This is my angry face.

[tabbiewolf]

On Saturday, spotweld and I rented a Ford F150 from the local UHaul rental place, the Auto Store II on Newfield Street here in Middletown. We used the truck to clean out all of the various crap in the garage and in and around the shed that was left by the previous owners of the house. It was a lot of junk, but the dump is like 2 miles away, so I'd estimated the total mileage for the trip was going to be under 20 miles total.

We did 4 trips to the dump, hit a furniture store across the river and picked up some snazzy orange bar stools, refilled the little bit of gas we used (it was barely noticeable on the meter), and returned the truck before 1pm on Saturday.

I got the receipt today, which included $57 in fuel refill charges, claiming we returned the truck this morning at 9am and also that we used a quarter of a tank of gas. This is odd for a number of reasons. Despite the fact that the Rental and Return Dates claim we had the truck all weekend, we only got charged for one day. We actually only had the truck for 4 hours, which would have been the agreed $19.95. Also, we went 18.4 miles total -- it says so, right on the receipt. A quarter tank of gas on a F150 with a 31-gallon tank is 7.75 gallons. I cannot name a car where the mileage is THAT bad.

So I called the Auto Store II and got a rather rude woman who said that the truck has not been moved since I returned it, and that's what the gas tank said. I find this incredibly hard to believe because how can a place that specializes in truck rentals only rent it for 4 hours on a Saturday morning? I was then told that I needed to contact UHaul customer service because there was nothing else she could do.

So you can't check the records and see if maybe this truck was rented by other people on Saturday or Sunday? Apparently not. And despite having the mileage we drove right in front of you, you think Ford F150s get 2 miles to the gallon?

Yeah, so, I called UHaul's customer service line, and Spot got them over Twitter. We're filing a complaint about this, because it's utter bullshit.

I do not recommend renting from the Auto Store II if you are local to Middletown. They provide awful customer service even when the facts are right in front of their face, and apparently can't see the forest for the trees.

Comments

[thecartoongod.livejournal.com]

If you used a credit card, or even a check card to pay, you can issue a chargeback. Call the cardholding bank or company, tell them you want to initiate a chargeback, and they'll just ask questions and probably want you to fill some stuff out. You'll be able to scan all the proof you have and send it in to your bank and they'll take care of it. It can be a lengthy process sometimes depending on the bank, and also the fact that they contact the company to get their version of the facts, but the fun part is that even if they win the chargeback and you don't get your refund, they're still charged a fee by the bank just because you did the chargeback in the first place.

I had to do a chargeback a few years ago and I think it took 3-4 months to be officially settled but not only did I get the money back, the card company even refunded the interest I paid on the payment over the time it took them to settle the dispute.

[kieferskunk.livejournal.com]

On the fuel gauge: I've seen a lot of rental trucks with faulty fuel gauges, where the gauge can fluctuate wildly in a range of about a quarter tank. I swear the rental companies do that on purpose so they can claim you didn't fill the tank when you did. :P

But yeah, I agree with cartoongod. That's fraud and you can claim a fraudulent sale.