U-haul of University City

I didn’t get my uhaul from this location, but I dropped it off here after unloading in west philly. Wait time was minimal and staff were friendly. Best of all, they didn’t charge me extra for anything like I’d expected.

Rented a 14″ truck to pick up some mattresses before the furniture store closed, but in the rush, I left my bike inside their store.
Returned first thing next day, and everyone played dumb and said they didn’t see the bike.
Apparently Cameron Scott was the peon who closed the store that night when the shift manger went home early.
After I got uHaul corporate to request the store manager to pull the security tapes for that night, everyone changed their story, and then Cameron Scott called me personally (at work), to admit he «left the bike outside, thinking I’d return (and magically know to look back in the Employees Only area of the lot) to pick it up».
When Cameron Scott realized he’d be paying me back for a $ 400+ Mongoose, he changed his story yet again, saying «I thought your bike was only $ 100 max, but I shouldn’t be responsible for a bike that expensive».
His manager agreed to garnish his paychecks, and I could pick up cash installments at no interest.
When i came to pick up my first payment, Cameron Scott showed up with my bike, which «his brother had (conveniently) found around the neighborhood «.
I know uHaul’s policies assume no responsibility for lost/​stolen items.
I know was at fault for leaving my property on their goon-​yard.
Now, I want others to know one more reason why they should never do business with uHaul:
Cameron Scott (267.320.5640) is a liar and a thief.
cheers,
Philadelphia Police Report # 1 418 051 763

Great staff! Be sure you check your beginning mileage & gas level. The staff will make adjustments if you point them out. That way, you won’t have to put in more gas than you used.

Well here goes my first one-​star review (didn’t know if I’d ever actually get to one of these)!
The last thing anyone wants to find out after an exhausting day of moving is that they were wrongfully charged extra money for U-haul’s mistake. Basically, after we returned the truck after a long day of heavy manual labor (which usually comes hand-​in-​hand with renting those giant trucks), we left the facilities only to be greeted with an email stating that we were being charged for double the number of days we had actually rented the truck. By the time they had processed it and sent us this email, we were already back home so we called them on the phone to sort things out. On the phone, they gave us the joyful (sarcasm) news that even though it was their mistake, they couldn’t do anything about it unless we drove back to the U-​haul location to figure it out.
So we had to lug ourselves back into our cars and return all the way back to the facilities, but they didn’t even refund us the full amount. We were too tired to protest much, and later I found other websites with reviews about this U-​haul location that also mentioned being scammed/​charged extra for a variety of reasons. Thus, I’m very wary of this place and how often these «mistakes» might occur.
On top of general slow and poor quality of service, additional mistake charges to the credit card and so much trouble to clear up their mistake a definite no-​no in my book!

Probably the worst service ever in the entire world. Extremely slow and non compliant workers. Takes forever. If I could give no stars I would

Slowest and least helpful uhaul location I’ve ever been to. Also there’s barely parking for customers which is a necessity because of how long it takes to be helped.

I got a van to move my items between two apartments with 4 blocks of distance! Also both apartments were very close to the u-​haul office. But I needed to keep the van for 5 hours, because I needed to clean up the apartment. When returning the van at 6:50 pm, I was very tired, and forgot to check the move in miles. I asked the guy who was working there to take it, and he first told me to go to the office, but then he changed his mind and said he will take care of everything, I don’t need to be worried, and I will get the receipt in my email. Later I noticed that I was charged for 43 miles!!! while in the worst case I didn’t drive more than 4 — 6 miles!!! I reported the situation in the morning to U-​Haul, and they refused, saying that the mile status was correct. I am sure the guy has used the van for his benefits after me. So be aware to check and record move in and move out miles. For the next time, I will take photos from inside the van, the miles, and cleanness both in time of moving in and moving out! I am really disappointed, and again learned to not trust anyone here! :(

Went here to move stuff to-​and-​from a new apartment in West Philly. Great customer service, no issues with the van, checking in and out was a breeze. I ended up using the van longer than I expected to by about 2 hours– they were fine with it, just told me to call them if I went over and charged me accordingly.
Low hassle, worth looking into.

U-​Haul gets a bad rap because of the quality of its staff, upkeep of its trucks etc. But the University City location is a pleasant surprise.
When busy, any U-​Haul location can get somewhat tedious to manage. They have 2 – 3 staff members only so the moment one of the them steps out to go inspect a truck or gets busy with a customer, the availability declines by 33−50%. U-​Haul doesn’t allow you to pick the time for pick-​up in advance, and I was automatically assigned 12 noon. I received the e-​mail assigning my reservation to this location only the day before the reservation even though I had already picked it at the time of the reservation. Not sure what the deal is there. But so I called up this place and told her that 12 noon would not work and that I would need it at 8 am. She promptly made the change, was very cordial, and I received a confirmatory e-​mail seconds later.
This place has 2 people at most times which helps keep the line moving.
The morning of the reservation, it turned out they did not have the furniture dolly I had ordered at the time of reservation. This is a standard U-​Haul problem. In fact it appears that the accessories chosen at the time of reserving the vehicle don’t actually show up in the system the chaps at the store have access to. (When I went to return the truck in a different city, someone picking one up was in line ahead of me, and she had the same problem.) But the place the University City location shines is what Stephen, the manager did next. He made sure I got a furniture dolly to take with me.
The truck was new, with 14K miles on it. It drove fine.

