This story went on for days then weeks and culminated in a mad internet search for corporate contact information. Since it took me almost 2 hours to write the e-mail to the CEO I am just going to post it here and add an update at the bottom. Enjoy.
Emailed 9/9/2010 at 6:54 p.m.
Dear Mr. Shoen,
My name is Amanda Mills and I have a major problem with my local U-Haul location and since I can't get them to help or even call me back I am throwing myself at your feet and begging for help.
I am a 29 year old college student who is pursuing a degree in Sociology and Psychology. I hope to be a guidance counselor once I complete my Master's level education. My husband works very hard in a local book warehouse and is the only income we have coming into the household. Back in May my husband had a very unexpected illness that left him out of work from 05/02/10 until just this past Tuesday. With the lack of income, medical bills, and waning hours at my part- time summer job my husband and I were forced to vacate our apartment and move in with family. This decision was not easy for us and was not one we took lightly. We decided to rent a U-Haul truck from our local dealer (#772067, 1420 NE Memorial Blvd., Murfreesboro, TN 37129) to help us with our move.
I had never rented any kind of truck from any company so I called and spoke with a woman named Stephanie, who I later found out was the manager. She answered all my questions and recommended truck sizes, etc. I made a reservation with her to pick up a 14 foot truck at 10:00 a.m. on 08/26/2010. Everything was wonderful on the phone and all my fears had been put to rest.
My husband and I arrived to pick up our rental at I was greeted by a sales associate by the name of Jacob Ramsey. Jacob seemed to have trouble locating my reservation (Contract # 85676408) and asked for all my information again. He then told me that if I were to secure the rental with a credit card there would be no charge up front and I would just pay the amount owed when we brought the truck back. He said they needed the information just in case I decided not to bring the truck back or there was damage. I swiped my card and Jacob asked me to follow the directions on the screen. One of the questions I was asked was "Is this the card you will be using for final payment?" Due to our financial difficulties I had family members helping me out and we were merging two households into one so this question was a problem. Essentially, our method of payment depended on the final bill. I explained this to Jacob who had me hit "No" and assured me that there would be no issue. We get to the end of the transaction and Jacob asked me for $100.00. I asked him why it required a $100.00 deposit if I was just told there would be no upfront costs and his response was, "I'm not sure." We tried the transaction again and the same thing happened. I was extremely frustrated by this point and told Jacob to cancel the reservation and left the store trying to figure out what I was going to do.
My husband offered to go in and speak with someone about this,since I was now crying in the parking lot, and see what we could do. My husband spoke with Jacob and was told the same thing about there being no up front fees as long as a credit card secured the rental. With the help of another employee we finally, miraculously, were able to leave with a truck around 10:41 a.m. We verified with Jacob that as long as we returned the truck before the original reservation time of 10:00 a.m. the next day we would only be charged for one day's usage and we could pay the amount owed in cash.
We returned on 08/27/2010 at 9:00 a.m. We spoke with an employee named Tasha Miller. She pulled up our reservation and checked us in. She then asked for $95.04. I asked her why it was so high and she advised us that we were in the system to return the truck by 7 p.m. on 08/26/2010 so therefore we were being charged for 2 days of rental plus equipment fees. We told her of our conversation with Jacob in the parking lot and she promptly corrected the system. She asked for $59.02. This amount seemed in line with our estimates and I paid her $50.00 cash and had her leave the remaining $9.02 on the card my husband had given. We got a receipt and as we headed for the door I noticed a problem. We had been charged for the use of 2 dollies instead of 1. Tasha verified with the employee who had checked in the truck and confirmed that we indeed only used one dolly. Luckily, Stephanie was standing by and heard the confusion. She had Tasha pull the $50.00 from the drawer and then refunded the $9.02 electronically to my husband's card. The new, correct, amount was $51.12. I managed to find $1.12 in change in my purse, paid the new amount all in cash, got a new receipt and we left.
