The following is all true and unedited. FWIW.
Chuck
PS. UHaul forwarded us to the manager of the facility that was involved. His response was "We got robbed too."Dear Uhaul, This is quite lengthily, so please bear with us. Thank you. Looking back over the past week, perhaps we should have used Ryder. On Friday 8/25/2000, I went to one of our local Uhaul centers here in our small town of Oakdale CA to reserve a 17-foot truck to be picked up on Monday afternoon. The man there said there was no need to reserve one, since they always have plenty after the weekends. After still requesting to reserve one, he said to just leave our name and phone number and they will call us when one arrived. After leaving their station, I went home and still was not comfortable with what transpired, since it was important to have one guaranteed. We have used Uhaul many times in the past and had never experienced a problem with making a reservation.
I called the other center here and they said to just come down and leave a deposit of 80.00 and they will have it reserved. I went down just to be told the man who knew how to do it was not there, but yes, he would be there the following morning. I went to their center on Saturday morning. “No problem”, he said and began the paperwork. After about 10 minutes, he asked if I would be happy with a 14-foot model instead. I told him no, we were moving my mother-in-law and she had a large triple-wide mobile home with a lot of belongings. He told me that a 14-foot would hold just as much as a 17 foot. I’m not too intelligent, but even my feeble mind knew that was not true. Well, he didn’t have a 17-foot model, but their other location in Modesto did. I said great, could you have it here in Oakdale by Monday. Modesto is farther away and would add too much to the mileage. No, he could not do that; I would have to go get it. I passed.
I went home and on Monday morning I called the first place I went to. No, they never have any 17-foot models there. I told him how the conversation went on Friday, and he said, well, it wasn’t him who told me that. In the meantime, my mother-in-law called the main Uhaul number to get a reservation for one in Hayward. She was told she would be contacted by their local center at 529 Jackson Ave. in Hayward. It would be more expensive to rent it one way but we had no other options. After not hearing from them, she called the main office again and they were surprised the local office had not called her back. They assured her there was a truck for her there. She called the Hayward center and a young man named Steven said no, there was no truck for her. She called the main office again, and again they seemed surprised. The main office called back, said yes, there is a truck for her and at 6:15 PM, we arrived to get the truck. There were two employees there; Steven and Mahur.
It gets worse. Steven was busy watching the clock and you could tell he was eager to get out of there. Mahur did all the paperwork and answered the phone that was constantly ringing. Steven went outside, I assume to get the truck. The issue with Steven might be moot since I doubt if he is still working there.
At 6:58, 43 minutes after we arrived, Steven was back in behind the counter with Mahur. A man runs in with a gun and shouted “Everyone on the ground.” My wife, mother-in-law, and myself hit the floor. The robber was wearing a motorcycle helmet, ski mask, gloves, and a jumpsuit. He told us to empty our pockets and put them on the floor. I put my wallet on the floor and he quickly grabbed it and yanked my mother-in-law’s purse from her shoulder. He then went behind the counter and told them to open the cash drawers and safe. The three of us were still on the other side of the counter crouched down and did not see what happened next. Apparently, Steven didn’t move fast enough because we heard a thud and heard Steven cry out in pain. The robber had hit him with the pistol. Blood was streaming down the side of his head.
He then ordered us to go into the back room and close the door. When he looked in there, he saw a fax machine, VCR and monitor. While he was attempting to destroy it all, Steven closed the door from the outside, leaving Mahur and the three of us inside the office along with the robber. Steven then ran out of the building and got away. The robber, after noticing Steven escaped, ran out, got on his motorcycle and sped away.
Mahur went out and checked to make sure he was gone and then told us it was okay to come out. He then called the police and reports were taken.
Our compliments go to Mahur. We were impressed with his eagerness to help us even before the robbery. During and after the robbery, he stayed cool and collected. He kept apologizing to us. Steven of course had a right to terrified. He was just pistol whipped, after all. And by him running out like he did caused the robber to leave. However, I don’t believe that was his intention by closing us up in the office with the robber. The three of us jump whenever we hear a motorcycle. He has both my mother-in-law’s and our address. We cannot sleep at night. I lost approximately 80.00 and a payroll check for 309.00. My mother-in-law lost her purse with approximately 100.00 in it. She had to pay a locksmith 198.00 to have new car keys made for her car. We also had to cut a lock on her storage shed in order to get into it. Her original keys were in her purse. My mother-in-law is still in the house, alone, living in constant fear. Fortunately, her wallet with her credit cards and driver’s license was on the counter and was overlooked.
On a side note, the truck had terrible headlights that pointed almost directly down onto the road, which made visibility difficult and it badly needs new shocks.
Returning the truck proved uneventful.
Even though Uhaul was not responsible for the robbery and terror we encountered, we feel you have some sort of liability for what happened. If the two agents in Oakdale had kept their word, we would have rented the truck here and never been to the agent in Hayward. Sincerely,
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