Milwaukie U-Haul Moving & Storage

Before I begin, don’t trust the high-​star reviews on UHaul’s own website for each individual location. I gave this location a one-​star review and they bumped it up to three stars before posting it on the website.
To make a long story as short as possible: as usual things with UHaul/​UBox start off well, and then end very badly. The UBox arrived on time, and I got a voicemail to come and unload it. I called back and told them the UBox would be in storage for a few months and I wasn’t unloading it right away, which they said was no problem; and then the same guy called back the next two days telling me to come unload my UBox.
At first they told me I need to call the day before I come down to access my UBox; and then when I did that, every single time the person who answered the phone gave me attitude like they didn’t understand why I was calling. The first time I accessed the UBox one of the staff told me I don’t really need to call in advance because my UBox will always be in the front. Of course the next time I accessed my UBox (to start unloading it) I still called ahead of time just to be safe, and I could still hear them audibly rolling their eyes that I was calling about it (even the manager gave me audible hassles about it). When I went down to access the UBox it was way in the back of the storage facility, so I had to wait for it to be brought out (and I was on a timeline with the Zipvan).
After I was done unloading stuff from the UBox I told the guy I would be back the next day at the same time. When I went back the next day there was a forklift blocking my UBox and two sets of other angry customers in the parking lot (I overheard one say to the person she was with, «You’re not going to believe this — I am so f*cking pissed right now!!»). I waited 10 minutes in plain sight in the Zipvan for them to move the forklift, so when they didn’t I parked the Zipvan and started carrying big, heavy boxes across the parking lot from the UBox to the moving van. All three employees who were there saw me doing this, and not one of them did anything about it (i.e. move the forklift, offer me a handtruck).
In the end I was overcharged five weeks for UBox storage, and both times I asked someone at this location about it they said «we’re just a franchise, you have to call the national customer service number». When I called the national customer service number they opened a customer action about the overcharge and told me the regional manager would call me back; and then the manager of this location left me a voicemail saying I wasn’t overcharged and the dispute was closed. I had to call back again to have the ticket reopened, and I had to explain the whole situation over again (basically the originating location double-​charged me and started a second billing cycle). I was told a second time that the regional manager would call me back about the situation. So this morning the general manager of this location (I confirmed she’s not the regional manager) left another voicemail saying she doesn’t understand what I’m saying and that I wasn’t overcharged (and that they don’t give partial refunds for unused UBox storage, even though that’s not the reason I was overcharged). I’m going to have to dispute the charges with my bank because no one at UHaul understands basic math when it’s outside of taking your money.
If you need to rent something from UHaul do yourself a huge favor and make the journey to UHaul of St. Johns, where the staff and manager there are actually concerned about customer service and earning your business.

These are good folk. The manager, «Michelle», always went out of her way to accommodate me (I’m an ‘air-​head’ and often forget to pay rent on time). The rest of the staff is courteous and have great attitudes. I move a lot (across states), so I have plenty experience with different u-​haul sites.

1. They charged me 600 bucks for a hitch placement on my car and didn’t set the ball height as I agreed on.
2. I went back so they could «fix» the height. In which they added on a towing device used for BIKE RACKS (I already had my trailer attached to my vehicle for reference, so they knew what I was towing), which is ILLEGAL. It’s not made for what I was carrying (which I found out later).
3. After reattaching the hitch to my trailer, they DID NOT make sure the ball was securely down, and told me I was connected and free to go. Which caused my TRAILER TO DETACH on the road, severing my electrical, eating away at my safety chains, and terrifying the living hell out of me. I could have KILLED someone. It would’ve been my fault. And on a BIKE RACk hitch that clearly states «NOT FOR TOWING.»
4. They came to the scene and did a half ass job fixing it, I still have a safety chain that’s over half chewed away, and the rubber cap that goes over my electrical adapter on my car was never replaced. Not even an apology.
5. I had to go to a different hitch place to get a PROPER FITTING, LEGAL hitch.
6. I tried contacting their general manager, even on her personal phone. I never received a call back or email (I emailed them pictures from my phone when it happened).
I have severe anxiety and PTSD now while driving with my trailer.

I had a great experience with this crew. We called on a Sat. morning desperate for a second pod because all of our stuff didn’t fit in the first one! They had it ready for us on a trailer for pick up in an hour. Five days later we were ready to pick it up but needed a truck to go with it. Everything was ready to go, only took us five minutes to do the paper work and we were on our way. Oh and when we returned it full, we neglected to put a lock on it, so they did it for us at no charge. And that is all darn good for a team of young women! Even got a $ 54.00 refund for the storage time I didn’t use.

Very helpful & really good people to deal with during a recent move. Would go back again

Great customer service. These guys are great!!! They helped us get our trailer working correct and charged a very fair price. Will definitely go back.

This is not necessarily a review of this individual U-​haul facility, but rather the entire structure of the way that the U-​box program works. Though I did have a couple of problems with the facility itself (one staff member told me that boxes would be delivered no later than 2 p.m., however my dropoff time ended up being around 3:30 p.m.; my credit card number was lost at one point; and they lost the number on the outside of the box… hopefully I do end up getting my stuff back).
Here’s what’s silly about the entire system, though — they won’t just take all of your information at once. I knew when I wanted the box delivered, when I wanted it picked up again, and when and where I wanted it to be delivered so that I could unpack. U-​haul won’t let you tell them this information. Instead, I had to wait to be called about when they’d deliver the box, call them after I’d finished loading it to schedule pickup (and as a result, the box sat in front of my apartment in the street for a week while I started my cross-​country drive), and now the box is still waiting to make its way to its final destination. Can I schedule box delivery yet? Of course not, because until the box arrives at the warehouse, they don’t have me in their system (!). I understand that these things take time, but the date I want my things dropped off is about a month away. I’m sure that what will end up happening is that once the box DOES arrive and I want to schedule it for delivery, I’ll have to wait until a week or so after I’ve already been in my new place in order to accommodate their delivery schedule. There has to be a better system.

This team is AWESOME! They are 100% devoted to customer service and have been absolutely fantastic to work with.
1) I received late fees for storage containers that hadn’t shipped yet — they got them reversed without me asking (offered it).
2) They delivered my storage container to Salem and waited 30 minutes so I could put my couches in so they could take it back that day and save me money on delivery charges.
3) They understood when my bank declined my payments due to «suspicious activity» and daily usage limits.

These guys were great — efficient, hard working and knowledgeable. I rented a pick up from them to move my uhaul pods which were stored at their site.

Really helpful in facilitating any kind of move you are doing. I was really scared about driving a moving truck + trailer with car for the first time, but they set me up with everything and made me feel secure about the move, and everything went smoothly. Because of that, I’ll always use Uhaul for any kind of move I have to do.