U-Haul: An Important Public Service Announcement

[Aloha_Shooter]

It seems sort of like PODS. What went wrong?

[brutal]

U-Boxes!

Doh. R.I.F.

[speedysst]

Its irritating when someone says "Dont do this" with no explanation. Curious minds want to know!!

[driver]

When I used to haul LTL freight we did a lot of u- boxes. And I saw a lot of them busted open. None of their locations have docks so they set them in the trailer and then shove them in and later drag them back out with a hook on a rope. Not much clearance on either side. A little twist and it binds and then boom your u-box just busted open inside some common carriers trailer. I would have warned against using them if I knew anyone was considering it. Sorry for your loss and headaches trying to get any satisfaction. Or maybe they just lost your box? That happens too.

[Bailey Guns]

There almost isn't enough bandwidth.

And just to be clear these are the big, wooden, P.O.D.S.-type boxes. Not cardboard moving boxes.

The U-Boxes are flimsy, usually in poor condition, missing parts, dirty, and not weather-proof. And they're expensive. And U-Haul customer service tells you one thing but does another. Ok...the expense part. We knew what we were getting into when we decided to go with them. No excuse there. But...I was told, "We'll deliver four boxes. If you don't use one, you don't pay. And everything is pro-rated. The price includes a month of storage at your destination. If you need additional time you pay for another month at $245 month but it's pro-rated if you don't use the entire month."

Lies, lies and damn lies. We even knew that free month of storage clock starts when you take delivery of the U-Boxes...not when they arrive at your destination. So that "month" is really about 2 weeks.

Basically, everything went pretty well with the delivery, loading and pickup of the boxes at the home we left. When we got here, we needed more storage time while waiting to close on the house. $341 dollars. Almost $100 per month more than quoted. The explanation? "The price increased the first of the year."

OK...whatever.

Now that we're ready to pick up the boxes the new month started on the 5th of Feb. I was there on the 8th (because no one qualified to run the forklift at the U-Haul place was working on the weekend). "$341 please. It's a new month. Your storage fee is due and the system won't allow me to release a box until the fee is paid." I said, "Yeah...I'm gonna be picking them all up in the next day or two. Can we just settle up at the end of the week since everything's gonna be pro-rated?" I was promptly told they don't pro-rate any charges on U-Boxes. After explaining that's not what I was told by the booking agent I was told I'd need to take that up with the booking agent at corporate.

OK...whatever again. I need to get this done.

"How many days will you need the trailer? It's $25 per day or portion of a day."

At that point I decided it was better not to say anything as it's pretty hard to move from jail.

We get the first box unloaded and we're ready for the second one. Because only one fits on a trailer. And the chickenshit company only has one trailer available to use. And it's late on Fri and no one is there that's qualified to unload the empty and load another full one on the only available trailer...which is the one we're using. So...Monday is when I can pick up my next box. Meanwhile, since I'm "using" the trailer (translation: my empty U-Box is on it, sitting in the U-Haul parking lot), the $25 per day fee is lining their pockets and the storage clock is running.

At that point I decided jail wasn't so bad. So, as my mom says, I "pitched a fit". A big, loud one. I even convinced another couple looking to move to go elsewhere for their moving service by explaining the type of customer service they'll get from U-Haul. Finally, the manager of the store, who looked to be about 14, came out to talk to me. I have to admit, the terrified look on his face empowered me to be an even more menacing a-hole. And it worked. Temporarily at least.

He agreed to not charge me any additional per day fees on the trailer usage but insisted he couldn't do anything about pro-rating the storage charges because of the way some system is set up. He also "found" someone qualified to run a forklift and accomplish the monumental task of:

• lifting the empty U-Box off the trailer. To be fair, he had to remove the securing strap first.
• placing the empty box just removed from the trailer on the ground.
• lifting a full box on to the trailer. Again...the strap thing.
• parking and turning off the forklift.

Yeah...it was a pretty grueling 15 mins.

Anyway, that's where we stand. I still have two more of these sons-a-bitches to empty, I'll need to take a second mortgage on the brand new house to pay the bill, and then I can wash my hands of this awful, awful company.

And by the way...this is the same U-Haul company who's truck went tits up on us near Burley, ID, stranding us for two days. The same company who sent two "professional" movers out to off-load the broken truck on to the new truck. These "professionals" couldn't make the contents of the broken 20' truck fit into a 26' truck. We're also out all the money for damaged and destroyed furniture caused by these two rejects. But, of course, it's my fault because I didn't supervise every movement they made.

Fuck U-Haul.

[Bailey Guns]

I know...TL;DR. But you axed for it.

[Irving]

Well, you're out of Colorado. Silver lining?

[ben4372]

Good you explained. Had you not, someone would have amended your suggestion to include anything U-haul related. Super crappy company.

[brutal]

Need a renter to help offset the costs?

Count your blessings you're now in Idaho.

I'm jelly.

[Bailey Guns]

Need a renter to help offset the costs?

Count your blessings you're now in Idaho.

I'm jelly.

Naw...the house has in CO has sold. But we had several people offering stupid money to rent the house to use as a grow place.