*UHaul of LBJ/Shiloh in Garland, TX intentionally rented us a lemon for our one way, cross-country move! *
On Wednesday, July 12th, we picked up a 24 ft. Truck from the LBJ location at Shiloh & I-635 in Garland, TX. As we are not certified mechanics, we noticed nothing unusual from the visual inspection of the vehicle.
The morning of Thursday, July 13th, we left for North Carolina. An hour into the trip the air conditioning broke. An hour later, the ventilation fan broke completely so there was no ventilation other than rolling down the windows. The truck continuously backfired and lacked engine power. Additionally, the steering was jerky with a hard pull to the right.
These 4 things alone were a major inconvenience, but when in North Carolina the brake lines failed. When we unloaded the car hauler to remove our belongings from the 24 ft truck, there was brake fluid spewing from the sides of the truck when the brakes were applied. Effectively we could have lost brakes at anytime during the trip. That makes 5 mechanical issues on one vehicle.
When we discovered the brake lines had failed, on Saturday, July 15th, we immediately called for Roadside Assistance to remove the truck and customer support to report the issues.
Given all of the mechanical issues with the vehicle we want a refund for the truck rental. To accomplish this we have called the 1-800 Customer Support Line several times. We have been redirected to the Garland regional office were we have had the unfortunate experience of talking to 2 very rude individuals. They are Cedrick and Christy H. Neither would give us their last names for reference.
We reported, in person, to the drop off location to close the account and to get a refund there. The drop off location in High Point, NC was nice but was unable to assist us.
Finally, today, we were called by Carol the Traffic Control Manager in the Dallas Metro Texas Region. She verbally harassed my husband saying that he endangered our child by driving the vehicle at all. To the point, it was U-Haul's negligence that endangered my family for not renting us a safe vehicle.
We have since discovered that there have been several maintenance reports on this particular vehicle. This includes one a month earlier that has eerily similar complaints to the failures we experienced.in short, they were never repaired before we received the truck.
At this point, I am sure that the Garland representative knew that this truck was a lemon, and knew that this was a one-way trip, and wanted it gone. Since they went ahead and gave us a vehicle with a horrible maintenance record and complaint file, I believe that this was WILLFUL NEGLIGENCE AND ENDANGERMENT on the part of U-Haul.
I recommend that you ask the U-Haul representative about the vehicle's track record before you sign a rental agreement. That way you may be able to determine if it's a hazardous vehicle that could get someone killed. I also recommend that you look into the customer service skills of U-Haul before renting any equipment. Irregardless of if you buy the additional insurance or not, the 1-800 Customer Service line is a joke and you will never really be able to speak to anyone with any real authority to make decisions. Over and over again it was quite apparent to us that they had our money, and that was all they were interested in. They do not want to service the customers or provide a good corporate image for U-Haul International.
We are very lucky to have made the trip with our lives intact. We paid well over $1,000 to rent this monstrosity of a vehicle. Although I feel that we are entitled to a complete refund, we would settle for the portion of the rental of the truck only. It is the least that the corporation could do to not only refund us for the issues with the faulty equipment, but to reestablish customer confidence in the company. TO DATE, THIS HAS NOT BEEN DONE BY ANY UHAUL INDEPENDENT REPRESENTATIVE OR THE COMPANY ITSELF.
A copy of this complaint was emailed, faxed and delivered via FEDEX to the public relations department. No reply, assumably because customer service issues isn't perceived to be their jobs.
Brooke
High Point, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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