I posted a story at our commercial site about scoring some apple processing equipment and how I had to rent a trailer to move it.
I had rented it from the local U-Haul franchise in Bellingham but I had a very bad experience with them and will not be using them again in the future.
While I was returning the trailer yesterday, a wheel bearing on my truck failed. Five miles away from home everything was fine and then something started making noise. I tried limping along at 20 MPH but another couple of miles and it sounded like I was crushing gravel.
I called Jen to give her a heads up on what was happening and then called the U-Haul office to see what they could do.
It turns out that they had a tow truck and would be able to recover the trailer. (I have AAA for the truck but they would not deal with a truck and a trailer -- I had to get the trailer off first.)
I asked how much it would be and the guy on the phone didn't know -- he would have to figure it out (I was about 20 miles from their store). I asked if it would be more than $50 and was told no -- it would not be that much.
About an hour later, the u-Haul truck shows up and then I have AAA tow the truck into a local garage for repair.
Jen comes into town to give me a ride back. We stop into the U-Haul office to make sure that everything is fine and we are told that the towing fee was $70 and that the tow truck driver told me that this was the cost.
Point One: The tow truck driver didn't say anything about the price. He was the same guy I spoke with on the phone who told me that it would be under $50.
Point Two: Had I known in advance that the charge would be $70, I would have had Jen borrow a truck from one of our neighbors. Worst case scenario, I would have had her drive me to Home Depot where I can rent a truck for $20 for four hours -- she had to come into town anyway to pick me up.
Point Three: We have the most basic cheapest AAA membership and I had to pay for the truck to be towed into town. The charge for that was only $30
I have rented trailers from that U-Haul several times before for moving milk tanks and other equipment. I will not be renting from them ever again...
