Moving is always a horrendous experience. Of course, with my luck, my moving day was on one of the hottest days this summer. Rock. And I found out that I will never EVER use U-Haul for any of my moving needs again in the future, no matter what the circumstances (as my boyfriend, Matt, put it “We can just strap the couch to the dog’s back”).
I reserved a 10′ truck 3 weeks ago online. I was informed that the regional office would call me the day before my scheduled reservation to let me know when and where to pick up my truck. If they did not call me by 5pm, it was my responsibility to call them. Of course, they didn’t call by 5, so I called them at 5:30. but the regional office closes at 5. So I had to wait until the morning of my move to find out where my truck is. Fine. No big deal.
So Matt calls U-Haul at 8:15. And waits . And waits. After 20 minutes, he gives up and hands the phone to me. He calls the main U-Haul number on the other phone. My phone starts to ring, and I get very excited. But it does nothing but ring for 10 minutes. I hang up. Matt hangs up. Matt calls both numbers back, at just the right time, because he has their hold messages in sync and thinks this is HIGH-larious. It is now 9:00. We decide to go to the dog beach, because this is not looking good. We sit on the phones, both of us, all the way to the dog beach. My phone starts to ring, and then hangs up on me. Matt talks to someone at the main number, and they give him the regional office number, EVEN AFTER HE EXPLAINS THAT NO ONE IS PICKING UP THERE. I wonder what my phone will look like exploding on the ground.
We get to the dog beach where I continue to sit on the phone. Matt calls and tries to get a supervisor on the phone with the main office. They hang up on him. I still have not gotten a human on the line at the regional office. I start to freak and realize we are never moving. I call the main office and swear at the operator. She tells me that if I continue to cuss at her, she will disconnect the call. I tell her she has no soul. She gives me a local number, which is really just masked to the same regional office that I have been calling all morning. I decide I need a big open field to run through and scream in.
We leave the beach. It is now 11:00. Matt calls the main number while I sit on hold with the regional office. Matt tries to explain to the operator that obviously they must have an alternate number for the regional office; because he doubts that they sit and wait for almost 3 hours to talk to someone as well. He wants to cancel our reservation at this point, but the main number can’t do that for us. We need to call the regional office, or be charged a cancellation fee.

“So, basically you are going to charge me for not picking up a truck that is at an undisclosed U-Haul location at a time that you can’t tell me”

Then, all of a sudden, A HUMAN answers the phone at the regional office after I have been on hold for 45 minutes. They tell me I need to pick up my truck at 4055 N Broadway (which is, of course, right next to the Montrose Dog beach and we are now all the way back over in Roscoe Village). I ask what time, and they tell me I need to call that location to find out. Great. I call, and get a busy signal. For the next 5 times I call, I get no answer. Plus, we are just now parking and realize that Streets & Sanitation are out repaving the alleys around our house, which means we have to find street parking for this damn U-Haul (if we ever get it). We decide to go over to the U-Haul pick up place, and refuse to leave until we get a truck.
We finally get a truck. It is 12:08. And we have to have the truck back by 5. Bitchin.
Long story long, for the love of god, USE BUDGET!!!!!