We left the U-Haul to go to the laundry mat to tidy up items that were being moved to storage and needed cash. We headed to our bank and were told that we were $45.40 overdrawn. We had our bank pull up the transaction history and there was a charge of $82.89 pending for U-Haul. I looked at our original receipt from when we picked up the truck and sure enough, there in smaller print was a notice that $82.89 had been held on our account the morning we got the truck. I took this print out immediately to Stephanie and she assured me that this was just an authorization and not a charge. The charge would fall off that Monday, 08/30/2010. This was rather inconvenient to us since it blocked our access to the last $30.00 we had available but we said it was fine and left.
On 08/29/2010 the $9.02 charge and credit appeared on our account, as did the $82.89 pending transaction fall off, but something else also showed up. My husband's card had been charged the full amount of the final cost- $51.12. So, not only did the U-Haul location get paid in cash they also got paid via his card! I immediately called the location and asked for Stephanie. I was told that Sunday was her day off and when I asked to leave a message for her or get one forwarded to her I was told that, "Well, usually when we call her she never calls us back. You will just have to check in with her on Monday." Not being pleased with this answer I located a corporate customer service number and filed a complaint and was given reference #56540 and then given the number for the Regional Traffic Office, 615-860-2999. I was told my complaint and situation would be forwarded to the location and regional hub and given priority but that I needed to understand that, "this is a busy weekend for U-Haul."
I called the regional traffic office at least 5 times and never once did I get an answer and I never got a call back from Stephanie.
I waited until 08/31/2010 to try again. I called in-between classes, asked for Stephanie and was put on hold. I waited for a couple of minutes and hung up. I called the regional traffic office again and actually got an answer. I spoke with a woman who said she was Stephanie's supervisor, explained the situation, and she said she would have Stephanie call me ASAP. I got a call from Stephanie when I was in class and she left a message assuring me that she would get this corrected and that she was sorry that "we kept missing one another". I found that last part funny since she hadn't once called me or returned messages. I called her back immediately and she told me that she discovered the error but had to wait for the month end postings to correct it but that I should have it back around 09/03/2010.
09/03/2010 came and went and there was no credit. I waited until 09/07/2010 to call Stephanie back about this issue hoping that perhaps it was just delayed due to the Labor Day holiday. I spoke with her and she advised me she was not in the office but would check on this first thing 09/08/2010 and call me with a status update. 09/08/2010 came and went and no credit and no phone call. Today, I called and left her YET ANOTHER message telling her that I didn't appreciate the way this was being handled and that although I am sure there are other customers she has to deal with I feel this should be given priority.
Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since I rented my first U-Haul and I am still dealing with this. This is not acceptable to me. My family and I do not have the time to deal with this, nor should we have to make call after call after call to get this fixed, and we most definitely do not have an extra $51.12 for U-Haul to keep for 2 weeks. I have found the customer service at the local, regional, and even corporate levels extremely lacking and at this time am requesting a FULL refund. I want my double- charged $51.12 back and in addition I'd like the cost of the rental, another $51.12 back, to compensate me for my time and effort. I had never rented a truck from U-Haul before and I certainly will not ever again. I have also let every one of my family and friends know about this and have found out, now, not so surprisingly, that others have had the same experience with this same location.
I have receipts, bank records, phone records, etc that I would be more than happy to forward if necessary.
I apologize for the length of this email but am hoping that someone at U-Haul will take pity on me and be a bit more responsive and fix an error that was never mine to begin with.
Tired, frustrated, and a lost customer,
Amanda Mills
****Update: I heard back from Mr. Shoen on 9/10/10 around 1:30 p.m. He forwarded my email to one of his fix-it people, Mr. Foster, and told them that my money should be returned THAT DAY. His text is below:
Joe Shoen writes:
Please get this customer her money back today. Why did this happen? How can we not do this in the future? Joe
Mr. Foster investigated and found out that the location didn't process the refund until, get this people, 9/8/10. 9 motherfuckin 8 !!!!!!! But assured me the matter was corrected. And it was. The same day I got a response from the CEO was the day the $51.12 refund hit our account. They didn't refund the actual cost of the rental as I requested and I'm not going to argue with that-due to me being over it and especially due to the timeliness of Mr. Shoen and Mr. Foster's replies and effort.
P.S. I still haven't gotten a call back from the manager, Stephanie Clark.
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