U-Haul

Wow, Alicia and Garrett were on it. We got in late Friday, they were fast, got us unhooked quickly and friendly as ever after our long tiring trip. It of course was raining hard here in the Northwest and they were smiling and greeted us as if it was a great sunny day. I recommend these two immensely thank you Uhaul.

This review is for the trailer hitch install. I called to ask about trailer hitch install for my Subaru Forester. They asked if I already had a hitch to install or did I need one. I needed one. They were clear about asking the make and model of my car. The person on the phone (not at the location but it was a sales answering service) said they had that one in stock. I made the appointment. There was no information given to me about different trailer hitches and no pictures of what the final product would look like. When I picked up my car, there is this big trailer hitch below the bumper with UHAUL written all over it. also the adapter size was wrong for my current trailer ball hitch that I own (i have a 1 ¼ and they put on a 2″). it is also the wrong size for most bike racks and other sport things that you do with a Subaru. Not to mention it is shiny gloss paint whereas now I find out that the powdercoated ones are superior. Anyway, I called back to complain about the hitch and they said they only install uhaul ones and since I had not specified the 1 ¼ sport hitch and since they did not have that one in stock, they had put on the one for most towing of trailers by most cars and trucks. They did not ask me beforehand if this was what I wanted and, again, no pictures of what the hitch would look like. They said it is not only non-​refundable but they would charge me to remove it. They did not offer to give me an adapter from 2″-smaller either. I hate this hitch and think that it completely takes away from the look of my new Subaru. There are hidden hitches sold online that you can install yourself. wish i had done that. now it will cost twice as much as UHAUL offered no refund.

After being disappointed about another location (and the vehicle not being available at the time it was reserved MANY weeks before) we called Brett (GM) of this location and within 45 minutes (including our travel time) we were driving away with a vehicle that suited our need perfectly. And 180 miles and less than a day later our moving job was over. Easy.

I am highly disappointed in U-​Haul for their misleading advertising and for their poor customer service.
I reserved a 6X12 trailer today, and expected that it would be ready upon the arrival of my friend, who has a vehicle capable of towing such a trailer. Upon his arrival, Cody stated that he was unable to find the reservation in the system. He also stated that there were no other 6X12 trailers available, however he was able to offer a 5X8 trailer, which my friend accepted under his name (so it was completely separate from the reservation that I had made). When my friend arrived and told me what happened, I printed a copy of my reservation, and we drove back to U-​Haul.
While on the way, we received a call from Kyle, the owner of this location. He informed us that the 6X12 trailer had been rented out 20 minutes before my reservation had been placed, and thus, it would not be available. To clarify: at this point, U-​Haul had first made the statement that they were unable to find our reservation in the system, then now are stating that they had rented out their last 6X12 trailer 20 minutes before our reservation was made. I politely told Kyle that we were five minutes away and that we would speak about the issue when we arrived.
U-​Haul advertises a «reservation guarantee».Their website states that «Should you not receive the equipment size, location, and pickup time you agreed to, U-​Haul will compensate you $ 50.» (
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Upon our arrival, we inquired again about the 6X12 trailer. Kyle told us that our reservation had been made at 3:57, and that the trailer had been rented out at 3:50. Note that this is now a 7 minute gap between the time that my reservation had been made and when the trailer had been rented out to someone else, instead of the 20 minutes that had earlier been stated. I inquired about the U-​Haul guarantee, and Kyle replied that he was unable to provide the $ 50 in liquidated damages because my reservation had not been made 24 hours in advance — a supposed requirement according to the terms and conditions of the guarantee.
Having fully read the terms and conditions between the time that Kyle called to inform me that the trailer would not be available and the time that we arrived at U-​Haul, I knew that there was no such clause. When I requested that Kyle show me where the 24 hour requirement was, he replied that we would pull it up. After looking on his computer for a while, he muttered «I guess it’s not there.» Despite this, he then said that he would be unable to «give us $ 50» because the last trailer had been rented out before our reservation had been placed.
Perhaps my interpretation of the guarantee was flawed: Is the point of a reservation guarantee not to ensure that the proper equipment is available to you upon arrival? And if not, is the $ 50 in liquidated damages not meant to serve as compensation for the inconvenience caused to you because of U-​Haul?
For me, it is completely unacceptable that the owner of a store not be aware of the policies and promises that are made. That being said, I would be willing to forgive a misunderstanding of company policy. However, instead of admitting his mistake, Kyle insisted that he was unable to honor the guarantee because the trailer had been rented our prior to our reservation being made — a stance which completely baffles me, because the entire purpose of a reservation is to ensure that the equipment you need is available to you. Kyle also declined to provide any type of discount for the 5X8 trailer that were forced to rent in place of the 6X12.
This type of business practice is incredibly disappointing. U-Haul’s first mistake was allowing a reservation to be made for a trailer that wasn’t available. Their second mistake was being unable to initially find our reservation. The third was lying about when they had rented out the 6X12 trailer that we had reserved. The fourth was being misinformed about their guarantee policy, and the fifth was refusing to honor that guarantee despite a clear mistake on their part. It would seem that U-​Haul understands that sometimes mistakes do happen, which is why they provide a reservation guarantee. Yet when stores refuse to honor the policy, it defeats the entire purpose.
U-Haul’s biggest mistake was not allowing for any type of compensation for their error. First I requested that Kyle honor the $ 50 guarantee, then I requested that he zero the $ 30 cost for renting the 5X8 trailer. When he declined to do either, I asked the open question of what he COULD do. His answer, was absolutely nothing.
Moving is a stressful experience in itself, and U-​Haul exasperated that experience even more. U-​Haul will never receive my business again. I have a written statement from Kyle providing his absurd reason for declining to honor the guarantee and will be contacting U-​Haul to file a formal complaint.

