Richard G. and Jerri Lynn Boyd

568 W. Friedrich Street

Rogers City, Mich. 49779

richboyd "at" Speednetllc.com

Send complaints to Uhaul using this link.

Uhaul Disaster

THE TRUTH ABOUT UHAUL'S INSURANCE

I rented a 17’ truck and an auto transporter on March 6, 2003 for a one way move from Taft, CA (Bakersfield) to Midland, Texas. After paying the $1220.51, I went out and inspected the truck and transporter. The lights on the transporter did not work, so Dave cut a few wires and said I was good to go. When I got in the truck, I noticed that the radio did not work. He told me that I had the only diesel on the lot, take it or leave it. On the evening of March 7 (Friday), I loaded my 1992 Mazda MX-3 onto the transporter. Again, the lights did not work. I had a left running light and a right turn signal only. I called the “Emergency road service” (ref#1103431) and only after arguing with them for two hours (I was scheduled to leave at 5:00 am on 3/8, and it was far too dangerous to drive with no tail lights, and the customer service rep wanted me to wait until 9:00am to take the truck into Bakersfield to get the lights fixed), did they finally agree to send someone to fix the problem. At 12:30, mechanic #1 finally showed up. (He was given the wrong phone number by U-Haul and could not find my address). Finally, at 2:15am, I had lights. I left with my son, daughter and 3 dogs (two dogs rode in the car on the transporter) and headed for Texas. The truck ran very sluggish going over the grapevine through Los Angeles, although the hot line indicated that due to the steepness of the hill and the truck being a diesel, this was normal. At about 5:30pm, we were just about 13 miles west of Phoenix, AZ, white smoke began billowing out the rear of the truck. We immediately pulled off the highway in Goodyear, AZ and again called the hotline (ref#1104559) and after about 3 hours, mechanic #2 showed up. He indicated that the front seal was going out, put in ½ quart of transmission fluid and said that we would have no problem getting to Midland. I also showed him my car which was covered in transmission fluid that had spewed out the back of the truck. While I was on the phone with my husband, he proceeded to say to my 11-year old daughter “why the hell would anyone want to move to Midland, Texas?” I grew up there and you couldn’t pay me ay amount of money to go back. I told him that I felt he was just putting a band aid on the problem and he said “that is what he was there to do.” He left the rest of the transmission fluid and said to check it periodically, if we noticed it low, put the rest of the bottle in. Don’t worry, he said, we would make it to Texas. Upon reaching Tucson, it was 11:30 pm; my kids and I were tires. My husband and a friend drove in and met us, as by now he was worried about us making the rest of the trip by ourselves. 

We left at about 6:30 am on 3/9. We reached Esperanza, Texas at about 4:30 when again, white smoke started billowing out the back of the truck. We stopped at a truck stop in Esperanza and checked the transmission fluid, which there was none. We put ½ quart of the transmission fluid as mechanic #2 instructed, filled up with diesel and drove off. The truck would not go over 35 mph, and smoke was now coming up through the cab of the truck where we were sitting. After going through border patrol check, they told us that there was a town just ¼ mile. We pulled off the road in Sierra Blanca, Texas and made our third emergency roadside call (ref# 1105427). It took the mechanic 5 hours to get from the next town which was 40 miles away. Mechanic #3, indicated to us that he owned the U-Haul shop in this town, but he was only sent to check out the truck, not to work on it. He puts in a quart of transmission fluid; test drives the truck and tells us we need to stay overnight. Brian, a supervisor from U-Haul El Paso, called me at the gas station. He told me that if the truck could not be driven, he would need to send out another truck first thing in the morning. He also stated that mechanic #2 never should have let us leave Arizona. We had to stay in a motel room in town. There were no restaurants open, or stores in this town. The restaurant they did have was only open Monday through Thursday from 11-3. We broke down on Sunday evening. The only payphone would not accept change and the Chevron station did not sell phone cards. I have a 14-year old who was waiting for us in Midland, expecting us to be there Sunday evening. I had no way to let him know what was going on. My father was having prostate cancer surgery Monday morning. We checked into the only known motel and I had to feed my kids a frozen burrito from the Chevron station, beef jerky and bottled water. Tony, who owned the U-Haul shop and a tow truck, assured us that the replacement truck would be heading to us at about 7:00. Brian from El Paso confirmed this. I heard from nobody Monday morning and at 9:00am I started making phone calls. I was assured that the truck was on its way and would be there by 11:00pm. It was being safety certified and the moving crew was picking it up and bringing it to us with a tow truck to take the other truck to El Paso. By 12:15 we saw no truck. I called again and was told by a very rude person that the truck would be there when it got there. I called Tony at his shop as we had to check out of our rooms by 11:00. He said “well you better check out of the room and find some shade to stay under till the truck arrives. It arrived to us at 3:30 that afternoon. By the time we were transloaded into the 25’ (not a 17’ that my stuff was all snuggly in) truck that was not diesel, but regular gas, it was 6:30pm. And, none of the rear lights or the auto transporter lights was working. Fortunately for us, our friends had turned off the interstate and happened to find us standing by the side of the road Monday afternoon while waiting for our belongings to be transloaded. I also called Dave and Rich at the Bakersfield location where I rented my truck only to be told “I cannot do anything for you until you have returned the equipment. Call me after you return the equipment to Midland.” We will work something out then. 

