Consumerist

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U-haul

Don't Be Stupid

No, You Should Not Save Money By Filling Your Rental Truck's Gas Tank With Water

Look, we know gas is expensive, but don't save a couple bucks by topping off your U-Haul's gas tank with water. We won't pretend to care about U-Haul—not even U-Haul cares about their vehicles—but the next renter will want to bludgeon you with a rusty ice pick when their truck breaks down because you hosed the engine. More »

uhaul

Angry U-Haul Manager Says You Stole A Truck

Now that it's summer, many people are doing the moving thing. For some, this might mean renting a truck or trailer from U-Haul, like reader Ryan. He reserved a truck from U-Haul online well in advance of his move, but when he went in for pickup was told none were available. Ryan called corporate, who called the store and convinced the surly manager to give Ryan a truck. Three days after Ryan returned the truck, he got this voicemail from from U-Haul: “This is Alexandria U-Haul Rentals. Your rental truck was due three days ago and you haven't returned it. If you don't return our truck today I will call the police." See how Ryan handled the situation, inside. More »

verdicts

U-Haul Must Pay $84 Million To Man For Injuries

A Dallas court found U-Haul guilty of negligence for failing to maintain its vehicles properly, and awarded 74-year-old Talmadge Waldrip $84 million in damages, $63 million of which are punitive. "The truck's parking brake did not work at all," said the man's lawyer. "He stepped out of the truck and it rolled right over him." More »

class actions

U-Haul To Pay California Customers $50 For Failing To Honor A Guaranteed Reservation

U-Haul has settled a class-action suit by agreeing to pay customers $50 each time they fail to honor a confirmed reservation. The settlement comes after an appeals court agreed that the rental giant had "engaged in fraudulent practices." More »

saving money

Get Moving Boxes On The Cheap With Box Exchange

We're going to say something positive about U-Haul! No, not about the company (it has a rich history of complaints on our blog), but about the community trading service they've enabled on their "U-Haul Box Exchange" forum where people give away or sell their boxes after they've moved—although hopefully you won't find an unpacked baby in any used boxes you get your hands on. More »

investigations

U-Haul Has History Of Losing Key Evidence When Sued

Central pieces of evidence have gone go missing when U-Haul gets sued, LAT reports in the 3rd part of its investigation into the do-it-yourself moving company. In 11 out of 10,000 lawsuits filed against the company since 1998, items such as faulty tires and rims at the core of the cases have vanished before or during trial. More »

investigations

U-Haul's Trucks Are Unsafe, Not Maintained

Part 2 in a LA Times investigation into U-Haul's business practices and safety record isn't any less bleak than part 1. The LA Times investigation has uncovered that U-Haul fails to properly maintain their aging fleet of vehicles while mechanics "hang paper" (forge safety inspections and repairs) to keep the trucks and the money rolling.
During a yearlong investigation, Times journalists surveyed more than 200 U-Haul trucks and trailers in California and other states and found that more than half were overdue for a company-mandated "safety certification," a check of brakes, tires and other parts typically required every 30 days.
More »

investigations

U-Haul Knowingly Rents Deadly Trailers

U-Haul knowingly rents unsafe tow trailers that have the potential to kill customers. A yearlong investigation by the L.A. Times found that U-Haul's practices unnecessarily expose customers to the dangers of trailer sway.
Traveling downhill or shaken by a sharp turn or a gust of wind, a trailer can begin swinging so violently that only the most experienced — or fortunate — drivers can regain control and avoid catastrophe.
Trailers can sway when towed by vehicles lighter than the trailer. U-Haul regulations allows trailers to outweigh the tow-vehicle by up to 25%, openly flouting guidelines set by automakers. For instance, U-Haul allows a 2007 Crown Victoria to haul 4,400 pounds, even though Ford suggests that the 4,100 pound vehicle tow no more than 1,500 pounds. "Two U-Haul competitors, Penske and Budget only rent trailers to customers renting trucks heavier than the trailers. Safety is the reason." More »

worst company in america

Round 9: RIAA vs U-Haul

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser. More »

penis

U-Haul Has A Penis?

After examining the Lil' Hauler Plush Toy Trailer (left, $9.95), reader Matt found that its proboscis bore an unmistakable reference to something he hadn't been able to find among his fat folds in some time. More »

oil

U-Haul Keel-Hauled Over Gas Charges

Everyone hates U-Haul lately. From booking appointments and then not honoring them to charging you for canceling bookings that you didn't want, the company tops our long list of scummy corporations. More »

automobiles

More Uhauls Of Shame

Blah blah blah Uhaul wouldn't rent me a Uhaul because I'm too much of a slacker to show up on time. That's what ran through our brains when we first read Christopher's letter. Then we stumbled across this gem. More »

u-haul

U-Haul's Voodoo Reservation System

Shrink a head in a pot, rub your skeletally-painted hands together and evoke ancient jungle spirits for their gris gris: exactly what sort of voodoo do you have to perform to get U-Haul to give you the right truck? More »

complaints

UPDATE: 1-800-GOT-JUNK Hires Punks

Remember Ryan from yesterday? He wasn't pleased with his treatment by a junk removal service. The guys who showed up threw around curses, mocked his pitiful possessions and also charged higher than their estimate. Some of you weren't too happy with Ryan either. More »

complaints

1-800-GOT-JUNK Hires Punks

truck.jpgRyan was stressed. A lotta stuff's been going down in his life and he needed to bust out of Cali to go to a new University. He considered just leaving the crap in his storage locker to rot but didn't want the credit dings. So he called 1-800-GOT-JUNK. He just wanted some guys to take the junk out of his storage locker. He didn't need the gangsta rap music or his pathetic student possessions being insulted by the homeslices, just the beginning of a miserable experience. More »

u-haul

Customer That U-Haul Hates Sics BBB On Their Ass

We just got a great story from David H. concerning a run-in he had with some incompetent assholes at U-Haul. After taking his reservation and promising to let him know the day before when he could pick up his truck, David — like many people who incredulously discover that reservations don't actually mean that a company will reserve anything for you — discovered that he didn't have a truck on moving day. Worse, when he finally did get him a truck, it looked like Evel Kneivel had used it to jump over the moon. But the best part of his story is that when David complained, the manager looked him straight in the eye, told David that he "was the kind of customer I hate" then kicked him out of the store, slapping a canceled order fee on his credit card on top of it! More »