I am supposed to be moving to Vernon Hills, IL tomorrow. I reserved U-Haul truck for this two weeks ago. I went to the closest U-haul dealer and reserved it in person because I have had bad experiences reserving rentals via Internet or 800 numbers. I was told the truck would be ready at 8:00 AM on August 1. U-haul just called to say they are experiencing delays and they will let me know when I can have a truck and where I have to go to get it. I talked to three levels of supervisors. Actually, I yelled at three levels of supervisors. I was told that this is the way U-haul has done reservations for 65 years: I am not guaranteed a time or place of delivery. What is a reservation anyway?
When I got fed up and said, "goodbye" I was told, "You have no right to be rude to me sir." I suppose U-haul does have a right to be rude to me. Apparently I was supposed to say, "Thank you, sir! May I have another?"
The middle-level supervisor told me every college kid in America is returning to school this weekend and I am behind them because they made they reservations six months ago. Really? They are all returning two weeks before school starts and planned their return at the beginning of last semester? America is full of on-top-of-things college kids these days.
All I got from any of the U-haul people is that they will call me and tell me when and where I can get a truck.
I checked with Ryder..nothing
Budget...got a truck for 2.5 times U-haul's price...same price as U-haul if I wait until Monday.
Penske...got a truck for 5 times U-haul's price any day I want it.
I have my two daughters and sons-in-law coming tonight and 5 friends that are supposed to be here at 8:30 in the morning to load me up. Two of them have cleared their day so they can drive to the new house and unload too. The entire house is packed and ready to go.
It won't help, but I worked for them a long time ago. Unless they changed a whole lot...I'll bet they are actually looking for a truck for you. What does suprise me is the local store that you used for the reservation didn't have the sense to warn you about back to school rush.
As you found out, its not just U-Haul that is swamped with people needing trucks at this time of year. The end of the month, Back to school and End of school, spring break, Christmas - are always a big drain on resources.
Like any business with a limited number of resouces thay can't have 50,000 trucks to service the rush days - they wouldn't have room to store them all the rest of the year! What the Manager at the store should have done is warned you that when it comes to these "Perfect storm" periods it actually more about 1st come first serve, no matter the reservation - you just can't hold a truck when people are screaming in your ear and they see a truck sitting in the lot. He could have ;let you have the truck the day before or even a couple of days before, then discounted or gave you a free extra couple of days if you could park it at home - heck, you could have be packed and ready to start driving.
The fact is, no one turns away business if someone is at the counter, with money in hand. Believe it or not, "no shows" happen all the time.
I know it don't help and you have good reason to be pissed, but like I said - I worked for them a long time ago. If I held a reserved truck on the lot, someone with more juice could and did go to the division manager to get authorization to take the truck ... whether I liked it or not. Thems the fact. Sometimes you have to know the system to "work" the system to get what you need, when you need it, with the least amount of hassle.
What really blows - the U-haul places around those schools will be full of trucks starting tomorrow morning. They will run out of room to store them, probably by noon Saturday. They'll need to dispatch drivers to run them back (empty) - so, have faith, unless you really gave them a ration - you should have a truck early Sunday ... maybe even by Saturday night. Keep calling or do a drive by.
I feel your pain. Been there (both sides of the counter) - its no fun either way.
This message has been edited by beoweolf on Jul 31, 2009 6:24 PM
...you might want to give some of the local guys a call? Most towns have, regional or local truck rental places, Even some of the Ford or other car/truck sellers or dealers have trucks that they rent out or lease. Maybe you have friend that works with deliveries? When it comes to "got to get a move on" think outside the box. ....
You could also check the associate truck rental places, some neighborhood stores have trucks, especially if they are close to beig apartment building areas. Then there are storage places, like public storage, they rent trucks too, usually for local only - so it not as easy as dropping it off where you are moving to, the gas to bring it back might be a problem. But at least you would have a truck and could make use of all the help.
Damn! I hope all turned out OK! I feel you man! I left Tri-City Oregon yesterday morning and drove 240 miles on Hwy 101 trying to find a gawddamm HOTEL room! EVERY hotel we passed from Bandon OR to Beaverton was SOLD OUT!
Man was I pissed... But at least I never made reservations! Asshats at U-haul should have got you a truck! Like you said, WTF does RESERVATION mean anyway?
