Josh and Diana were planning on moving from Cedar Falls to Forest City tomorrow. A week earlier, Josh had gone to his local UHaul dealer and signed a contract for a 14 foot truck to be picked up on Sunday at 9:00 AM. They planed to make the move on July 31 as they have to be out of their apartment by August 1. So far, so good.
This evening at 4:45 PM UHaul called Josh to tell him that they don't have a truck available to rent to him. They called Josh and then end of the day and he had no opportunity to call others companies or make other plans. And to compensate him for the inconvenience they offered him $50.
Why does something like this happen when you have a signed contract? It happens because according to UHaul they have a "dynamic inventory!" Dynamic inventory? In essence, they lead people to believe that they have a truck secured when in fact, UHaul has no idea if they will have one available for you to use.
When you go to reserve a truck, they might as well say to you, "Call back on the day you want to rent and we will see what we have available." Or, "We have no idea what we will have on the lot. Your guess is as good as ours. It changes every day. We specialize in dynamic inventory." But when you have a signed contract you are led to believe you have a truck. But in fact, you don't.
And this isn't an isolated incident. I've learned this is common practice with UHaul. You can read about it here.
Thanks to friends we were able to secure a trailor and 15 passenger van to help make the move. God provides and Josh and Diana will get moved. It made for an interesting evening as we scrambled to make alternate arrangements.
So, next time you need to make a move, find a hauling company you can count on. One that keeps it's word. One that delivers on its promise. And one that doesn't have a dynamic inventory.
4 comments:
Dad, does this mean I shouldn't use UHaul next month for our move?
One word: Penske. Incredible service. Great trucks. Cool color. Great Indy racing team.
Any rental truck company is going to be unreliable end of July it is move out time for most colleges in the area. Last year our son had a day scheduled but were only able to get it for 4 hours. John was just lucky that his moveout date for his old apartment was not August 1
Jason, be very careful if you use U-Haul. A signed contract means nothing with them. The same thing happened to a friends family member in Houston, Texas this past weekend. He showed up to pick up the truck he had reserved weeks before and they didn't have anything available! So sorry!
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