservation was for 7/2. Nobody called by 5 pm. and when I called 1-800-gouhaul I was told the store in Sylvania/Toledo was closed but that they e-mailed the store to call me between 7 and 9 am on 7/3. Fine.

Of course nobody called me by 9 am on 7/3 so I called 1-800-go uhaul for help. Unfortunately I do not remember the lady's name that I spoke with, but she actually said " you keep calling the Arizona service center, I don't know what you think I can do for you in Toledo, Ohio."

I don't usually loose my cool, but I am 17 or more hours and 3 phone calls (on hold alot) into this and I said "i'm just f---ing calling the 800 customer service number that got me started in this deal." At that point she said if you want to swear at me your reservation is cancelled, and hung up on me.

I called the store in Sylvania, Ohio and told them what was up, she agreed to cancel without charging me the $50 cancellation fee - which is great because u-haul customer service actually cancelled it.

My wife and I drove the two vehicles home, cost me an additonal $11.35 in toll roads - $80.85 for fuel in the vehicle I was supposed to be towing, and the truck I did not need to drive now (for towing purposes) cost an additional $198 in fuel over our other vehicle I could have driven. Minus the $170 in rental fee I did not have to pay - this u-hual experience actually cost me $120.20. IT COST ME $120.20 to try to do business with u-haul.