This past weekend I had to reserve a U-Haul trailer so that the band I manage could carry their gear to and from a gig. I was very hesitant to use U-Haul again because of bad experiences with them earlier this summer (disorganization, losing our reservation, etc.).
This time, I had to call the U-Haul call center 5 times because they kept getting details of my reservation wrong. Each time I called it took me 20 minutes to speak to a person. I needed a 4' x 8' trailer (using larger ones in the past have caused very major damage to my car), and I was told that the closest one would be in Stamford, CT, which was about an hour from where I live. Then when I went all the way to pick up the trailer I'd reserved, they didn't have a 4' x 8' trailer for me. They only had a 5' x 10' one which, as I mentioned, had damaged my car in the past. It was imperative that I had the smallest size possible, but instead I had no choice but to put my car at risk again with a larger size.
I asked the woman at the desk why U-Haul consistently makes mistakes and has issues with reservations, and she told me that the people at the Help Center "are just trained to say yes to everything." How can you run a business this way? Why would someone tell me that I will be able to pick up a 4' x 8' trailer at the U-Haul in Stamford, when in fact there won't be any 4' x 8' trailers there? It's not difficult to make and track reservations. Even every restaurant and every hotel use reservation software that can be applicable to U-Haul, so that you will be able to see what trailers will be available and when, at every location. I don't understand how a franchise as extensive as U-Haul hasn't figured this out by now.
Just for the record, I manage a band that tours nationally. They had been planning on using a U-Haul trailer every weekend for the next several months (if not for longer) to carry all of their gear to shows. But after all of our bad experiences with U-Haul, we've decided to instead take two cars to every show. It will be double the cost of gas, but at least we won't have to deal with the disorganization of U-Haul and the indifference of its customer service. And I will not only not recommend U-Haul to anyone moving or traveling, but I will do whatever it takes to convince them to NOT use U-Haul.
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