My 22 hour trip had turned into a disastrous 3 days. My kids and I and our three dogs were forced to stand on the roadside at the mercy of mechanics only to compound my problems. By Monday morning, I was so sick, from being stuck along the roadside for hours, I could hardly stand up. My family, with whom I was to check in with, was worried sick. I was treated terribly by U-Haul’s customer service people only for them to apologize to me as if they were reading off a script. Same line, different “agent.” 

We finally arrived in Midland, Texas at 11:30 pm Monday evening. We stayed up and unloaded to truck, had it back to U-Haul on 3/11 with the required half tank of gas that I left California with. Fred, the General Manager, reimbursed my receipts for my out of pocket expenses and gave me a claim form to fill our. He inspected the truck and also inspected my car which by this time was saturated with transmission fluid. He told us where to go have it washed. We took it up to the car wash and upon rinsing it off, the paint started peeling off my car in strips. The tint on my back window was ruined as well and the headlights and turn lights in the front were ruined. We took the car back to Midland U-Haul and Fred gave me the number to the insurance company to make a claim. I spoke with Dave Fields from republic Western Insurance. An adjuster came to my house, took pictures, and wrote a report. I also talked to Rich from Bakersfield again, he said he would read my complaint and call me back. Two days later, no call. I called him. He said he spoke with his boss, Todd Ferrera from Fresno, CA; they were going to wait until my car was taken care of before they discussed refunding any of my money for the truck only. I did not want the money I paid for the auto transporter as I had no problems with it once the lighting was taken care of. I called Todd Ferrera and asked him about my refund. He asked me to claim the truck refund on the same claim as my car. I called Dave Fields and relayed this information. On Monday 3/17, Dave called back and offered me $671.00 to repaint my car, tint and lights. Because, he said, my car is 11 years old and has 137,000 miles on it. The repairs will cost me 1800.00. The blue book value for my car is $1420.00. It is in very good condition and it gets us all the places we need to get to. 

I have ruined furniture and belongings from our property shifting because of the extra room in a bigger truck. The movers put fragile boxes clearly marked “glass” on the bottom of the truck, where other items fell on top of them from having too much room in a bigger truck. U-Haul and their representatives keep telling me “you got from point A to point B.” 

I totally feel that I should be entitled to at least $1,300.00 to repair my car and the refund of 986.00 + taxes on the amount. Three emergency calls, two of them major breakdowns and the absolute inconvenience of my children and animals being forced to stand on the side of a road with no amenities surely constitute this refund.

Atexasoilman@aol.com

     U-HAUL SUCKS BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU ...
                                                                    & ME.

This person above is lying, Uhaul pays their employees minimum wage

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