When does a $19.95 van rental for 4 hours and 60 miles ending up costing $140? Last week I rented a van from UHAUL for this great sounding deal, well the devil is in the details or I should say contract. When I called UHAUL to complain about the extra charges the manager told me they were all legitimate and in the contract. Well yes he was absolutely right they were in the contract and I neglected to read it. I also rent cars from Avis all the time and you know what I have never read an Avis contract and I have never been scammed by Avis either.
Here is a run down of all the extra charges they piled on to my great deal.
1. The two day charge even though I only had the van for 4 hours.
- This is the most unbelievable of the charges. When I was renting the van the person working the counter (a teenager with ADD) asked me how long I would be using the van. I said I am not sure probably about 3 hrs so he wrote it down on the contract. What he neglected to tell me is that if you use the vehicle any longer than this documented length of time it counts as a second rental day. So I was double charged for the base Van charge $19.95 x2 and the moving blanket charge $10 x 2.
2. The $25 charge for not folding the moving blankets.
- This was another minor detail the rental counter person neglected to mention. Do you think I or anyone would have folded 10 blankets to avoid a $25 charge? But as the manager told me its in the contract.
3. The $30 fuel surcharge with $2 plus the price of gas to replace missing fuel. Call me ignorant but since in addition to the base charge of $19.95 I was paying 59 cents a mile and the tank wasn't full I assumed I didn't have to re-fuel. Poor assumption on my part, absolutely yes but don't you think they again would have mentioned this small detail at the counter? Well I didn't get billed for these items because I got back in the van and attempted to re-fuel the van to the exact noted level when I picked it up. Have you ever tried to gas up to a specific level other than full? Its not easy as you keep walking back and forth from the gas pump to the fuel gauge and it doesn't respond quickly so guess what you end up over filling the tank. Pretty sweet deal for UHAUL though because they don't reimburse for over filling. That's in the contract too.
Part of the irony of this whole deal was that I probably would have been able to return the van in 3 hrs but because the lighter receptacle was broken I couldn't charge my portable GPS. I got lost and that probably cost me the extra hour and about 25 extra miles. In addition to everything else when I complained about this to the manager but he wasn't really interested. After all this was not in the contract.
I don't know about you, but when I was growing up, I was taught to return things the way I got them. I am sure the blankets were folded when you got them. I am sure the gas you used was in the truck when you got it. And I return things I rent / borrow when I agree to return them. I think you are just ignorant.
One can only wish you the same fraudulent service that I recieved. I took the "19.95" van for 44 miles and they claimed I drove it 1, 027 miles and charged me $120.00 for mileage. so do you work for UHaul "Dan" or are you just a bot?
Sounds like you a dumb for not reading your contract. Do you go through life thinking everyone should feel sorry for you because you do not know. Grow up!
Must agree with the gas issue. I was given a truck with 3/4 tank. I refilled to what I thought was 3/4 tank, then drove 4 miles home. The tank still registered 3/4. After sweeping out the truck, I drove it back to Uhaul. By the time I got there, the tank was registering full. I am convinced that the slow guage and the way they start you out at less than full is a scam on their part.
I rented a brand new cargo van. The gas tank does not register the gas level when filling. I pumped $40 worth of gas into the van and the needle never budged. It wasn't until I had driven 6 miles, then the needle creeped up and showed me I had overfilled what was required. When I told two clerks about it, their responses were "oh, really?". Then I was told that they were not authorized to refund gas money to me. What a scam.
Going thru same problem with my trailer rental here in NYS
Actually they hung up on me 2x and will not let speak to supervisor My argument is that what the manager from the initial rental locAtion told me one thing and the manager at the return location told me another charges went from $24.95/day to $70/day for open trailer, no gas no blankets to fold and no mileage charge
[protected]. Adib .S
Rental was 6/24 -6/25 ( less than 24hrs)
I too have issue with U-Haul. They charged my credit card before giving me a van, telling me the charge was just to be held, and then refunded after the van was returned and actual cost with mileage was available. Later, looking at my credit card transactions, I saw that both charges were on my card, still after 5 days. I called them and they said sometimes it takes a while for the first "holding charge" to be credited back. I disputed the charge to my credit card, and waiting to see how it goes. I'd suggest avoiding U-Haul. I'm guessing they do that type of thing a lot, but not many people actually look over there transactions these days, so they get away with it.