Corporate shills, powerless cowardly minions, a complete lack of interest in the customer, and an…read moreabsence of conscience. That is what you will find at Sunbelt Rentals in Goodyear, Arizona.
I found a fossil site 44 years ago and finally had the means to put together a non-profit, a little bit of cash, and some paleontologists who would excavate. The site is where the creature died 17,000 years ago in the sand dunes near Yuma on the Marine Corps Air Station Gunnery Range. The nearest road is a mile away so I planned to camp the crew on the road and use a UTV to transport people and equipment to the site. This was needed because driving to the site with anything but a light 4x4 with deflated tires would be impossible and because MCAS forbids random travel over the dunes. It is not a recreation area. I rented a 3/4 ton truck, picked up the UTV at Sunbelt and the field work began.
First morning, flat tire, no spare. Thank god the paleontologist crew had an old can of fix-a-flat rolling around in their truck. I got two and a half round trips out with the engine taking longer and longer to catch on starting. The last time the engine would start was, of course, a mile away from camp in the sand dunes. We checked everything we could with the few tools we had. Pulled the spark plug (which required walking back to the campsite, finding a tool, and also a jump starter battery, and walking back to the UTV), examined the fuel line and fuel injector as best we could . We made sure we had spark and gas flowing into the cylinder. Diagnosis: bad gas in the tank, possibly fouled injector. Everyone had to walk all the way back carrying shovels, cameras, tripods, tools, etc.
Next day conversations with Sunbelt indicated we are "out of their service area" and therefore, on our own. Meaning, if we simply left it, they would charge me for replacement. They "offered" to send someone there who would not actually do anything useful, such as drain the tank, flush and clean fuel line and injector. The "offer" was a fake.
So my son, whom I love very much, left work and came out from Tucson in his jeep, with everything we might need, while I ran to Yuma and purchased traction boards. We were given verbal permission from MCAS to drive to the site if necessary so we did that. We replaced the spark plug first -- no good. Then, three hours of work sucking gas out of a garden hose we finally emptied the tank. Lo and behold the gas was cloudy and we could see clumps of varnish in the bottom. Finally got clean gas back in with some fuel line cleaner. Put it all back together and she started! Yay!
Drove it out back to the trailer and loaded it on. The 4x4 Ford 250 pulling the trailer got stuck in the sand by the road so my son had to pull me along to the road.
I will say this, Sunbelt kept the shop open for a whole half hour extra so I wouldn't have to keep it and the truck another day.
Dear readers, if you rent from these guys, I sure hope nothing goes wrong because they will cut you loose in a heartbeat. And then threaten you with replacement costs and all manner of overages. Nice place, I highly recommend! (Not!)