This complaint concerns U-Haul's complete failure to honor a guaranteed reservation on **Friday, July 31**, and the direct financial damages and unnecessary hardship that resulted. I reserved a **15-foot truck one week in advance** specifically because I was moving out of my apartment under a strict building-imposed timeline. Despite planning ahead, U-Haul changed my reservation **twice** within 48 hours of my scheduled pickup. That should have been my first warning that my reservation was never actually being honored. Our confirmed pickup time was **9:00 AM** at the **508 S. Francisco** location. At exactly 9:00 AM, I received a phone call informing me that my truck would not be available until 9:20 because the previous renter had not returned it. While this was already unacceptable, we agreed to wait because our building had reserved the service elevator from **9:30 AM to 11:30 AM**, and we believed U-Haul's representation that the truck would be available shortly. That representation turned out to be false. For well over an hour, the employee repeatedly assured us the truck would be back in "10 more minutes," then "15 more minutes," then "20 more minutes." Every estimate was inaccurate. At **10:15 AM**, after already losing over an hour of valuable moving time, we asked again how much longer it would be. We were once again told "20 more minutes." At that point, it became obvious that no one had any intention of honoring our reservation or providing accurate information. We had no choice but to tell the employee to give us **whatever truck was available**, because waiting any longer would have made it impossible to move out of our apartment. Instead of the **15-foot truck we contracted for and reserved in advance**, we were given a **10-foot truck** that was completely inadequate for moving a one-bedroom apartment. The consequences of U-Haul's failure were entirely predictable and entirely avoidable. Because the truck was too small, we could not complete the move during our reserved elevator window. Once our elevator reservation expired, our building would not allow us to continue using the service elevator or keep the truck in the loading area. We were forced to park down the street wherever parking was available and make multiple additional trips carrying furniture and boxes significantly farther than necessary. A move that should have been completed before noon lasted until approximately **4:00 PM**. As a direct result of U-Haul's failure to provide the reserved truck at the guaranteed pickup time, our building assessed us a **$250 fine** for failing to vacate the apartment by the required deadline. There is no dispute as to the cause of these damages. Had U-Haul fulfilled the reservation it guaranteed, we would have completed our move within our allotted time and would not have incurred this penalty. Your website explicitly advertises, **"Your reservation is guaranteed or we'll pay you $50."** I fully expect U-Haul to honor that guarantee. However, a $50 reservation guarantee does not come close to addressing the actual damages caused by your company's failure, which include: * A $250 building fine. * Hours of unnecessary labor due to being forced into an undersized truck. * The loss of our reserved moving window. * Significant delays that turned what should have been a routine move into an all-day ordeal. * The stress and disruption caused by repeated misinformation from your staff. Equally unacceptable was the conduct of the employee assisting us. Rather than providing honest updates or attempting to resolve the situation, he repeatedly dismissed our concerns by telling us to wait "10 more minutes" while our moving deadline steadily disappeared. Whether he knowingly misled us or simply had no idea when the truck would arrive, the result was the same: we were prevented from making informed decisions until it was too late. The purpose of making a reservation is to avoid exactly this situation. If customers cannot rely on a guaranteed reservation being honored, then the reservation system is meaningless. U-Haul accepted my reservation, confirmed it, advertised that it was guaranteed, and then failed to deliver the equipment I reserved when I needed it most. I expect U-Haul to reimburse the **$250 building fine**, honor the **$50 reservation guarantee**, and explain what steps will be taken to prevent other customers from experiencing the same complete breakdown in service. This experience demonstrated a complete failure in planning, communication, and customer service. It is, without question, the worst experience I have ever had with a moving company, and unless this matter is resolved appropriately, I will never use U-Haul again and will make sure others are aware of exactly how little your "guaranteed" reservations are actually worth.
BRANDON I
Fains Development LLC
(U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer)
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Terrible experience. I was changed location without previous notice. When I arrived to the location I initially chosed, they told me I had to go to a different location. When I arrived to the new location after getting an Uber, there was nobody there. I had to call and call until someone finally came driving and gave the keys. Also, the location is sketchy. Bad experience.
Sergio GThe employee helping us was very helpful
Mary CThe truck was not available when I got there. The wait on the phone to speak with someone was really long. When scheduling for the pick up the representative did not give me an option on how to pick up. My original pick up arrangement location was cancelled and changed without anyone asking if it was ok. The location that I had to pick up from was dangerous and unsafe. I would like a full refund for my experience. It took 1 hour from my reservation time to actually get a truck also.
Daisy GReally sketchy neighborhood
Matt K