Thanks for the good wishes and good advice guys. I got moved on Saturday, but not without some more drama. Here is how it happened:
We had called everywhere we could find to call Friday afternoon and evening, including several more calls to U-Haul. We went to bed Friday night with no truck promised to us. When we got up early Saturday morning, my wife called Budget (their reservation center opens earlier than the others). They said that the computer showed that the Budget outlet in Valparaiso, IN had 24' trucks, but it was too late to reserve one. The place opened at 8:00. My daughter and I went there to be there to be there when it opened.
The place was hopping, including a lady who had driven over from Illinois because Budget had not honored her reservation. The guy told me all the 24's were spoken for, but I could have a 16. I knew it wasn't enough, but it was my only option, so I said I would take it. He started getting the paperwork ready and told me that a local rental would be a lot cheaper than one-way and asked if I could return it there. I said yes. About that time a lady who had been helped before me walked back in the door and said, "I told the lady on the phone that I specifically wanted a 16' truck and you gave me a 24'." As the other worker switched trucks for her, I said, "I'll take that 24'." The guy said, "I can't. It has to go to Arizona tomorrow." I said, "I just agreed to do a local rental. I will have it back here tonight." He handed me the key. God answers prayer.
When I got home with the truck, seven guys from my church and my two sons-in-law had all of my possessions in the driveway. We loaded in record time and headed for Illinois. Unloading was slower because I did not have that seven-man crew any more, but we got in. My daughter and son-in-law returned the truck for me on their way back home to Michigan and all is right with the world.
My son-in-law used to be a manager for Enterprise. He says the whole rental industry works the same way. They are told promise whatever the customer wants and then scramble to deliver it, or steer the customer to something else. A reservation is really just a statement to get you to walk in the door. They will rent you whatever they can when you get there. He was also told to always service the customer in front of him, even if it means renting something he promised to someone else. Apparently no shows are a big problem for rental companies.
A Happy ending. Finally some good news for a change! The key is - you were flexible and motivated to find a solution ... most folks would have thrown up their hands and fallen into a pit of entitlement and self-pity - spent all their energy on finding someone to blame. Once you accept the fact that the system can sometimes fail, its much easier work around the bumps in the road. Learn to embrace change, its the only way find peace.
The problem with rental business is they make promises based on the promises of their customer. Like you did, you promised to return your truck (which was scheduled to go cross country the next day), based on your situation and accepting your honesty - he released the truck. If you had missed bringing your truck back on time, the guy who had a reservation would have been - well, lets just say, "unpleasant", in trying to explain why his reservation was not honored. However, even though they legally inform you and could enforce charging the customer for a "No show" most of the time they don't. It would be bad business to stick a guy for $$'s just because he missed picking up a truck - even if he was aware of the consequence.
As a customer, you fully expect your reservation to be there when you wanted it. However, if the roles had been reversed or charging for a "no show" was more frequent - you can bet that customer anger would be even worse. If a truck is not bought back on time or is dropped off at the wrong place, runs out of gas, gets in an accident or gets stolen ... it can throw a monkey wrench into a lot of plans all through the system.
We have all heard of Chaos Theory. The basic idea is a small thing, in a distant location, totally unrelated to another - can set off a chain of events, which ultimately will end in major unexpected consequences.
Example: you kid leaves his bicycle in the driveway, you back over it, the extra 10 min. it takes to scream at the kid causes you to miss your normal commute time, which makes you late to work, someone tries to get in touch with you for advice - so they have to call more than once. The end result being ... somewhere in China the trail ends in disaster, because that person was supposed to inspect a building - which later collapsed because he wasn't there to point out a flaw in the structural plans. A direct trail, never realized, started because began when he missed his flight trying to connect to you on the phone. To think, this all could happen because "Lil Sissy or Bubba" forgot to put a bike away one time.
This message has been edited by beoweolf on Aug 3, 2009 12:53 PM
If you find you need a break, your only about 45-50 miles from Waterford. Bring your wife and We'll take you out for a relaxing day on the pontoon boat. I can behave myself, Im not as crazy in real life as I am here i nthe garage as you know from your visit to Woodward
Hey, Dougger. My daughter in law plays the organ at the church, and teaches 1st grade at the public school, her dads a decon at the chruch and her mom just retired from teaching. AND I go to both my grand daughters ballet recitals. I can interact with normal people Dougger. Your just not aware of it because your not really normal
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