Be careful with early reservations! I had a reservation for 7am when the store was supposed to open, and nobody came to open the store until after 8. Luckily, I was not on a tight schedule. The fill-​ins who came were apologetic and let me keep the truck out for a few extra hours.

This is a decent U-​Haul spot. I rented a truck from there once. It went pretty smooth. The customer service was good.
I went another time to get some moving stuff. My gripe is they charge a premium, like their boxes and packing paper are better than someone else.
But the customer service was good. He even threw in a couple of free hanger boxes bars which I was ready to pay for. But heck, since the packing paper was $ 10, I felt like I paid for them and then some.

We used this UHaul location twice to rent trucks for moving. Both times, everything went fine & the trucks worked. I’ve had much worse experiences with other UHaul locations that gave us trucks/​trailers that weren’t working properly, or didn’t have the equipment at the location we booked, so this UHaul is OK by me.
Note: For both moves, we rented on an off-​weekend (not close to the last/​first day of the month). I’m not sure how good they’d be at busier times.

Staff were friendly, but I had to wait in line for almost an hour — AN HOUR — just to pick up the truck that I had already reserved. They had one person working the desk and many many angry customers. When I asked what was going on, I was told that «corporate» gives them a budget for staff and they aren’t allowed to bring more employees on during busy periods. What kind of bizarre business is this?

Scheduled them to install a hitch on my car; paid extra for it to be Fed Ex’d in to them because of tight time frame before leaving on vacation. Showed up to have it installed, after driving 25 minutes to get there. Manager at front desk looks at kid working the cash register and says «didn’t you call them to say the hitch hadn’t come in?» «Nope, I was too busy.» I asked them to call Fed Ex to track the hitch and see if it would come in later in the day. That was too much trouble for them. This place deserves its generally bad rep on customer service.

I was pretty worried about having to deal with this place, based on the other reviews. I was way over-​stressed about my move in general, and my worries about this place were not helping. Unfortunately, at the time, they were the only option for picking up my U-​Box (like a pod) in Philly, so I had no choice.
When the day came, I showed up, and my rental pick-​up and U-​Box on the trailer were all set, waiting for me. They quickly handled the paperwork, answered my questions, and the manager even helped me adjust the mirrors. Complete opposite of what I was expecting! Returning the truck and U-​Box later that day was straightforward and painless.
My only complaint is that they are quite bad about picking up their phone. I mean, you might have to try calling many times, after different times of the day before getting through. Also, the neighborhood’s not great, but I never felt unsafe walking from the subway stop at 46^th and Market.

Ah, U-​Haul. I love your sticky miserable aisles and interminable waits. NOT! I reserved a trailer and scheduled a hitch appointment online. I paid for the hitch online. In the store, they assured me I had not paid and charged me again for the hitch. Come to find out they had double charged me. Joke’s on me! It was very difficult to get my money refunded– 2 calls to corporate and no one could do anything. Finally I got my money on the morning I picked up the trailer. I can’t blame the employees– they are a product of their environment. I know when I move again I will have to use U-​Haul. But I will not enjoy it.

I used U-​Haul to rent a van to move a piano.
I used the online interface to preorder my van.
In store the employees were friendly and efficient. The entire rental process went smoothly.

U-​Haul of West Philly is the worst U-​Haul franchise in the United States. That includes all the self-​storage units, used cars lots, and beauty salons that rent out U-​Haul on the side. This one is the worst.
When we moved here it took me 1.5 hours just to return a truck. Most of that was spent watching one of the Nigerian mobsters that work here stare at a computer screen in between smoke breaks.
Never, ever go here. You can borrow my truck if you are that desperate.

Moving isn’t fun. Especially moving that starts at 7:00 Saturday morning. Especially when there was a party the night before. You get the idea.
Anyway, despite my exhaustion (and anxiety from reading these other reviews!) my Uhaul experience couldn’t have been better. I arrived promptly at 7 and trucks were already driving away. During my short wait in line, I listened as the manager worked out a solution for a customer who was having problems with his reservation. Moments later, I was out the door! The same manager assisted me, and he was friendly, helpful, and willing to take the time to answer my questions even though the place was busy.
Returning the truck and paying was equally painless, though I had forgotten to factor in mileage and insurance (optional) when figuring out how much it would cost. Don’t make the same mistake! $ 20 for a 10 foot truck isn’t Really $ 20 for a 10 foot truck!

OK, This review is based on my U-​haul rental in February…
wait for it…
1993.
I was a student at Penn and moved out (one way) to San Francisco. (Wow — I can’t believe I came back!)
The entire experience was a miserable wreck — literally and firguatively.
The truck was filthy and had a governor (speed max) on it so we could not go above 55 — which on cross-​country 60 mph roads (where most travel at 70 – 80) was downright dangerous.
NEVER AGAIN!