Last month we rented a car dolly for a few hours which cost $ 60. It was returned that same day. U-​Haul called us reminding us that it was due back before 4:30. We kindly let them know it was returned hours prior. They told us, okay their bad, they must have overlooked it. It’s almost a month later and I just got a charge for $ 145. They’re claiming it was never returned. We drive past there every day to-​and-​from work, we’ve seen it in their parking lot. Somebody isn’t doing their job checking the equipment back in and charging people’s cards for it. I know that this has happened to a handful of people and never expected it would happen to us. I’m calling U-​HAUL out and asking them to fire the ignorant fools who are costing responsible people hundreds of dollars, and asking them to correct their mistake by refunding innocent parties their money. I have the contract in hand and will go show them the trailer we rented as well as the contract tomorrow. They have a lot of explaining to do. DO NOT RENT from them, they will swear up and down that you will not be charged but they do it anyway. They overcharge, even when you follow the rules, and they’re overpriced for the services they’re offering. Not to mention TERRIBLE customer service. DO NOT use U-​HAUL.

Good service. 70 dollar for 21 miles. Basic rent 29.99 dollar, each mile add 0.75 dollar. Include insurance.

This is for U-​Box services only.
I will not go into great detail about how utterly exhausting this whole process has been but let me sum it up for you:
Customer service is polite, seems honest, and will reimburse you for… THEIR MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MISTAKES! I don’t know if their employees are improperly trained or if it’s more of a system issue, but I hit more walls than I care to count.
Over the past 30 – 40 days I’ve talked to more people across the West from Washington to California, and gotten more quotes, emails, voicemails, passwords, refunds, more quotes, appointments. than I can keep track of. I normally give people the benefit of the doubt, and I’ve never even written a Unilocal review, but I am compelled to write this in hopes that U-​Haul is able to fix this system. Too many vendors, to many miscommunications.
How I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to stay away from U-​Box. Instead I’ll tell you fellow mover. Stay away from U-​Box.