u-huff
have you ever rented one of these things?? then you know… u-haul trucks are rattletrap peices of junk. i’ve often joked with friends that it’s better to get a bunch of drunk bubbas to move your stuff in their pickups than to trust some of those trucks.
sadly it seems i was right. demetrio t. nagtalon was killed as a result of u-haul’s shitty equipment.
the l.a. times article says, “Former employees said it’s not unusual for untrained or inexperienced U-Haul workers to attempt on-the-fly repairs to keep equipment on the road.” as a former employee, i can say with certainty that the l.a. times article is 100% correct.
as many of you may already know, i worked for u-haul for a while right out of college. i know what “maintainence” is done to these vehicles… and i know who did it. namely, people like me. not trained mechanics. and that’s what the company expected… we were expected to do all repairs barring major engine repairs.
actually, if you DID know that i worked at u-haul, you’ll also remember that i was RUN OVER by one of our shitty trucks while attempting to affect ”on-the-fly repairs” as was expected of me. the transmission linkage had just fallen out of the transmission in between gears… that’s how shitty this thing was. that was my first (and, God willing, only) experience with workman’s comp. it was not fun, and i will be feeling that truck on me for the rest of my life, but i count myself insanely lucky… the other two incidents listed in the l.a. times article were much worse than what i experienced.
while i’m at it, lemme just share with you the corporate customer service philosophy as it was communicated to me when i started work there. it pretty much goes like this, “we’re cheap and we’re everywhere. the customer pretty much HAS to come to us if they want to move themselves. so, if they’re being dicks (which they prolly will be… because, let’s face it, nobody likes moving) refuse them. customer service is for companies that can’t afford to lose customers. we can. let ‘em walk out if they want… most of them will be back anyway. also: more trucks equals more money. keep ‘em on the road at all costs. we can afford to lose customers, we can’t afford to lose trucks.”
i want to encourage you though, don’t take it out on the employees. they are, usually, pretty good folks. it’s the company that’s crooked to the core. contrast what the employee whom mr. nagtalon died trying to save said – “he was a hero. he got hurt trying to save me” - with the company’s statement – “The cause of this accident was Mr. Nagtalon’s actions, which placed his safety at risk in a situation where his assistance was not required.” the people in the offices are the heartless ones and their lawyers are amazingly good at what they do (lots of practice). but the people on the front lines are doing what they can and what they’ve been told to do. they take abuse from the customers non-stop too. i could tell you some of the horror stories but i’ll save that for a later date. be kind to customer service types… but rip the corporate scum-bags that let this stuff happen a new one.
that is all for now.
September 17, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Are U-Haul’s direct competitors any better?
September 17, 2007 at 3:00 pm
as far as customer service goes, yeah. and, in my experience, budget’s trucks are generally much nicer. but they cost more. i’ll be honest, i generally still use u-haul because i speak the language and i know most of the issues to look for, how to deal with them and when i can, and how to deal with u-haul when i can’t. the other thing about u-haul is that if you ding their ride, they usually won’t notice or care… mostly because the guys on the front line know that their shit went out banged up already.
but i don’t recommend u-haul at all… can’t in good concience. their competitors are more expensive… but MUCH better quality overall.
September 17, 2007 at 4:18 pm
We’re moving ourselves to San Francisco in a moving truck. Corporate is covering some moving expenses but they cap it at 3K. Maybe I should go with Budget…
September 17, 2007 at 4:27 pm
whew… 3k to san fran’s gonna be pushing it! the good news is that even u-haul knows that they gotta have good trucks for a trans-continental moove, so they usually reserve the nicer ones for long moves. and, with the kind of $$ you’re gonna be shelling out for that kind of rental, you can afford to be a little pushy about getting a new truck.
but price budget first. they’re easier to get along with.
September 27, 2007 at 8:49 am
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